Organisers of the Offshore Europe exhibition hailed its second best ever attendance despite the effects of the oil price crash casting a pall over proceedings.
The Offshore Europe Partnership, a joint venture between Reed Exhibitions and the Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE), said attendance figures remained “very strong” at 55,947 with delegates drawn from 104 countries. This compares to 2013 when crowds hit a record 63,000.
The organisation also said re-bookings for 2017 are looking “strong already”.
This year the record hit by the four day exhibition was the 1,535 exhibitors from 44 countries, including 336 companies exhibiting at the event for the first time. Space available at the Aberdeen Exhibition and Conference Centre (AECC) was – it’s biggest ever – was sold-out.
Hailed as the world’s largest upstream oil and gas conference and exhibition outside North America, around 5,000 visitors attended conference plenary sessions, 11 keynote sessions, 80 SPE technical paper presentations, and daily topical lunches and breakfast briefings, organisers said.
Stephen Graham, Chief Operations Officer for the SPE, added: “The conference programme successfully addressed a number of relevant industry priorities, incorporating the theme of inspiring the next generation. Combined with a busy show floor where exhibitors met with existing and potential customers, I believe SPE Offshore Europe 2015 has been a great success.”
More than 400 school pupils from Aberdeen, Aberdeenshire, Highland and Angus took part in three half-day workshops and site visits, which gave them an insight into the industry and the opportunity to meet young engineering professionals who shared their work experiences. Other Inspire events included a Career Pathways Fair, a Student Development Summit, and Energy4me aimed at school science teachers.
A further 250 pupils from the north east took part in industry training body Opito’s “Energise Your Future” event, held on the event’s last day.
Thirty companies took part in yesterday’s programme include Kongsberg, Proserv, Aker Solutions, Stork, Total, Dril Quip and Shell amongst other organisations who recognise the need to invest in the future generation.
Michael Engell-Jensen, executive director, International Association of Oil & Gas Producers (IOGP) and keynote chairman, said:
“I would like to see industry develop multi-year programmes to encourage schoolchildren to consider a career in this sector. And, for our newly qualified graduates, who have been caught out by the current economic difficulties, I am supportive of industry exploring ways to allow them to get work experience, something many graduates say would help them get their first job in the industry.”
The positive sentiment was echoed by exhibitors.
“It has been a very successful show for us with one of the benefits being that it has given people the time to talk,” said Ian Crossland, UK Director for Resman. “Very senior management from the operators have been taking time to meet their vendors and contractors to talk business, and there have been indications that things are moving in the right direction. We’ve also had lots of overseas interest, including a visit from the Norwegian ambassador.”
Kris Frampton, Cetco Energy Services, also said 2015 had been a good show for them: “There were more business opportunities for us than there were two years ago. I think the reason for that is that there is a lot more focus on production. Because we have strong environmental credentials and we can optimise operator production capabilities, we have had a lot of people coming to talk to us.”
Organisationally, Reed Exhibitions thinks the show was the smoothest running ever. Vasyl Zhygalo, Senior Exhibition Director for Reed Exhibitions, said: “We learn lessons from every edition of the event and this year we think the logistics flowed very well. The increased number of shuttle buses running to and from the city centre, offices and hotels proved to be very popular as did the park and ride. The weather was also on our side.”
The next SPE Offshore Europe will be held in Aberdeen from 5-8 September 2017. One of the new features announced for the next event will be the Decommissioning Zone 2017.
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