The acid test of a successful UTC for conference moderator Simon Davies is whether he has learned something new.
– UTC is a technical conference with focus on professional content. To me, the acid test of a successful conference is whether or not I have learned something new. And I have this year as well, says Simon Davies, who has over 30 years’ experience from the sector and currently works as Strategic Project Manager at Statoil. – I found the panel discussions both open and honest, and the talks I attended held a very high standard, says Davies. A total of 828 people took part in the conference. When including visitors to the exhibition only, the number reached 960. 26% of the participants were international, and 22 nations were represented.
Standardization or standardisation?
A key topic of this year’s conference has been standardisation. This area has featured on the programme previously, but this year it had been chosen as one of the main topics. – We can see that this is something all involved take more and more seriously. They understand that costs in the industry have to come down, and that standardisation is a way of achieving this, says Davies. He points out that UTC does not aim for conclusions, but is an arena for discussion and the raising of various issues. This was particularly evident at talks during which the issue of standardisation was raised. Questions were many, and the involvement was great. It is also uncertainty amongst many what should be standardised, and how. – There is not even consensus on how the concept should be spelt, standardization or standardisation. Clearly, there is a long way to go, but for UTC it is important to press on with these dialogues, says Davies.
Has built a foundation
Chair of the programme committee, Roald Sirevaag, can report a good atmosphere during the UTC, both between the various operators and suppliers and also across, and between, the various competitors.
– Although no breakthrough was made in terms of standardisation, I believe we created an atmosphere in which people recognised this as an important measure. Much is still missing, but I believe a few steps have been taken and a foundation has been built for further development of this area, says Sirevaag.
One of these steps is Statoil’s decision to make its catalogue available to other operators entering the Norwegian Continental Shelf to help these avoid doing the same mistakes as Statoil has done.
– It is all about ensuring that knowledge is shared across companies, says Sirevaag.
Very interesting
The keynote speakers, he found, all delivered at a high level and offered new perspectives in terms of the Norwegian Continental Shelf as well as other geographical areas.
– We got to hear Chevron’s views on the world, and how things are seen from a Gulf of Mexico perspective. Furthermore, we got to hear about Wintershall which is rapidly establishing itself on the Norwegian Continental Shelf and which sees a large potential in this area, says Sirevaag, who is pleased with execution of the of this year’s conference.
The efforts to make UTC an even better conference will continue. – We will focus even more on the international market and encourage more participation from abroad. To achieve this, more international topics will be put on the agenda next year, says Sirevaag.
UTC 2015 will be held (16) 17 – 18 June. Theme and Call for Abstract invitation will be published in October.