Golden opportunity

The Offshore Technology Conference (OTC) has been a fixture on the Houston calendar since 1969, a year in which the city saw the Beach Boys and the Rolling Stones play, and the Mission Control Center guide Apollo 11 to the moon. "For 50 years, OTC has encouraged scientists and engineers to develop innovative technologies that have unleashed the potential of offshore energy sources needed for global growth and progress," commented Patrick Pouyanné, Total’s chairman and CEO, on the event’s website.

This time around

The OTC’s flagship event, however, is looking to the future, not the past. The first session, on 6 May, is titled ‘OTC’s Golden Anniversary Opening Session: The Next 50 Years of Offshore Developments’, and will explore the impact of advances like machine learning and automation. The session will feature industry leaders such as Maria Claudia Borras, BHGE’s president and CEO of oilfield services; Arnaud Breuillac, president of exploration and production at Total; as well as Jannicke Nilsson, EVP and COO at Equinor.

In addition, a new series of sessions looks at offshore developments around the world, with panels made up of experts discussing advances in countries ranging from Norway to Israel, Mexico and Ghana. In total, the OTC will see over 350 technical presentations throughout the event.

Technical sessions over the length of the conference will cover forward-looking topics such as robotic technologies, artificial intelligence and machine learning, data modelling, digitalisation and smart materials. Others concentrate on the future for more familiar processes and technologies: drilling rigs, subsea processing, deepwater projects.

The more the merrier

More than 2,500 exhibitors will present the latest innovations to thousands of global attendees, with the annual Spotlight on New Technology Award recognising the most ground-breaking advances, while peerless networking opportunities contribute to making the Offshore Technology Conference a must-attend event. Throughout the conference, university showcases provide an insight into cutting-edge research and development of interest and value to the industry.

The OTC is also acting proactively in committing to the future of the industry. The conference will feature the finale of the OTC Energy Challenge, a competition among high schools to find solutions to energy issues facing the world today; the programme seeks to enthuse and educate the next generation of STEM scientists and engineers, assigning them an industry mentor. The school teams will have the opportunity to present their work to attendees at the OTC and to win a scholarship award.

Thursday 9 May sees free workshops put on for teachers and high-school students by the Energy Education Institute. Participants can experience hands-on energy experiments and learn to interpret data in sessions taught by the National Energy Education Development Project (NEED).

Look no further afield

With the number of attendees expected to surpass 60,000, representing over 100 countries, the 2019 edition of the Offshore Technology Conference is an opportunity for scientists, engineers, executives and others working in the offshore industry to look to the future of the field.