Shell expertise contributes to the recovery of challenging hydrocarbons

Mr. Atallah was speaking yesterday at the fourth edition of the Kuwait International Petroleum Conference and Exhibition (2012 KIPCE) themed 'People and Innovative Technologies to Unleash Challenging Hydrocarbon Resources' which is taking place from the 10th - 12th of December 2012 at the Hilton Kuwait Resort, Kuwait.

The event is held under the patronage of H.E. Hani A. Hussain, Minister of Oil and Chairman of the Board Kuwait Petroleum Corporation, in the presence of regional and international industry leaders. KIPCE is one of the largest Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE) events in Kuwait and is co-organized by Kuwait University.

With growing global demand for hydrocarbons and the need to secure new resources and sustain growth, new challenges for the petroleum industry have surfaced, thus defining the objective of this event; to exchange expertise and experience, discuss views on current industry trends and present state-of-the-art technology and innovation.

"At a time when dramatic changes are taking place in the global energy industry in general and the global gas business in particular, we all face the need to think differently about harnessing opportunities in our journey towards future energy." Mr. Atallah said. "Innovation is at the heart of the Shell strategy as we apply and develop conventional and unconventional methods to sustain sufficient growth and create new opportunities for the future".

He then focused on the growing importance of natural gas to the future of the global economy and how technology comes to play. "In all scenarios, we see a substantial growth in gas demand. It is widely abundant and diverse, the cleanest-burning fossil fuel, requires relatively low capital investment and, last but not least, it is a versatile commodity."

"There are exciting new opportunities for gas to play an even more important role in the overall energy mix, from turning gas to liquid products, to the unconventional gas revolution, to the increasing interconnectivity of global markets via LNG".

Mr. Atallah then described how "Shell's exciting technical advances have made Floating LNG possible, allowing access to remote reservoirs which only a few years ago could not have been developed."

In addition to technology, he underscored how people underpin the efforts to tackle these energy challenges.

"People development is the thrust to progress. In Shell, we invest in our people, encourage them to grow and nurture their talents. These efforts are not limited to the learning and development activities for our staff and partners. We also collaborate with other organisations to bring education activities and youth development programmes to students from all levels including high schools and universities in Kuwait."

The conference will feature keynote, plenary and panel sessions and will cover exploration, development and production topics, in addition to a technical program which covers all aspects of conventional resources, development of unconventional reservoirs and intelligent oilfields.