The 22nd World Petroleum Congress (WPC), the largest meeting of the oil and gas industry, started in Istanbul on Sunday.
Speaking at the opening ceremony of WPC, Jozsef Laszlo Toth, president of the WPC said that the challenges in the petroleum sector are growing as the world population increases and economic development brings a large number of consumers to the market.
Oil and natural gas remains the world's leading energy resources for decades to come, Toth added.
"Meeting future energy demand safely and environment-friendly will require massive investment, technology, the highest skilled human resources and superior ethical business practices," he underlined.
Toth noted that energy corridors play an important role to secure the safe and economically viable access to markets from hydrocarbon to reach regions especially from Central Asia and from the Middle East.
"The Turkish government has been making efforts to create new corridors. High level executives, international organizations and government leaders, experts from all areas of the industry, researchers, academia, NGO’s, students and society representatives are gathered here to collectively analyze and determine the future of the petroleum sector," he explained.
The congress will also strongly focus on engaging young professionals in the industry, he asserted adding "As we all know, in many countries, the number of young people joining the energy industry is declining."
Toth explained that the theme of the WPC - Bridges To Our Energy Future - is particularly relevant at this time and in this place.
"The mail goal of our industry is to deliver reliable and affordable resources to promote development of human kind," he concluded.
By Dilara Zengin and Ebru Sengul
Anadolu Agency
energy@aa.com.tr