UAE hosts oil expo targeting global energy issues

The 4-day Abu Dhabi International Petroleum Exhibition and Conference (ADIPEC) 2012, which kicked off Sunday, aims to attract 45,500 visitors from 91 countries as more than 1,600 exhibitors and 13 national pavilions show up. Held under the theme "Sustainable Energy Growth: People, Responsibility and Innovation", the ADIPEC, running in its 15th edition this year, addressed local and global energy issues locally and showcases advanced technologies needed to sustain oil and gas industry growth. Covering 38,000 square meters, including a 10,500-square-metre outdoor complex in the Abu Dhabiconvention center ADNEC, ADIPEC 2012 is 8.5 percent bigger than the 2010 show in terms of exhibition space. The host emirate of Abu Dhabi, which harbors some 7 percent of the world's known oil reserves, has increased production levels to the maximum in the last two years in order to mitigate production losses from post-revolutionary Libya and from Iran, whose oil production fell to 1.25 million barrels per day this year, down from 2.14 million barrels per day in 2011, according to IMF estimates. These production increases require new technologies in order to reduce drilling costs and to create more efficient upstream process, the ADIPEC organizers said in a statement.