Kenyan authorities said on Friday the country will host international conference on petroleum next month as the east African nation seeks regional petroleum hub status.

A statement from the National Oil Corporation of Kenya (NOCK) said the African Petroleum Conference to be co-hosted by Kenya's energy ministry and the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) will bring together over 600 industry experts to share experiences on issues such as energy security, energy efficiency and finance.

NOCK Managing Director Mwendia Nyaga said the May 23 to 25 conference will also share experiences on risks management and technology development.

"The global petroleum industry is growing in size and complexity; governments, consumers, corporate, the media representatives require increasingly specialist information," said Nyaga.

"The conference will assemble an impressive panel of speakers amongst them Nobel Laureate and lawmaker Prof. Wangari Maathai, Dr. S. Panitchpakdi, UNCTAD Secretary General, Gerald Doucet, World Energy Council Secretary General and Kenyan ministers of energy and finance," he said.

"The petroleum industry is one that is ever changing, dynamic and crucial to the lives and economies of all people and nations around the world. Oil and gas demand are high and growing so much so that the world consumes twice as much oil as is found today," said Nyaga.

"Oil and gas are by far Africa's largest export -- four times as important as all non-fuel commodity exports combined -- and its expanding in value."

According Patrick Noyike, Kenya's permanent secretary in the Energy Ministry, key issues on the agenda set for discussion include financing Africa's hydrocarbons development and hydrocarbons resources management.

Nyoike said developing trans-border infrastructure and financing import and storage of oil and oil products is among issues to be discussed.

"As we seek to exploit latest technology in exploration and exploitation of oil in an order to get better prices and register higher efficiency, the multiplier effect of the conference on the Kenyan economy will be substantial," he said.

The conference comes as the east African nation faces fuel crisis and analysts have warned that the current fuel shortage might spark rise in inflation unless the government moves fast to avert the crisis amid fears dealers would increase the prices.

But Kenyan officials say the current crisis has been sparked by high demand of fuel in Kenya and neighboring countries has outstripped the local pumping capacity.

But Energy minister has allayed fears about fuel crisis, saying the country has enough petrol and diesel in the country and blamed the crisis on the supply chain.

Source: Xinhua