Estonia hosting the "International Oil Shale Symposium"

The Oil Shale Symposium, being held in Estonia for the fourth time, will be attended by representatives of the International Energy Agency (IEA) and the World Energy Council (WEC), as well as experts from the world’s leading oil shale industries and universities involved in the sector, writes LETA.

“Estonia has years of experience and extensive knowledge in mining and processing oil shale. Oil shale is the cornerstone of our energy security. This makes us one of the leading oil shale developers in the world. Ever more countries are taking an interest in tapping their oil shale reserves, and in this Estonia can show the way, sharing its knowledge and experience,” said Juhan Parts, Estonia's Minister of Economic Affairs and Communications and one of the main presenters at the Symposium.

The objective for the Symposium, organized by Enefit, Tallinn University of Technology, University of Tartu and Colorado School of Mines, is to generate and boost international interest in the oil shale industry and to be the initiator of discussion and the builder of links amongst various interest groups in the development of this industry.

“The Symposium will provide Estonia with an extraordinary opportunity to continue its long-standing tradition of hosting this conference on oil shale and to demonstrate its world-class knowledge and experience in the oil shale industry,” Sandor Liive, Chairman of the Management Board at Enefit, elaborated on the reasons for this major event on oil shale being held in Estonia.

The Symposium will feature over 50 presentations.

They will include presentations by Didier Houssin, Director of Energy Market and Security, IEA, who will address the outlook for non-conventional oil and gas on the global energy market, and Dr Leonhard Birnbaum, Vice Chair Europe, WEC, who will discuss global energy trends. Sustainability of oil shale energy will be analyzed by the macroeconomics expert Hardo Pajula.

The international oil shale conference will be held in Estonia for the fourth time. The first conference was held in Estonia in 1968. The last time Estonia hosted the International Oil Shale Symposium was in 2009, when the event was attended by 300 specialists in their respective fields from 24 countries. Attendees at this Symposium will include the oil shale industry's most successful companies, technology developers, most acclaimed researchers, academics, and governments’ representatives and officials in the relevant field. More than 300 attendees from 21 countries have been registered, including oil shale specialists from China, the United States, Brazil, Jordan, Russia and Turkey.

The Oil Shale Symposium will be held at Tallinn University of Technology, from 10 to 11 June. The event is being organised with support from Enefit, Tallinn University of Technology, University of Tartu, Colorado School of Mines, Haldor Topse, Air Products, Outotec, Total, Fluor and QER, with the event partners including the WEC and the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications of the Republic of Estonia.

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