A who’s who of oil and gas industry figureheads will be presenting at a forum in Aberdeen which aims to attract the next generation of leaders who will steer the North Sea to sustainable success.

Paul Warwick, Colette Cohen, Gunther Newcomb, Chris Bird and Professor Alex Kemp are among the esteemed panel of speakers at the event.

The forum, sponsored by Brodies, has been organised to mark the official launch of a new electronic resource for the oil and gas industry. Thanks to industry experts in their field and academics, Encompassing the Future: Offshore Oil and Gas Operations pulls together 40 years of inter-disciplinary knowledge and experience in environmental, health and safety and performance management. In an electronic format, which can be easily accessed and transferred to the next generation, the ten volumes will be an essential knowledge bank to ensure that the industry does not leak the expertise and experience from the loss of key personnel.

Welcomed by industry, government, academia and regulators, the resource will be fundamental to the sustainable future of the North Sea and in promoting the expertise and knowledge honed from this basin to other provinces around the world.

An ICOE (International Centre for Oil and the Environment) initiative, this knowledge repository will help future leaders deal with the challenges of oil price volatility, technological innovation and the loss of experienced personnel.

William Cairns, executive chairman of ICOE and editor-in-chief of the resource, says, “This much anticipated project distils, records and shares intellectual and operational expertise in a format for the digital age. The forum has been organised to introduce the industry to the concept and to provide a unique learning platform on key topics contained within the resource. Delegates will get to hear first-hand from the section editors on the valuable content and how it can be used to improve decision-making in the future. This is therefore a must-attend event for tomorrow’s leaders of our industry.”

Clare Munro, Head of Energy & Infrastructure at Brodies LLP, says, “Brodies is committed to supporting the oil and gas industry and we are delighted to be sponsoring the ICOE’s launch. It has been a challenging time for the sector and this resource demonstrates the importance of working collaboratively to share knowledge and expertise and create a sustainable future for the industry. We’re working closely with clients on a number of the key themes highlighted in the resource, particularly around decommissioning, and it will provide valuable insight on extending the life and commercialisation of the UKCS.”

The launch will be hosted by Sir Ian Diamond and held on 3 August 2017 at Aberdeen University’s Kings College Conference Centre with a keynote address from the Scottish Minister for Energy, Paul Wheelhouse, MSP.

During the launch, guests will be given an overview of the thinking behind the project, the challenges currently facing the sector and how this knowledge bank can help meet these through new thinking, the retention and transfer of expertise and the collaborative imperatives between industry and universities.

The forum will then kick-off with a plenary session, chaired by Colette Cohen, chief executive of the Oil & Gas Technology Centre. This session will cover innovation and technology, integrated HSE management, the cause and effect of major incidents, managing risk, technological developments, the routes to management through apprenticeships and graduate education.

The afternoon round-table session, moderated by Willie Reid, director of the Oil & Gas Institute at Strathclyde University will feature the editors of the ten volumes of content in the resource. This includes evolving practice and legislation in environment, health & safety, economic impacts and outlook, future environmental protection measures, technological developments in operations and drilling, subsea technology, decommissioning, comparative risk management and achieving HSE best practice in corporate management.

Registration for the event costs £99 and tickets can be purchased through the University of Aberdeen Conferences and Events booking site:

www.store.abdn.ac.uk/conferences-and-events/conferences-symposia-seminars/research-innovation-cpd/international-centre-for-oil-environment

Tags: Brodies LLP, International Centre for Oil and the Environment (ICOE)