Offshore Energy 2014 Exhibition & Conference opened its door to this year’s participants and visitors this morning in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
Mr. Pieter van Oord, CEO of Van Oord, Dr. María de Lourdes Melgar Palacios, Under Secretary Hydrocarbons of Mexico, and Coert van Zijll Langhout, Director of Navingo BV, were the keynote speakers at the official opening of the event, which is entirely dedicated to the offshore energy sector.
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: “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.
During her speech, Dr. María de Lourdes Melgar Palacios, Under Secretary of Hydrocarbons of Mexico, 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.
Last year, the event attracted 9,123 visitors representing 56 nationalities. This year’s Offshore Energy is expected to spark the interest of over 10,000 visitors from the sector.
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Offshore WIND Staff; Image: Navingo