The world’s largest oil and gas event now features a technical conference, with a focus this year on cost reduction and environmental protection.
David Michael Cohen, Production Engineering Editor
A new technical conference, an expanded exhibition space of 600,000 ft and rough-and-tumble entertainment will be among the new features greeting an expected 60,000 attendees from 90 countries at the 20th Global Petroleum Show (GPS) held in Calgary, Alberta, June 10-12, 2008. The event, held biennially at Calgary’s Stampede Park, is the world’s largest oil and gas show in terms of square footage, offering a massive showcase for technological innovations, including an outdoor exhibition that lets visitors get up close and personal with life-sized oilfield equipment.
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The Global Petroleum Show is known for the sheer size of its exhibition space and the magnitude of equipment showcased, especially in the outdoor section.
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Serving largely as an onshore-focused counterpoint to May’s Offshore Technology Conference in Houston, the GPS this year will again take up the 2006 show’s emphasis on heavy oil development. A new all-day course called Heavy Oil 101, held Thursday June 12, offers visitors the opportunity to tap into the expertise gained by producers of Alberta’s vast oil sands. Another course being offered at GPS for the first time, Oilpatch 101, provides an introduction to the industry on Tuesday, June 10, and Wednesday, June 11.
This year’s show will also inaugurate the Global Petroleum Conference, a technical conference presented in conjunction with Petroleum Technology Alliance Canada (PTAC). The conference will take place all three days of the GPS, and will focus on using innovative technology to reduce costs and environmental footprint while maximizing recovery.
“This is the first time that the Global Petroleum Show has organized a conference with a specific technological and strategic theme that ties very well to the products and services that are being displayed on the exhibition floor,” said Paula Arnold, marketing manager at dmg world media, the show’s producer.
This year also marks a departure in marketing of the GPS, toward a more focused strategy targeting oilfield professionals, Arnold said.
“At most large trade shows, a lot of people on the show floor are not necessarily in the industry,” Arnold said. “At the Global Petroleum Show, we’ve had exhibitors say, ‘Great show, but I had so many leads it was almost impossible for me to catch up,’ and we’ve also had comments where they say, ‘You know, we’d actually like to see more qualified people.’
“So what we’ve done for 2008 is made it very clear that we’re looking for qualified visitors, meaning people who are specific to the oil and gas industry and related to those job sectors. It’s more of a grass-roots approach.”
Despite the more focused marketing strategy, this year’s conference is expected to exceed the 2006 attendance (just under 54,000) by about 10%.
EXPOSITION OVERVIEW
The Global Petroleum Show has historically been distinguished by the sheer size of the exhibition space, the magnitude of equipment showcased and the elaborate displays. This year, the event has been expanded to enable the display of more oilfield equipment and to include a new hall with more than 300 additional exhibitors. More than 2,000 exhibiting companies are expected, a 33% expansion from 2006.
| TABLE 1. Global Petroleum Show events at a glance |
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The display space is both indoor and outdoor, with the latter space dominated by larger equipment such as drilling rigs, pumping units and compressors. One of the most memorable outdoor exhibits is sure to be Siemens’ Exiderdome, a huge three-story structure that will immerse visitors in a multimedia experience highlighting the company’s automation technology.
Modularly constructed of 55 massive cargo containers, the display will occupy 9,700 sq ft (900 sq m) of floor space and weigh 500 tons. Besides Siemens, the largest outdoor exhibitors this year are Atlas Copco, Foremost Industries, XTreme Energy and Caterpillar. Indoors, the largest exhibitors are Emerson, GE, Cameron, Cummins and Tesco.
Career expo. In conjunction with the GPS, but held in downtown Calgary’s TELUS Convention Centre, the Global Petroleum Career Exposition will give energy producers, service companies, recruiters and training professionals the chance to showcase the opportunities and benefits of working in their organizations to an expected audience of 5,000 candidates seeking employment in the oil and gas industry.
Created in response to the worldwide shortage of professionals and skilled labor combined with the unprecedented growth of the oil and gas industry, the exposition will run from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. June 10 and 11, and from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. June 12. Exhibitors will each present a 30-minute presentation at the Career Centre Stage. In addition, they will have use of an exclusive online job posting site and of private, on-site interview rooms, subject to booking availability. Representatives of about 100 companies will be on site to meet and answer questions from qualified employment seekers.
Global Petroleum Conference. In its inaugural year, the GPS-associated Global Petroleum Conference will feature over 200 presentations on technical and business issues, with a focus on maximizing recovery while decreasing costs and environmental impact. Presentations will be held in the Palomina Rooms at Stampede Park.
The conference will kick off with a plenary session moderated by Peter Mansbridge, the well-known Canadian news anchor and reporter, with a panel to include Alberta’s premier, Ed Stelmach, as well as ministers from Opec countries and high-level executives from international oil companies.
Case-study presentations will discuss: technologies to reduce overall exploration, development, operating and G&A costs; methods to minimize the environmental footprint; innovations for improving recovery of conventional and unconventional resources; and strategies for ensuring more marketable refined petroleum and petrochemical products for export to existing and emerging markets.
Networking events. Social networking is one of the main catalysts for business in the oil and gas industry, and it is often a major motivator for companies to travel to international oilfield shows. This year, the Global Petroleum Show is stepping up its social component with the introduction of a unique entertainment event: the Professional Bull Riders Invitational.
The bull-riding competition will start at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, June 11, in the Pengrowth Saddledome at Stampede Park. The show will be followed by the “In the Dirt” after-party on the arena floor, featuring a performance by Canadian country music star Jake Mathews.
“In our discussions about how we’d like to attract more international audiences, the first thing that came to mind is: How can we offer really good hospitality for our international and our local visitors,” Arnold said. “And obviously with Calgary being sister city to Houston and home of the Calgary Stampede, the Professional Bull Riders Invitational was an obvious response to creating that true Calgary ‘Heart of the New West’ spirit.”
Other networking and entertainment events will include the GPS Charity Golf Tournament on Monday, June 9, at Valley Ridge Golf Course, to benefit the Werklund Foundation and the GPS Gala Dinner that evening at the Hyatt Regency Hotel.
RUSSIAN OPPORTUNITIES CONFERENCE
Leading into the GPS, there will be a separate, one-day conference called “Russian Oil & Gas Sector: Realities, Priorities, Opportunities,” the first of its kind in Calgary. The conference will focus on the dynamics of Russia’s investment and business climate and on opportunities for foreign involvement in upstream, midstream and downstream projects.
The Russian oil and gas conference will run from 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. on Monday, June 9, at the Sheraton Suites Eau Claire. It will cover government and major companies’ plans to develop upstream projects in Russia; will specify future tasks for oilfield services, designers and builders of oil and gas infrastructure; and present corporate long-term plans for developing downstream and petrochemical capacity.
Speakers will include top officials from the Russian Federation’s Ministry of Economic Development and Trade and from the Ministry of Natural Resources, representatives of major Russian upstream, transportation, oilfield services and investment companies, leading experts and market analysts. 
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