Oil production efficiencies high on the agenda at major Cairo Oil & Gas Communications conference

As the price of a barrel of oil spikes towards the $150 mark, the growth of support for this key event for the North Africa and Middle East region is recognition that it is more essential than ever that the oil & gas exploration and production (E&P) environment focuses on maximising its energy supply efficiencies - efficiencies which increasingly depend upon ever-more sophisticated data crunching applications and networked analytical tools, and, therefore, upon availability of the most effective and reliable communications services and technologies.

With few, if any, reasons to anticipate any reductions in energy demand from such emerging economic giants as China and India, or from any change in the oil market activities of the financial hedge funds, it is imperative that companies with mission critical roles in the E&P environment work more-and-more closely with the vendors of applications and communication networking solutions in order to enable maximised use of innovative, state-of-the-art, exploration and production strategies.

UK-EMP, the organiser of O&GC3, together with GVF, are very pleased to welcome the following companies and other organisations which will be supporting the objectives of the Cairo conference programme as sponsors, and/or speakers, and/or delegates (in alphabetical order):

Advantech Satellite Networks ~ Arab Petroleum Pipelines (SUMED), Badr Petroleum Company (BAPETCO) ~ British Petroleum ~ Centurion Petroleum Corporation ~ Dana Petroleum ~ Detasad/Detecon Al Saudia ~ Dolphin Energy (UAE) ~ EgyptGas ~ Egyptian Chinese Drilling Company (ECDC) ~ EgyptSat ~ Enppi ~ Ganope Petroleum Company ~ GASCO ~ Global Beam Limited ~ GUPCO ~ Hermes Datacomms ~ Hughes Network Systems ~ International Egyptian Oil Company (IEOC) ~ Khalda ~ MENANets ~ MobiServe ~ ND SatCom ~ Newtec MENA ~ Parallel


Ltd ~ Petrojet ~ Radyne ~ RWE ~ Satcom Group ~ Saudi Aramco ~ Schlumberger ~ Skylogic ~ Suez RBO - EEAA ~ UDcast ~ YahSat.

Amongst these organisations, the organisers are pleased to welcome our most recent sponsor, MobiServe.

MobiServe - with its portfolio of services which includes telecommunication infrastructure and component manufacturing, telecom engineering, construction, and a satellite division - joins the other valued conference sponsors Schlumberger, Advantech Satellite Networks, and Hughes.

In supporting the objectives of O&GC3, these organisations - together with those still registering to join the conference line-up on a daily basis - are taking a clear and key leadership role in an essential dialogue that will build upon many of the conclusions of a previous oil & gas connectivity conference held quite recently in Aberdeen.

Notable amongst these conclusions, it was several-times clearly stated that, despite the currently highly-elevated price of oil, it remains of absolutely central importance that communications connectivity and networking solutions continue to be available to the oil & gas sector on the most cost-effective basis possible.

An important part of the dialogue from the oil & gas E&P side is that the high price of oil does not mean that oil & gas producers are awash with the kind of revenues that will enable them to purchase applications and connectivity solutions at any price.

In Aberdeen, some producers went on to say that if more advanced data analysis and control applications - and the communications platforms necessary to support them - are to be used to more effectively and efficiently to extract the last barrel of oil or cubic metre of gas from old and dwindling fields, or to assist in complex decision-making processes about where and how to drill for the prospect of new fields, then the kind of operating margins that the producers will be operating with will dictate that the vendors of the networking solutions will have to place cost-effectiveness equally with efficiency, reliability, and scalability.

Helping to frame and facilitate this dialogue is a two-day programme of interactive panel sessions and special feature presentations which will span a range of topics that will contribute to debate.

The 12 themed sessions are as follows:

- Application & Technology Dynamics: From SCADA to Broadband Data Networking - An Overview
- Communications Infrastructures Alternatives in the $120+ Barrel Environment: Investing in Future Mission Critical Delivery
- Enablers of the 21st Century 'Digital Oilfield'
- Regulation & Licensing: Open Forum on the Oil & Gas Wireless World
- Local & Global Connectivity Links: Fibre & Wireless Factors for Oil & Gas Business
- Integrated Solutions from the First to the Last Mile

- New Training Dynamics for Oil & Gas Communications
- Platform-Technology Neutrality in E&P Applications Development
- Real-Time Remote Collaboration & Operations Support Centre Networking
- Communications Terminals: Installation, Maintenance & Performance Metrics Case Studies
- Disaster Recovery, Business Continuity & Environmental Impact in North African & Middle Eastern Oil & Gas
- The Energy Industries & GVF Market Sector Initiatives

In addition, the organisers are very pleased to be able to feature a special presentation from Saudi Aramco.

A representative of the world's largest oil producer will provide an extended and detailed focus on Broadband VSAT Services - New Perspectives for Oil and Gas Applications.

O&GC3 will be chaired by Martin Jarrold, GVF Chief of International Programme Development, who commented that "The O&GC3 programme poses an absolutely central question.

How can satellite, and non-satellite, communications solutions help 'enable the digital oilfield'. The dialogue around this question will go beyond what is implicit in the 'enabling of the digital oilfield' - that is, the imperative requirement for systems resilience and data security - to analyse today's communications product and service environment within which the players in the solutions vendor community compete to satisfy the efficiency and data risk-management needs of the buyers of Digital Oilfield ICT solutions in the E & P environment."

He concluded, "Our Cairo dialogue will also consider how the use of different communications platforms is helped, hindered, and determined by geographically determined supply factors, as well as an analysis of the potential for spectrum allocation conflicts between terrestrial wireless and satellite solutions in different parts of the global oil & gas patch.