MANAMA: Over 2,000 oil and gas professionals converged at the Bahrain International Exhibition and Convention Centre on Sunday March for the conference opening session of the 11th Middle East Geosciences Conference and Exhibition (GEO 2014).
The associated 8,000 square metre exhibition of oil and gas exploration industry products and services opens in a separate ceremony on Monday under the patronage of His Royal Highness the Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Bahrain Prince Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa.
The conference ceremony and executive plenary session on 9 March assembles a panel of high ranking industry figures who will deliver their own perspective on this year’s theme ‘Taking Geoscience Beyond the Conventional.’ The theme focuses on current challenges facing hydrocarbon exploration, with emphasis on future technology and innovation.
“As the world changes at an ever-increasing pace, we can only succeed because we enable innovation for the rapid development and implementation of solutions.
GEO 2014 is an excellent opportunity for upstream professionals in the region to share latest applications and developments in geosciences as one of the premier conferences for technical exchange,” Ibraheem Assa’adan, GEO 2014 Chairman and Executive Director of Exploration, Saudi Aramco, said.
“The parallel exhibition will cater to industry operators, service providers, academia and technology solution providers to share latest breakthroughs and solution-oriented innovations for everyday technical challenges. Events like GEO help bring together the industry to share knowledge and best practices as we make forays into new areas of innovation,” he said.
The conference opening ceremony will begin with welcome addresses from His Excellency Shaikh Ahmed bin Mohammed Al Khalifa, Bahrain’s Minister of Finance, Minister in Charge of Oil & Gas Affairs and Chairman, National Oil & Gas Authority (NOGA) and Ibraheem Assa’adan, GEO 2014 Chairman and Executive Director of Exploration, Saudi Aramco. Keynote addresses will follow from Amin Nasser, Senior Vice President, Upstream, Saudi Aramco; Matthias Bichsel, Executive Director, Projects and Technology, Royal Dutch Shell and Paal Kibsgaard, Chief Executive Officer, Schlumberger.
More than 200 technical and poster presentations designed to share the knowledge and experience of managing, operating and supplying companies will follow over the subsequent 3 days of the conference. Topics range from human resources, reservoir characterisation, advances in seismic and non seismic technologies, next generation technologies, petrophysics, geological studies and basin modeling, exploration & production, harvesting unconventional resources, environment and safety, rift basin exploration and rock physics in addition to special sessions.
GEO 2014 will also offer 5 panel sessions led by presidents, vice presidents, CEOs and managers of key players in the industry such as Baker Hughes, Bapco, CGG, ExxonMobil, Halliburton, Kuwait Oil Company, Saudi Aramco, Schlumberger, Shell and Total amongst others. These topical sessions will cover emerging plays in the Middle East and Africa, the future of unconventional resources in the region, gas demand challenges, human resources and next generation upstream technologies.
More than 150 companies from 20 plus countries will be in attendance at the GEO 2014 exhibition, which covers all areas of petroleum geosciences.
Principal participants include all six GCC national oil and gas companies – Abu Dhabi National Oil Company, Bapco, Kuwait Petroleum Corporation, Petroleum Development Oman, Qatar Petroleum and Saudi Aramco – who will be exhibiting alongside supermajors including Chevron, ExxonMobil, Shell and Total. Service industry giants BGP, CGG, Halliburton, Occidental Petroleum Corporation, Schlumberger, and Weatherford; national groups from North America and the UK; and numerous smaller independent specialist suppliers and distributors from across the globe complete this lineup.
“With a rich technical programme and a comprehensive exhibition, companies and delegates alike can utilise GEO 2014 to learn, forge trading relationships, share expertise and knowledge, and create new technologies. Since this event first took place in 1994, it has played a significant role in the development and growth of the industry and oil and gas resources in the Middle East,” Arabian Exhibition Management’s Director of Sales and Marketing Fawzi Al Shehabi, said.