Minister Visits 20th World Petroleum Congress Stand at LNG16

ORAN, ALGERIA, 19th April 2010 - The 20th World Petroleum Congress (20WPC), to be held in Doha, Qatar, 4-8 December 2011, received a boost from Qatar’s Deputy Premier and Minister of Energy & Industry H.E. Abdullah Bin Hamad Al-Attiyah when he visited the 20WPC stand at the 16th International Conference & Exhibition on Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG16) currently being held in Oran, Algeria. The Minister is in Oran to attend LNG16 as well as a meeting of members of the Gas Exporting Countries Forum.

The 20WPC team is attending LNG16 as part of the Qatar Petroleum stand. Qatar Petroleum is the host sponsor of the Congress. LNG16 is one of more than 50 international events that will be attended by the organizing committee promoting the 20th WPC.

Since its establishment in 1933, this is the first time that the World Petroleum Congress will be hosted in the Middle East. The Call for Papers opened in April and topics for the sessions reflect the official theme for 20WPC: ‘Energy Solutions for All: Promoting Cooperation, Innovation and Investment’. With over 300 places to be awarded to the best papers and posters, the World Petroleum Congress demonstrates once again its role as a benchmark for the oil and gas industry.

The exhibition accompanying the 20th WPC is expected to cover 35,000 square metres, surpassing the previous WPC event in Madrid in 2008 by 20%, and making it the largest WPC exhibition in history. More than 80% of the available space has already been sold or reserved.

Companies that have already confirmed their participation at the exhibition include Shell, ExxonMobil, BP, TOTAL, Chevron, ConocoPhillips, Dolphin Energy, Oxy, Oryx, Petrobras, Statoil, Polish Oil & Gas Co., Schlumberger, Weatherford, Chiyoda and many others.

National Oil Companies from Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Oman, Algeria, Iran, Russia, Angola, Egypt, China, Japan, Canada and Colombia have also expressed interest and are finalizing their participation. 20WPC is expected to be a truly international event for the global petroleum industry.

The 20th World Petroleum Congress will be held at the Qatar National Convention Centre (QNCC). Opening in 2011, QNCC will boast an iconic design and cutting edge facilities in a green technology venue. It is the first facility of its kind being built to the gold certification of the U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environment Design (LEED).