Nick Terdre
Contributing Editor
There should be a festive atmosphere at the Offshore Northern Seas (ONS) exhibition and conference this Aug-ust, as the Stavanger-based event cel-ebrates its 30th birthday. But festivity is part of the package at ONS: during the last event in 2002, a crowd of 20,000 attended the final-night concert at the associated oil festival.
For oil show statisticians, that figure no doubt pales into insignificance compared with visitor and delegate numbers, but for ONS managing director Kjell Ursin-Smith, the festival is one of many features that give the show a unique appeal.
In addition to the festival crowd, ONS can boast some impressive statistics. The 2002 exhibition hosted 671 stands, 1,180 exhibiting companies from 34 countries, 18 national pavilions, and 26,200 visitors from 63 countries. This year's show, which will be held on Aug. 24-27 with the theme of "Shaping Our Energy Future," will have similar numbers.
Another feature of ONS that Ursin-Smith is keen to stress is the presence of all the major operating companies active on the Norwegian continental shelf, including BP, ExxonMobil, Shell, and Total. This year, as Norway strives to encourage new players to enter its sector, four newcomers – Dong, Paladin, Revus, and Talisman – will mark their presence with a joint pavilion. They will be joined by Marathon, which has recently re-entered the sector. New players will also be a theme at the conference.
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Technology awards
Various new initiatives have been launched for this year's event, he reports, two of which reflect the importance accorded by ONS to technological innovation. Ground-breaking technological achievement will be acknowledged by two innovation awards rather than one, the new award being reserved for small and medium enterprises (SMEs).
"In the past, the innovation prize has mostly been won by the major companies that have more resources to put into innovation. We decided we needed a level playing field, so we've set up a special prize for SMEs," Ursin-Smith explains. "For the same reason, we've established an innovation park. This is intended for all innovators, but especially smaller ones."
The park will provide a showcase for the latest technology advances, with the 21 exhi-bitors ranging from well-known heavyweights such as FMC Kongsberg Subsea to little-known start-up companies such as Stinger.
The main technological theme at ONS will be the e-field – otherwise known as the smart field, or digital oil field, or field of the future. This new approach to optimizing efficiency and maximizing recovery has been enthusiastically embraced on the Norwegian shelf. As part of the conference, an interactive workshop with operators and contractors will show how they are realizing the potential of the e-field on four fields, three being in Norway. The e-field will also feature in a separate conference session devoted to technology.
Meanwhile, visitors will gain an impression of how the e-field works from a dramatic representation of an imaginary operation to be staged by Halliburton on its stand, with a cast of 40 drawn from its own workforce.
Internationalists
Oil shows no longer cater only for their own backyard, and maintaining ONS' international reputation is a key aim for Ursin-Smith and his team. "We're definitely succeeding in making ONS an international meeting-place," he says. "This time, we have yet more exhibitors coming from abroad, and there are a lot of international speakers appearing at the conference."
One of the latter will be Shell's newly appointed chairman and CEO Jeroen van der Veer, who will paint in the background against which the industry strives to shape its future with a keynote speech on the geopolitics of oil and energy. Van der Veer will take part in the following panel debate, alongside luminaries such as UN deputy secretary-general Klaus Töpfer and Eivind Reiten, the head of Norsk Hydro, along with two young professionals from Petoro and Merrill Lynch. Teams of young professionals will also take part in the conference, each afforded a slot to comment on the themes of the session they appear in.
Numerous energy ministers will assemble to discuss the future of the North Sea. The Norwegian and UK energy ministers, Einar Steensnæs and Stephen Timms, will discuss the two countries' mutual efforts to dismantle their common border and facilitate cross-border activities, while the French energy minister, Patrick Devedjian, will examine how the European energy market is being reshaped as regulatory borders are broken down.
Part of ONS' international dimension, the presence of invited delegations from oil producing countries around the world, is organized in conjunction with Intsok – The Norwegian Oil and Gas Partners. This year delegations have been confirmed from Angola, Iran, Nigeria, and Russia.
Ursin-Smith is pleased with the way ONS itself is shaping up. "We've got leading-edge technology on show at the exhibition, top speakers addressing the issues of the moment at the conference, and high-class entertainment at the festival. What more could anyone ask for?"
