The deadline for the call for papers for the 22nd Gastech international conference and exhibition for the LNG, LPG and natural gas industries, being held in Abu Dhabi December 4-7 2006 has been extended until February 17.

"We are delighted by the quality and number of submissions we have received so far, but the timing of our next Programme Advisory Committee (PAC) meeting allows a couple of extra weeks for the receipt of abstracts," explains conference producer, Lynne Evans, on behalf of Gastech organisers, dmg world media (uk) ltd.
Linked to the theme of 'Industry Challenges and Managing the Growth," session topics due to come under the Gastech 2006 spotlight include:
• World Gas Supply and Demand, Forecast and Strategy
• Safety and Training for Ships and Terminals
• Natural Gas and LNG Projects, Development and Outlook
• Natural Gas and LNG Facilities, including Storage, Regasification, Floating and Offshore
• Gas to Liquids, Methanol, DME, CNG and Alternative Fuels
• Natural Gas and the Environment
• Governmental Issues - From Policy Framework to Safety and Environmental Issues to Project Permitting
• LNG Shipping: Dev-elopment, Technology, Crewing, Operations and Trends
• Technical Develop-ments in Equipment and Processing
• Alternative Trading Models in the Gas Business
• The LPG and Petchem Gas Industry
• Finance and Legal Issues
• New Frontiers: Geo-graphic and Technical
When examining abstracts the PAC will be looking out for the 'hot topics' under each session heading to ensure the resulting programme addresses all of the challenges and opportunities facing the industry in late 2006.
To aid prospective speakers when constructing their paper, these hot topics can now be found online at www.gastech.co.uk.
As Lynne Evans recommends: "We would urge anyone planning to submit an abstract to take a look at these hot topics first. With the quality of papers already received, competition is strong and the PAC will have some tough choices to make at the next meeting."
Gastech 2006 will be hosted by Adnoc and their group of companies, co-hosted by Dolphin Energy and held in association with ADNEC (the Abu Dhabi National Exhibitions Company). 
Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP have recently been announced as Associate Conference Sponsor, with BP, Chevron, ConocoPhilips, ExxonMobil, Nigeria LNG, RasGas and Upstream amongst the companies who have taken up some of the many sponsorship opportunities offered by Gastech 2006.
The move to Abu Dhabi reflects the Gastech tradition of staging the event in alternating importing and exporting countries - the 2005 event was in Bilbao in Northern Spain.
"Over 5,300 senior gas industry decision makers including over 1,800 delegates and 298 exhibiting companies from 33 countries attended Gastech 2005 in Bilbao in March 2005 breaking all previous records, so it is not surprising that space at Gastech 2006 is selling like those proverbial hot cakes," explains event director, Tony Stephenson of dmg world media (uk) ltd.
"Even before Gastech 2005 had closed, over 60 per cent of available space at Gastech 2006 had been reserved. The uptake since then has been so great that we are expanding into a second hall at the ADNEC and to ensure the ideal traffic flow we are building one of our conference halls within this second exhibition area.
"We are delighted that our rapidly growing exhibitor list includes companies from our host country - the UAE - as well as Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, India, Italy, Japan, Korea, The Netherlands, Nigeria, Norway, Qatar, Russia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand, Trinidad & Tobago, UK and the US.
"The vast majority of exhibitors are those who benefited from being with us in 2005 and at previous Gastechs, but we are also delighted to welcome some companies totally new to the event. Regularly updated exhibitor lists and floorplan appear on the website at www.gastech.co.uk."

Technical tours
Technical tours are very much part and parcel of the Gastech series and provide the ideal opportunity for delegates and exhibitors to visit key facilities the day after the conference closes and to meet the people actively involved in a variety of projects.
Working closely with hosts Adnoc and their group of companies, dmg world media (uk) ltd, will be announcing the programme of technical tours shortly.
Two destinations that are firmly on the list are the Habshan Gas Complex and the LNG processing plant at Das Island.
There is an earlybird booking rate in operation until July 1, that provides a saving of £200 per delegate place ($354.3); full information on available accommodation is an integral part of the welcome back despatched to all delegates. All who book via the Gastech 2006 site will be fast tracked through immigration and customs on arrival at Abu Dhabi.
Etihad Airways is the official Gastech 2006 airline.

Hot topics
These are designed to help prospective speakers home in on the topics that the Gastech PAC is particularly eager to see addressed. Some of the hot topics include:
Commercial sessions:
• World Gas Supply and Demand, Forecast and Strategy
Hot Topics include: Supply: Russia, Qatar, Iran; demand trends: USA, UK; demand source - weave in GTL; total energy picture = price; alternative fuels; lessons learned
• Alternative Trading Models in the Gas Business
Hot topics include: How does trading need to change?; virtual trading; emissions trading
• Natural Gas and LNG facilities including storage, regasification, floating and offshore (commercial aspects)
Hot topics include: Overcapacity - what to do with it all?; step change in cost of building projects or is price about to come down (rich vs poor = oil vs contractors); arbitrage.