The decision of cancelling CERAWeek 2020 was made after careful consideration following an advisory issued by the World Health Organization (WHO), according to a joint statement issued Sunday night in Houston, U.S. state of Texas.

The statement, jointly issued by Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner and IHS Markit Vice Chairman and CERAWeek Chair Daniel Yergin, said the decision was made after careful consideration following a WHO advisory about the spread of the COVID-19 virus, "a growing concern about large conferences with people coming from different parts of the world and the restriction of travel by a growing number of companies."

"Nothing specific to Houston led to this decision," the statement added, stating the city reports no confirmed cases of COVID-19 so far.

"The focus of concern was the number of delegates coming to Houston from more than 80 other countries at this particular time of uncertainty," said the statement. For the same reason, IHS Markit has also cancelled two other international conferences this month scheduled in the United States.

The decision of the cancellation "was precautionary to help prevent further spread of COVID-19 in the United States," said the statement.

The CERAWeek 2020 was originally scheduled to run between March 9 and March 13 in Houston, which has hosted the conference for more than 35 years.

The CERAWeek, an annual energy conference held in March, is usually attended by around 5,000 people across the world.

During the CERAWeek 2019, there was a special dialogue on China, as well as several discussions, designed to focus on Asian and Chinese energy market since China has become one of the largest energy consumption economies in the world.

(Photo: VCG)