The Petrochemical and Refining Congress: Europe 2024 was held on 13-15 May in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. The 8th edition of the event gathered over 400 experts from more than 200 companies of the downstream sector to shape the future of industry.

PRC Europe 2024 represented as a platform for leaders to collaborate: delegates from oil companies, EPC contractors, refineries and petrochemical plants, chemical companies, licensors, service providers and equipment manufacturers came together to define strategies and explore technological advancements driving downstream transformation.

The central focus of the Congress, decarbonisation and defossilisation in the oil and gas industry, reflected the complex challenge of balancing energy security, affordability and sustainability.

The two-day business programme started with an executive opening panel featuring C-level speakers to explore global defossilisation trends and the impact of legislation. Olga Schemberkas, Project Director of the Congress, delivered a warm welcome to the audience. Co-hosts of the PRC Europe 2024 Khalid AlMoaili, Vice President of Technical Services at Aramco Overseas Company, and Ferry Winter, Director at Energy Transition Campus Amsterdam, delivered speeches emphasizing the importance of investing in sustainable technologies and fostering innovation in the Energy Transition. Remko Goudappel, speaker from Jacobi Carbons, provided valuable insights into their companies’ sustainability journey. The representatives of TechnipEnergies, Zainul Abdin, and Johnson Matthey, Eugene McKenna, presented reports on bridging the traditional energy and chemical industry with a low-carbon future and the essential role of hydrogen in reducing carbon emissions. Ralf Schairer from PCK Raffinerie joined the panel and offered a compelling perspective on refinery transformation through regional collaboration.

Other sessions included topics on decarbonisation, alternative fuels production and cutting-edge downstream technologies. The agenda featured topics that had a look at specific solutions such as recycling technology combinations, variety of sustainable fuels, opportunities for using green hydrogen in refineries and digital technologies in monitoring systems.

Participants of the PRC Europe 2024 lauded the interactive and practical format of the discussions. Two workshops, focusing on digital transformation and synthetic fuels, attracted significant interest.

The workshop of the first day, sponsored by IRISS, explored the critical link between operational safety and reliability. Aramco Overseas, co-host of PRC Europe 2024, presented a practical session titled “Synthetic Fuels and the Refinery of the Future”, outlining their vision for the industry evolution.

The second day of the Congress concluded with a closing panel, where speakers from BlueAlp, Repsol, PETRONAS Chemicals Group Berhad, Bayernoil Raffineriegesellschaft and BDI-BioEnergy International shared their innovative technologies that could help to use the full potential of recycling.

On the third day of the Congress, attendees​​ had a unique opportunity to visit the Energy Transition Campus Amsterdam created by Shell. It provided a first-hand look at modern technologies, sustainable practices and solutions. The visit concluded with dynamic panel discussions featuring industry experts from ETCA.

The next edition of the Petrochemical and Refining Congress is going to take place in Milan, Italy on 19-20 May 2025. The registration of the companies is already open.
Join the next edition of PRC Europe 2025: https://sh.bgs.group/1kf