Just a few days before the Global Energy Show was scheduled to kick off in Calgary, the massive industry event has been postponed until next summer.
With the province declaring a state of public health emergency and introducing new restrictions to deal with a surging number of COVID-19 cases in Alberta, the annual energy conference has been moved to June 2022 — marking the second year that the global gathering has been deferred.
The event is typically held in June. It was cancelled in 2020, for the first time in its 55-year history, due to the global pandemic.
This year’s exhibition had previously been rescheduled from the summer until Sept. 21-23, but has now been put off until 2022, the organizers said Friday.
“It’s a state of emergency and that’s what we’ve been assessing … safety is our top priority,” said show director Nick Samain, a vice-president with dmg events, which runs the exhibition.
“We are four days until open … We are disappointed as a team. The industry, I know, is disappointed.”
This year’s show was to include discussions on emerging issues such as hydrogen and geothermal energy, as well as oil and gas development and renewable energy.
Planned speakers included former U.S. Energy Secretary Rick Perry, Premier Jason Kenney, Cenovus Energy CEO Alex Pourbaix, Ontario Energy Minister Todd Smith, ATCO chair Nancy Southern and Shell Canada country chair Susannah Pierce.
Daily attendance had been capped at 10,000 per day, about 60 per cent of normal, and about 300 exhibitors were expected this year at the BMO Centre, Samain said.
“We will be absolutely back with more in 2022,” he added. “We are disappointed, but we see this as something that is short term.”
The fourth wave of the COVID-19 pandemic has led to changes with several large conferences planned in Alberta this month.
On Thursday, the Edmonton Comics & Entertainment Expo 2021, which was slated to begin next month, was cancelled due to the provincial announcement.
In Calgary, the Inventures 2021 business conference, which was scheduled for Sept. 22-24, has also been cancelled until June 2022 as “it became clear that the fourth wave of COVID-19 has disrupted the lives and plans of people everywhere in the world, across the country and here in Alberta,” the organizers said in an online statement.
“With the comments of participants in mind, we made the decision to stand down Inventures … and focus our efforts on the June 2022 edition — just nine months away.”
Inventures, hosted by Alberta Innovates, is designed to connect entrepreneurs, startups, small and medium-sized enterprises with inventors, venture capitalists and other industry leaders.
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