Offshore Europe 2007 Offers New Perspectives on Industry Challenges

Erica Shillings, JPT Assistant Features Editor

With demand for oil and gas rising, the industry is exploring ways to find new reserves despite the challenges to drill deeper wells, withstand harsher temperatures, and take risks with higher pressures. Companies are being forced to test the limits of their facilities, revisit existing fields, and try new technologies. This year’s Offshore Europe conference will explore these and other topics through a range of panel and technical sessions. The conference, to be held 4–7 September in Aberdeen, also will highlight technology from 1,400 exhibiting service and operating companies.

Offshore Europe is the largest exploration and production event outside of North America. The first conference was in 1973, and since then it has evolved into a biennial event held at the Aberdeen Exhibition and Conference Centre. The conference in 2005 attracted a record-breaking 32,000 visitors.

Rediscovering New Technology

This year’s conference theme, “Rediscovering the Future,” wants attendees to do just that by examining the industry’s past and current problems in the light of technological advances. Aside from the sea of exhibits, the conference will feature 12 technical sessions, four panel sessions, and three topical luncheons. “The conference theme highlights the fact that there are many options open to our industry today that perhaps were not present in the past,” said Offshore Europe Chairperson Mark Carne, BG Group’s Executive Vice President and Managing Director for Europe and Central Asia. “The keynote event and panel sessions will be genuine debates where people will hear alternative perspectives and have their own preconceived ideas challenged. People will be able to contribute to the discussions, ensuring that this will be a lively and interactive event. The core of the conference lies in the technical sessions where we anticipate world-class presentations on technology and working practices.”

Twelve technical sessions will be featured at the conference. Technical sessions will be led by experts in the industry and will cover reservoir management, including new technology, surveillance and operations, and case studies; exploration; carbon; well technology, including completions and drilling; facilities and infrastructure; and people issues, such as the industry’s current technical-
skills shortage.

The opening plenary session on Tuesday will highlight a discussion on the future of the industry, including how it needs to adapt to the challenges and changes in society, featuring experts from major operators, service companies, and government. Panelists include Malcolm Brinded, Executive Director E&P, Royal Dutch Shell; Robert Olsen, Chairman and Production Director, ExxonMobil; David Lesar, Chairman of the Board, President, and Chief Executive Officer, Halliburton; Frank Chapman, Chief Executive, BG Group; and Peter Truscott, Parliamentary Undersecretary of the State of Energy, UK Department of Trade and Industry.

Panel Sessions

Four panel sessions will take place during the conference. The sessions are titled “Towards a Low Carbon Future,” “Delivering in Today's Market,” “Safety,” and “People.” These sessions allow conference attendees to hear different perspectives on contemporary challenges facing the industry. During the panel sessions, the audience will be able to contribute to the discussions and interject their own opinions.

The first panel session, “Towards a Low Carbon Future,” will take place on Wednesday. Session speakers include Jeff Chapman, Chief Executive, Carbon Capture and Storage Association; Mike Sheppard, Schlumberger Fellow, Adviser to Chief Scientist, Schlumberger; Tom Burke, Founding Director of E3G and visiting professor at Imperial College and University College, London; Trude Sundset, Chief Researcher Energy and Environment, Statoil; and David Reiner, Director of the MPhil in Technology Policy Program, Judge Business School, Cambridge University. The session will explain the role that carbon capture and storage can play in reducing greenhouse-gas emissions and its scale of opportunity in the industry. Other topics include the challenges of regulating carbon emissions and the financial incentives for a low carbon future. At the end of the session, the audience will be invited to participate in the debate.

The second panel session, also on Wednesday, is titled “Delivering in Today’s Market” and features John Methven, Petrofac; Gordon Ballard, Schlumberger; Gavin Prise, Expro International Group; and Kjell-Erik Ostdahl, Statoil. This session will focus on the importance of delivery for both operators and contractors, and it will include discussion of cost, risk, new technology, quality, safety, and penalties.

The panel session “Safety” will be chaired by Les Thomas of the Wood Group and includes panelists Charles Bowen, Oil and Gas Producers; Joep Groeneweg, Leiden University; John Mogford, BP; Bob Keiller, PSN; and Don Jacobsen, Shell. Panelists will review safety performance and recent industry safety statistics. Panelists will answer such questions as what are the global performance trends, how reliable are the statistics, and are there other measures that should be taken to evaluate and enhance industry safety. Speakers also will evaluate asset integrity and the attention it has received over the years in relation to severe incidents and fatalities. A question-and-answer portion will conclude the session.

The final panel session, titled “People,” will discuss the ongoing challenge of finding new talent for the oil and gas industry and address whether the market can be relied upon to produce the next wave of engineers or whether the industry needs more support from government, education, and trade unions. Panelists will debate this motion: “This House believes that the market provides the industry with the sustainable, skilled workforce that it requires.” Panelists will be divided into supporters and opponents of the motion. Supporting the motion will be Dominic Houlihan, University of Aberdeen, and Malcolm Webb, Oil and Gas UK. Against the motion will be Alex Salmond, MP, and Mike Bowyer, Halliburton. The session will be moderated by Steve Harris of Shell.

“The plenary sessions give us an opportunity to step back from our day-to-day professional preoccupations and take an overview of our industry,” Carne said. “They will be fronted by some leading figures from the oil and gas industry. We are inviting nonindustry analysts and commentators to give their views of how the industry is performing or how we can step up our game. It is always valuable to have our own assumptions challenged, and I hope the plenary sessions will do that, as well as prompting some lively debate.”

Strengthening the Workforce

In addition to technical and panel sessions, Offshore Europe will feature events for individuals looking for careers in the industry. The Oil Career Fair will be held throughout the conference and gives individuals an opportunity to meet with operators and service companies for possible employment. An Education Day is designed for those 14 years and older and will give exhibitors and potential employers a chance to get noticed and build relationships with schools and students.

More information about the conference is available at www.offshore-europe.co.uk.