Meeting the challenge of the increasing global demand for energy, whilst tackling the impact on our climate, will depend upon the industry’s ability to develop new technologies and deploy them together effectively. “Integration is key,” said Shell Executive Director Exploration and Production Malcolm Brinded.

Speaking at the inaugural International Petroleum Technology Conference in Doha, Qatar today, Mr Brinded said that raising the industry’s average conventional global oil recovery from 35 to 45 per cent could add some 20 years to current global production. “Subsurface integration is the essential enabler for all our efforts to improve recovery. It doesn’t just happen by telling people to talk to each other.”

As existing basins mature we need to explore in new plays, over large areas in harsher conditions with more complex geology.  This means applying a range of technologies beyond conventional seismic, including satellite imaging, airborne sniffing, electromagnetic methods including seabed logging and enhanced seismic imaging. “We need new tools to integrate diverse data quickly. And we also need people with wide geological and geophysical understanding who are able to apply global knowledge locally,” said Mr Brinded.

The world depends on the industry's ability to sustain high levels of investment as the search for energy leads us to increasingly challenging and technically demanding environments. “The global economy coped relatively well with prices in the $40 or so range during 2004.  But at $60 and above there is clearly an increasing risk that oil and gas demand would be hit by economic downturn and by costly substitution measures driven by both consuming government policy changes and consumer choice.

“If that happens, we could see significant downward pressure on prices emerge, just as the world needs increasing investment to meet the expanding demand for energy. And, as we saw after 1998, even when such an economic downturn is short-lived, the impact on investor confidence and future upstream investments can be prolonged.

“A downturn of the global economy caused by very high prices is clearly not in anyone’s interests. Great volatility in oil and gas prices would inhibit the growth of the new supplies necessary to underpin global economic growth.”

Mr Brinded concluded that the industry needs to harness all its capabilities to succeed in the face of great challenges. “This starts with those working in the industry across the Middle East, as well as the young people studying to join them.  The contributions to this conference from the region demonstrate the real professionalism that exists here. Building on those capabilities is a priority.” 

© 2005 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)