Despite a global economic recession and initial scares about swine flu back in 2009, attendance at the 2009 Offshore Technology Conference (OTC) reached 66,820 strong.
There are more than 120 energy professionals at the world’s largest offshore resources industry event, May 4-7, at its usual venue at Reliant Park, Houston. It was a little less than the attendance in 2008, however, exceeded the expectations given the situation stated above. It was actually the second largest in OTC’s 40-year history, with more than 557,000 square feet of exhibition area filled to capacity by 2,500 companies from 38 countries.
Don Vardeman, 2009 OTC chairman stated: “This year’s attendance levels underscore that in a downturn, energy professionals come to OTC to learn about technologies and innovative approaches to reduce their costs and improve performance. OTC is known for presenting new and proven technologies that will help companies find and produce more oil and gas in deeper waters, and for sharing lessons learned on global projects that advance the offshore industry.”
On the other hand, the OTC Awards Luncheon keynote speaker Thierry Pilenko, chairman and CEO of Technip, said that the challenge in a lower oil price environment is to reduce costs while preserving human capital. Furthermore, he said that they can stack rigs, and they cannot stack people, so they should avoid “stop and go” attitude which is detrimental to the industry’s image, and continue to hire university graduates to avoid future generation gaps and maintain credibility.
The 2009 technical program offered four full days of sessions on the Arctic, as well as special panel sessions on operating in a volatile market. Their Spotlight on New Technology program focused on 14 innovative technologies that are already making the industry more effective.
OTC -still continues to grow and will extend its reach to Brazil to participate in the Brazil Offshore Conference, held on 16-19 2010. This is when they presented the first Arctic Technology Conference, a separate new conference focused on both offshore and onshore technology for Arctic exploration and development.
See: Petroleum Industry: Instrumentation
There are more than 120 energy professionals at the world’s largest offshore resources industry event, May 4-7, at its usual venue at Reliant Park, Houston. It was a little less than the attendance in 2008, however, exceeded the expectations given the situation stated above. It was actually the second largest in OTC’s 40-year history, with more than 557,000 square feet of exhibition area filled to capacity by 2,500 companies from 38 countries.
Don Vardeman, 2009 OTC chairman stated: “This year’s attendance levels underscore that in a downturn, energy professionals come to OTC to learn about technologies and innovative approaches to reduce their costs and improve performance. OTC is known for presenting new and proven technologies that will help companies find and produce more oil and gas in deeper waters, and for sharing lessons learned on global projects that advance the offshore industry.”
On the other hand, the OTC Awards Luncheon keynote speaker Thierry Pilenko, chairman and CEO of Technip, said that the challenge in a lower oil price environment is to reduce costs while preserving human capital. Furthermore, he said that they can stack rigs, and they cannot stack people, so they should avoid “stop and go” attitude which is detrimental to the industry’s image, and continue to hire university graduates to avoid future generation gaps and maintain credibility.
The 2009 technical program offered four full days of sessions on the Arctic, as well as special panel sessions on operating in a volatile market. Their Spotlight on New Technology program focused on 14 innovative technologies that are already making the industry more effective.
OTC -still continues to grow and will extend its reach to Brazil to participate in the Brazil Offshore Conference, held on 16-19 2010. This is when they presented the first Arctic Technology Conference, a separate new conference focused on both offshore and onshore technology for Arctic exploration and development.
See: Petroleum Industry: Instrumentation
RSS Feed