The World Petroleum Council (WPC) is an oil

Oil

An oil is any substance that is liquid at ambient temperatures and does not mix with water but may mix with other oils and organic solvents. This general definition includes vegetable oils, volatile essential oils, petrochemical oils, and synthetic oils....

 and gas

Gas

Gas is one of the three classical states of matter . Near absolute zero, a substance exists as a solid. As heat is added to this substance it melts into a liquid at its melting point , boils into a gas at its boiling point, and if heated high enough would enter a plasma state in which the electrons...

 industry

Industry

Industry refers to the production of an economic good or service within an economy.-Industrial sectors:There are four key industrial economic sectors: the primary sector, largely raw material extraction industries such as mining and farming; the secondary sector, involving refining, construction,...

 forum and international organization

International organization

An intergovernmental organization, sometimes rendered as an international governmental organization and both abbreviated as IGO, is an organization composed primarily of sovereign states , or of other intergovernmental organizations...

 representing the petroleum

Petroleum

Petroleum or crude oil is a naturally occurring, flammable liquid consisting of a complex mixture of hydrocarbons of various molecular weights and other liquid organic compounds, that are found in geologic formations beneath the Earth's surface. Petroleum is recovered mostly through oil drilling...

 sector worldwide

WPC has been called "the world’s premier oil & gas forum since 1933." It is widely recognised to "include the most prestigious national oil and gas companies and agencies of the world"

The World Petroleum Congress

The premier conference that is organized by the World Petroleum Council is called the World Petroleum Congress. Starting in 1933, the congress was held every four years until 1991, with a 14-year hiatus in between because of World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

. After 1991, it was held every three years until the year 2000. There was a move to have it hosted every two years after the 2000 edition, with Rio de Janeiro

Rio de Janeiro

Rio de Janeiro , commonly referred to simply as Rio, is the capital city of the State of Rio de Janeiro, the second largest city of Brazil, and the third largest metropolitan area and agglomeration in South America, boasting approximately 6.3 million people within the city proper, making it the 6th...

 hosting one in 2002, but the cycle returned to every three years after that. In order to host a congress, there is a bidding process by interested cities for one in a particular year.

WPC	Year	Host city	Host country
1st	1933	London	United Kingdom
2nd	1937	Paris	Early Modern France
3rd	1951	The Hague The Hague The Hague is the capital city of the province of South Holland in the Netherlands. With a population of 500,000 inhabitants , it is the third largest city of the Netherlands, after Amsterdam and Rotterdam...	Netherlands
4th	1955	Rome	Italy
5th	1959	New York City	United States
6th	1963	Frankfurt Frankfurt Frankfurt am Main , commonly known simply as Frankfurt, is the largest city in the German state of Hesse and the fifth-largest city in Germany, with a 2010 population of 688,249. The urban area had an estimated population of 2,300,000 in 2010...	West Germany
7th	1967	Mexico City Mexico City Mexico City is the Federal District , capital of Mexico and seat of the federal powers of the Mexican Union. It is a federal entity within Mexico which is not part of any one of the 31 Mexican states but belongs to the federation as a whole...	Mexico
8th	1971	Moscow	Soviet Union
9th	1975	Tokyo	Japan
10th	1979	Bucharest Bucharest Bucharest is the capital municipality, cultural, industrial, and financial centre of Romania. It is the largest city in Romania, located in the southeast of the country, at , and lies on the banks of the Dâmbovița River....	Romania
11th	1983	London	United Kingdom
12th	1987	Houston	United States
13th	1991	Buenos Aires Buenos Aires Buenos Aires is the capital and largest city of Argentina, and the second-largest metropolitan area in South America, after São Paulo. It is located on the western shore of the estuary of the Río de la Plata, on the southeastern coast of the South American continent...	Argentina
14th	1994	Stavanger	Norway
15th	1997	Beijing	Mainland China
16th http://www.world-petroleum.org/index.php?/Congresses/16th-wpc.html	2000	Calgary Calgary Calgary is a city in the Province of Alberta, Canada. It is located in the south of the province, in an area of foothills and prairie, approximately east of the front ranges of the Canadian Rockies...	Canada
17th http://www.world-petroleum.org/index.php?/Congresses/17th-wpc.html	2002	Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro , commonly referred to simply as Rio, is the capital city of the State of Rio de Janeiro, the second largest city of Brazil, and the third largest metropolitan area and agglomeration in South America, boasting approximately 6.3 million people within the city proper, making it the 6th...	Brazil
18th http://www.world-petroleum.org/index.php?/Congresses/18th-congress.html	2005	Johannesburg Johannesburg Johannesburg also known as Jozi, Jo'burg or Egoli, is the largest city in South Africa, by population. Johannesburg is the provincial capital of Gauteng, the wealthiest province in South Africa, having the largest economy of any metropolitan region in Sub-Saharan Africa...	South Africa
19th http://www.world-petroleum.org/index.php?/Congresses/19th-wpc.html	2008	Madrid	Spain
20th http://www.world-petroleum.org/index.php?/Congresses/20th-wpc-doha.html	2011	Doha Doha Doha is the capital city of the state of Qatar. Located on the Persian Gulf, it had a population of 998,651 in 2008, and is also one of the municipalities of Qatar...	Qatar
21st	2014	Moscow	Russia