Agenda

This session will focus on how the energy sector holds the key to unlock the solutions we need to tackle zero-carbon, energy transition, and climate sustainability. You will hear from industry practitioners on practical and innovative ideas our industry is embarking in the transition to decarbonisation without losing sight of safety first. Our society not only need to rapidly switch to decarbonising, but at the same time, we need to transform rapidly so the rest of the world [HAJ1] can transition into a net zero carbon economy. This is a key factor in our hope to mitigate the devastating impacts of climate change, which is showing evidently more and more each day. Almost every other sector – including petrochemicals, energy, transportation – is dependent on a decarbonised energy sector to achieve net-zero goals. It is critical for the oil and gas industry to lead the change by decarbonising and rapidly increasing its capacity to impel energy transition of the global economy.  Zero emissions and carbon neutral are not a national project, it’s a global one and underscored by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Paris Agreement. We need to recognise that this cannot be achieved without a robust global and national stakeholder engagement collectively.

Renewable energy technologies (like solar PV, onshore wind, offshore win and hydro) and negative emissions technologies (such as carbon capture and storage) will need to see a huge investment to reach net-zero by 2050. Can NOCs and IOCs invest and profit from a green energy economy? In order to address this, we need bottom-up solutions and top-down efforts.

Government policies and incentives to energy companies first movers are critical. It is important to recognise investor’s need, reliability and predictability when it comes to policies and regulations. Discounted rates on green bond financing, tax exceptions – typically associated with development of critical infrastructures – are required for investors to develop sustainable projects. Once the benefits are realized, it will be followed by immediate, rapid, and large-scale projects.

What we need is a once-in-a-generation infrastructure effort to reach the sustainability objective. If we act now, we can succeed.

Flexibility and creative business solutions are the only way to make mature and marginal fields development economically attractive and maximising value creation as the energy industry undergoes transition in achieving net-zero emission .With the discovered hydrocarbon, the project risks are low compared to risks of an exploration project, but the challenge is to find a greatly cost-effective field development solution and mechanism to eliminate emissions from the required elements of value chains where emissions reductions are most challenging.

This topic will walk you through challenges, exploring innovation, and technologies in developing mature and marginal field with its fit-for-purpose design and decarbonising solution for the field development. You will find that various concept may offer an interesting solution and give further advantage for more cost-effective development, which consequently yielded an acceptable return in economics.

Marginal and Mature field management poses a significant monetisation challenge and risk to commensurate maximum return. From all aspects be it technical, cost, financial and commercial, the oil and gas industry has to continue to evolve by finding new approaches that are innovative to increase the development viability of marginal and mature fields and for them to continue to be economic in its operation phase far longer than the typical marginal field life. This is important in order for these assets to have a fair priority in the portfolio and receive the funding allocation.

This session aims to have in-depth discussion, sharing of best practices and insights on the various aspects of marginal and mature field development, production and abandonment that covers:

• Solutions that have been implemented to overcome monetization barriers.
• Reducing cost and finding solutions that turn liabilities into an advantage.
• Innovative approach and solution to develop these assets at low cost whilst ensuring low carbon emission.
• Fit for purpose commercial, financial, and technology arrangement.
• Application of Carbon Credits or price for project economics evaluation as part of sustainability strategy.
• Commercial strategy to adopt for CCUS project sanction.
• Financing strategy to fund the development of the marginal and mature field.
• The need/requirement for adjustment or formulation of suitable commercial framework and other part of the ecosystem.

Energy transition is happening rapidly in this decade due to concerns on global warming, and renewable energies are being developed faster compared with the past. To accelerate the oil and gas marginal and mature field development, resource maximisation and cost spending efficiency are necessary to consider throughout the field life, starting from exploration to project decommissioning. This session aims to deliver case studies and insights into the following topics:

• Lean exploration activities by utilising existing information, such as subsurface data sharing with nearby block
• Maximise hydrocarbon resources from behind casing opportunity with low development cost
• Utilise nearby existing facilities for production tie-in.
• Find cluster development for CAPEX optimisation
• Apply fit-for-purpose concept to new facilities and well design
• Cost-sharing or combined campaign between nearby fields (e.g. drilling rig, WHP installation, barge, equipment spare part etc.)
• Optimise operation and maintenance program (e.g. equipment lifetime extension, minimise equipment replacement)
• Consider the facilities design that can easily be reused or to reduce time for decommissioning
• Maximise value of existing facilities (e.g. WHP topside reuse)

The focus of this session is on understanding the importance of having the right operator/asset owner in managing and fulfill requirements for individual fields. This will include in-depth discussion on requirements and approaches required by mature and marginal fields compared to prime producing fields. The changes in managing assets at different lifetime requires holistic look at Operation & Maintenance (O&M) philosophy, heavier focus on field/asset abandonment strategy, and high reliance on technology to maximise production from mature fields. To achieve that, niche type of operators with certain skillsets are required to ensure the mature and marginal fields can be managed to its full potential. This session will also cover regulatory aspects on asset sales, as well as requirement for suitable developing policies for smaller vs. larger companies, as this is an important enabler in finding the “right hand” for the right asset.

The increasing social and environmental pressures on many oil and gas companies raised complex questions about the role of fuel in a changing energy economy, and the position of these companies in the societies in which they operate. The COVID-19 pandemic-induced lockdowns and related global recession in 2020 have created a highly uncertain outlook for the labour market, which accelerated the arrival of the future of work in the form of IR 4.0. On the other side, some mature and marginal fields will be left behind with its remaining hydrocarbon potential. This panel session aims at putting a crystal ball on what would the future will look like, with an expert panel of speakers covering these topics, but not limited to:

• To look at the future, we should also learn from the past: How has the industry change and transitions over the years? Have the transition seamless? Have there been disruptors the likes we are seeing now? Is there similarity worth looking at?
• Future Energy Mix: Wil the future energy mix be hybrid? Will renewables be the primary source or supplementary source? Will the adoption of environmental, social and governance (ESG) metrics play a role?
• Human capital - Upskilling and Capabilities: Will automation take over? It is predicted that estimated 65% of kids in primary education today will end up working in jobs that haven’t created yet? Will our industry become a niche industry?
• Next generation – how will it be for them?: Will our future be more like Wall-E? Technology is already big part of the current younger generations, and social media is already a norm today. What would be the future norm be and how much technology changes will determine our future?
• Existing assets, marginal greenfield and mature fields: Will this be the end of oil and gas production? Several oil and gas companies are increasing their efforts to decarbonise their operation and value chains. Will they continue to acquire and divest assets, optimising their portfolios to meet financial objectives and respond to pressures from investors?