The 15th edition of the Rio Oil & Gas 2010 conference and convention broke all records of public and participants and is being considered the biggest and best edition ever. While it can be said that O&G was the main theme of the event, bio-fuels and the maritime industry also had a strong presence.
The theme for this 15th edition of the Rio Oil & Gas was “From Petroleum to Bio-fuels: Integrating Knowledge and Increasing the Limits”. The numbers are really impressive, from September 13th, when the event started, around 46 thousand participants from 51 countries passed through the 5 pavilions and 2 massive tents arrayed in the 37,000 m² of Riocentro convention center in Rio de Janeiro. There were over 1,700 exhibitors and 740 technical papers presented by researchers from 28 countries.
“It was not only the biggest Rio Oil & Gas. It was the best of all the editions” said João Carlos de Luca, president of the Brazilian Petroleum Institute (IBP), during the closing ceremony.
National and international O&G and Maritime company reps had a massive participation, showing off their products in some truly incredible and in some cases very large booths, some being two stories high. Quite a lot of business was going on during the event and I must admit that I basically wasted the soles of my favorite shoes walking all over the 5 pavilions trying to get it all down.
A large quantity of modern equipment for the O&G and Maritime industries were presented by national and international companies, all attracted by the pre-salt discoveries and the investments expected for the next years in Brazil. There was also a large presence of students looking at entering the O&G market and furthering their studies and their knowledge base, which is something immensely important with the ongoing lack of trained technicians and engineers in the growing Brazilian O&G and Maritime markets.
In October 2011 the same Riocentro will host the OTC Brazil conference, which promises to also be huge and also necessary as two years is too long to wait for another major event, considering the strong and accelerated growth that both the Maritime market (with major new ports, shipyards and ships being built) and the O&G market are enjoying in Brazil.
Claudio Paschoa
Photo courtesy of IBP