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Founded in 1969, the Offshore Technology
Conference (OTC) is the world's foremost event for the development
of offshore resources in the fields of drilling, exploration,
production, and environmental protection.
Through all the new technology developments,
political changes, and economic volatility of the oil and
gas industry for the past three decades, the Offshore Technology
Conference has grown into a stable and valued event for industry
executives, engineers, managers, and scientists. From its
debut at the Albert Thomas Convention Center in Houston in
1969 to its zenith in 1982 to the stabilizing 1990s, OTC has
experienced and reflected the pulse of the offshore industry.
The 1999 event boasted the second-highest attendance and exhibition
since 1985.
The first conference drew some 4,200
attendees and included 200 exhibitors. But, as the industry
experienced growth, so did OTC. The industry, and the conference,
survived embargoes and turmoil in the mid-1970s, but also
experienced periods of prosperity.
Between 1978 and 1982, with prices buoyed
by conflict in the Middle East, exponential growth was the
theme for OTC. At its height, the conference garnered 2,500
exhibitors and more than 108,000 attendees and was forced
to spill over into the floor of the Houston Astrodome. Only
two years later, OTC organizers decided to refocus the scope
of OTC, maintaining the serious, professional platform of
the technical program and the exhibition. The move prompted
offshore service companies to explicitly use the conference
as a way to showcase breakthrough technologies that were needed
to explore new offshore territories in places like the North
and Caspian seas.
A brief period of higher oil and gas
prices in the early 1990s allowed for an even higher level
of technical innovation, as major projects were undertaken
in ultra deepwater and the harsh seas of the Northern Hemisphere.
OTC also has recognized how the oil and gas industry is reinventing
itself, and the conference now includes expert panel sessions
on how industry professionals can adapt to change.
OTC still ranks among the largest 200
trade shows held annually in the United States and is among
the 10 largest meetings in terms of attendance. Since 2003,
attendance exceeded 50,000 per year.
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