The sixth edition of the oil Seminar jointly organized by the Harvard University and Repsol, annual meeting point for the most renowned experts and celebrities of the oil world, began yesterday. The Harvard Repsol Seminar is being held at S'Agar� (Gerona) and will be brought to a close this afternoon with an address by the Conseller of Energy and Industry for the Generalitat, Antoni Subir�.

After the words of welcome pronounced by Repsol's Chairman, Oscar Fanjul, the General Director of Energy, Ms. Mar�a Luisa Huidobro, gave a brief explanation of Spain's energy policy over recent years. The Secretary of State for Housing and Environmental Affairs, Cristina Narbona, attended as moderator at the session on environmental issues affecting the sector.

The first session of the Seminar began with a conference by the Egyptian Minister of Petroleum, Dr. Hamdi Ali El Banbi, who analysed the current situation of the oil market and the changes the industry has undergone in recent years. He stated that, for the next century, oil and gas will account for the major part of the world's energy for transportation, power and industrial development. The industry, in order to face future energy demands and to add new reserves, has no alternative but to apply the latest state-of-the-art technology.

According to the Minister, it is absolutely critical that policy makers -governments, the investment decision makers and oil companies- cooperate in securing a supply of energy for our future generations, and the industry is expected to secure supply under flat price conditions, adapting its plans to cope with the volatile nature of the oil market.

In the future, the international oil industry will have to face a reduction in investment, whilst complying with environmental requirements and optimizing resources. In order to face this challenge, basic changes will be required in mindset and ways of running business. Among the recommended actions he emphasised international drive to enhance development and transfer of technology in order to benefit from recent advances in science and the need to optimize local consumption of natural gas in hydrocarbon producing countries to free oil resources for export.

Cost management, stimulation of oil and gas consumption in developing countries by building their infrastructure and the application of management systems to support technical and business goals are other steps proposed by the Egyptian Minister to ensure the future of the oil industry.

Hamdi Ali El Banbi has been Minister of Petroleum for Egypt since 1991. Prior to that he was the Chairman of the Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation (EGPC) for three years and of the Gulf of Suez Petroleum Company (GUPCO), the largest oil producing company in Egypt, for twelve years. Dr. El Banbi has also taught at several Egyptian universities and has published articles in various international scientific periodicals. His academic degrees in Petroleum Engineering include a B.Sc. from Cairo University, an M. Sc. from Tulsa University and a Ph.D. from Texas A&M University.

We would also like to mention that Repsol is the third largest oil company in Egypt, with a net production of 30,000 barrels a day from the Khalda, Umbarka, South Umbarka, Gulf of Suez East and Gulf of Suez West concessions. Repsol's activities in Egypt began in 1972, with a concession contract for exploration and production in Umbarka, in the Western Desert. Since then, Repsol has considerably increased its stake in this country through a policy of acquisitions of production assets and participations in exploring permits.