Collaboration key to industry’s success

“If we do not organize ourselves differently as industry, we miss sustainable opportunities”, states Alexander van Noort, country manager Denmark and The Netherlands at Schlumberger.

A sentiment carried throughout the Offshore Energy Stakeholders meeting held on 19 March in the Maastoren in Rotterdam. Van Noort speaks of the industry’s need to communicate with one voice and to enhance the visibility and transparent information sharing of the oil, gas and energy industries.

René Peters, director Gas Technology at TNO and Program Manager Upstream within the Top Consortium for Knowledge and Innovation – Gas agrees.

Peters: “It could be the best business opportunity for the upcoming year. We must collaborate and explore together and not be afraid to learn from each other. Also, working as one can speed up processes and sharing the impact, not only budget-wise.”

When speaking of budgets, those present agreed that fiscal stimulation could mean more opportunities to explore and drill.

Henri-Max Ndong-Nzue, managing director of Total E&P Nederland adds nuance by stating:“We are not asking for money.”

It would be a win-win situation. We could boost production and, more importantly, actually be able to explore more for The Netherlands.”

The United Kingdom has set the right example by creating a steady partnership with their governmental bodies, why can the same not be done for The Netherlands?
“I believe this boils down to working together”, explains Ndong-Nzue.

Total E&P Nederland has been active in The Netherlands for 50 years and in 2013 started producing from the K4-Z field in the North Sea which was first discovered in 1974. This field remained untouched until new policy made production economically viable.

The company’s aim is to maximize the production from existing assets while working on cost control and raising safety from a key priority to a core value. The latter applies both to Total’s employees and its contractors.

Opportunities in Mexico

Vincent Oomes, partner at Deloitte, sees many trends flowing from 2013 into 2014, though several things stand out. “There is the question if oil companies will be able to sustain record CapEx levels and also what the impact of the politics surrounding LNG and gas will mean.

Furthermore I believe Mexico could be the big ticket following the liberalization of the market there. It offers short-term as well as long-term opportunities as the country is now attracting private capital and technical expertise to build the Mexican energy industry.”

The Mexican landscape will start changing as early as 2016 due to private funding. A topical political issue causing a shift in the energy market is the situation between Ukraine and Russia, which according to Oomes underscores the need for diversification of oil and gas resources and less dependence on Russia.

Réne Peters concludes: “There have been new oil and gas discoveries in the North Sea, such as by Wintershall. This proves that opportunities can also be found within The Netherlands, not only globally. Though many are focused on what is happening to the larger field in Groningen, there are many small fields that could be further explored, such as Amstel field Q13 and Ruijnveld.
In conclusion, nothing is set in stone for the upcoming year, but it seems collaboration is the way to go regardless of what else is achieved in 2014.”