Houston among finalists to host the World Petroleum Congress in 2017

The decision will be made on October 23^rd in Calgary, Alberta, where representatives from the 65 member nations of World Petroleum Council will give their votes. WPC is held every three years, and has been described as the “Olympics” of the oil and gas industry, because of the scale of the event. The member countries of World Petroleum Congress produce and consume 95 percent of the world’s energy today. Houston applied for the WPC 2014, but lost to Moscow by three votes. This time, they are focusing on their key business sectors: energy, medicine and aerospace. This Congress typically draws 5,000 to 10,000 delegates, but there is a hope that as many as 12,000 will attend a potential Congress in Houston in 2017. Houston’s bid calls for the Congress to be held at the George R. Brown Convention Center across from Discovery Green, an area where developers have announced several new hotel projects. This would solve the potential issue regarding traffic, and there would be 6,000-9,000 hotel rooms available within walking distance of the conference.

Norway hosted the 14^th World Petroleum Congress in Stavanger in 1994. Houston based Consul General Jostein Mykletun served as Secretary General for WPC’94. WPC’94 attracted 2,500 people from 80 countries, and was officially opened by King Harald V of Norway.