Momentum builds for Abu Dhabi GVP Oil conference

Global VSAT Forum (GVF) and United Kingdom Event Management Partners (UK-EMP) concluded on 13th May 2009 the 2nd Annual Oil & Gas Communications Europe: Digital Applications & Communications Dynamics conference which had taken place at the Marriott Hotel, Dyce, in Aberdeen, Scotland over the preceding two days.

The Aberdeen conference attracted the support of major players in the exploration and production (E&P) communications space, including lead conference sponsor Schlumberger, plus Arqiva, IPX International, Hermes Datacomms, CapRock Communications, and Eutelsat.

Speaking for the Global VSAT Forum, Martin Jarrold - Chief of International Programme Development with GVF and Chairman of Oil & Gas Communications Europe - commented at the close of the 2009 Conference that "after the successful first North Sea-centric conference in 2008 our confidence that there was every reason to bring the Conference Series back to Aberdeen in 2009 has been amply justified."

He continued:

"The GVF Oil & Gas Communications Conference Series continues to go from strength to strength, and here in Aberdeen we have been particularly pleased in two significant respects. Firstly, that despite the general economic downturn and the deflated price of crude, attendance at this year's event has compared exceptionally well to 2008 participation when oil was around three times the price per barrel. Secondly, that fully one-third of the 2009 conference delegates originated from oil & gas and oil & gas service companies, rather than communications solution vendor companies. This is a very good result, demonstrating that in the oil & gas upstream, mission critical operational success really is totally dependent on access to the most efficient information and communications technologies and to a vast array of sophisticated applications used by the E&P professional."

The 4th Annual Oil & Gas Communications MENA conference, entitled: 'Wireless, Satellite & Everything in Between' will take place at the InterContinental Hotel, Abu Dhabi, over 9th & 10th June 2009, and will be sponsored by the conference series lead sponsor Schlumberger, and also by Yahsat, Hughes and Thuraya.

Paul Stahl, Managing Partner of the Conference Series co-organiser, UK-EMP, noted in respect of the 4th Annual conference in the Oil & Gas Communications series dedicated to the Middle East and North Africa region that, "Following the success of the European region event in Aberdeen, we are very encouraged about the prospects for the MENA regional conference. In addition, Abu Dhabi is a new host-city for us, and whilst we achieved a series of conference successes in our previous host-city of Cairo, we are looking forward to transferring those established successes nearer to the regional heartland of E&P activity in the Middle East."

The Abu Dhabi conference will incorporate a number of themes which previously featured in the Aberdeen programme. Two of these shared themes will be:

What the Oil & Gas Sector Needs Vs. What They Get: Envisioning a Broadband Special Interest Group for the Middle East Patch to be explored by Charter Signatories of the Gulf of Mexico Broadband Special Interest Group; and,

Oil & Gas Communications and Social Responsibility: Merging Community & Profitability in the Patch to be presented by Martin Jarrold, Chief, International Programme Development, GVF.

The Abu Dhabi gathering will deliver networking opportunities for, and promote dialogue between, senior executives from demand (oil & gas sector end-user) and supply (communications solution vendor) expert practitioners. It will characterise and detail the applications and communications imperatives of the energy market vertical, illustrating that, whilst it is true of these imperatives that, in relative terms, communications solutions represent a small fraction of energy companies' total CAPEX and OPEX, well-managed ICT networks can play a disproportionately great role in reducing expenditures in drilling, production, exploration, and in every other area of operations, and all across the global oil & gas patch.

Some sessions in the Abu Dhabi conference programme will reflect certain variations of thematic features of the Aberdeen event, and these will include:

Oil & Gas E&P Networking: Communications Infrastructure RoI & Buying the Right Solution in Volatile Oil Price
Environments featuring speakers from Dolphin Energy Ltd, Caprock Communications, Hermes Datacomms and Detecon Al Saudia; and,

The Technology & Topology of the 21st Century "Digital Oilfield": Evolution of Narrowband SCADA & Asset Tracking to the Cutting-Edge of Broadband Applications Sophistication featuring speakers from Saudi Aramco, Caprock Communications, and Iridium Satellite.

Reflecting the fact that optimising investment in various broadband communications platforms, in order to increase efficiencies in exploration, drilling and production, has long been of paramount importance for the oil & gas industry, and that this is, therefore, a multi-faceted subject area, the Abu Dhabi conference will also introduce some totally new session themes not previously explored during the Oil & Gas Communications Series, including:

Oil & Gas Communications Mobile Networking: Extending the Integrated Maritime Application Satellite Solution from
Offshore E&P to Marine Transportation of Hydrocarbon Assets & Port/Refinery Operations including speakers from Dolphin Energy Ltd, and others to be announced; and,

O&G to the Downstream: Broadband Satellite Networking Solutions in the Greater Oil & Gas Sector Environment including speakers from ViaSat; and others to be announced.

In current global economic conditions energy sector demand for broadband communications-driven operational efficiencies has been exacerbated by downward pressure on the market price of hydrocarbons, so, in continuing the objectives set-out in previous years of the conference series, the Abu Dhabi conference will be even more closely focused on examining precisely how energy sector executives are now applying state-of-the-art broadband solutions to increase the profitability of, and to add value to, their businesses.

Turning his remarks to the accelerated build-up to the Abu Dhabi conference, Martin Jarrold, further noted that, "What the entire Oil & Gas Communications Conference Series demonstrates is that more than ever, the wealth of sophisticated applications that communications technologies bring to the disposal of geologists, geophysicists, drilling engineers, seismic data analysts, etc. - experts who not only locate new oil & gas reserves but assist in developing more effective and efficient techniques for yielding them from underground or beneath the ocean floor - have an increasingly central role."

And he concluded: "Therefore, increasingly, company operations across the upstream segment of the Oil & Gas industry are dependent upon both fixed and mobile broadband links, services, and technology solutions. Oil & Gas E&P has become increasingly dependent on the creation of an information and communications environment that comprises stand-alone satellite-based solutions, satellite-terrestrial hybrid solutions, and some stand-alone terrestrial technologies, including fibre."