Issa Shahin al-Ghanim
By Ross Jackson /Staff Reporter

The Chairman of the World Petroleum Congress (WPC), which opens today, has said that he hopes the conference will lay the ground for future co-operation and business amongst the stakeholders in the oil and gas industry.
Issa Shahin al-Ghanim, Director Strategic Planning and Policy–QP, speaking to the Gulf Times, said: “Qatar is really active in building consensus in many areas, including the energy sector - we hosted the gas exporting forum here as well. A conference like this one, if you have all the stakeholders gathering in one place and discussing these issues, the hope is that will help the future business environment - as far as decision making, reaching consensus over issues that sometimes can be contentious, that is really the main driver behind this conference.”
Al-Ghanim continued: “You have at the conference producers and consumers. They have different issues, they look at things differently. You have people who are interested in giving more weight to the environment where others are thought to be less green. For example, issues regarding what fiscal regime should be in place between a host country and an international oil company that is coming to the country, what kind of arrangement should there be. You have people who don’t always see eye to eye when it comes to this, so all this issues are going to be discussed in different formats during the conference. How much people will agree is something that is an evolution, it’s not going to happen immediately, but the more you talk about them the more hopefully you will have consensus.
“Qatar is the major player in two major industries: LNG and GTL. Qatar is also now heavily effective internationally, and wants to focus on what’s happening around the world – be it upstream or downstream,” he said. Hundreds of QP delegates will be participating in the conference at all levels. Al-Ghanim said that the 20th edition of the Congress will feature the most technical papers and presentations of any gathering of its kind, and is distinguished by the level of attendees from all major energy companies as well as government ministers.
Al-Ghanim also said that this will be the first WPC to include sections on renewable energy. “That type of energy is gaining attention worldwide, although its contribution is still minimal in overall energy the importance is there and potential is there, so the committee has decided to have one entire block addressing that. How that relates to other sources of energy is something that will be discussed during that session, its going to be a very interesting session. Many oil companies now have a division that looks after complementary, some call it new energy, renewables, they give it different names. But in essence they are looking at it, including QP. QP has established a small department that looks at that potential. Qatar has a potential as far as solar is concerned, although there are challenges with solar.”
He explained that QP’s formal strategy is to look into the potential of these new sources of energy and monitor developments in the industry. Although no decision to invest heavily has been made, the company is developing “capacity knowledge-wise, etc, so we can be in a position to jump in as soon as there is a real opportunity,” he said. Al-Ghanim also explained how the WPC is important for young Qataris. “This is a big experience for our youth, we have a dedicated youth programme to get more youth involved in the industry, because this industry has been accused over the years as an ageing industry, it’s not as attractive to people to come to it, so there is a focus that we want to build a different picture. This (industry) is still very active and it’s going to be here many, many years to come.”
As part of the youth programme, a total of $10,000 will be awarded for the best three technical papers, and young delegates will also have their own social events. There is also a separate programme for women “to get to know each other and debate the issues.” Students from Qatar University and Qatar Foundation have also been given free registration for the conference.  

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