In the opening plenary session, attended by the majority of the 700+ delegates and guests, Dr Luca (pictured)warmly welcomed attendees on behalf of his Institution and the conference co-organizer Petrobras. He said that there were to be 172 technical papers given in a number of parallel sessions over the two-day event, which begins in earnest today (22 October). The conference is accompanied by an exhibition at which 47 Brazilian and international companies are represented.
Dr Carlos was accompanied on the plenary session platform by, among others, the Rector of the Pontifical University of Rio de Janeiro (PUC-Rio), Jesus Hortal, Dr Edmund Seiders of ASME’s Pipeline Systems Division, and Pedro Jose Barusco Filho, who was representing the president of Petrobras. Also on the platform was co-organizer Dr Glauco Legatti, of Petrobras Engenharia, accompanied in the front row of the audience by his fellow organizer Marcelino Guedes Gomes of Petrobras’ Transpetrol division.
The strength of the support for this major international event from authors, delegates, and exhibitors testifies to the growing significance of the Brazilian pipeline industry, and the climate of enthusiasm that embraces oil and gas pipelines in this important country. This was emphasized in the announcement at the opening ceremony that a scholarship in pipeline engineering is to be set up by the IBP at the PUC-Rio from next year, paralleling the university course already in place at the UK’s University of Newcastle.
The focus of the technical sessions at the conference is, broadly-speaking, pipeline integrity, the concern for which at the relatively-early stage of the industry’s development in Brazil shows a welcome and far-sighted approach that has been often lacking elsewhere.