ATCE 2014: Diary of a conference - The view from Europe

Terry Charleton, Europe CIS Business Development Manager, Expro

The North Sea oil and gas market has evolved from the heady days of frontier exploration to the reinvigoration of brownfield assets.

We still see a healthy E&A market across the region with the emergence of areas such as the Barents Sea in the Arctic and the eastern Mediterranean, still exciting the ‘explorationists’. Even in the last few years, the region has seen the giant Johan Sverdrup field discovered in what was assumed to be a mature area in Norway, which has further demonstrated that even within well-known and explored areas, surprises can be discovered.

It is a fact that the overall North Sea market is now much more challenging, as companies seek to extract every last drop of reserves from aging fields and infrastructure. Even keeping platforms and flow lines open is a challenge in itself as costs are increasing against a backdrop of fluctuating oil prices.

Therefore, it’s time for the industry to get smart. Technology is a great enabler, and in order to ensure that we maximise existing reserves but also find a way to access those harder-to-find fields, technology such as managed pressure drilling techniques, deepwater subsea and modular well test systems, will play an increasingly important role. So whether it's deepwater drilling and completions west of Shetland or innovative enhanced oil recovery techniques, events like SPE’s ATCE technical conference will play a key role in bringing together companies and individuals who are experts in their field and who in turn, collectively hold the key to unlocking both new and existing reserves.

Over our 40 plus years of operating in Europe, Expro has seen our service offering and technology evolve to meet the ever-changing market conditions and our client’s needs.  We are seeing more clients look for the ‘complete package’ from service suppliers and at Expro we are well placed to support this. From our Safewells well integrity software, wireless gauges and PowerChokes® systems to our new generation of DST tools, Expro is now more than ever able to offer an integrated Well Flow Management™ solution to the industry.