With an increasing number of clients rapidly ramping-up their activities in the Middle-east, we felt the time was right to make our first trip out to support them at the region’s major oil and gas event – Adipec.
The biggest such event in the Middle-east and the third largest in the world (Offshore Europe being second to OTC in Houston I assume) Adipec2013 boasts a new-look programme and its biggest ever exhibition of companies from around the world.
From small beginnings in 1984, the event which used to be bi-annual, is now running annually. Under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nayhan, President of the UAE, the event this year seeks to highlight the evolution of energy and shift from oil to gas in the region.
Under the theme of “Energy for All in a Changing World”, Adipec 2013 boasts a business conference, an expanded technical conference with 53 sessions featuring 256 speakers, a focus on the role of women in the industry and Young Adipec– a programme to attract the industry’s future leaders. There is also a specific zone devoted to health and safety in the industry – perhaps something which should be considered for Offshore Europe?
The Middle-east and North Africa (MENA) is home to around 52% of the world’s proven oil reserves and 42% of proven gas reserves. With natural gas seen as a cleaner fuel, demand is expected to rise and the conference is therefore largely concentrated on addressing the needs of the region’s gas sector.
National oil company Adnoc has invested almost $40billion in oil, gas and petrochemical projects, $25billion of which is dedicated to gas. The role of gas as a primary energy source in the region is subject of today’s first business conference.
BP believes “the challenges in the Middle-east lie around meeting rapidly increasingly demands for energy on the one hand and the need to find more efficient ways to consume energy on the other. A related challenge is around technology and innovation to increase oil and gas production, to maximise recovery from the regions known resources and to develop more technically challenging opportunities.
These include managing maturing assets and the need for smart and tailored technology to maintain production rates and this is where North Sea expertise come in. A large contingent of British companies was to be found at Adipec, largely under the aegis of EIC, but the Scottish pavilion – organised by Scottish Development International and along the hall from team GB, beside the US pavilion – was surprisingly small by comparison.
Given the focus on the technical development of the hydrocarbon industry globally, it was no surprise that Ryan McPherson, regional director for the Middle-east for ITF (Industry Technology Facilitator) was working the exhibition to promote how it is bringing together its global membership to drive the development of new technology to meet the specific challenges of the MENA region, particularly in the areas of sour gas reservoirs and EOR.
Tomorrow, James McCallum of global energy services company, Senergy – which started its life in Aberdeen, is on an ADNOC panel to debate the role of R&D in the post “easy oil” era.
Aberdeen-based OMEGA Completion Technology launched a new retrievable bridge plug ideal for vital well maintenance operations following a successful campaign with a major Middle East operator. The Gemini Retrievable Bridge Plug has been developed in direct response to the growing need to suspend wells during regular maintenance and for zonal isolation and water shut off. The feedback following its first successful Middle East campaign gave OMEGA the confidence to launch this tool at Adipec. No doubt similar products, developed in the mature North Sea, will be showcased at Adipec this week.
As I left the show this afternoon, walking through the ultra-modern, pristine exhibition centre, with its constant stream of cleaners polishing the floors, I reflected more favourably on plans at home to build a new conference centre. And with no long walks to car parks in fields and the price of a litre of petrol over here cheaper than a litre of bottled water, the taxi journey to my hotel was also a pleasant surprise.
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