Brookings -Doha Energy Conference 2012 Kicks Off in Doha

Doha, February 20 (QNA) - Brookings Center Doha has launched Monday its first meeting for the Brookings -Doha energy conference 2012. The conference included representatives of more than 15 countries from around the world concerned with the energy sector. They are to hold talks on issues affecting the energy market globally in terms of the changes the Middle East has been witnessing. HE Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign affairs Hamad bin Jassim inaugurated the conference which was also attended by HE Minister of Energy & Industry Dr. Mohammed Bin Saleh Al-Sada . The conference aims at setting recommendations contributing to enhance the energy market globally through the challenges such a sector faces. The key points of the two-day conference included "The impact of Middle East revolutions on the global market of energy", "Middle East s investments in the field of energy", and "The changes the energy markets witness." Vice president and director of the Foreign Policy Program at the Brookings Institution Martin Indyk stressed on the crucial step of founding the Brookings institute in Doha five years ago as a specialized center for studying Arab world policies and a source of analysis for many key issues of which the energy is one of them. He stressed in a similar address before the inaugural session of the conference, the importance of the Brookings -Doha energy conference 2012 that brings together leaders of the US and Middle East to discuss key issues concerning energy market, expressing hopes that the conference would be held annually. He noted to Qatar s role in global energy market and its contribution in securing energy supplies around the world due to its natural wealth of gas and oil. For his part, Vice president of ExxonMobil Andrew Swiger pointed out in a similar address that the increase of the global demand on oil comes from countries out the (OECD) Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development. Swiger expected a demand increase on the energy resources in the next coming years, in addition to the increase of oil trade rates, noting to Qatar s role in securing energy resources of oil to many countries besides its oil production . Vice president of ExxonMobil noted as well that the natural gas will be the 2nd largest energy resources consumed in the world by year 2025 due to its positive environmental features. He expected a 40 % increase on the demand of the natural gas in the upcoming years compared to 20 % now, specially that it is widely used in various fields and generating electrical energy field in particular. (QNA)