As the global climate change debate heats up, and the oil and gas industry embraces a more digitalised and sustainable role in the energy transition, leaders and innovators from across the energy mix will unite at SPE Offshore Europe 2019 in Aberdeen on 3-6 September 2019.
This year's conference and exhibition is being held at the new purpose-built £333 million P&J Live event complex located close to Aberdeen International Airport, six miles north-west of the city centre and just a few minutes from the city's new western peripheral route.
The 2019 conference chair, Michael Borrell, Total's senior vice-president, North Sea and Russia; and SPE president Sami Alnuaim from Saudi Aramco; are expected to welcome more than 35,000 visitors and 900 exhibitors from 130 countries to the biennial exhibition and conference.
"We have a truly world-class selection of speakers at this year's SPE Offshore Europe conference," explains Borrell. "As well as leaders from the oil and gas industry, such as Patrick Pouyanné, president and CEO of Total, we also have senior international figures from the climate change debate. This will allow us to have a really highquality discussion about our licence to operate and the future of energy."
"We are very pleased to welcome Michael Borrell as conference chair for OE2019," says Darcy Spady, 2018 SPE president. "Michael brings extensive leadership, operational and technical expertise from his experience working with an international operator for more than 30 years. More than ever, our industry's operations have to demonstrate levels of excellence in order to maintain a 'licence to operate'; this theme will form the cornerstone of an exciting and relevant conference programme for OE2019."
The executive keynote address will be delivered by Pouyanné. Bernard Looney, chief executive of Upstream at BP; Wael Sawan, Shell's upstream director; Doug Pferdehirt, TechnipFMC CEO; Karl Johnny Hersvik, CEO of AkerBP; and Hinda Gharbi, Schlumberger's executive vice-president of Reservoir and Infrastructure, will form the opening plenary panel alongside Christiana Figueres, former UNFCCC executive secretary and convenor of Mission 2020.
Energy transition, artificial intelligence and the transformation of the workforce will be among the major talking points at SPE Offshore Europe 2019.
Senior international industry figures will co-chair the 12 keynote sessions, which also include decommissioning and late life, underwater innovation, transformative technologies to lower the carbon footprint, digital security, integrated technologies, digitalisation, standardisation and finance. In addition, the technical programme features over 65 technical sessions in key disciplines such as safety and environment, pipelines, drilling, well automation and analytics, plus much more.
And finally, the Inspire Programme includes a series of activities, workshops and lectures specifically focused on supporting and informing young people who are interested in joining the oil and gas industry. The Inspire Programme was formed in 2015 as part of Offshore Europe as a way to bring together forward-thinking programmes that aim to inspire, educate and inform the next generation of industry professionals. Various programmes take place across Offshore Europe and are hosted by different organisations who share the same desire to promote STEM topics, environmental issues and career development. The events support school pupils, university students, young professionals and anyone who wants to support the future workforce.
The SPE Offshore Europe Conference is the leading E&P event in Europe and the largest free-to-attend conference in the industry. Programmed by a keynote and technical committee of industry thought-leaders, the conference is truly 'by the industry, for the industry'.
