The World Petroleum Council (WPC) has picked Qatar National Convention Centre (QNCC) as the venue for the 20th World Petroleum Congress which will be held in 2011.

The WPC executive committee said Qatar was selected as host country for the congress by the WPC Council in a secret electronic ballot vote in 2007, four years prior to the scheduled event.

Each member country receives one vote and can cast it for one of the nominated candidate countries after their year-long campaign. The official handover took place at the end of the 19th World Petroleum Congress in Madrid in July 2008, it said.

The other host cities that have previously held this event include Johannesburg, Beijing, London, New York, Paris and Rome.

Abdulreda Nayroze Abdulla Hassan, Qatar Petroleum lead co-ordinator for WPC 2011 said the congress is expected to attract in excess of 5,000 international delegates and the space requirements were one of the primary components when choosing the host venue.

Prior to the announcement, Qatar Foundation’s Ahmed Al Hajjaji welcomed the WPC executive committee members before seeing a presentation on the Centre’s capabilities and conducting an extensive site inspection of the QNCC.

The members commented on the spectacular nature of the building and were particularly impressed that the QNCC’s design would achieve a minimum of Gold Certification in the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (Leed) Green Building Rating System and the construction progress to date.

QNCC general manager Paul D’Arcy said it was indeed a milestone to win one of the world’s highest profile events in the the centre's opening year.

The World Petroleum Congress is the first of many conventions and exhibitions that QNCC have in their sights and expect to announce between now and opening in 2011.-TradeArabia News Service