Rebranding Conferences - Part II

The Finding Petroleum (FP) January Conference at Inmarsat in London was the first topic on rebranding conferences. Yesterday's Forum on collaborative technologies at the Geological Society, London was a second type of offering. According to FP founder David Bamford, forums are:

an alternative venue for small oil independants and technology start-ups to have a voice, and they ultimately are the drivers of the new economy

Small business is indeed seen as both a driver and beneficiary of the new economy. And as oil fields mature world wide, smaller operators will take over more of the mature field developements such as the North Sea, whilst super majors continue farther afield in larger plays such as Iraq.

This forums talks will soon be posted: its keynote was bp on the Oil Field of the Future using Energistics standards to

• knit together multi-faceted oilfield contractor data (mud logging, MWD etc.)
• transfer much of the decision-making to onshore offices from offshore rigs

That is indeed the best place for collaborative environments also decribed by Capgemini and Kongsberg. Kadme and Paradigm rounded up the line up on web and subsurface topics.