IPTC Highlights the Importance of Technology and Collaboration in Unlocking Future Resources

Abstract

Conference review Technology, research, and project best practices critical for producing the next generation of energy resources was the focus of panel discussions and technical paper presentations at the International Petroleum Technology Conference (IPTC), held 20–22 January in Doha, Qatar. The seventh edition of IPTC attracted more than 6,000 attendees representing 523 companies from 63 countries, including top executives from both national and international oil companies. The largest multisociety, multidisciplinary oil and gas event in the Eastern Hemisphere, IPTC was hosted by Qatar Petroleum, with ExxonMobil as cohost. The conference was sponsored by SPE, the European Association of Geoscientists and Engineers, the Society of Exploration Geophysicists, and the American Association of Petroleum Geologists. Andrew Swiger, senior vice president and principal financial officer for ExxonMobil and IPTC executive committee cochairperson, said that the event has become an important global forum for highlighting the research and innovation that will shape the exploration and production (E&P) industry’s future. The speakers and attendees at the event, agreeing that the era of easy oil is over, said that now is the time to deploy all technical capabilities to unlock future resources. The theme of the conference was “Unlocking Energy Through Innovation, Technology, and Capability.” Qatar’s prime minister and interior minister, Abdullah Bin Naser Bin Khalifa Al-Thani, said during the conference opening ceremony that Qatar was eager to host and sponsor this event because of the importance of the energy sector in the prosperity and the development of the country. Meanwhile, Qatar’s minister of energy and industry, Mohamed bin Saleh Al-Sada, said that Qatar’s success in developing its natural resources and exploiting them wisely comes mainly from its long-term strategy that involved creating a well-developed infrastructure and a solid and diversified economy, as well as offering a stable investment climate. A New Outlook At ITPC’s plenary session, panelists described a world in which the conventional wisdom of yesteryear has been supplanted with a new outlook for the future, ushered in by a wave of new technologies. The speakers, representing six international and national oil companies, spoke about the challenges facing the industry with optimism based on the industry’s increasing success in tapping into complex resources to produce them safely and more efficiently.