NELL LUKOSAVICH, Senior Editor; and DAVID MICHAEL COHEN, Managing Editor
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| The Riocentro convention center, where the inaugural OTC Brasil will be held in October, is the largest convention center in Latin America and one of the venues selected for the 2016 Summer Olympics. |
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Having already expanded its portfolio of events this year with the inaugural Arctic Technology Conference in Houston, the Offshore Technology Conference organization is continuing the trend of highlighting up-and-coming oil and gas provinces with the first-ever OTC Brasil conference. The show, scheduled for Oct. 4–6 in Rio de Janeiro, will bring together offshore professionals and industry experts from operators, service companies and 15 upstream societies to discuss the opportunities and challenges of developing oil and gas resources offshore Brazil, as well as the technologies and methods needed to safely and effectively exploit those resources.
The three-day event will be the first OTC-affiliated show to be held outside Houston, and is planned as a biennially conference. Twelve international sponsoring societies—including the Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE), the Society of Exploration Geophysicists (SEG) and the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME)—are joined by three Brazilian supporting societies—the Brazilian Association of Chemical Engineering (ABEQ), the Brazilian Association of Petroleum Geologists (ABGP) and the Brazilian Geophysical Society (SBGf)—to host the event, which will include 24 technical sessions, poster presentations, plenary and panel discussions, topical luncheons and networking events.
OTC Brasil 2011 will be held at the Riocentro convention center located on Lake Jacarepaguá in Barra da Tijuca, Rio de Janeiro—the largest such facility in Latin America and one of the venues selected for the 2016 Summer Olympics. While the exhibit space is significantly smaller than that of OTC’s trademark conference in Houston every spring—at 154,000 sq ft it has about 25% of the Houston show’s floor space—OTC Brasil 2011 has more than 300 confirmed exhibitors, an impressive number for an inaugural show. Brazilian federal, state and local representatives, international operators and services companies, including Shell, Total, BP, Cameron, GE, Schlumberger, Baker Hughes and Halliburton, have committed to participate.
Halliburton, which is exhibiting, as well as presenting a number of technical papers and participating in keynote panels, sees OTC Brasil as an opportunity to share knowledge with independent operators, national oil companies and service providers in a unique environment that is at the forefront of offshore development. “We expect good participation at a show that brings the whole OTC experience from the US to Brazil, Daniel Torres, Halliburton’s business development manager for Brazil, told World Oil. “Companies know the name; they know what the show means because it has a history behind it.” Aside from showcasing workflow processes in optimized drilling performance and project management, Halliburton is participating heavily in recruiting forums at the show, including the young professionals workshop. “As an industry, we need to recruit people, attract them to the industry,” Torres said. “We need to give new professionals experience and exposure and hire more experienced people into this growing industry.”
Technical program. Out of 685 abstracts submitted for OTC Brasil, the program committee has selected 200 that will be presented over the three days of technical sessions. Highlighted topics include presalt exploration, subsea processing and pipeline operational integrity, technology and skills development, modeling and data reduction and innovative financial options for offshore projects.
The opening plenary session, on the morning of Oct. 4, focuses on Brazil’s regulatory regime for offshore oil and gas development. The session will begin with a welcome from Brazilian federal, state and municipal authorities and OTC senior executives, followed by a discussion led by representatives of the country’s National Petroleum Agency (ANP). In a second plenary session on Oct. 6, representatives of Baker Hughes, Halliburton, Schlumberger and Weatherford will discuss opportunities for service companies presented by the technological challenges of Brazil’s offshore oil and gas sector. The panelists will present models of partnership with local universities and industry developed by their respective companies.
Topical lunches. The conference’s six topical luncheons will primarily focus on the operations and projects of some of the major operators working in Brazil.
On Oct. 4, Shell’s production manager for the Parque das Conchas (BC-10) project, Maria Pena, will give an overview and update of the multifield development—one of the most challenging deepwater projects in the world. Part of the discussion will focus on the groundbreaking application of full-scale subsea separation and boosting at BC-10, which enables improved recovery by removing backpressure from the wells. The same day, Felipe Bayon, head of special projects for BP America, will discuss that company’s application of lessons from the Macondo accident and response to its deepwater operations at another topical luncheon.
David Lyons, founding partner and president of the financial consultancy Capital Partners Worldwide, will present at a topical luncheon Oct. 5 on securing funding for offshore projects in challenging economic conditions. The presentation will provide actual funding scenarios that have delivered sustainable shareholder value, stressing the need for a long-term investment perspective, combined with equity participation and public-private partnering, as alternatives to traditional bank financing. Also that day, Total’s president of E&P for Brazil, Denis Palluat de Besset, will discuss that company’s expertise in ultra-large project management such as is required offshore Brazil. De Besset will present examples of new technologies that have been successfully completed by Total during risky projects worldwide, including offshore West Africa, which shares some geologic similarities with Brazil’s presalt discoveries. Total plans to participate in Brazil’s next auction of oil and gas exploration blocks as part of a larger strategy to expand in Latin America.
The final two lunches, on Oct. 6, will be presented by representatives from Ecopetrol and OGX, and will detail the two companies’ operational activity, technological advancements, investment decisions and future plans for field development.
Young professionals workshop. OTC Brasil will host a half-day workshop Oct. 5 targeted at upstream professionals under the age of 35. After an introduction, Daniel Moczydlower, CEO of Siemens subsidiary Chemtech, will share insights on how he successfully navigated his career, including the steps and decisions that placed him, at the age of 34, in a leading position of a company named by the Great Place to Work (GTPW) Institute as one of the best companies to work for in Latin America. A panel of experienced professionals will then lead a discussion on topics related to career development, which will be followed by breakout sessions and a visit to the exhibit hall. 
| OTC Basil conference sessions |
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