The Southern hemisphere’s largest oil and gas event, the Australasian Oil & Gas Exhibition (AOG), enjoyed a successful opening day with record numbers of attendees flowing through the 15,000sqm event, according to organisers Diversified Exhibitions.
Exhibition director, Bill Hare, said that interest in the Australian oil and gas industry is thriving and that first day numbers reflected industry demand for AOG and its relevance in the market.
“By 3pm on our opening day, we had already surpassed the total first day numbers of 2009. At close, numbers were up 31 per cent on last year — a really positive result. The market is showing keen interest in the event and AOG has really cemented itself as the must-attend event for the oil and gas industry,” Hare said.
Lord Digby Jones, Business Ambassador for UK Trade & Investment, was impressed by the size of the event and the industry’s keen participation.
“I don’t think I expected such a big exhibition and what impressed me most was the number of stands. Masses of stands indicates participation in, what I think, is the important part of the industry — the support service side, the knowledge economy side. There is more technology in this industry than that which put a man on the moon and AOG is living proof of that,” he said.
“This is the most important exhibition, in the most important industry, in the most important part of the oil and gas world. For me to be invited here and to take part in it and to understand it — I’m privileged. I applaud Diversified Exhibitions for organising AOG and I thank the Australian industry for making me feel so welcome. If you are kind enough to invite me back, I will be pleased to return.”
The success of day one is expected to continue over the next two days with a lengthy program of seminars and events scheduled to take place.
“AOG offers the industry a complex and exciting three days of business and networking — whether that is attending the conference, sitting in on topical seminars, walking the show floor and speaking with exhibitors or attending one of our social events — AOG is the premier event for the oil and gas industry in Australasia,” Hare said.