EPCCI’s 50th anniversary oil conference rescheduled

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By a Staff Writer
Publication Date: 
Sun, 2002-03-03 03:00

JEDDAH, 3 March — The 50th anniversary oil and gas conference of Eastern Province Chamber of Commerce & Industry (EPCCI) has been rescheduled to May 21-22. This type of conference has been chosen due to the fact that oil and gas industry is inextricably linked both to the growth of the chamber and the Eastern Province itself, according to the organizers.

The province includes Dhahran, Alkhobar, Dammam, Qatif, Hofuf and Jubail towns. It was here that the Kingdom’s oil was first discovered in 1930’s. Before the discovery of energy resources, Dammam and Alkhobar were no more than small fishing villages, and Dhahran did not even exist.

“The conference will focus on the opening of the Kingdom’s upstream hydrocarbon sector to foreign investment and the resulting gas deals that were signed in June between eight oil majors and the government,” a press release from the organizers said on Friday.

The main debating topics will concentrate on the next stage of the projects that are expected to be finalized within the next six months.

They include integrated gas, power and water desalination activities. Special attention will be paid to the core ventures located in the province notably South Ghawar and Shaybah.

Speakers invited are from the Ministry of Petroleum, Ministry of Commerce, Saudi Aramco and Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (SABIC). They will also include senior members of the EPCCI and major international investors in the Kingdom’s energy industry.

ITE Group Plc., which is organizing the conference, stages 325 exhibitions in over 25 countries and is claimed to be the largest trade event organizer in emerging markets. ITE’s oil and gas division has an impressive portfolio of events and has market-leading events in Russia, Kazakhstan, Romania, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Egypt, Georgia and Turkey, aside from the Kingdom. ITE already has seven years’ experience of working with the EPCCI as the organizer of the Kingdom’s leading oil and gas exhibition, SOPEC.

“The rapid development of the province into the center of the world’s oil and gas industry is an amazing achievement in the space of just over half a century. The next 50 years in the province’s history are on track to be even more exciting,” the release added.

Local businessmen with the support of the government in 1952 set up the EPCCI, which has splayed the role of a catalytic agent in the transformation of the area into the heart of the Kingdom’s energy industry.

The chamber is claimed to be the only organization representing all spheres of the private sector in the province as well as both local and international organizations. The headquarters of the chamber is located close to Dammam in a new building featuring a 500 capacity conference room.

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