SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT

WorldOil.com relaunches as the new World Oil Online

The new site testifies to Gulf Publishing Company’s continued investment in editorial excellence.  

Gulf Publishing Company, publisher of World Oil magazine and a subsidiary of Euromoney Institutional Investor PLC, has transformed WorldOil.com into the new, more robust, easier-to-navigate World Oil Online. The goal of the website redesign was to create a better user experience for World Oil subscribers and WorldOil.com users through improved navigation and design that showcases the magazine’s great editorial as well as the numerous tools available for engineers and managers in the upstream oil and gas industry. The Gulf Publishing Company staff spent two years on the planning and development of the new site, which culminated in its launch on March 3, 2009.

The homepage has been designed as a road map to the site where you can click through to the current issue, the WO DataHub, the Energy Events Calendar, the Composite Catalog, the current WTI oil and gas prices and the WO Media Center. The WO DataHub is a resource for engineers with various data tables, select technical handbooks and the Marine Drilling Rig Directory. The Energy Events Calendar continues to feature the key meetings and conferences that shape the petroleum industry and now features an easier application for event organizers to submit their events to the World Oil editorial staff for publication approval. The Composite Catalog features the same information that made it the petroleum industry’s preferred source for specifying and purchasing oilfield equipment and services. The WO Media Center provides industry information using videos, podcasts, webcasts, white papers and blogs.

One benefit of the improved navigability is the increased visibility of important tools for engineers and management, such as the Energy InfoCenter. This tool offers quick links to resources including the magazine’s latest “Industry at a Glance” section, current oil and gas prices and trends, the Viz (Visualization) Network, the Microsoft Oil and Gas Directory and the Software Reference Guide. In the coming weeks, the site will be further improved with expanded site search tools, the WO Wire daily news and the introduction of World Oil e-newsletters.

Many visitors will notice a significant change that has been built into the website. Portions of the site, including the WO DataHub, have been limited to paid subscribers only. While “paid” may have an ominous ring to it, we hope our visitors will understand the value of the data that is being held behind those “walls.” World Oil has invested and will continue to invest a sizeable amount of time, money and effort collecting data from a variety of sources. At present, much of that investment involves aggregating and collating technical data on a variety of products and services to provide the user with a variety of real-time technical information in a “one-stop shop” setting. To offset the costs of maintaining these large databases, a nominal fee is required. In addition, over 10 years of World Oil archives and select technical handbooks will also be part of this paid section. In the coming weeks, Gulf Publishing Company will preview many of these sections to allow World Oil Online visitors to experience the true value of this information.

This is just the first step in a long line of investments by Gulf Publishing Company in the field of digital publishing. Despite the current industry downturn, Gulf Publishing Company is committed to investing in all of its products, both online and offline, to maintain the same level of editorial excellence to its readers that we have since 1916. Rusty Meador, President and CEO of Gulf Publishing Company, said, “We’re committed to providing the same quality product that World Oil readers have come to expect in this new and unique online experience.” The steps taken with the current redesign were also done with an eye toward the other significant upgrades that will be released in the coming months. Keep your eye on www.WorldOil.com for the latest industry trends and technology as well as exciting new additions.