History

The Organisation

The World Petroleum Council is the world’s premier global oil and gas forum and is the only international organization representing all aspects of the petroleum sector.  2008 marked the 75th anniversary of the organization. The WPC was established in 1933 with the intent to promote the management of the world’s petroleum resources for the benefit of mankind.  The WPC’s prime function is to catalyse and facilitate dialogue among stakeholders, both internal and external to the petroleum industry on key technical, social, environmental and management issues in order to contribute towards seeking solutions to those issues.

Accordingly the WPC does not have a formal position on issues but does act as a forum to bring together in dialogue the various sectors of society that have views on specific issues. WPC is a non-advocacy, non-political organisation and has accreditation as a Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) from the UN. The WPC is dedicated to the application of scientific advances in the oil and gas industries, to technology transfer and to the use of the world's petroleum resources for the benefit of all.

Headquartered in London, the World Petroleum Council includes 60 member countries from around the world representing over 95% of global oil and gas production and consumption. WPC membership is unique as it includes both OPEC and Non-OPEC countries with representation of National Oil Companies (NOC’s) as well as Independent Oil Companies (IOC’s). Each country has a national committee made up from representatives of the oil and gas industry, academia and research institutions and government departments. Governing body is the Council consisting of representation from each of the country national committees.

Every three years the Council organises the World Petroleum Congress hosted by one of its member countries. The triennial Congress is also known as the “Olympics” of the petroleum industry and covers all aspects of the industry from technological advances in upstream and downstream operations to the role of natural gas and renewables, management of the industry and its social, economic and environmental impact. In addition, outside stakeholders such as governments, other industry sectors, NGOs and international institutions have also joined in the dialogue