Houston CeraWeek energy conference cancelled

The annual CeraWeek energy conference in Houston, Texas, scheduled for later this month has been cancelled over mounting concerns about the spread of the coronavirus, the organizer said today.

The event hosted by consultancy IHS Markit brings tens of thousands of visitors to Houston every year to network and hear from heads of state, Opec representatives, company executives and others.

The 9-13 March event was cancelled because of the raised threat level by the World Health Organization (WHO) on 28 February, travel bans by companies, border health checks and growing concerns about large conferences with people coming from different parts of the world, IHS Markit said. Delegates from over 80 countries were expected to participate in the event this year.

The US is expanding travel restrictions as the virus spreads, including advising against travel to parts of Italy and South Korea as those countries see a rapid increase in the number of diagnosed coronavirus infections.

The US is also considering closing the border with Mexico in response to the virus, President Donald Trump said during a press conference yesterday. Mexico has reported four cases of coronavirus so far.

There have been more than 85,000 coronavirus cases documented globally and 2,900 fatalities, most of them in China. The US reported its first coronavirus related death this weekend.

By Manash Goswami