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FeedsHome: August 2007 › Rediscovering the future
Rediscovering the future
30/08/2007 | Channel: IT, Technology, Equipment, Health & Safety, Exploration & Production, Drilling, Lifting Gear, Subsea, Support Services, Manufacturing, Hire & Rental, Human Resources
IN SEPTEMBER THE MAJOR PLAYERS IN THE INDUSTRY WILL COME TOGETHER AT THE OFFSHORE EUROPE OIL AND GAS CONFERENCE AND EXHIBITION 2007
Ask anyone what the key challenges are in today’s oil and gas sector and you will more than likely hear the same answer – that the global exploration and production landscape is continuously changing on an increasingly rapid basis, with the changes being enormous in every dimension, and in every direction.
Worldwide demand is continuing to increase, despite higher commodity prices, whilst rising recovery rates, ever-more complex workflows, an increased health and safety focus, and the challenge of recruitment are all on the rise. In this climate, there has never been a greater need for an agenda setting conference. An event which brings together a global audience of the industry’s most influential decision makers, policy makers and legislators to meet, and share ideas, knowledge and best practices, in order to be best prepared for the exciting future the industry faces.
With over 1400 exhibiting service and operating companies, and a technical forum of over 32,000 attendees, this year’s Offshore Europe Oil and Gas Conference and Exhibition 2007 (OE07) provides an unprecedented international meeting place for debate, knowledge sharing, and viewing the latest technology. Organised by the Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE), and Reed Spearhead Exhibitions, OE07 provides the opportunity for visitors to maximise knowledge, and exploration and production productivity by addressing the challenges facing the future of the industry.
The event will comprise of a large-scale exhibition, which will accommodate more than 1400 of the industry’s leading exhibitors, and a conference, created by SPE with the theme of ‘Rediscovering the Future’. Additionally, there will be a range of features based around key themes in the current market, including recruitment and training, ifields, new growth areas and attracting the interest of teenagers in the oil and gas industry. Included in these features is the ‘Intelligent Energy Zone’, a forum based around increasing exploration and production efficiency, which will showcase many of the latest real-time optimisation technologies.
This year’s conference will feature a broad range of in-depth, world-class technical sessions and panel discussions, involving leaders in the oil and gas sector, and opinion makers from outside of the industry. With over 30,000 attendees expected, the conference promises to provide exciting opportunities for visitors to network, whilst taking part in a series of indepth roundtable debates based around key industry topics.
Organised to assist business leaders, engineers and technical managers throughout the exploration and production sector, the OE07 conference is focused on discussing the fast changing landscape of the exploration and production industry. The four-day conference programme, which starts on Tuesday 4th September features a number of technical sessions, with topics including reservoir management – case studies and new technology, exploration, surveillance and operations, carbon, well technology, facilities and infrastructure, and health and safety.
Mark Carne, managing director and executive Vice president for Europe and Central Asia for BG Group PLC, and newly appointed conference chairman for OE07, elaborates on this year’s event, and the importance of such conferences and exhibitions: “Our industry is one accustomed to significant changes and challenges. Nevertheless, the changes that we are seeing in our business today are huge in almost every dimension. Globally, the demand for oil and gas has remained high, despite higher commodity prices, and this is fuelling renewed exploration and further demand for services across the whole supply chain. Companies are now exploring in ever more challenging areas, at deeper depths, and at higher pressures and temperatures than ever before.
“Against this backdrop, I think that it is essential to come together and share ideas and knowledge, to learn about the latest technology and global best practices, and also to have our existing perceptions challenged,” Mark continues. “The theme of this year’s conference, ‘Rediscovering the Future’, highlights the fact that there are many options open to our industry today that perhaps were not present in the past, and that we face a tremendously exciting future.”
As Mark explains, OE07 will play an important role in influencing the future strategies of all attendees, particularly those operating in the UK sector: “Although this is a global conference, what is happening in the UK is a great example of what you can see in other provinces in the world. Because the next phase of developing the UK sector will be different to what has happened before I do think that we have to rediscover the future. We cannot work on the same assumptions that guided us through the glory days of the province.
“Not only are the prospects we are chasing of a different nature, the make-up of the industry active in the UK is different too,” says Mark. “There is plenty of oil and gas still to recover, even though the province is now in decline, but we are looking at different kinds of challenges. The search for oil and gas will tend to be higher risk and more technically challenging, while accumulations will be smaller. Offshore Europe 2007 will give us an excellent opportunity to reconsider our past assumptions and reach some conclusions about how best we can tackle our future challenges in the North Sea.”
Mark elaborates further on some of the conference’s main highlights: “The opening
session will be an opportunity for industry leaders – at operator, service company, and regulator level – to articulate their vision for the future of our business. They will debate with leading politicians and policy advisors how our industry must adapt to the challenges that lie ahead, and the changing demands of society. The quality of the line-up we are attracting confirms that this will be one of the industry highlights of the year. The keynote event will be accompanied through the week by panel sessions and topic luncheons, which will be genuine debates.
“Offshore Europe has an extremely high reputation in terms of the quality of presentations that are made, and the calibre of the discussion they prompt,” Mark enthuses. “I am confident that the technical sessions will be well targeted at the issues that are of most importance to our industry at the current time. In my view, if you attend some of the technical sessions, you can’t help but go home after this conference having had your assumptions and preconceptions at the very least questioned and challenged.”
Together with the technical forums, exhibitions at Offshore Europe are renowned for their size, scope of exhibitors and range of technical innovations on show. This year’s exhibition, the largest ever, will house more than 1400 stands creating a unique environment in which to browse, discuss and assess the latest technologies.
The exhibition already has confirmed participation from major companies including BP, Shell, Total, Saudi Aramco, Maersk, ConocoPhillips, Schlumberger, Expro Group, Acergy, Petrofac and Aker Kvaerner. Additionally there will be national pavilions from Austria, Canada, China, Denmark, the Netherlands, France, Germany, Italy, Norway, Scotland, the UK and the US.
Presenting a stand at the event provides many of the industry’s leading players the opportunity to demonstrate their latest developments. For example, at stand number 663 ABB will be demonstrating its full range of services, from installation and commissioning through to after-sales and full service support. The company will demonstrate its extensive portfolio of engineering services, including automation services, management technology and plant optimisation.
The centrepiece of the company’s display will be an extended operator control console, which can be used with the complete range of control functions, together with gathering and integration of management information to improve the efficiency and productivity of offshore operations. Also exhibited will be the company’s latest medium drive, and a new low voltage, liquid cooled industrial drive, rated from 200 to 5600 kW, which provides customers with significant advantages in harsh operating environments.
ABB will use OE07 to demonstrate its total solution capability, for automation, telecommunications, electrical, and power products and systems within an offshore
environment. This includes the company’s specifically focused ‘Total Capability Team’, which maximises the complete lifecycle of an installation with improved efficiency and productivity, whilst considerably reducing costs. The Team has considerable expertise in plant studies, engineering design, installation and commissioning, and is capable of providing offshore customers with unmatched levels of support services.
Also at OE07 will be Fullbrook Systems, which hopes to gain considerable interest among industry personnel with its innovative Brookfield TT100 in-line viscometer, which carries out real-time viscosity measurements at multiple RPM speeds and shear rates. The TT1100, which uses the latest Couette geometry, represents a new way to create and communicate higher levels of data for customers, which in turn provides greater potential to determine realtime annular hydraulics. Data obtained from the TT100 will include yield point, plastic viscosity and apparent viscosity information to allow users to reduce drilling costs, prevent well control problems and significantly improve efficiency.
Meanwhile, Endress and Hauser, a global supplier of process instrumentation, engineering solutions and value added services, will exhibit its latest process automation solutions for oil and gas customers at stand 1516. The company’s portfolio of specially designed temperature solutions, including field transmitters, temperature displays, thermocouples, rugged temperature probes and bespoke temperature engineered products, will provide the centre-point of the impressive display.
To give visitors the greatest opportunity to interact with its products, the business has ensured that all panels and models displayed will feature touch screen presentations, and where possible all instruments will be exhibited in application situations with live information.
The incredible range of technology on display at the exhibition demonstrates the enormous strides that the industry takes each year in developing new solutions, as Mark explains: “In my career there have been a number of major technology breakthroughs that have radically changed the way that our business is done. In the last decade our business has changed profoundly, today, whether it is in sub-surface imaging, modelling, drilling, sub-sea or platform design and processing, new solutions are being invented every day.”
Accompanying the exhibition, and the technical conference will be a number of features aimed at bringing extra value to visitors by examining the demands facing the industry, such as recruitment, new growth fields and training. These will include The Oil and Career Fair, Education Day, and The Intelligent Energy Zone.
The latter represents an important industry showcase that will give a valuable insight into the latest smart well technology, and the realtime optimisation technologies that are aiding rapidly evolving, intelligent oilfield projects. It is predicted that such technology will improve recovery rates by up to ten per cent, reduce cost, optimise efficiency across the workflow and drastically increase profitability.
Consequently, the Intelligent Energy Zone at OE07 will illustrate the developments that are making digital oilfields a possibility. Technologies displayed will include advanced seismic services, automation and interpretation technology, business performance management, down-hole flow control techniques, computing monitoring systems, oilfield connectivity, remote monitoring technology and satellite communications. Exhibitors in the zone will include Aclaro Softworks Inc, Comsol Ltd, Halliburton, HIS, Petroleum Experts Ltd, ProAnalysis AS and Well International.
Offshore Europe regularly attracts more engineers, technical specialists and senior industry managers than any other exploration and production event outside of North America. The event is ideal for those who wish to see what is new in the industry, solve specific problems, find new markets, network and develop business contacts, obtain technical knowledge and be part of the exciting exploration and production community that is created.
An enthusiastic Mark believes that all those who attend cannot fail to benefit from OE07: “My view is that anyone who has attended the event in the past will appreciate the scale and the quality of it, and is likely to come back. For those who haven’t attended, I would like to highlight the sheer range of the event. I believe that anyone new to OE07 will be taken aback by what a good turn-out the event gets.
“It really is the industry event, and will give us an excellent opportunity to reconsider our past assumptions and reach some conclusions about how best we can tackle our future challenges in the North Sea. Come to Offshore Europe 2007 to have your preconceptions challenged and your assumptions shredded,” Mark concludes
Worldwide demand is continuing to increase, despite higher commodity prices, whilst rising recovery rates, ever-more complex workflows, an increased health and safety focus, and the challenge of recruitment are all on the rise. In this climate, there has never been a greater need for an agenda setting conference. An event which brings together a global audience of the industry’s most influential decision makers, policy makers and legislators to meet, and share ideas, knowledge and best practices, in order to be best prepared for the exciting future the industry faces.
With over 1400 exhibiting service and operating companies, and a technical forum of over 32,000 attendees, this year’s Offshore Europe Oil and Gas Conference and Exhibition 2007 (OE07) provides an unprecedented international meeting place for debate, knowledge sharing, and viewing the latest technology. Organised by the Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE), and Reed Spearhead Exhibitions, OE07 provides the opportunity for visitors to maximise knowledge, and exploration and production productivity by addressing the challenges facing the future of the industry.
The event will comprise of a large-scale exhibition, which will accommodate more than 1400 of the industry’s leading exhibitors, and a conference, created by SPE with the theme of ‘Rediscovering the Future’. Additionally, there will be a range of features based around key themes in the current market, including recruitment and training, ifields, new growth areas and attracting the interest of teenagers in the oil and gas industry. Included in these features is the ‘Intelligent Energy Zone’, a forum based around increasing exploration and production efficiency, which will showcase many of the latest real-time optimisation technologies.
This year’s conference will feature a broad range of in-depth, world-class technical sessions and panel discussions, involving leaders in the oil and gas sector, and opinion makers from outside of the industry. With over 30,000 attendees expected, the conference promises to provide exciting opportunities for visitors to network, whilst taking part in a series of indepth roundtable debates based around key industry topics.
Organised to assist business leaders, engineers and technical managers throughout the exploration and production sector, the OE07 conference is focused on discussing the fast changing landscape of the exploration and production industry. The four-day conference programme, which starts on Tuesday 4th September features a number of technical sessions, with topics including reservoir management – case studies and new technology, exploration, surveillance and operations, carbon, well technology, facilities and infrastructure, and health and safety.
Mark Carne, managing director and executive Vice president for Europe and Central Asia for BG Group PLC, and newly appointed conference chairman for OE07, elaborates on this year’s event, and the importance of such conferences and exhibitions: “Our industry is one accustomed to significant changes and challenges. Nevertheless, the changes that we are seeing in our business today are huge in almost every dimension. Globally, the demand for oil and gas has remained high, despite higher commodity prices, and this is fuelling renewed exploration and further demand for services across the whole supply chain. Companies are now exploring in ever more challenging areas, at deeper depths, and at higher pressures and temperatures than ever before.
“Against this backdrop, I think that it is essential to come together and share ideas and knowledge, to learn about the latest technology and global best practices, and also to have our existing perceptions challenged,” Mark continues. “The theme of this year’s conference, ‘Rediscovering the Future’, highlights the fact that there are many options open to our industry today that perhaps were not present in the past, and that we face a tremendously exciting future.”
As Mark explains, OE07 will play an important role in influencing the future strategies of all attendees, particularly those operating in the UK sector: “Although this is a global conference, what is happening in the UK is a great example of what you can see in other provinces in the world. Because the next phase of developing the UK sector will be different to what has happened before I do think that we have to rediscover the future. We cannot work on the same assumptions that guided us through the glory days of the province.
“Not only are the prospects we are chasing of a different nature, the make-up of the industry active in the UK is different too,” says Mark. “There is plenty of oil and gas still to recover, even though the province is now in decline, but we are looking at different kinds of challenges. The search for oil and gas will tend to be higher risk and more technically challenging, while accumulations will be smaller. Offshore Europe 2007 will give us an excellent opportunity to reconsider our past assumptions and reach some conclusions about how best we can tackle our future challenges in the North Sea.”
Mark elaborates further on some of the conference’s main highlights: “The opening
session will be an opportunity for industry leaders – at operator, service company, and regulator level – to articulate their vision for the future of our business. They will debate with leading politicians and policy advisors how our industry must adapt to the challenges that lie ahead, and the changing demands of society. The quality of the line-up we are attracting confirms that this will be one of the industry highlights of the year. The keynote event will be accompanied through the week by panel sessions and topic luncheons, which will be genuine debates.
“Offshore Europe has an extremely high reputation in terms of the quality of presentations that are made, and the calibre of the discussion they prompt,” Mark enthuses. “I am confident that the technical sessions will be well targeted at the issues that are of most importance to our industry at the current time. In my view, if you attend some of the technical sessions, you can’t help but go home after this conference having had your assumptions and preconceptions at the very least questioned and challenged.”
Together with the technical forums, exhibitions at Offshore Europe are renowned for their size, scope of exhibitors and range of technical innovations on show. This year’s exhibition, the largest ever, will house more than 1400 stands creating a unique environment in which to browse, discuss and assess the latest technologies.
The exhibition already has confirmed participation from major companies including BP, Shell, Total, Saudi Aramco, Maersk, ConocoPhillips, Schlumberger, Expro Group, Acergy, Petrofac and Aker Kvaerner. Additionally there will be national pavilions from Austria, Canada, China, Denmark, the Netherlands, France, Germany, Italy, Norway, Scotland, the UK and the US.
Presenting a stand at the event provides many of the industry’s leading players the opportunity to demonstrate their latest developments. For example, at stand number 663 ABB will be demonstrating its full range of services, from installation and commissioning through to after-sales and full service support. The company will demonstrate its extensive portfolio of engineering services, including automation services, management technology and plant optimisation.
The centrepiece of the company’s display will be an extended operator control console, which can be used with the complete range of control functions, together with gathering and integration of management information to improve the efficiency and productivity of offshore operations. Also exhibited will be the company’s latest medium drive, and a new low voltage, liquid cooled industrial drive, rated from 200 to 5600 kW, which provides customers with significant advantages in harsh operating environments.
ABB will use OE07 to demonstrate its total solution capability, for automation, telecommunications, electrical, and power products and systems within an offshore
environment. This includes the company’s specifically focused ‘Total Capability Team’, which maximises the complete lifecycle of an installation with improved efficiency and productivity, whilst considerably reducing costs. The Team has considerable expertise in plant studies, engineering design, installation and commissioning, and is capable of providing offshore customers with unmatched levels of support services.
Also at OE07 will be Fullbrook Systems, which hopes to gain considerable interest among industry personnel with its innovative Brookfield TT100 in-line viscometer, which carries out real-time viscosity measurements at multiple RPM speeds and shear rates. The TT1100, which uses the latest Couette geometry, represents a new way to create and communicate higher levels of data for customers, which in turn provides greater potential to determine realtime annular hydraulics. Data obtained from the TT100 will include yield point, plastic viscosity and apparent viscosity information to allow users to reduce drilling costs, prevent well control problems and significantly improve efficiency.
Meanwhile, Endress and Hauser, a global supplier of process instrumentation, engineering solutions and value added services, will exhibit its latest process automation solutions for oil and gas customers at stand 1516. The company’s portfolio of specially designed temperature solutions, including field transmitters, temperature displays, thermocouples, rugged temperature probes and bespoke temperature engineered products, will provide the centre-point of the impressive display.
To give visitors the greatest opportunity to interact with its products, the business has ensured that all panels and models displayed will feature touch screen presentations, and where possible all instruments will be exhibited in application situations with live information.
The incredible range of technology on display at the exhibition demonstrates the enormous strides that the industry takes each year in developing new solutions, as Mark explains: “In my career there have been a number of major technology breakthroughs that have radically changed the way that our business is done. In the last decade our business has changed profoundly, today, whether it is in sub-surface imaging, modelling, drilling, sub-sea or platform design and processing, new solutions are being invented every day.”
Accompanying the exhibition, and the technical conference will be a number of features aimed at bringing extra value to visitors by examining the demands facing the industry, such as recruitment, new growth fields and training. These will include The Oil and Career Fair, Education Day, and The Intelligent Energy Zone.
The latter represents an important industry showcase that will give a valuable insight into the latest smart well technology, and the realtime optimisation technologies that are aiding rapidly evolving, intelligent oilfield projects. It is predicted that such technology will improve recovery rates by up to ten per cent, reduce cost, optimise efficiency across the workflow and drastically increase profitability.
Consequently, the Intelligent Energy Zone at OE07 will illustrate the developments that are making digital oilfields a possibility. Technologies displayed will include advanced seismic services, automation and interpretation technology, business performance management, down-hole flow control techniques, computing monitoring systems, oilfield connectivity, remote monitoring technology and satellite communications. Exhibitors in the zone will include Aclaro Softworks Inc, Comsol Ltd, Halliburton, HIS, Petroleum Experts Ltd, ProAnalysis AS and Well International.
Offshore Europe regularly attracts more engineers, technical specialists and senior industry managers than any other exploration and production event outside of North America. The event is ideal for those who wish to see what is new in the industry, solve specific problems, find new markets, network and develop business contacts, obtain technical knowledge and be part of the exciting exploration and production community that is created.
An enthusiastic Mark believes that all those who attend cannot fail to benefit from OE07: “My view is that anyone who has attended the event in the past will appreciate the scale and the quality of it, and is likely to come back. For those who haven’t attended, I would like to highlight the sheer range of the event. I believe that anyone new to OE07 will be taken aback by what a good turn-out the event gets.
“It really is the industry event, and will give us an excellent opportunity to reconsider our past assumptions and reach some conclusions about how best we can tackle our future challenges in the North Sea. Come to Offshore Europe 2007 to have your preconceptions challenged and your assumptions shredded,” Mark concludes
