Petroleum Economist and World Oil's Deepwater Development Conference (MCEDD) got underway on 25 March in Madrid, Spain, and ran until 27 March. There was no mistaking the renewed, growing interest in deepwater projects, and the attendance and programme confirmed it. Attendance ran significantly ahead of last year’s conference, and the list of topics presented/debated was more extensive.
The opening edition of MCEDD featured a half day of panels and presentations during the afternoon of 25 March. Representing the host operator, Repsol, Alvaro Ranero, managing director of his company’s Groupement Reggane Nord division in Algeria, delivered an extensive keynote address, detailing his assessment of the global deepwater market, as well as his firm’s operating philosophy and vision for the next several years.
Operators’ Panel 1
Following Ranero was the first Operators’ panel, entitled ‘strategies for efficiency in deepwater projects’. In addition to Ranero, the panel included Thierry Charles, manager of development studies, deep offshore projects, at TotalEnergies; Pablo Gomes, R&D manager for Subsea Pipelines at Petrobras; and Grant McKenzie, vice-president of developments at Woodside Energy. Moderating the panel was Chris Barton, vice-president, strategic account management, at Wood.
There was a general feeling among the panel that “oil is back”, particularly deepwater projects. It was noted that the latest projects coming onstream will not only replace existing production, they will increase the overall global supply. In achieving these results, the various panel members agreed that partnerships between operators and equipment/service firms and drilling contractors are more important than ever.
Some technological factors cited in the panel were robotics playing larger roles in projects, as well as using advances in materials to reduce the weight of facilities. To help shorten the timeframe of projects, one panel member said the industry needs to look at the approval process and make it faster. Standardisation of equipment was also discussed.
Individual presentations
After a coffee break, a very informative update on the Shah Deniz 2 project, offshore Azerbaijan, was delivered by David Saul, senior advisor for Subsea BP Solutions at BP. He was followed by Francisco Nunez, vice-president, sales and commercial at SLB OneSubsea. Nunez presented his company’s take on the expanding deepwater market, including various technological trends.
Operators’ Panel 2
A second, smaller panel of operators held forth in the late afternoon, including Adriano Bastos, head of upstream at Galp, and Eric Dekeyzer, deep offshore technology transfer manager for TotalEnergies. Moderator for the session was Obo Idornigie, senior vice-president for energy trends and analytics, at Welligence. Agreeing with the first panel from earlier in the day, these panellists talked about the expansion of frontiers that will require deepwater drilling, as well as a host of subsea solutions that will need further refinement.
The need to expand deepwater operations while keeping flaring and gas emissions to a minimum was stressed, along with expansion of the practice of reinjecting gas. Greater innovation of infrastructure was also a topic. Panellists provided their ideas of where the next big deepwater opportunities lie and whether the industry is ready to unlock them.
Kurt Abraham is editor-in-chief of World Oil.
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