OTC 2015 pushes leading innovation in a cost-conscious environment

OTC

OTC 2014 at a glance

• 108,300 attendees, which was highest in show history, and up 3.3% from 2013. Previous high was 106,181 in 1982. 
• Featured the largest exhibition in the show’s history, at 680,025 ft², which was up from 652,185 ft² in 2013.
• 2,568 companies representing 43 countries, including 163 new exhibitors in 2014. International companies made up 44% of exhibitors.
• Notable awards: 2014 Distinguished Achievement Award to Carl Arne Carlsen, DNV; the Distinguished Achievement Award for Companies, Organizations or Institutions to BP for its Clair Ridge development; and the OTC Heritage Award to Noble Energy’s Susan Cunningham.

Now in its 47th, the Offshore Technology Conference (OTC) will be held at NRG Park (formerly Reliant Park) in Houston, Texas, on May 4-7, 2015. Building on a record-breaking year in 2014, OTC 2015 will again bring together the world’s foremost technical experts and industry-specific exhibiting companies.

Annual OTC Dinner. The fifth Annual OTC Dinner will open the week’s events on Sunday May 3, and will be held at NRG Stadium. This event recognizes industry achievements, raises funds for a worthy cause, and provides networking opportunities. This year’s charitable recipient is Houston’s Energy Institute High School. IPAA and PESA partnered with the Houston Independent School District (HISD) to create the school, the first of its kind in the U.S. The school opened in August 2013, as a new magnet school in HISD for grades 9 through 12. Students work within one of the three pathways—geosciences, alternative energy and offshore technology—with a core curriculum focused on science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

Awards presentation. Following the Annual OTC Dinner, the OTC Awards Committee will present the recipients for this year’s Distinguished Achievement Awards. These three awards—Distinguished Achievement Award for Individuals; Distinguished Achievement Award for Companies, Organizations and Institutions; and Heritage Award—are selected by a committee for major technological, humanitarian, environmental and leadership contributions to the industry.

OTC 2015 will hold its annual trade show at NRG Park in Houston, Texas, from May 4-7. More than 40 nations and nearly 2,600 companies exhibited last year.

The individual award goes to Elmer (Bud) Danenberger III for his many years of contributions to offshore safety and environmental protection, including 38 years with the U.S. Department of the Interior in the offshore oil and gas program. Petrobras has been awarded the organizational award for its ultra-deepwater, pre-salt development in the Campos and Santos basins, offshore Brazil. Ray R. Ayers has been awarded the Heritage Award for his 50-plus years in offshore R&D, as well as joint industry programs that he formed at Shell.

Technical highlights. Focusing on insights into offshore technological solutions, safety and environmental developments, as well as impacts on regulatory and economic affairs, this year’s technical program features:

• Updates on the CLOV 160,000-bopd FPSO project offshore Angola; the 4,000-ft-deep Gulfstar One FPS in the Gulf of Mexico; and the 8.4-million-ton/year Ichthys LNG project, offshore Australia.
• Technology improvements and advances, including application of aerospace technology to the energy industry and flexible pipe advancements.
• A competition and collaboration panel discussion between service companies Technip, Aker Solutions, FMC Technologies, GE Oil & Gas, Subsea 7 and SBM Offshore.
• Health, safety and environmental updates, including a deepwater operational regulations update after the Macondo incident.
• Innovations in facility life extension, flow assurance and computational fluid dynamics.

A technical session on Day Three of OTC 2015 will highlight the discovery, development and start-up of Anadarko’s Lucius oil field in the Gulf of Mexico. Image courtesy of Anadarko Petroleum Corporation.

Featured events and activities. On the morning of the show’s first official day, a forum exposes the benefits gained when medical researchers come together with oil and gas industry experts. William Kline, of ExxonMobil Upstream Research, and Alan Lumsden, of Methodist DeBakey Heart & Vascular Center, will present, and discuss, an exploration of complementary technologies, relevant to both medicine and industry. Later that day, a governors’ panel will discuss the appropriate role of the various coastal states, and the U.S. federal government, in making decisions for offshore development. Rounding out the day will be a talk on the next global energy hotspots, where panelists from different regions—Canada, Vietnam, Brazil, the U.S. and Indonesia—will discuss opportunities and developments in each market. The Next Wave program—held all day—continues this year, geared to young offshore professionals, and offering insight from leaders into the challenges ahead, and how to face them.

On Tuesday morning, the opening industry breakfast will feature leaders from the International Trade Administration, Noble Associates and IHS discussing opportunities in Canada. Later on, a global energy outlook panel, featuring U.S. and Canadian officials, will zero in on North America, and talk about global supply and demand impacts from the estimated $200 billion spent on oil and gas production in 2014. Among the technical sessions on Tuesday include opportunities in developments in metocean science; nano-structured and novel, advanced oilfield materials for structural and functional applications; shallow-water Saudi Arabian developments; and advanced, integrated geophysical interpretations. On Tuesday night, attendees can journey to Minute Maid Park, and watch the Houston Astros take on the Texas Rangers, for OTC at the Ballpark.

Michael Bloomfield, V.P. at Oceaneering Space Systems, will speak at d5, the new OTC event that includes presentations focused on business, technology and people. Bloomfield served 26 years in the Air Force as a fighter pilot, test pilot and NASA astronaut.

Day Three (Wednesday) kicks off with an industry breakfast on China. Concurrent breakfast seminars will focus on technology access in remote locations; offshore safety; unconventional versus offshore expertise and equipment; and ethical responsibilities of licensed engineers and professional geoscientists. The topical luncheons on Wednesday will discuss the onshore shale revolution and its lasting impact; developing competitive deepwater projects; offshore process safety; and the Jack/St. Malo project. Technical sessions throughout the day will feature a bevy of topics, such as HPHT code development; Caspian Sea geohazards; space technology for deepwater; and a case study on Anadarko’s Lucius Spar. On Wednesday night, attendees can revel in 1980s music with the cover band, the Spazmatics, at the OTC Appreciation Concert.

The last official day of the exhibition, Thursday, brings the western Africa nation, Ghana, to the forefront during an industry breakfast. A concurrent breakfast will feature the Center for Offshore Safety (COS) discussing safety regulations and environmental performance with the U.S. Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement. Luncheon topics on Thursday will talk about technology developments offshore Indonesia, and another panel with the COS talking about improving the effectiveness of safety and environmental management systems. Technical sessions on Thursday will address the standard fare of offshore-related topics: well completions, drilling technology, subsea processing, reservoir evaluation, asset integrity and wind energy.

On Friday, OTC 2015 will introduce a new event, called d5, at the University of Houston. The event, themed “The Next Big Thing,” brings together leaders from outside the energy industry, such as motivational speakers, to form group discussions to spur outside-the-box creativity. Confirmed speakers include The Medici Effect author Frans Johansson, economist Jane McGonigal, former astronaut Michael Bloomfield, and innovation leader Lisa Bodell, among others.