ADIPEC 2010 will close its doors today following a record-breaking week that once again placed Abu Dhabi firmly under the world energy industry spotlight.
p>ADIPEC 2010 will close its doors today following a record-breaking week that once again placed Abu Dhabi firmly under the world energy industry spotlight.
The event brought together an impressive assembly of regional royalty, local and overseas energy ministers, dignitaries and top industry heavyweights from around the world and saw an 11 per cent growth in exhibition space. By the end of day three, more than 38,000 people had attended. Approximately US$3.2 billion worth of deals were concluded. In addition, US$18 billion worth of long-term projects were reconfirmed.
Speaking to ADIPEC Daily News, Simon Mellor, the newly appointed Senior vice-president of dmg :: events and head of oil and gas in the Middle East, was effusive about this year’s event and optimistic that an exhibition and conference with even more added value will be held when ADIPEC returns in 2012. The success of this years’ event, he said, was due to a number of factors.
“When you have a venue as modern and professional as this, what it provides is a wonderful canvas for conferences and exhibitions and educational workshops to present themselves, because these are state-of-the-art facilities. As a result we’ve got a beautiful looking show. Our exhibitors have done an amazing job presenting themselves which makes it a much more wholesome experience for visitors because they get to see a beautifully presented event.”
He continued: “I think the conference programme is world class. The quality of speakers, both domestically (within the GCC states) and internationally is superb”.
Mellor said he’d spoken with a number of conference delegates during the week who’d enjoyed “a terrific experience”. He also lauded the SPE, the conference organizers, saying, “The partnership with the SPE is one that we value enormously.”
Mellor recognizes the importance of strong working relationships in the region. “Events like ADIPEC could not come together without strong partnerships,” he said.
“Local companies such as ADNOC, and the supporting companies within the group are crucial. Indeed, all of the region’s professional oil and gas companies came together this week to provide what is unquestionably the meeting place for the regional oil and gas industry.”
Mellor, who has considerable previous industry experience developing events for the Canadian oil and gas sector, said he is excited to have the opportunity to be working with partners like ADNOC.
“I think this is one of the few locations in the world where there is genuine opportunity, there is ambition, there is technology and expertise here that other parts of the world would be lucky to have. What we have to do is harness that energy and that passion and knowledge, not only to the benefit of the region but to the wider international community as well. That is our role, we bring together the participants and its through that gathering that you really get the benefit of world class networking, see the latest technology presented, and more importantly, the opportunity for R&D and academia to understand what the challenges are so they can focus their energies on developing the next set of technologies
and services and solutions.” As for the future, planning for the next event in 2012 is already underway, and Mellor will not be resting on his laurels.
“I think that an event as good as this can be better, but only by having all of the stakeholders involved and bringing them together can you plot and plan the next 10 or 20 years. One of the great things about the Middle East, unlike a lot of other places in the world, is they have a fantastic long-term vision.
They build with very serious long-term ambition and that is important. There are too many parts of the world that think short-term or they have more complex decision making processes.
There are visionary thinkers in this region with terrific long term ambitions, and that makes it an extremely exciting place to be. And what a great event to have the opportunity to develop.
I’m not fearful of it but very excited about the chance of working to see how much more we can do to add value.
“You can’t progress without change, but you should never be fearful of change. However, any change needs to be carefully thought through and what we are not going to do is take an incredibly successful formula and do anything that might be detrimental to that.
We will work very closely with our partners and government supporters to find a way that - as this industry continues to face challenges – will allow us to develop and move forward. The only way to do that is to work closely with our partners.”
The future of the regional and international energy industry will be determined in the Middle East and the international audience attending ADIPEC reinforces the fact that the world is looking towards GCC countries (Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, UAE, Bahrain and Oman) to lead the way in energy exploration, development and investment and ADIPEC is the platform of choice for regional players to showcase their projects, establish new relationships and strengthen trade and business ties across the globe.
