StocExpo Europe 2017 returns to The Ahoy Rotterdam on 28-30 March with a brand-new conference format designed to boost networking and enable terminals, traders, oil majors and investors to learn from one another. The event is also now CPD certified, helping delegates meet their Continuing Professional Development point requirements.
All sessions will begin with ‘speed networking’, whereby delegates will be encouraged to introduce themselves to the other people at their tables and to exchange business cards. The new roundtable format and networking lunches are designed to ensure delegates maximize networking opportunities with industry peers.
The conference programme will consist of seven expert panel sessions hosting over 30 speakers from oil majors, tank terminals and financial institutions. The exclusive terminal management session on day one brings together senior figures from four of the top independent terminals in Europe: Peter Van Wessel, Managing Director of Oiltanking Europe; Abel Noordanus, Commercial Manager at Odfjell; Martijn Notten, CEO of Vesta Terminals and Walter Wattenberg, CEO of LBC Tank Terminals. To give a customer’s perspective, these industry leaders will be joined by Laurent Hatzopoulos, Manager of Third Party Storage at Shell Trading.
This expert panel will cover issues affecting terminal efficiency, new investments, ways to increase throughput and the many other challenges a terminal manager faces, such as regulatory compliance.
The second panel switches to the critical issue of terminal safety and features Margit Blok, Global HSE Director at VTTI, Rene Braaksma, HSE Manager at NuStar Energy and Ian Travers, a world safety expert on process safety at the tank farm.
Panel three looks at growth and investment opportunities throughout the Mediterranean, featuring Pablo Fernandez Canga, Commercial Director at Decal Spain, Luis Sala, Managing Director at Tepsa in Spain, and Effie Miluten, Deputy General Manager of Commerce at EAPC in Israel.
Day two of the StocExpo Europe conference looks further afield to global markets. This begins with a discussion on the global supply and demand trends impacting trade flows and the storage sector. These include the status of the US shale market, the effect of sanctions being lifted against Iran, and the impact of the US exports ban being lifted.
A further panel discussion featuring VTTI’s Commercial Analytics Manager Onur Capan and leading experts from Dutch Oil Industry Association, PJK International and Wood Mackenzie will then cover the status of the oil industry, storage capacity utilisation rates, the refining sector and future oil price forecasts.
Day two also provides the investor’s perspective, with two top terminal investors: Evren Nergiz, Business Development Manager at Zenith Energy Management and Iain Macleod, Managing Partner at iCon Infrastructure considering recent M&A deals, the reasons behind high valuations within the sector plus an assessment of future opportunities.
On day three Theo Olijve, Managing Director of Odfjell’s Rotterdam terminal, will be giving an interactive presentation highlighting how game-changing drone technology can be used to inspect tanks.
The last panel session of the event switches its focus to the storage market in Asia, particularly the challenges and opportunities in helping China build up its national reserves and grow its independent storage market.
The StocExpo Europe 2017 conference then ends with another new feature – three ‘Technology in Action’ sessions. During these, terminal operators and leading equipment providers explain how technologies are improving terminal performance or safety. This includes a case study on Baltic Tank, delivered by the company’s CEO Antti Laaksonen, plus talks on running loading operations more efficiently while avoiding odour complaints, deploying pre-insulated pipe systems and the automation of railcar dispatching.