As energy markets, especially in Europe, are currently in turmoil, IENE’s 18th National Energy Conference "Energy and Development 2013” (Athens, 3-4 December, 2013) comes at a critical junction to examine latest developments in Greece but also in the broader SE Europe region, thus attracting among its speakers senior executives from the EU Commission, the International Energy Agency, the Centre for Global Energy Studies (CGES) in London and other acknowledged international energy institutes and organizations. This year’s conference will focus on the "Sustainability and Security of Greece’s Energy System”, reflecting the ongoing diminishing support in the funding of RES in the country and the European Union in general, due to Eurozone’s recession and restrictive fiscal policies. These developments, combined with the recent emphasis on research in the upstream sector in the wider SE Europe and the East Mediterranean, which aim at strengthening the region’s energy security, make "Energy and Development 2013” a highly topical event.
More specifically, Mr. Hans Van Steen, Head of International Relations & Enlargement at DG Energy (European Commission, Brussels), Dr. Fabian Kesicki, Energy Analyst at the Directorate of Global Energy Economics of the International Energy Agency (ΙΕΑ, Paris), Dr. Leo Drolas, Executive Director of the London-based CGES Institute, one of the most prestigious think tanks on energy at an international level, and Prof. Uwe Leprich of the Germany’s influential Institute for Future Energy Systems (IZES), will provide the European and global perspective in this established annual event by IENE.
Mr. Ioannis Maniatis, Greece’s Minister for Environment, Energy & Climate Change, will be the keynote speaker in the opening session of the 18th National Energy Conference "Energy and Development 2013”, which is being organized under the Ministry’s auspices. Moreover, the conference will be attended by senior executives, scientists, engineers and energy professionals from all the major Greek energy companies and also by policy-makers, experts and academics.
Geopolitics, sustainability, energy security, investment opportunities and related economic developments are some of the key issues which IENE’s 18th Annual National Conference "Energy & Development 2013” will consider. The "Open-Door” licensing round for hydrocarbon exploration in Western Greece, the planned non-exclusive seismic surveys in offshore areas in the Ionian and south of Crete, the ongoing exploration in the EEZ of Cyprus and Israel, the materialization of the South Corridor through the construction of the TANAP-TAP pipeline system, and the passage of TAP through Greece and Albania, the financial crisis in Greece and the Eurozone, the current violent political transformation in the Middle East and North Africa among others form a complex geopolitical setting that will, undoubtedly influence Greece’s energy developments in the years to come.
Among others, the conference will cover the following subject areas:
·Energy geopolitics in Greece and SE Europe
·The oil market: regional developments and international trends
·Hydrocarbon exploration and production
·The domestic energy market: prices and sustainability
·Power generation and investments in the next decade
·The transformation of the power sector, the electricity market and RES
·Transformation of the energy market and competition issues
·Towards EU’s goals of 2020/ 2030 and the role of renewable energy sources in Greece and SE Europe in view of the current Eurozone crisis
The main sponsors of the 18th Annual National Conference «Energy & Development 2013» include Greece’s Public Gas Corporation S.A. (DEPA S.A.), Protergia SA of Mytilineos Group and Hellenic Petroleum S.A. The Law Firms KG and Norton Rose Fulbright, as well as Siemens are the conference’s supporters. Greece’s leading daily «Kathimerini» and Energia.gr, Greece’s foremost energy portal, as well as SeeNews, a worldwide provider of business news and market intelligence, are the conference’s official media partners.
The "Energy & Development 2013” conference will take place at the "Eugenides Foundation”, conference facilities in Faliron a short distance from the centre of Athens (387, Syngrou Av., 175 64 Athens).
The conference’s detailed programme and registration details are available through a special banner on IENE’s website.
