Petrochemical and Refining Congress: Europe 2023 took place in Austria, on 22-24 May, 2023, and gathered O&G major companies, EPCs, refineries and petrochemical plants, licensors, chemical companies, equipment manufacturers, and service providers. The Congress was held in cooperation with OMV Downstream GmbH - Austria's largest listed industrial company, which invited downstream industry colleagues to visit one of the largest and most modern inland refineries in Europe - OMV Schwechat Refinery.
Decisions of oil and gas companies affect today's society and the global changes. Therefore, it is important for them to build a more inclusive and sustainable economy together. That is why downstream industry leaders met in Austria with the main goal to network. Among the speakers of the Congress were OMV Downstream, Neste Corporation, MOL Group, Shell Energy & Chemical Park Rheinland, Wood, and Honeywell UOP. “This year 400 decision-makers from the whole value chain of the industry gathered to find new business connections for the future corporations and contributed to sustainable development of the downstream industry” - said Olga Shemberkas, Project Director of PRC Europe 2023.
This year, OMV was the co-host of the Petrochemical and Refining Congress: Europe 2023. This is not the first time for OMV being the co-host of PRC Europe - the company co-hosted the Congress in 2020. In addition, OMV is participating at PRC: Europe 2023 for the 6th consecutive year.
Speaking about the highlights, the impact of clean hydrogen on downstream oil and gas was discussed during the Congress. There is growing recognition of the potential for hydrogen as a clean energy source for transport, heating and industry. The fact that it can be transported by a variety of methods and is relatively easy to store makes hydrogen an attractive alternative to fossil fuels. Mohamed A.Elreheem, Engineering Technology Manager at Aramco Overseas Company B.V., thinks that the energy transition will have some challenges that need to be overcome to facilitate and accelerate the business growth. Clarity of the market demand will unleash the energy companies huge investment capabilities toward a clean hydrogen economy.
On the second day of the Congress, delegates attended the Senior Vice Presidents Panel, a panel discussion where the speakers are only Senior Vice Presidents and C-Level Management of the leading companies of the market. Speakers brought up questions and expressed opinions on the meaning of alternative fuels in transportation. Within this panel speakers prepared a strategic overview on the role of alternative fuels, including synthetic, bio, electrofuels and others as one of the effective means of decarbonisation. Bob Leliveld, Chief Technology Officer at Ketjen, thinks that the availability and quality of biofuels are important in their effectiveness as a substitute for traditional fossil fuels and can vary depending mainly on the type of feedstock used for their production and the production process.
During the 3rd day of the Congress, PRC Europe participants got an exclusive opportunity to learn about the Schwechat Refinery operations firsthand: asked questions directly to the OMV representatives, got updates on OMV’s latest technology developments, including the innovative circular economy project - ReOil, discovered about the Green Ammonia Linz project given by ILF Consulting Engineers Austria and VERBUND, and enjoyed a bus tour through the Refinery area guided by site technical specialists.
The next edition of the Petrochemical and Reining Congress: Europe 2024 is going to take place on May, 13-14, in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
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