The 3rd Annual GVF Oil & Gas Communications Europe Conference (O&GCE3) on 12th & 13th May 2010 is also the 9th event in the global Oil & Gas Communications Series organized by GVF and UK-EMP. Continuing the Series into its fifth year, the 2010 conference takes the ‘Digital Applications & Communications Dynamics’ focus beyond the territory of the hydrocarbon-bearing sectors of the North Sea, continuing far to the north to the Arctic Ocean region.
Once again to be held in Aberdeen, Scotland, the program for this latest event for the European “oil & gas patch” – which will examine the role of satellite, and satellite-wireless, technologies and services in continuing to bring mission critical operational success to the maturing oil & gas fields of the North Sea – will additionally explore the communications imperatives and the delivery of networking solutions for the extreme northerly boundary of Europe’s new hydrocarbon exploration & production opportunity. This program will thus lead us ‘From the North Sea to the Arctic Ocean’.
The Arctic is, indeed, ocean surrounded by land, not the other way around, like Antarctica, and the floor to the Arctic Ocean comprises a series of basins some 3000-4000 meters deep separated by ridges. The continental shelves of the Eurasian land masses around the edge of these basins are not at great depth – rarely exceeding 100 meters – but are of great width – the widest being up to 900 kilometers. Studies indicate that the Arctic basin as a whole is a very likely source of oil. Discoveries of fossil fern species in drilling sites on opposite sides of the basin indicates that the basin was once a landlocked sea in which organic sediments accumulated.
Dealing with both the latest updates to the themes that are still current from earlier programs in the conference series, and also with the most up-to-date developments in the communications solution and digital application requirements of offshore exploration and production, the 2010 program will turn to look at the future of those themes and requirements as will in the future be dictated by the geographical and climate conditions of the Arctic’s sub-sea fossil fuel reserves.As the North Sea continues to realize reducing yields, the Arctic Nations of Europe – Denmark, Norway and Russia – as well as Canada and the United States, have already begun to indicate their claims to the continental shelf hydrocarbon resource potential of the Arctic Basin rock strata.
In May 2008, representatives from these five nations met in Greenland to decide on the Arctic Basin ownership split. All five reaffirmed the view that existing international treaties – for example, UNCLOS, the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea – were the correct basis for negotiation. However, whilst the price of a barrel of crude is at a relatively low level it is possible to see how such friendly agreement might prevail, but, post-financial crisis, when the price of oil rises strongly again, covetous eyes, and the competitive urge for a major hydrocarbon-fueled economic recovery, will point to the far north.
For other parts of the globe with only recently discovered offshore reserves of oil & gas, or with offshore reserves at the very earliest stages of full commercial exploitation, many of the lessons learned from, and communications solutions developed during, the evolution of North Sea offshore E&P have become applicable, albeit using more modern and sophisticated technology platforms, sometimes within the context of even more geographically challenging physical environments.
But, the continuing growth in the long-term global thirst for supplies of hydrocarbon-based energy, even despite climate change-related pressures to increase the use of "renewable" energy sources, means that the most profound exploration and production challenges of the Arctic must also be faced and tackled.
Thus, two very important, and closely related, questions arise. Firstly, how is the latest generation of cutting-edge communications solutions and digital oilfield/gasfield applications – with their genesis in the hostile offshore environment of the North Sea, and now with their current and continuing development taking place in the context of offshore exploration and production in South East Asia, West Africa, etc – now being re-applied to the context of the depleting reserves of the North Sea? And secondly, how might the ICT-related lessons of this North Sea-to-currently-emergent energy regions history be applied to the totally new prospects offered by an increasingly ice-free Arctic Ocean?
No one would deny that mission critical operational success in the oil & gas exploration and production environment has been dependent on access to the most efficient ICTs, and to the wealth of sophisticated applications these technologies bring to the disposal of the teams of geologists, geophysicists, drilling engineers, seismic data analysts, etc., who not only locate new oil & gas reserves but assist in developing more effective and efficient techniques for yielding them from beneath the ocean floor. Equally, no one would deny that satellite, satellite-wireless hybrid, and wireless platforms, have made, and continue to make, a vital contribution to this ICT access, providing essential connectivity to vital applications in a range of challenging geographic environments.
However, this is a role which, though well developed, still has potential to evolve and expand. Therefore, O&GCE3 will explore this future evolution and expansion, not only with reference to the later stages of North Sea E&P, but with reference to the emergence of the fresh energy-yielding potential of the high northern latitudes.
To this end, the Conference will bring together key leaders and experts from the oil & gas sector as well as the communications and commercial applications sectors, creating a high-level discussion forum, and providing extended networking opportunities for demand (end-user) and supply (vendor) expert practitioners. This networking dialogue will be set against the backdrop of a conference program in which the nature of the applications and communications imperatives of the dynamic 21st Century energy market vertical will be fully addressed through a series of themed Interactive Sessions, Case Studies and Technology Showcase Presentations.
More information may be obtained from martin.jarrold@gvf.orgor from paul.stahl@uk-emp.co.uk. The Conference website may be accessed by following the banner link in the GVF homepage Calendar of Events at www.gvf.org.
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Martin Jarrold is the Chief of International Program Development of the GVF. He can be reached at: martin.jarrold@gvf.org
