The World Petroleum Congress (WPC)1st Youth Forum opened in Beijing, capital of China on Sunday.

The theme of the forum is "Youth and Innovation--the Future of Petroleum Industry".

"We found that it has become harder and harder to attract and retain the youth in the petroleum industry. By holding such a forum, we would like to give opportunities for the youth to express their views and their concerns about the development and future of the industry," said doctor Randall G. Gossen, vice president of the WPC.

"The youth forum will build up a platform for wide-ranging exchange and communication and provide an opportunity for skill demonstration of the young people who have the aspiration to devote to petroleum and energy businesses," said Wang Tao, senior vice president of the WPC and chairman of the Chinese National Committee for WPC.

"It is a strategic measure of the WPC to deliver its target, that is to attract more young people to join the forum for the realization of the sustainable development of the industry by holding such a forum, which is due to have an important impact upon the development of global petroleum industry," said Wang.

During the four-day meeting, 541 young people under 35 years old from 40 countries around the world and world-famous experts, professionals and senior managers in petroleum industry will make keynote addresses on the achievements and future development of world petroleum and natural gas industry.

The major contents of the forum include future development of petroleum and national gas industry, petroleum refining and petrochemicals, the development of the alternatives for petroleum energy, harmony between energy and environment and IT and other new technology applications in petroleum industry.

Sessions covering the above topics will be held during the forum when 52 papers will be presented by young experts while over180 papers will be posted for discussion, said Zhou Youwei, deputy director of the Chinese National Committee for WPC and vice president of the China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) Ltd.

Jointly hosted by the Chinese National Committee for WPC, China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC), China Petrochemical Corporation (Sinopec), CNOOC, and Sinochem Corporation (SINOCHEM), the WPC 1st Youth Forum will end on Wednesday.

(Xinhua News Agency October 18, 2004)