World Expro : All Issues

As oil prices continue to remain volatile and consuming nations become increasingly determined to secure access to energy supplies, choosing the right investment and the right business partner has never been more essential. Investing in new technologies to further push the boundaries of oil and gas exploration and production is becoming more and more crucial to companies to boost reserves and output.

World Expro is the premier information source for the world's upstream oil executives who need reliable and accurate intelligence to help them make critical business decisions. Aimed at senior board members, operations, procurement and E&P heads within the upstream industry World Expro provides a clear overview of the latest industry thinking regarding the key stages of exploration and production.

In this issue, Rayola Douphner of the American Petroleum Institute discusses the lessons learnt following the Deepwater Horizon accident, while chairman of the ONS foundation, Kjell Ursin-Smith, tells us about the positive steps being taken to find sustainable solutions to the problem of meeting energy demand.

Shell's Eric van Oort discusses how non-productive time can be minimised to maximise returns from production. Elsewhere, Samer Al Ashgar of Saudi Aramco examines the research being undertaken by the organisation to improve production processes and increase recoverable reserves.

We also talk to Statoil's Øystein Arvid Håland, who explains how new technology is being used to get the most out of dwindling North Sea reserves.

In addition, Petrofac COO Maarten van Aller tell us of plans to capitalise on the increasing demand for floating production vessels as exploration moves into deeper waters to find viable reserves.

Despite a difficult couple of years for Shell, CEO Peter Voser was optimistic about the oil giant’s E&P future at its Annual Strategy Briefing in London in March: "We have an upstream portfolio that can grow to at least 2020. We have come a long way and I’m very energised by that."

Shell set out its strategy to take the company to 2020 and Voser put forward a vision based on exploration and innovative approaches to recovering resources.

We also hear about Shell’s reassessment of its activities in Nigeria, where new government influences have limited the company’s 50-year presence. With 350 discoveries in West Africa in 2009, it appears the industry has far from peaked.

Elsewhere Fatih Birol explains how Petrobras has transformed itself from a regional player in Latin America into a major influence worldwide, and we take a close look at Canada's oil sands.

The industry is often considered "recession-proof ", but nothing could be further from the truth. As profit margins tighten, organisations must find ways to control spending.

Shell is one company that has taken action. It has had a constructive overhaul courtesy of new CEO Peter Voser, who has combined its strongest technology personnel worldwide into one R&D and project management department. This will be headed up by Matthias Bichsel who explains the reasons for the change. He believes that now is the time to come together as a company and as an industry.We look at StatoilHydro’s new HSE policy, while technical papers from Shell, ConocoPhillips and Subsea 7’s John Mair examine the latest technological advances in their respective fields. George Rorie, head of data management at Shell, describes how his methods are whipping the company and its partners into shape to make the most of their collaboration.

Volatile oil prices have left the oil and gas sector fluctuating. Reserves are depleting and the ‘big elephant discoveries’ such as Ormen Lange have already been found. The theme of this issue of World Expro is making the most of what we have. Ed Heiberger looks at cost-effective production from a holistic view. Emmanuel Garland from Total tackles the health and safety concerns. Shell’s Neil Wilcock and Sytze Huizinga look at methodologies for a consistent approach to asset integrity. Brett Borland of ConocoPhillips writes about drilling while casing. Stein Olav Drange of StatoilHydro explains the methods behind the company’s biggest R&D subsea projects. Not only are some projects environmentally treacherous but they can be dangerous for political and social reasons. Dirk Kramers of Shell explains how the company tackles these challenges. Cooperation and development are crucial no matter what the economic climate.

The focus of the environmental revolution is carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) technology. Jan van der Eijk, Shell’s chief technology officer, and Jean-Michel Gires, Total E&P’s executive vice-president of sustainable development and the environment, address the key issues; whether it is possible to control emissions, and find an efficient and environmentally friendly way of dealing with them. They stress that an action plan should be taken on
board by governments, not just major organisations, and become a global drive that involves all industry players.

Dr Fatih Birol of the International Energy Agency addresses the key emerging market forces, India and China, and Magne Ognedal of the Petroleum Safety Authority Norway, explains how, with a limited number of qualified safety experts, companies must look at the long term health and safety issues rather than dealing with initial short-term problems.

When it comes to hard-to-reach deposits, they don't come much tougher than the Ormen Lange gas field. Our cover story reports on the home to the world's deepest large-bore gas well and how Shell is coping in one of the most inhospitable regions on earth.

The Sakhalin1 oil and gas fields are testament to what can be achieved through multinational cooperation. Russian, European and Japanese companies have worked side by side in a massive design and construction effort; we give the low-down on this highly exciting and successful development off the Russian east coast.

Other highlights within these pages include an exclusive interview with ABOI director Ken Gibbons, Chevron Corporation's John W McDonald outlining some uncomfortable truths about the state of our industry, and a discussion about how best to formulate a universally accepted objective standard for classifying oil and gas reserves.

The oil and gas industry is, perhaps more than most, accustomed to mergers and acquisitions, but few past consolidations have had quite the impact that the Statoil nad Norsk Hydro merger could. Essentially it will create another major global force in the energy market with a highly experienced offshore capability primed to tackle the difficult locations where much of our future oil reserves will probably be located in future.

The merger raises questions about further mergers and acquisitions activity. Is this the start of another raft of market consolidations designed to shore up the future of the industry and mitigate risk? In this edition of World Expro, we find out the answer from Statoil's CEO Helge Lund. And we examine the merger in detail with Hydro president and CEO, Eivind Reiten.

In this edition we focus on increasing efficiency and prolonging the life of existing oil fields. We look at technology being employed by Statoil to improve recovery rates from increasingly complicated reserves. We examine in detail one project involving the revolutionary application of standard technology to install the first commercial seabed processing plant. We also look at the evolution of micro-hole technology and examine the potential uses of this technology to reclaim shallow oil reserves, reduce costs and minimise environmental impact.

Elsewhere we hear from Exxon Mobil and Shell, who enforce the message that technological advance is the most vital aspect of the upstream oil and gas industry. We also take a look at the evolution of the Bake Tiles pipeline and see exactly how BP is achieving its goal of transporting one million barrels of oil per day 1,768km between the Caspian and Mediterranean seas without harming local communities or the environment.

In this edition of World Expro we examine in detail the rising profile of gas and LNG. We also look at the issues concerning Eastern European supply as well as the development of new installations across the developing world.

There is growing concern about the volatile nature of oil prices. In the wake of hurricane Katrina, World Expro looks at what to expect in the long term for oil prices, and how wildly divergent reserve estimations are affecting industry confidence.