More than 4,000 oil and gas professionals from around the world are anticipated to attend the 10th edition of the 2016 International Petroleum Technology Conference (IPTC) from 14–16 November in Bangkok. With its theme, “Innovation and Efficiency Excellence for Our Energy Future,” the conference will feature detailed technical talks on the industry, with more than 380 technical papers from over 120 organizations scheduled for presentation.
The conference will be held at the Bangkok Convention Center at CentralWorld. PTT Exploration and Production Public Company Limited (PTTEP) is the host organization for this event. Here is a closer look at some of the events scheduled to take place.
Opening Ceremonies
IPTC begins at 0830 on Monday, 14 November, with an opening and executive plenary session. Somporn Vongvuthipornchai, president and chief executive officer (CEO) of PTTEP and IPTC executive committee chairman, is scheduled to provide welcome remarks at this session along with IPTC board chairman David Blanchard.
Other speakers at the opening session will include Bakheet Al Katheeri, chief growth officer at Mubadala Petroleum; Datuk Mohd Anuar Taib, executive vice president and CEO for upstream at Petronas; Patrick Schorn, president of operations at Schlumberger; Bernard J. Duroc-Danner, chairman, CEO, and president of Weatherford International; and Somporn Vongvuthipornchai.
Scheduled for Tuesday, 15 November, the opening ceremony will feature a speech from Pratchaya Pinyawat, board chairman at PTTEP, and a ministerial address by H.E. General Anantaporn Kanjanarat, Thailand’s minister of energy. H.E. Pedro Conceição Couto, Mozambique’s minister of mineral resources and energy, has also been invited to speak during the session.
The opening ceremony will also include the presentation of the IPTC Excellence in Project Integration Award. The award is given to a project that adds value to the industry while exemplifying teamwork, geoscience knowledge, reservoir and production engineering acumen, determined and watchful construction, outstanding facilities engineering practices, and a pervasive culture of health, safety, security, environment, and social responsibility (HSSE-SR). The award committee received 14 nominations from 11 organizations representing nine countries.
Representatives from Thailand government ministries and departments, as well as engineering and technical industry professionals, are expected to attend. The opening ceremony and ministerial session will begin at 0830.
Panel Sessions
In addition to the executive plenary session, IPTC will host five panel discussions covering a variety of important topics currently facing the industry.
The first session, “Partnership in a New Paradigm,” is scheduled for 1100 on 14 November. Panelists will discuss their views on the demands of collaboration in the current energy market, taking into account technical aspects and cost efficiency. They will also focus on the realistic and practical forms of joint efforts with controlling bodies and look for the key enablers which can help sustain future investment in partnerships and joint efforts.
Scheduled speakers for the first session include Adif Zulkifli, senior vice president of corporate strategy at Petronas; Hatem Soliman, president of Middle East and Asia at Schlumberger; Shah Hakim bin Zain, group CEO at Scomi; Arnaud Pieton, president of Asia Pacific operations at Technip; Emmanuelle Tutenuit, general manager at Total E&P Thailand; and John Kaldi, head of the petroleum engineering and geoscience department at the University of Adelaide.
The second session, scheduled for 1400 on 14 November, is a gathering of the presidents of IPTC’s four sponsoring societies: the American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG), the European Association of Geoscientists and Engineers (EAGE), the Society of Exploration Geophysicists (SEG), and the Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE). The presidents will share their perspectives on the technologies and trends shaping the energy landscape.
Speakers slated to appear at the second session are Paul Britt, AAPG president and president of Texplore; Chris Ward, EAGE president and vice president of reservoir development services for Europe, Africa, Russia, and the Caspian Region at Baker Hughes; William L. Abriel, SEG president and a consultant at Orinda Geophysical; and Janeen Judah, SPE president and general manager for southern Africa at Chevron.
The third session, “Advances in Technology to Access Resources,” will discuss the industrial, environmental, technological, and regulatory challenges for the development of conventional and unconventional oil and gas resources. The panelists will also explore the opportunities that exist for environmental revitalization and economic development in the future.
The session is scheduled for 1415 on 15 November. Panelists include Andy Shaw, vice president of reservoir development services for the Middle East and Asia Pacific at Baker Hughes; James Wong, senior manager of the Tapis enhanced oil recovery project at ExxonMobil; Nasir Haji Darman, head of the group research and technology and the project delivery and technology departments at Petronas; John Gallagher, executive vice president of upstream development at Royal Dutch Shell; and Emmanuel Delvaux, vice president of marketing and technology for the reservoir characterization group at Schlumberger.
The fourth session, “Targeting Perfect HSSE Culture, Sustainability, and Community Harmony,” is scheduled for 1615 on 15 November. The panelists will address the environmental, social, and economic issues facing the industry, focusing on ways the industry can develop more sustainable projects in a time of stronger fiscal and governmental restraints.
Scheduled speakers for the session are Sharbini Suhaili, vice president of group health, safety, security, and environment at Petronas; Kesara Limmeechokchai, senior vice president for the safety, security, health, and environment division at PTTEP; Khalid Al Hemaidi, chief health, safety, environment, and quality officer at RasGas; John Christian, vice president of quality, health, safety, environment, and security for Asia Pacific and Malaysia at Technip; Xavier Préel, general manager for Total Myanmar; and Pierce Riemer, executive director of the World Petroleum Council.
The last session of the conference will be held on the final day of the conference at 1100 on 16 November. The session, “Gas Business Strategy and Development in Asia,” will address a number of topics related to the gas business opportunities in Asian countries. Topics of discussion include the importance of natural gas to the economy of Asian countries, the influence of unconventional development in the United States on the Asian gas landscape, and the factors that contribute to a strong investment climate in Asian gas.
Speakers slated to appear at the last session are Andrew Duncan, technical director at Gaffney, Cline, and Associates; Wuttikorn Stithit, executive vice president of natural gas supply and trading at PTT Public Company Limited; Nafez Bseiso, chief development officer at RasGas; and Jean Jaylet, senior vice president of strategy, market analysis, and liquefied natural gas for the gas division at Total.
All panel sessions will be held in World Ballroom B on Level 23 of the Bangkok Convention Center.
Exhibition Floor
IPTC will feature more than 2000 m2 (6,562 ft2) exhibition space at the Bangkok Convention Center, where attendees will have a chance to learn more about the technological advancements generated by national oil companies, multinational companies, service companies and other organizations.
Among the companies scheduled to exhibit are Baker Hughes, the China National Petroleum Corporation, Halliburton, the Kuwait Oil Company, Mubadala Petroleum, Petronas, PTTEP, Qatar Petroleum, Schlumberger, Technip, Waste Management Siam, Weatherford, and the Japan Oil, Gas, and Metals National Corporation.
Ask the Experts
IPTC will feature Ask the Expert sessions, where attendees will hear from industry insiders and other distinguished lecturers on topics related to the conference’s mission of advancing scientific and technical knowledge related to oil and gas production. The sessions will feature a 45-minute keynote presentation from a guest speaker and a 45-minute question and answer session.
Session topics will include
- Offshore Field Development and Project Management. Peter Behrenbruch, professor, Australian School of Petroleum, University of Adelaide, will highlight key aspects of field development planning, project drivers, and important project management considerations in subsurface technology (geoscience and engineering), well construction, and facilities engineering. Several case studies demonstrating best practices and lessons learned in the planning and implementation of offshore projects will be shown.
- Play-Based Exploration, Technology and Skills, Challenges in South Southeast Asia. Gerhardus Brink, principal geoscientist at Schlumberger, will present the prime challenges in stratigraphic and structural interpretation in the context of the region.
- Hydraulic Fracturing. Mark Pearson, president of Liberty Resources, will review the growth in hydraulic fracturing technology in North America and discuss the steps the industry must take to deliver a significant positive impact on the international petroleum industry moving forward.
- Can We Model Geology Using Geostatistics? Olivier Dubrule, professor of petroleum geostatistics at Imperial College London, will discuss the suitability of geostatistical models for reservoir geology. He will examine various geostatistical modeling techniques, including sequential indicator simulation, truncated Gaussian simulation, Pluri-Gaussian simulation, object-based models, multipoint statistics, and transiogram-based approaches.
ePoster Presentations
IPTC will also feature a series of Knowledge Sharing ePoster Sessions featuring presenters from a variety of technical disciplines. Similar to a traditional presentation, an ePoster session will feature a short presentation in an informal setting. Presentations will be shown on a digital touch screen, which allows presenters the opportunity to add animation and video segments to provide an interactive experience.
Subjects scheduled for presentation include a field case study on stratal slicing, the implementation of new seismic attributes to improve the prediction of reservoir properties, statistical modeling and seismic analysis of layered fault damage zones, subsea insulation resistance monitoring, and developments in marine seismic acquisition. A full list of ePoster presentation topics is available at http://www.iptcnet.org/2016/pages/education/eposters.php.
Educational Activities
Students, teachers, and young professionals will have opportunities to gain new insights into the energy industry at IPTC.
From 12–16 November, Education Week will give third- and fourth-year undergraduate students studying science, geoscience, and engineering a chance to work together on a joint technical project. These students will extend their social networks while interacting with a number of major industry employers. The conference received 457 student nominations from 145 institutions in 45 countries, and 70 of those students were chosen to participate.
The Education Week schedule features presentations by industry executives and a panel session with Young Professionals (YPs) on 13 November, plus a half-day field trip on 14 November. Students will also attend the conference’s opening session, executive plenary session, and the opening ceremony and ministerial session.
The Education Days and Teachers’ Day will be held from 13–16 November. Approximately 100 Thai high school students and teachers will be invited to hear oil and gas professionals share their experiences and discuss topics relevant to a changing industry. The high schools selected to participate will be required to work on an assigned school project before the conference. These projects will be displayed at the IPTC Education Days Project Display Area at the Bangkok Convention Center.
On 13 November, IPTC will host its Emerging Leaders Workshop, a workshop that aims to initiate a dialogue between YPs and industry experts on possible solutions for a sustainable energy future. The workshop, “Emerging Leaders: The Catalyst for Innovation and Efficiency Excellence,” will feature a technical case study challenge activity. YPs from international organizations will help cultivate solutions to the problems facing today’s industry in group sessions through this activity.
Training Courses
From 17–18 November, the conference will feature two training courses for industry professionals with offshore project experience.
One course, “Offshore Field Development and Project Management,” will focus on project situations where owners and operators faced significant problems, some of which led to commercial failure. Hosted by SPE, the course features more than 10 case histories covering development planning and the implementation of offshore projects using various types of offshore facilities. The cases covered include situations related to facilities and construction, well design and implementation, and reservoir characterization and evaluation.
Topics scheduled for discussion on the first day of the course include platform developments for Bass Strait Oil and Northwest Shelf Gas, and early floating, production, storage, and offloading (FPSO) unit developments in the East Timor Sea. On the second day, the course will examine the diversity of FPSOs and Australian megaprojects.
The course is designed for technical and managerial personnel involved in offshore projects, including senior technical staff, project team leaders, technical managers, project managers, and general managers. Course attendees will preferably have a minimum of 5 years’ industry experience.
Another course, “Deepwater Reservoirs: Exploration and Production Concepts,” will cover the complexities of the deep marine system. Hosted by EAGE, the course will outline how facies evolve in the open ocean and discuss how they build into distinctive architectural elements. The course will also cover the analysis and interpretation of seismic records, seafloor images, well logs, core materials, and outcrop characteristics of the component elements of deepwater reservoirs, emphasizing internal architecture as related to reservoir performance.
Geologists, geophysicists, and petroleum engineers involved in the exploration and development of deepwater plays are encouraged to register for the course, as well as project managers for deepwater plays and reservoir production. First-day topics will include downslope systems, alongslope systems, open-ocean systems, and architecture. Second day topics will include subsurface models, deepwater massive sands, and deepwater drilling.
For more information about the conference, visit http://www.iptcnet.org/2016.