The Inaugural SPE Caspian Technical Conference and Exhibition (CTCE) Sets a High Standard
The inaugural SPE Caspian Technical Conference and Exhibition (CTCE) – the first technical oil and gas conference ever to take place in the region – has come to a close after three packed days.
Over 500 industry professionals passed through the doors of the Korme Exhibition Center in Astana to hear from speakers drawn from the highest echelons of government, operators, service providers, advisory firms, and energy research companies, including Magzum Mirzagaliyev, Vice Minister, Ministry of Energy of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Kieron McFadyen, Vice President – JV Excellence, Shell, Asset Magauov, General Director, KAZENERGY, Daurzhan Augambay, Chairman, KAZSERVICE, Chris Hopkinson, First Deputy Chairman, KMG, Ted Etchison, General Manager Operations, TCO, Damiano Ratti, General Director, KPO, Frank Cassulo, GM/Deputy MD – Eurasia Business Unit, Chevron, Bruno Jardin, MD, ExxonMobil, Peter Costello, President, BG Kazakhstan, Paulo Giraudi, MD, AGIP Karachaganak, and Gokhan Saygi, President, Schlumberger Russia & Central Asia to name a few.
The event, hosted by Shell and held in partnership with the Kazakh Ministry of Energy and KAZENERGY Association, was the first one on this scale that SPE had organised in the region.
The CTCE was sponsored by leading oil & gas companies, ExxonMobil, KazMunayGaz, Chevron, TCO, Schlumberger, Baker Hughes, BG Kazakhstan, Weatherford and Inpex.
18 technical sessions across the conference programme focussed on the issues faced by the exploration and production (E&P) industry in Kazakhstan and the broader Caspian region. 54 technical papers were delivered covering drilling and completions, well intervention, reservoir characterization and modeling; discussed case studies, operational excellence and environmental stewardship, etc.
Over the three days of the event, four high-level discussion panels also took place where leading Industry experts such as Duncan van Bergen, VP Kazakhstan, Shell, Murat Mynbaylev, GM, TCO, John Richard Denis, General Director, KMG, Scientific Research Institute of Production & Drilling Technology, Kairgeldy Kabyldin, Deputy CEO KMG/General Director KazTransOil, Timur Rakhanov, General Director, Kazakhstan Pipeline Ventures LLC, Baltabek Kuandykov, General coordinator of Eurasia Project and Nurpeisov Marat Sailaubekovich, Director General Oil Company ‘Kor’ JSC openly discussed future strategies covering long term oil and gas technology development, challenges facing oil & gas transportation, local capacity building and knowledge transfer and driving E&P performance through technology.
On the closing day attendees heard from both Campbell Keir, former Shell Country Chair and the SPE that the SPE will be building on this successful event and the Kazakhstan Upstream Technology Roadmap with specific themed workshops and training events.
These activities will be performed in close collaboration with the companies -moderators of 5 priority areas established in the Technology Roadmap (Reservoir Characterisation, Field Equipment, Fluid Flow Processing, Wells and Field Management and HSE & Operations) and the SPE and its supporters will continue to work in Kazakhstan to raise awareness on new technologies contributing to the interconnection of the international themes with the local activities.
There is immense potential for the oil and gas industry in the Caspian. Events such as CTCE help oil and gas companies and other regional stakeholders to work more closely together, which is how this potential will best be realised.
If you were unable to attend the conference, the papers can be downloaded from https://www.onepetro.org/conferences/SPE/14CTCE and any questions on the 2014 event or the 2015 event should be directed to Phil Chandler, Senior Manager, Sales & Business Development at SPE – pchandler@spe.org
We will look forward to see professionals of petroleum industry at our next technical event in Kazakhstan in 2016!
