Oman-based Vijay Tanks and Company, which has been active in the region for the past 16 years, has supplied its tanks to several projects, mainly in the oil and gas sector, in the Gulf and further afield.

The ISO9001-certified company serves a wide market base which includes Syria, Libya, Bangladesh, Maldives, Kenya, Uganda, Iraq, Kuwait and the UAE.

''The Omani operation is self-sufficient and fairly autonomous, with the advantage of being able to draw upon our associate company in India for technical back-up, if required,'' says Das Raghu Nathan, director.

Vijay Tanks is a major player in the turnkey design, engineering, procurement, construction and commissioning of atmospheric storage tanks; cryogenic and refrigerated tanks; pressure spheres; dry and wet gasholders and silos; process columns, complete with internals; pressure vessels and heat exchangers; mounded storage systems; and process plants for the refinery, petrochemical, fertiliser, power, paper and steel industries.

''Vijay Tanks offers engineering services from basic system designs through detailed engineering and commissioning,'' Nathan continues. ''Its multidisciplinary engineering skills include process, mechanical, civil, electrical, piping and instrumentation work. This diversified range of engineering skills enables us to offer our clients a singular source of responsibility for large and complicated industrial projects where Vijay Tanks is able to deliver high levels of economy, efficiency and optimisation to help projects get off the ground on schedule and with competitive advantages to our clients.''

Its main customer in Oman is the Petroleum Development Oman (PDO) for whom it has recently installed several tanks.

Vijay Tanks is also scheduled to install two tanks for an existing refinery at Mina Fahal.

In the UAE, it is currently involved in an oil terminal project in Hamriya, Sharjah, where it is fabricating and erecting six tanks ranging in diameter from 16 to 33 m and in capacities from 1,000 to 3,000 cu m. The subcontract also includes civil works, piping, installation and electricals. The client is Nosco (National Oil Storage Company) and the project is due for completion by mid-March 2001.

Vijay Tanks procures steel from reputed suppliers in Europe and Japan. While Oman is a suitable market to operate from, the company is looking at opening branch offices elsewhere in the Middle East, says Nathan.

Commenting on the company's performance during 2000, he says: ''The year has been difficult because of the low oil prices during 1998-99, but with increased oil prices, prospects are much brighter for 2001-2002. We are now making sure we are ready to meet the requirements of a growing market.''

The company also gives due attention to the safety aspect. Nathan says: ''Vijay Tanks has clearly identified the safety aspect in this industry as one that requires close scrutiny. We have obligation to all our employees to provide them with a safe working environment. To this end, we have developed a comprehensive system based on the Shell/PDO safety procedures. This has led us to several safety awards, such as the 6 million hours LTI (lost-time incident)-free award from PDO, all of which helps reaffirm our commitment to our employees. ''