Astana bids to host World Petroleum Congress, but looses to Istanbul

Astana was bidding against Turkish Istanbul, Dutch Copenhagen and American Houston to host the Petroleum Olympics, Tengrinews reports citing Vice-president of the World Petroleum Council Jozsef Toth. Kazakhstan declared its intention to bid for hosting the Global Petroleum Congress in 2017 in September 2012. “High competition and four bidding cities: Houston, Copenhagen, Istanbul and Astana. All of them have very good applications and it is indeed very hard to say which of them will win. Kazakhstan is also well-prepared,” Jozsef Toth told the journalists before the October voting in Canada. However, the ballot voting did not favor Kazakhstan, but chose Turkey instead. “World Petroleum Congress is a very prestigious event. It is participated not only by oil and gas sector representatives but also by the top managers of the international and transnational companies, young talents and state authorities. The Global Petroleum Congress is also called the Petroleum Olympics, because it is like the Olympics where the best technologies and the latest innovations are presented. I think that the World Petroleum Congress is more prestigious than any business forum or business council,” he said. The World Petroleum Congress was first held in 1933. The industry giants ABB, General Electric, Siemens, Honeywall, Saudi Aramco, Petrobras, CNPC, Sonatrach, Gasprom, Lukoil, BP, Chevron, ExxonMobil, PDVSA, Schlumberger, Shell, Total and Qatar Petroleum are permanent participants of the congress. The Congress is held once every three years and the next meeting will be held in Moscow. By Renat Tashkinbayev