Agenda

Recent plunges in oil prices have hit the world economy hard. With major fluctuations in prices and the high cost of energy projects, quality information has never mattered more.

The use of data science and analytics is growing in the energy industry. In a low oil price environment, energy company will seek cost reduction insights from data. During growth periods, data science will guide management decision making with better insights to improve production and adjust to market demand. The continuous growth of data science tools and technologies will also support the trend.

Typical yet specific business problems in energy include understanding geological activities and reservoir behaviour, predicting well production performance, and improving field efficiency and recovery.  Some of large energy companies have adopted data science methods already, and it is also a great opportunity for smaller energy companies with less complex data to achieve wins by bringing this digitalisation and data science on board.

Implementing systems and processes for data collection, cleaning and storage is the first step to start with. With that in place, generating predictive insights will be a lot easier.

In this panel, we will dig further how major energy company prepare the road map towards digitalisation, where Asia Pacific energy companies are in this digitalisation, updates on energy data science tools, tips to start with digitalisation, and how embracing the digitalisation into our professional activities as energy business actors.

Data is the new “oil” and has been used in constructing models and generating predictions through machine learning and artificial intelligence with pace and accuracy. Subsurface domains revolve around interpretation of data and records gathered through years of compiled information from fields, regions and global. The interpreted data and records can be used as input into machine learning and artificial intelligence algorithms and systems to take subsurface domains into the new exciting horizon.

The session will discuss machine learning and artificial intelligence applications in subsurface domains and explore what can be drawn to aspire the application of the digital transformation. The discussion will potentially include facilitation of aerial field development to subsurface model construction and simulation, sweet spot delineation and completion optimisation through knowledge and experience of oil and gas industry to maximise profitability for assets.

As the Energy Transition takes hold, decarbonisation and diversification have emerged as key themes for oil and gas operators.

The European Majors and IOCs are leading Big Oil’s own transition towards Big Energy, with build-out of new businesses for low-carbon, alternative source of energy. But US-based operators remain committed to oil and gas, suggesting a more upbeat view of the industry’s long-term fundamentals.

Which of these divergent strategies will win over internal and external stakeholders? What strengths and capabilities can Big Oil leverage for competitive advantage in a new energy landscape? And are there opportunities for new players in the world of Big Oil?

This panel will focus on the transition strategies adopted by Big Oil, the implications for the E&P sector, and the impacton the pace of the energy transition.

The word Collaboration comes from the latin word 'collaborate' which means working together; collaborating means in the class of verbs or verbs so that collaborating can express an action, existence, experience, or other dynamic meaning. The highly volatile oil price, related to geopolitical conditions, fracturing technology that increased the amount of oil production supply from shale in United States, the pandemic and fallen demand caused the "triple shocks". The price of WTI crude oil which had touched -40.32 USD / bbl. and Brent which had touched 10.11 USD / bbl. made many oil and gas companies collapse and were unable to continue their business.

Large companies show financial performance that is not very encouraging to investors. VUCA which describes the conditions of volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity and the emergence of potential disruption to oil companies adds to the burden on oil companies to continue making profits. In this session, we need to get an overview of the collaborations that can be carried out for efficiency in reducing costs and transferring mutual knowledge so that it can help oil companies to survive the storms that can occur at any time and how to sustain in the business.

Within the era of global economic turbulence where oil and gas prices fluctuate dramatically, diversification of assets becomes central to the success of a company’s investment as each asset will react differently to the same event. PT Pertamina (Persero), the Indonesian state-owned energy company, possesses diversified business portfolio ranging from upstream to downstream, with high level of diversification especially in the upstream sector.

This session will focus on Pertamina’s broad range of diversified upstream assets that stretches from mature assets, new projects, to international assets. These assets have their own challenges to be tackled and opportunities to be seized in order to allow Pertamina to fulfil Indonesia’s continuously growing energy demand and remain being the biggest oil and gas producer in Indonesia.

One of the great lessons learned in this time of a pandemic hit industry, is that mature fields will ever remain our reliable bread earner. Strong CAPEX cuts to sustain through the low oil price environment has readily turned all operators to refocus on Mature Assets sustainability and Near field Marginal developments.

Recent political developments, directions on environment protection, imposing of Carbon tax has led all industry giants to shift their business strategies on Matured field development. Business models need to be relooked to cut down OPEX and reduce flare and vent. To manage better there has been a notable shift in how some operators has chosen to engage with supply chain versus a more traditional contracting model.

This Panel thus intends to bring to the audience, the life of planning of Mature Fields and Marginal Resources development such that it can sustain the storms of pandemic, strong market turbulence, requirement of low carbon emission and challenge of renewables.

Following the oil price downturn, large segments of the workforce are either reaching retirement age or massive lay off. The competition for talent can now be as significant as the focus to find new resources. Rapid technological advances continue to disrupt traditional working style striving for a boost in productivity. Artificial Intelligent and machine learning application have spread wider over the years and replacing a significant amount of classic routine tasks where the remaining jobs will be the one that requires increased human-machine interaction.

The oil and gas industry have faced several challenges in the recent past, including highly volatile oil prices. In addition to demand-supply fluctuations, geopolitical factors also have a significant influence on oil and gas prices. Uncertainty in oil prices have caused a significant reduction in exploration and production activities, resulting in a slowdown in capital expenditures. Additionally, there has been increasing public and government pressure regarding the impact of the industry on climate. Sustainable investing is gaining traction. Growing numbers of companies are establishing emissions targets and increasing the transparency of the environmental effects of their operations. Energy transition to low carbon energy and renewables will continue, with the cost of production of renewables gradually going down. Gas is the fastest growing fossil fuel, with demand driven by the energy transition, e.g. shifting away from coal and as back-up to renewables. Hydrogen, ammonia, methanol and carbon capture, utilisation, and storage (CCUS) could all be interesting areas for the oil and gas industry.

Going forward, the oil & gas companies now must relook at their investment strategies to build a robust oil and gas industry in the changing environment. The rebuilding of a robust industry will depend on how soon and how radically the oil and gas ecosystem is reconfigured. The companies may need bold structural moves, innovation, and safe and profitable operations in the toughest conditions. They may need to reposition their portfolios with a better mix of low to moderate to high-risk assets, and fundamentally challenge and transform their existing operating models. Digitalisation and advanced analytics could become an integral part of the industry’s transformation. Strong performers with resilient portfolios, innovation, and superior operating models will continue to grow.

According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) energy outlook, natural gas production and consumption will continue to increase over the next decades. As natural gas burns cleaner than coal or petroleum products, in addition to more countries begin adopting a policy to reduce carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, the demand of natural gas may be further accelerated to replace more carbon-intensive coal and liquid fuels.

Both conventional and unconventional resources had been accelerated for development and production around the world enabled by various emerging technologies related to LNG, Methane hydrate production and Coal Bed Methane, water-soluble natural gas shale gas and High contaminant gas to name a few. One of vast opportunities among unconventional resources is Naturally occurring methane hydrate under Deepwater or permafrost are regarded as “possible” unconventional natural gas resources.

However, technologies for economical production of them have not been fully established. Research issues still exist in the basic science of their origin and accumulation, exploration techniques, production methodologies and technologies to be employed, and environmental implications.

The session invites broad communities of people – scientists, G&G specialists, petroleum and mechanical engineers, oceanographer and environmental specialists – but focuses on the application of science and technology for the development and production from methane hydrate reservoirs.