Page 53: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (August 1992)

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Offshore Northern Seas 1 Oth International Conference & Exhibition

Stavanger, Norway, August 25-28, 1992

One of Europe's biggest exhibi tions focusing on the offshore petro- leum industry, Offshore Northern

Seas (ONS) is set to take place from

August 25-28, 1992 in Stavanger,

Norway. This year's event will mark the 10th anniversary of Offshore

Northern Seas, and it is expected to attract roughly 1,000 conference participants, including senior oil company executives, scientists, and top decision-makers in the offshore supply industry, as well as a num- ber of political figures. Tradition- ally, the event has been officially opened by a member of Norway's royal family. HM KingHarald Vis the royal patron of the Offshore

Northern Seas Foundation. This year, the Norwegian prime minis- ter, as well as the minister of petro- leum and energy are scheduled to speak on the opening day.

The show is expected to draw more than 900 exhibiting compa- nies from around the world—a new record for Offshore Northern Seas.

The Siddis Center show ground of- fers 18,500 square meters of exhibit space.

According to Nils B. Gulnes, chairman of the conference commit- tee for ONS, and managing director of Amerada Hess Norge A/S, the main theme of the 1992 ONS confer- ence is the political and technologi- cal perspectives of future energy markets in light of the sweeping changes currently affecting the en- ergy sector.

Politically, these include the re- structuring of Eastern Europe and the new framework provided by the

European Energy Charter. In the technical field, oil companies are under greater pressure to cut costs to remain competitive, as well as meet stricter environmental and safety rules.

The Offshore Northern Seas con- ference program has been restruc- tured this year to provide a con- centrated one-day general confer- ence focused on strategic energy issues, followed by two and a half days of technical meetings orga- nized in parallel sessions.

Apart from exploring the main conference theme, this meeting will consider such highly topical issues as global energy supply, the role of

OPEC, developments in Russia and the overall world economy.

A new structure has also been adopted for the technical sessions, which are organized as a series of workshops in order to promote a dialogue between oil companies and suppliers.

Each technical meeting will open with a review paper from an oil company, followed by a market analysis. Representatives from the supply industry are then given the opportunity to respond to the challenges and requirements out- lined in the initial presentations.

Attention will be given to envi- ronmental and safety issues throughout the conference.

The shelf off central Norway has proved to be one of the world's most productive petroleum areas, with 530 million tons of oil equiva- lents (TOEs) in proven reserves and 1 billion TOEs remaining to be found.

Six finds have been made in the area over the past two years alone, two hydrocarbon strikes have now been made in the Cretaceous—a target not drilled in mid-Norwe- gian waters before.

According to Norwegian Petro- leum Directorate (NPD) estimates, as many as 3.5 billion TOE remain to be found in Norwegian waters, with oil representing about 30 per- cent of these reserves. Twenty- seven years of drilling in Norwe- gian waters have yielded 5.3 bil- lion TOE, with oil accounting for about 40 percent.

About NOK 80 billion has been spent on drilling in Norwegian waters so far, with an additional

NOK 165 billion committed under approved development plans.

Studies related to about 20 ex- isting Norwegian fields suggest improved oil recovery (IOR) tech- niques could add a further 400 million-800 million TOE from all present and potential discoveries.

IOR projects are already in place on Ekofisk, with pilot projects ini-

OFFSHORE NORTHERN SEAS

CONFERENCE PROGRAM AT A GLANCE

Tuesday, September 25 12:30-5 p.m.—Inauguration-Stra- tegic Energy Issues. 7-9 p.m.—Gala Concert by the

Stavanger Symphony Orchestra.

Wednesday, September 26 9 a.m.-noon—Inauguration-Stra- tegic Energy Issues. 12:30- 4 p.m.-Topical Luncheon— "Norway and Its Role in the Interna- tional Energy Market."

EXPLORATION TECHNOLOGY 12:30-3:30 p.m.-"Strategies for

Hydrocarbon Mapping ancTbeple- tion." 4-6 p.m.—"Trends in Explora- tion Technology."

FIELD DEVELOPMENT

TECHNOLOGY 4 -6 p.m.—"Trends in Field De- velopment Technology."

Thursday, September 27

FIELD DEVELOPMENT

TECHNOLOGY 9 a.m.-l 2:30 p.m.—"Subsea

Technology." 2-6 p.m.—"TLP Technology,"

DRILLING & WELL COMPLETION

TECHNOLOGY 9 a.m.-noon-"Drilling Automation." 2-6 p.m.—"Horizontal Drilling."

Friday, September 28

TRANSPORTATION

TECHNOLOGY 9 a.m.-noon—"Offshore Pipe- line Technology." 1-4 p.m.— Multiphase Flow."

FIELD OPERATIONS

TECHNOLOGY 9 a.m.-noon—"Design for Opti- mum Operation Efficiency." 1 -4 p.m.—"Abandonment."

August, 1992 55