Offshore Energy event kicks off

Offshore Energy Exhibition & Conference 2014 has officially opened its doors to visitors today, in Amsterdam RAI, the Netherlands.

Offshore Energy, dubbed as the fastest growing gathering of offshore industry professionals in the region, was opened by Dr. María de Lourdes Melgar Palacios, Under Secretary of Hydrocarbons of Mexico, joined by Pieter van Oord, CEO of Van Oord and Chairman of the Association of Dutch Suppliers in the Oil & Gas Industry IRO and Coert van Zijll Langhout, Director of Navingo BV.

Offshore Energy is breaking records year after year with more than 600 exhibitors present  in 2014.

Hot topics will be covered at the event such as North Sea E&P, Extending asset life, Subsea processing, Offshore vessels etc.

During the opening speech Peter van Oord turned back to the International Energy Agency’s special report on investment, according to which, the world’s growing need for energy will require more than $48 trillion in investment over the period to 2035.

Mr. van Oord also quoted IEA’s Executive Director Maria van der Hoeven saying that “The reliability and sustainability of our future energy system depends on investment.”

Today’s annual investment in energy supply of $1.6 trillion needs to rise steadily over the coming decades towards $2 trillion.

At the end Mr. van Oord  pointed out that the recent geo-political developments bring a lot of chalenges and opportunities, stressing that the key things  in the energy world are knowledge, capabilities and competencies.

In that respect, Mr van Oord said that Offshore Energy represents an excellent platform to share knowledge and built up cooperation with companies, policy makers and industry players.

Dr. María de Lourdes Melgar Palacios, Under Secretary of Hydrocarbons of Mexico, during her speech explained the main principles that guided the energy reform in Mexico.

Under the reform, the state retains ownership of hydrocarbons below the surface while prohibiting the privatization of PEMEX and CFE (Comisión Federal de Electricidad, the state-owned electricity company).

She also mentioned that the new legal framework allows for private ownership of hydrocarbons at the wellhead through service, profit-sharing, production-sharing, and license contracts.

At the end of the keynote address Peter van Oord, María de Lourdes Melgar Palacios and Coert van Zijll Langhout pushed the red button which signalized that the Offshore Energy Exhibition and Conference is officially opened.

Offshore Energy is expected to spark the interest of over 10,000 visitors from the sector.