Strengthening Neighborhood in Energy Trade
Energy strategies of oil and gas producers and policy challenges against other producer countries from new regions for energy sources; New business opportunities to work with IOCs; Contractual and other financial issues to attract foreign investment to upstream petroleum sector; Latest developments and practices in energy industry in the region; New trends for partnerships and strengthening neighborhood in energy trade; Regional cooperation for security of supplies.

Leading Role of NOCs
Establishing and re-structuring NOCs for needs of more competitive market requirements and business development strategies for new regions; Government policies, plans and participation for continued development; Attracting foreign direct investments in upstream and downstream projects; NOC-Foreign NOC and NOC-IOC partnerships for new investment opportunities; NOC strategies for future growth and sustainable development with focus on Iran, Iraq, Syria and Turkey; Global gas supply and demand in context of regional supply security.

Opportunities and Challenges in Exploration, and Sustaining and Increasing Production
Proved and potential regional play concepts and petroleum systems; Role of technology in exploration efforts and improving production; Understanding reservoirs for better reserve estimation and asset management; Handling heavy oil reservoirs with increasing oil prices; Advanced methods for enhanced recovery factor; Designing, construction and utilization of permanent production facilities;  International concerns about energy policies of producer countries about reserves, capacity expansion and future investment plans; Global impact on domestic oil prices and export quotas in relation with increasing oil and gas consumption in the internal markets of producing countries.

Oil and Gas Transportation in Reaching Regional and World Markets
Strategic outlook in perspective of future oil and gas transportation challenges in the region; Involvement and willingness of IOC to plan and invest to the new pipeline projects; Pipeline operator NOC’s measure to mitigate the security risk of existing infrastructure; Overcoming political issues on cross-border pipelines to protect the good relations of neighborhood; Alternative trends and effects of LNG projects under the concerns of flexibility and diversification for pipeline gas; Review of the Arab Gas Pipeline and planned extension to European markets; Creating legal framework for re-export and third part access issues for existing infrastructure and new pipeline projects.

Country Focus: IRAN Panel
Buy-back agreements and rewards in more preferred model for long-term cooperation; Update on Iranian LNG projects and their effects on global supply; Accessing to gas reserves for LNG, pipeline exports, and domestic gas projects; Utilizing gas reserves for enhanced oil production for world markets; Could Iran be a leading gas producers for an “Gas OPEC”?; Real role of IOCs under the current buy-back agreements.

Country Focus: IRAQ Panel
Recent status of oil exploration and production projects; Clarification of New Petroleum Law and re-structuring of the national oil sector; Challenges and working Master Plan for preventing gas flaring in utilizing natural gas for faster economic growth; Contribution of new and returning IOCs to upcoming licensing rounds and recent results; Licensing procedures and next steps in negotiations and contracting; Policy requirement for federal management of oil production in preventing regionalized practices and resource wealth distribution; Impact of potential new reserves in west of the country on the developing picture.

Country Focus: SYRIA Panel
New frameworks and mechanisms to secure future growth and expansion upstream sector; Using new technology in EOR projects; Encouraging private foreign investment in Syrian oil industry, operations and wider security implications; Recent licensing rounds and future plans; Effective incentives in PSCs in encouraging exploration activities in new fields; Linking Turkey’s national gas network grid to the Arab Gas pipeline; Finding gas for the increasing Syrian domestic gas consumption.

Country Focus: TURKEY Panel
New policy measures towards decreasing the energy import dependency of Turkey; Operational and envisioned pipelines; Turkey as an energy bridge between Middle East and Europe; Handling seasonal fluctuations in gas import volumes; Current status and potential future developments for underground gas storage projects as counter measure in gas supply interruption; Reliability of gas exporting countries in the region and developing effective dialogues for cooperation; Forecasting the increase in Turkey’s natural gas consumption and evaluating the additional sources; Exploring the LNG options for import capacity expansion through source diversification; Effects of market liberalization in utilizing the new energy sources.