UOG 2014: Oil & Gas in the Promised Land

On November 18, Israel will host its first-ever international oil and gas conference at the David Dead Sea Resort. The three-day event, called “Universal Oil & Gas 2014”, aims to create a platform for collaboration, partnership and networking opportunities in the emerging Israeli oil and gas industry.

As well as a speaker roster of energy experts from around the world, UOG 2014 will welcome delegations from Texas, Aberdeen, Denmark and Russia as well as from a number of other oil hubs.

Rigzone, which will be reporting from the conference, recently caught up with UOG Chief Operating Officer Joshua Beagelman to find out how preparations for the conference are going.

In terms of speakers, Beagelman has produced an impressive list. Representatives of companies as diverse as oilfield engineering firm GE Oil & Gas and local oil and gas explorer Delek Drilling will be taking part in the event. And former Royal Dutch Shell plc Chief Scientist Dr. Harold Vinegar will be delivering a keynote speech about his work at Genie Oil & Gas, which is aiming to exploit oil shale deposits onshore Israel.

Beagelman is cock-a-hoop that the speaker list also includes significant figures from government organizations that oversee the oil and gas industry. That the Texas Railroad Commissioner, whose remit includes regulating the oil and gas sector in the U.S. State, will be speaking at the event "is quite a big statement", according to Beagelman.

"It's important to have the regulator from one of the key hubs of the industry coming to a relatively new, emerging market like Israel to look at the opportunities," he said.

"We will obviously have the [Israeli] minister of energy involved as well. Israel has not marketed itself yet globally to attract the right players and this is an opportunity for the country to do that, so to have the minister of energy involved is also very important."