The North Sea and beyond

At Offshore Energy Exhibition & Conference on 28 and 29 October 2014 in Amsterdam, exploration and production in the North Sea area is a prominent session theme at the conference.

The technical session on North Sea exploration and production this year focuses on the changing playing field. As ‘big oil’ is retreating from the North Sea, more room is becoming available for smaller, independent E&P companies. This session hosts experts like Alexander Kemp, professor in petroleum economics at University of Aberdeen Business School, who is seen as one of the top influencers in the UK North Sea oil and gas industry and Simon Lunn, technical director of Hansa Hydrocarbons, an important new player in the North Sea playing field. These and other speakers will discuss what is being spent this year on drilling, how new players expect to deliver value and what governments of countries bordering the North Sea do to establish an attractive E&P climate.

Maintenance, well plugging and abandonment

Relevant to both the North Sea and other offshore producing regions are the sessions on offshore maintenance services and on well plugging and abandonment. Many offshore platforms in use today are exceeding their intended lifespan, leading to challenges for operators to keep the equipment running. In this session John Alkemade, Director EMEA at Asset Performance Networks, specialist in offshore turnaround practices,  will shine a light on the drivers of offshore turnaround performance and on the benchmarks of best offshore turnaround practices. Johan Ferket, Stork Technical Services,  Harm-Jan Smit, Stork Technical Services representing AJS and  Tobias Rosenbaum, DNV GL Oil & Gas will, among other things, discuss asset related risks management, asset performance improvement and asset life extension and cover changes in regulations, in particular related to the offshore safety directive.

When the productive life of a field has definitely come to an end, a different process kicks in. Governments and regulatory agencies are informing the offshore oil and gas industry that unproductive wells must be adequately sealed to prevent potential environmental threats. In the North Sea area alone over 1,000 wells have to be abandoned. The session “well plugging and abandonment”, organized in cooperation with the Netherlands Oil and Gas Exploration and Production Association (NOGEPA) and joined by specialists from Schlumberger and Total E&P Netherlands, looks at the regulatory framework for abandonment as well as at cost effective technical solutions.

Offshore Vessels

Together with the Royal Association of Netherlands Shipowners, Offshore Energy will feature a session on the rules and regulations for offshore service vessels carrying more than 12 passengers. Offshore Energy again offers a recurring session on new offshore vessels, this year in cooperation with the Port of Rotterdam. Roland van Assche, Director Bulk Cargo & Shipping will chair the session, which presents the latest in offshore ship concepts, design and construction. Among the speakers are Edward Heerema, founder of Allseas, who will present an update on the Pieter Schelte. Maurizio Collu, lecturer at Cranfield University, will present a new concept of AAMVs or aerodynamically alleviated marine vehicles.

Internationalization

The Offshore Energy Exhibition is living up to its ambitions and continues to grow. More than 10,000 visitors and 500 exhibitors will come together at Amsterdam RAI in October 2014.

Another ambition is internationalization. Every year the percentage of international visitors has been growing faster than the relative growth of the exhibition which means that the majority of the new visitors comes from outside the Netherlands which is in line with the objectives.

Last year a Chinese pavilion made its entry as the first country pavilion in Offshore Energy’s history. Czech Republic will be second  starting in 2014. On top of these pavilions and many other international companies exhibiting individually, international companies freed space in their agenda to visit the show. The French trade organization GEP-AFTP will participate with at stand and UK Trade & Investment visits the show as part of a trade mission. In total more than 100 companies from outside the Netherlands will be part of the show as an exhibitor.

With companies such as Fugro, Palfinger, Bluewater Energy Services, Technip-EPG, Van Oord, Keppel Verolme, Boskalis, Ulstein, Parker Hannifin, GEP AFTP, Expro North Sea that have already booked their stand, the exhibition floor is filling up rapidly. Halls 9, 10, and 11 that formed Offshore Energy 2013 are already sold out. For companies who still want to participate there is good news as there is still some space available. In 2014 an extra hall will be incorporated. Hall 8 that actually was home to Offshore Energy 2011 will now ad some 6200 square meters to the exhibition floor.  The brand new Offshore Energy Arena will be the eye catcher in this hall. This will be the podium for the three C-level panels, part of the conference program.

C-level panels

Offshore Energy Conference 2014 again offers three high caliber panel discussions. In the third annual Offshore Energy Industry Panel moderator Wilbur Perlot, Deputy Director at Clingendael Academy, will actively engage panelists and attendees in a strategic discussion on the industry’s future. The discussion will cover changing industry fundamentals and innovation to meet future energy demand, reshaping partnerships through collaboration, integration and consolidation, challenges of integrated project management and the investment climate and capital discipline in the industry.

The second annual Drilling and Dollars Panel will focus on “Offshore and Finance” key areas for discussion include the growing size and complexity of projects, new frontiers and regulations, investing in offshore projects, tapping new funding sources and optimizing the funding mix. Cornelie Goedhuis, Global Head – natural resources at ING Bank, will lead the discussion among financial experts from oil and gas companies, offshore contracting and services companies, and public and private financial institutions.

Also recurring as a C-level panel at Offshore Energy Conference is the Human Capital Panel focusing on workforce segmentation, workforce planning, sourcing strategies and total workforce management as part of the ‘open talent economy’.

For more information and to register please visit https://offshore-energy.biz/