Seminar participants customarily include Ministers from OPEC Member Countries, and other energy-producing and energy-consuming nations, as well as heads of intergovernmental organizations, chief executives of national and international oil companies, in addition to other industry leaders, academics, energy experts and the media.
The seminars have taken various forms over the years, but they have always had a wide reach across the energy sector and beyond.
The latest in the series of seminars, which began in 2001, has provided fresh impetus to key industry issues and developed existing and new avenues of dialogue and cooperation. Insightful presentations and panel discussions have sought to move the energy debate forward, with high-calibre speakers discussing a wide range of topical issues affecting the industry, both in the short and long term.
The seminars have increased in size and scope over the years, embracing, as time has passed, such related areas as global finance, sustainable development and the environment, and their reputation has grown steadily. While an early seminar in 1978 was attended by some 200 participants, there was nearly four times that number over three decades later in 2012. The 2018 instalment attracted a record 950 participants from over 50 nations.