Panel Sessions

Panel 1 New Frontier Challenges (Tight Gas, Sour Gas, Heavy Oil, Unconventional)
Timing - Tuesday 2 November 11:00am - 12:50pm

Due to the increased demand for energy, it has become necessary to pursue opportunities in new frontiers such as tight gas, sour gas, heavy oil and unconventional reservoirs.

Tight and sour gas reservoirs constitute a significant proportion of the world’s natural gas resource and offer great potential for future reserve growth and production. However, tight and sour gas reservoirs are often characterized by complex geological and petrophysical systems as well as heterogeneities at all scales.

Heavy oil accounts for more than double the resources of conventional oil in the world. Nevertheless, heavy oil is difficult to recover, transport and refine. Many technologies and services used for conventional oil face limitations with these highly viscous oils.

Unconventional Hydrocarbons analysis comprised oil shale, tar sand, gas shale, tight sand gas, coalbed methane and gas hydrates. Taking the data of competent organizations into account, the global resources of unconventional oil and gas significantly exceed the availability of conventional natural hydrocarbons in spite of the fact that their recovery efficiency is extremely low.

During this panel, we will discuss the technical challenges and issues associated with these reservoirs at every phase of exploration and development: There are challenges related to drilling, completing, evaluating, stimulating and producing these reservoirs.
To meet the world’s increased demand, a growing number of operators around the world are getting involved by expanding their plans in this market. This pursuit frequently results in encountering big technical challenges. However, as technology continues to improve, these resources are quickly becoming more viable alternative and commercially attractive.

Attendees of this panel will hear from experts around the globe on the latest developments and new technologies to address these challenges and discuss best practices and innovative solutions in order to develop the most efficient, cost effective production strategy for optimizing the recovery of these unconventional reservoirs.

Moderator

Abla Al Riyami
Gas Director
Petroleum Development Oman

Panelists

Mark J. Nolan
Vice President - Middle East / Russia
ExxonMobil

Dr. Nathan Meehan 
Vice President, Reservoir Technology and Consulting 
Baker Hughes

Robert Gales 
Vice President Geo Science 
Weatherford

Kamel Bennaceur
Schlumberger Chief Economist
Schlumberger

Jonathan Evans 
General Manager 
BP

Panel Session 1 | Panel Session 2 | Panel Session 3 | Panel Session 4 | Panel Session 5

Panel 2 Technology and Innovation the Energy Sector
Timing - Tuesday 2 November 11:00am - 12:50pm

New technology and innovation will always be a key ingredient for successful development of oil and gas reserves.  The extended high activity cycle that our industry has been experiencing has contributed to the essential influx of new Research and Development efforts by leveraging other engineering disciplines – aviation, materials science and healthcare, for example, to develop a systems-integration mindset that delivers better value, on a more sustainable basis and drives the oil and gas industry forward.

Although the industry is facing challenges, there remains a strong future for both oil and gas with unconventional sources such as heavier oil and ultra-deep fields, being brought on-stream.  The world has in place an estimated 4 trillion barrels of extra heavy oil... four times the estimated proved reserves of conventional oil, It is anticipated that within a ten-year period oil demand will grow to a level where the industry will need to add capacity equivalent to five and a half times that of Saudi Arabia’s current production levels.  There is also a lot of potential for the gas sector of the industry.   The power sector is the main driver of natural gas demand, especially in countries where electricity demand is projected to rise most rapidly.   All these factors, in addition to more challenging environments will place strong demands for innovations and technology.

Overall, the oil and gas industry faces many challenges, including deep seabed compression, sour and acid gas exploration and production, getting more from existing resources, reducing CO2 emissions, developing lighter products from heavy crude, and monetizing stranded resources. Technology innovation is the way forward to meet these challenges.

This panel will provide a high-level overview of current technology development efforts while discussing the overall innovative process, from conceptualization through to development and application. The vision for current and future commitments that will ensure maximum innovation in our industry will be discussed by the stakeholders of this vital process. Technology, integration and innovation are all key enhancers of increased production of oil and gas resources beyond our current imagination.

Panelists

Ganesh Thakur
Vice President
Chevron Energy Technology Company

Belgacem Chariag
President for Eastern Hemisphere Operations
Baker Hughes

Samer Al-Ashgar 
Expec Advanced Research Center Manager
Saudi Aramco

Tim Probert
President
Halliburton  Global Business Lines & Corporate Development

Werner Gudem Karlsson
INTSOK Regional Director in the Middle East, North Africa & US
INTSOK

Panel Session 1 | Panel Session 2 | Panel Session 3 | Panel Session 4 | Panel Session 5

Panel 3 Sustainability & Development of Human Capital
Timing - Wednesday 3 November 11:00am - 12:30pm

One of the main challenges facing the petroleum industry is attracting, developing and retaining a highly skilled work force that can develop complex reservoirs and is able to handle next generation of technologies. One particular need is to develop technical expertise at a faster pace using different techniques from the ones currently used, as well as capitalizing on the experience of the existing experts.

A more recent challenge has been to manage the human resources pool during the recent downturn whilst ensuring its availability and readiness for the upturn.

Finally, the Oil and Gas sector has always been a fertile ground for developing leaders thanks to the international exposure, technical complexities and diversity of environments it exposes people to. In many situations this is increasingly forcing oil and gas companies to rethink leadership development to address companies needs for future leaders.

The panel will explore and provide their perspectives on these issues and provide insight into the challenges ahead to replenish the technical work force and grow its future leaders.

Moderator

Badria Khalfan
Deputy HR and Admin Director
ADNOC

Panelists

Ali Rashid Al-Jarwan
General Manager
ADMA-OPCO

Sam D. Conner
Regional Manager - Asia Pacific / Middle East
ExxonMobil Production Company

Dr. Michael  M. Ohadi
Provost and Acting President
The Petroleum Institute Petroleum Institute

Charles Proctor 
President, BP Middle East & Pakistan 

Panel Session 1 | Panel Session 2 | Panel Session 3 | Panel Session 4 | Panel Session 5

Panel 4 “Delivering Mega-Projects in a Changing/Challenging Environment”
Timing - Wednesday 3rd November 11:00am - 12:30pm

By 2030, with projected economic and population growth, the world’s total energy demand is expected to be approximately 35 percent higher than it was in 2005, despite significant gains in energy efficiency. Developing sufficient energy resources to meet rising global demand will require massive amounts of capital – over $1 trillion per year, according to the IEA.

Mega oil and gas projects are planned and under execution around the world to meet the growing energy needs.  Delivering such projects in the most efficient and effective manner while taking due consideration of effected communities and global efforts to mitigate CO2 emissions is a major challenge for the industry.  

Panel members will provide their views on the wide range of aspects that address these challenges, such as commercial/fiscal models, geopolitics, and the roles of NOCs, IOCs and major contracting companies.

Moderator

Mr. Mohamed Husain
Deputy Chairman
Kuwait National Petroleum Company

Panelists

Bruce Ference
Project Executive
ExxonMobil

Waleed Al-Mulhim
Reservoir Engineering Department Manager
Saudi Aramco

John S. Cheesebrough
Senior Project Manager/Project Director/Consultant
Maersk Oil

Nafes Bseico
Venture Manager
RASGAS

Panel Session 1 | Panel Session 2 | Panel Session 3 | Panel Session 4 | Panel Session 5

Panel 5 Carbon Management in the Energy Industry – (To Include Environment) -
Timing - Thursday 4 November 11:00am - 12:30pm

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has prescribed 50 to 80 % reduction of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 2050, in order to stabilize GHG emissions at  450 PPM, thus limit global warming to 2 Degrees Celsius. To reach these emissions reductions,  the world needs to deploy a mix of sustainable energy technologies related to energy efficiency, renewable energy and clean fossil fuel based power generation.  Given the growing global energy demand, hydrocarbons will continue to play a significant part of the supply mix, hence, greater attention needs to be placed on energy efficiency and clean fossil fuel based power generation. 

The debate rests on the policies and incentives required to enable the energy industry to increase the rate of deploying these technologies.  For instance, energy efficiency programs are often NPV positive yet require political will to execute.  Another technology which offers much promise in cleaning hydrocarbons is carbon capture and storage.  In some cases, the captured carbon dioxide can be used for enhanced oil recovery which often reduces, if not fully offsets, the costs associated with the capture. 

This panel explores all the different components of carbon management from the point of view of the different players in the energy value chain.

Moderator

Gérard Moutet 
Vice President Climate-Energy 
Total

Panelists

Dr. Carlos Pimenta
President of the Board of SICAR
NovaEnergia II

Mr. Ahmed Rashid Al Arbeed
CEO
Dana Gas

Barbara Mckee
Director Office of Coal & Power Import & Export
US Department of Energy

Ms. Hege Marie Norheim
Senior Vice President
Statoil