At the meeting of the RNC WPC Programme Committee held on 8 November 2021, the results of the competitive selection of Russian representatives recommended for the positions of the Forum Officers at 24th World Petroleum Congress were announced.

The Congress is scheduled to take place in Calgary, Canada, in September 2023. The main theme is “Energy Transition: The Path to Net-Zero”. The programme of the Congress will include 17 technical forums, each of them will address specific issues on the strategic agenda. Each forum will have a chair and two vice-chairs to propose the content.

The Forum Officers will be selected by the World Petroleum Council on 10th December from among the experts recommended by the national WPC committees. This is an important step as the Forum Officers will play a key role in shaping the Congress programme. The National Committees (there are more than 60 of them in the World Petroleum Council) have a huge interest in the success of their candidates. The competition will be tough.

RNC WPC Programme Committee has recommended 16 representatives of Russia as candidates for the Forum Officers positions. Therefore, Russians will bid to participate in shaping the content of 16 out of 17 forums of the 24th World Petroleum Congress.

Among the winners of the Russian stage of the competition are representatives of 10 companies, scientific, research and educational organisations: Gazprom, Gazprom Neft, Tatneft, NewTech Services, the Institute of Oil and Gas Problems of the Russian Academy of Sciences, the Institute of Economics and Industrial Engineering of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Gubkin University, Saint Petersburg Mining University, KPMG in the CIS, and the Moscow School of Management SKOLKOVO.

Participants of the Programme Committee meeting also discussed the work plan for 2022 and the outcome of the international conference "Oil and Gas Industry Contribution to the Sustainable Development Goals", hosted by the RNC WPC at the X St. Petersburg International Gas Forum on 6 October 2021.

The members of the Programme Committee appreciated the substantive level of discussion and the organisation of the conference. It was noted that very valuable experience has been gained, which should be used and developed. It was recommended to continue cooperation with the organisers of the SPGF and to start preparation of the second conference on sectoral aspects of sustainable development.

The meeting was chaired by Academician A. Nekipelov, Chairman of the Programme Committee of the Russian National Committee of the World Petroleum Council.