AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

NT Bureau
Chennai, Jan 16:

        One of the biggest oil exhibitions — Petrotech 2007 has begun yesterday in New Delhi under the aegis of the Union Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas.

        Being organised by Petrotech Society and Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Ltd (ONGC), the five-day mega fair has the theme of 4Es — Energy, Economy, Equity and Ecology — covering all aspects in energy business and its impact on the society. This is the seventh version of Petrotech and Union Petroleum Minister Murli Deora is the patron-in-chief of the conference.

        The first Petrotech was held in 1995 and it is being held every two years since then. The themes of Petrotech Conference have always been relevant and topical, focusing on major issues confronting the hydrocarbon industry. The seventh edition Petrotech Conference 2007 was inaugurated today at Vigyan Bhawan preceded by a meets on carbon credits, coal gasification and benchmarking.

        A major event at the conference would be the academia - industry interface which would be held for two days, providing an opportunity to students from different institutes to learn about the hydrocarbons industry and the applications of latest technology in the oil and gas sector. Eleven Oil Ministers from OPEC (Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries) countries would participate in a special plenary on 18 January.

        Several Cabinet Ministers, senior bureaucrats, policy makers and CEOs of private sector would be addressing the conference. From the academia, Dr R K Pachauri, director, TERI, Professor Shiridh Patil, University of Alaska, Martin Evans, director, Technical Services, Intercat, and Dr Bjorn Wygrala, managing director, Technology Transfer, IES, among others, are taking part in the event.

        With top stakeholders in the oil and gas sector attending Petrotech 2007 is expected to resolve many global concerns related to this sector by facilitating a collective approach towards the challenges, based on discussions among OPEC Ministers who would be attending both the conference and exhibition.

        Nearly 4,000 delegates from around the world are expected to attend the exhibition. Over 100 companies have registered for the exhibition. A total number of 719 technical papers have been accepted of which 149 are for oral presentations and 570 papers are for slated for poster displays. There are 90 speakers from abroad and 59 from India.

        Some of the topics on which eminent speakers would deliver lecture in the four-day conference are: Renewable sources of energy; technology and innovations in retail; macro economics of petroleum industry; gas business — ascending prospects in next decade; energy supply security in coming years; upstream oil business in next decade; and refining — expected shifts in crude quality and product mix. A media centre at the conference venue would facilitate hourly dissemination of information to the press and electronic media.