Technology and partnership key to regional petroleum industry's future says BP Middle East Chief

Speaking on the eve of the International Petroleum Technology Conference, taking place at the Dubai World Trade Centre from 4 - 6 December, BP Middle East President AbdulKarim Al Mazmi highlighted the importance of partnership between NOCs and IOCs in meeting the regional oil & gas industry's expansion targets.

"At a time of unprecedented growth in global energy demand, NOCs and IOCs both have their distinct roles to play. Doing so in partnership would reap mutual benefits, especially when you consider that the major Gulf producers plan to increase capacity by more than 50 per cent by 2020," Al Mazmi explained.

"Whether enhancing recovery from existing oil and gas fields, or developing new projects, IOCs have significant experience and technology. The challenge of bringing more oil to market presents an opportunity for governments and industry to work together in applying best practice and transferring knowledge gained by the international oil companies around the world."

Al Mazmi added IOC technologies can help bring online valuable new barrels from the region's abundant difficult hydrocarbon resources as well as in developing low carbon alternative energy.

"The Middle East has vast resources of 'difficult hydrocarbons' - such as sour gas, tight gas, heavy oil and those resources only recoverable by pushing the limits of enhanced oil recovery (EOR) technologies. These have often not yet been developed because of the significant technical challenges they pose. Governments are increasingly interested in developing difficult hydrocarbons, and as a recognised industry leader in this field, BP brings its technologies and experiences to the region to work with NOCs to help develop these resources."

BP recently signed an exploration and production sharing agreement with the Sultanate of Oman for the appraisal and development of the Khazzan/Makarem fields and awarded seismic acquisition services, seismic reprocessing, select stage engineering and drilling rigs contracts as part of the six year programme to appraise the 'tight' gas reservoirs.

"Another area that regional governments are increasingly interested in is alternative energy. Abu Dhabi has taken the lead in this field through the formation of the Masdar alternative energy initiative, of which BP is a founding partner" said Al Mazmi. "BP fully supports Abu Dhabi's vision, and we are working jointly with Masdar to explore areas for cooperation in the low-carbon space."

BP - which in 2005 established a dedicated Alternative Energy division that plans to invest up to $8bn in alternative and renewable energies, including solar, wind, hydrogen energy and bio fuels over the coming years - expects other Middle Eastern countries to look more closely at alternative energy over the coming years, thanks to strong demand for power generation as well as increasing environmental awareness.

Al Mazmi is part of a high level BP delegation to attend IPTC, including BP Group Chief Executive Tony Hayward as co-chair of the event's executive committee. BP's presence at IPTC includes support for the event's Education Week that provides 80 top undergraduate university students in science, geoscience and engineering from 27 Eastern hemisphere countries an opportunity to learn about careers in the oil & gas industry and to interact with young professionals in the field. The company will also have a state-of-the-art exhibition stand highlighting the company's technologies and capabilities.

BP experts will present a series of papers at the conference, sharing the company's experience and expertise in areas such as reservoir management, advanced seismic imaging, tight formation technologies and BP's CO2 capture and storage experience at Algeria's In Salah field.