The boss of Brazil’s oil and gas giant Petrobras will join an august panel of speakers at the annual Offshore Europe event in September.
Pedro Parente will also be joined by Robin Watson, chief executive of Wood Group, at the opening plenary session at SPE Offshore Europe 2017 which is taking place 5-8 September 2017.
Other speakers are Ben van Beurden, chief executive of Royal Dutch Shell and Bob Dudley, group chief executive of BP, who round off a top CEO line up at the biannual event, whose central theme this year is Embracing New Realities: Reinventing our Industry.
Conference chair Catherine MacGregor, president, drilling group, Schlumberger, said: “It is testimony to the relevance of the North Sea that these industry leading CEOs with global portfolios have agreed to speak at the opening plenary session at SPE Offshore Europe 2017. Their insights will set the stage for the largest and most topical technical conference and exhibition in Europe, reflecting the strategic, commercial, behavioural and technology challenges that will shape the future of the industry for the next ten years and beyond.”
Mr Watson, who is leading a £2.2billion mega-merger with rival Amec Foster Wheeler, is set to discuss “a service company’s perspective of the new realities the industry is facing”, Offshore Europe organisers said. Wood Group recently revealed the merger would lead to a cull of 1,300 jobs across the group and that it was considering a sale of AFW’s North Sea business to appease competition concerns.
Mr Watson became chief executive of Wood Group in January 2016, having been chief operating officer and an executive member of the Wood Group board since January 2013 and chief executive officer of the Wood Group’s PSN division since 2012.
Mr Parente was appointed CEO of Petrobras, the Brazilian multinational oil company, in June 2016 in the wake of a corruption scandal that led to the impeachment of Brazilian president, Dilma Rousseff. He holds a graduate degree in electrical engineering from the University of Brasilia and began his career in public service at Banco do Brasil in 1971. Mr Parente was a consultant at the International Monetary Fund and at public institutions in Brazil, including the Departments of State and of the 1988 National Constituent Assembly. Between 1999 and 2002, Mr Parente held several Government positions including chief of staff minister, minister of planning, deputy minister of finance, chairman of the energy crisis management chamber and was a member of the board of Petrobras becoming chairman in 2002.
SPE Offshore Europe 2017 will offer more than 65 technical papers and 11 keynote panel sessions combined with business breakfasts and topical lunches. New technologies, products and services launched by exhibitors in the last 12 months will be highlighted in a new initiative called ‘Tech Trek’, developed to help visitors to find what’s new, more easily. A ‘new for 2017’ Decommissioning Zone will feature a themed exhibition and conference space. Free-to-attend, the zone will include an exhibition area for decommissioning technology and service providers as well as a conference programme organised in association with Decom North Sea, IMechE, ITF and SUT.
SPE Offshore Europe has been held biennially in Aberdeen since 1973. It is the largest E&P conference and exhibition outside North America.
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