Helen Ratcliffe, of
PIPC’s newly formed oil and gas practice,
reports on the changing face of the global exploration
and production landscape, and describes her role
as Chair of the 2010 SPE Intelligent Energy conference.
Today’s oil and gas
industry is characterised by change on a global
scale, and key to the prosperity of the future,
is the rise of intelligent energy technologies
and processes. We must source new reserves and
produce existing ones more efficiently, improve
the image of the industry, and crucially, become
more environmentally sensitive. We must also increase
our focus on people, in order to recruit, develop
and retain the next generation of industry professionals.
All this, lies in the face of increased worldwide
demand, higher commodity prices, rising recovery
rates and ever-more complex workflows.
With so many challenges to
address, there has never been a greater need for
an agenda setting conference, and PIPC has been
afforded a unique opportunity to address these
issues amongst industry leaders. Helen Ratcliffe,
of PIPC’s newly formed oil and gas practice,
has been invited to Chair the program committee
for the 2010 SPE Intelligent Energy conference,
which is planned to take place from 23-25th March
2010 in Utrecht, The Netherlands.
It is a case of double industry
recognition for Helen, for not only is she the
first woman to hold the position, she is also
the first consultant. In the traditional and sometimes
elitist oil and gas industry, only engineers employed
by the major oil companies would usually be invited
to chair such a prestigious event.
The conference is designed
by a committee of global industry figures at the
cutting edge of this rapidly evolving field. Helen
has had the privilege of selecting the programme
and assisting with the selection of the executive
committees, which consists of representatives
from a range of oil and gas players including:
Chevron, IBM, Saudi Aramco, Eni, BP, Petoro AS,
ConocoPhillips, Maersk Oil and Gas, Halliburton,
Cisco, Shell, Petrobras, Schlumberger, Total,
Statoil, Energistics, Infosys, TNK-BP and Woodside.
The 2010 conference aims
to build on the two preceding Intelligent Energy
SPE conferences in 2006 and 2008, which were tremendously
well received and in which Helen also played an
instrumental part. Key themes for 2010 will include
the business value of integrated operation; how
the industry can organise itself to sustain intelligent
energy; and what the future holds for the oil
and gas sector overall.
Speaking at last year’s conference, Executive
Committee Chairs, Sjur Bjarte Talstad of StatoilHydro
and Satish Pai of Schlumberger Limited said, “One
positive factor in the oil and gas industry has
always been the appetite to use cutting edge technology.
In this context the advances in digital technology,
such as improved connectivity; broadband; remote
control; high speed computing; and data storage
combined with sensor technology, present an opportunity
to make a step change in the efficiency of how
we improve hydrocarbon production. However, cutting
edge technology on its own will not be enough.”
The key to successfully
transforming the oil industry for the 21st century
will be to utilise our people better and enable
and sustain consistent work processes across geographically
dispersed teams.
With a year to go, Helen
envisages that these themes will be the basis
for an exciting and compelling conference, which
will enable the industry’s most influential
decision makers to prepare for the challenging
future ahead.
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