OPEC hosted the biannual meeting of the Vienna Energy Club (VEC) at its Secretariat in Vienna on 26 February.

In his welcoming address to the meeting, the eighth in the series, OPEC Secretary General Abdalla Salem El-Badri said that not only had the club been a great success, but it had also proven that Vienna had become ‘an energy hub’. He continued: “Close engagement among various parties, such as those here today, is critical for sharing ideas, developing a better appreciation of various viewpoints and seeing where we can evolve some common understanding.” This reflected the strength of Vienna as a centre of influence in the global energy community, he went on, adding: “We certainly appreciate what the city has to offer in this regard.”

OPEC Research Division Director Dr Hasan M Qabazard elaborated upon this in his opening remarks: “As well as bringing together Vienna’s energy-related organizations, the VEC also allows us the opportunity to address some major topical issues that affect the world at large, in rich and poor countries alike. Notably, we are looking at the three interlinked global challenges of energy stability, sustainable development and environmental harmony.”

He said that OPEC had focused on two main areas of activity during its time with the club’s coordinating role. One had been to draw up a ‘Mandate and Guidelines’ to formalise the existence, the objectives and the procedures of the club and present a set of practical guidelines for its operations. And the other had been to activate the website’s news section, which was “now up and running and working well.” Both matters would feature in the morning’s discussions.

The main part of the meeting began with a series of seven presentations on topical issues, followed by a short discussion.

For OPEC, Dr Hojatollah Ghanimi Fard, Head, Petroleum Studies Department, provided a short-term market assessment, and this was followed by a review of the long-term world oil outlook by Oswaldo Tapia, Head, Energy Studies Department.

The other presentations were made by: Faris Hasan, Director of Corporate Planning and Economic Services, OFID, on the contribution of petroleum to sustainable development; Alexander Bychkov, Deputy Director General, Head of the Department of Nuclear Energy, IAEA, on nuclear as a means for petroleum preservation; Lamberto Zannier, Secretary General, OSCE, on the OSCE approach to energy issues; Pradeep Monga, Director, Energy and Climate Change, UNIDO, on Vienna’s hosting of the forthcoming Vienna Energy Forum 2013 on 28–30 May; and Walter Kemp, Director for Europe and Central Asia, IPI, and Marc Baltes, Consultant, Energy and Security, IPI, on the Institute’s task force on energy and security.

A session on administrative matters began the second half of the meeting, when the final details of IPI’s application for membership of the VEC were discussed and agreed upon. Significantly, IPI’s offer to become coordinator for the second half of the year and to host the next meeting was accepted. Other deliberations during this session on such subjects as January–June and July-December coordination periods, budgetary arrangements, the draft ‘Mandate and Guidelines’, the news section and a more structured approach to future activities underlined the fact that the VEC was still a young entity.

Finally, round-the-table updates of members’ activities gave organizations the chance to briefly describe their recent activities, epitomising the true cooperative spirit of the VEC and the potential it has for enhancing dialogue in Vienna-based energy circles in the future.

 

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Anne Rechbach
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