Intelligent Energy 2008 conference and exhibition

The Intelligent Energy 2008 conference and exhibition entitled 'The Future is Here - The Value of Innovation and Integration' will be held in Amsterdam at the RAI, one of Europe's most advanced venues

The vital issue of energy supply and demand continues to dominate the global stage, and the oil and gas industry must embrace ever-more efficient methods to enable it to achieve even better production performance.

This has lead to some of the biggest names from both the upstream sector and the IT industry agreeing to participate in an event focused on the crucial area of digital technology.

The biennial Intelligent Energy event has attracted an outstanding line-up of pan-industry speakers and exhibiting companies, with presenters in the opening plenary 'Vision' session of the conference to include Ben Verwaayen, Chief Executive of UK communications giant BT, Norwegian major StatoilHydro Chief Executive Officer Helge Lund, Schlumberger Chief Executive Officer Andrew Gould, Malcolm Brinded, Executive Director E+P for Royal Dutch Shell, and Amin Nasser, Vice President, Petroleum Engineering and Development at Saudi Aramco.

IE 2008 is jointly organised by the Society of Petroleum Engineers and Reed Exhibitions and will take place between February 25-27th.

As well as the outstanding conference, the exhibition is virtually sold out with exhibitors and sponsors participating such as Shell, BT, IBM, BP, Cisco, Schlumberger, Halliburton, Weatherford, Deloitte, Chevron and BG Group.

The role of digital technology in enhancing oil and gas production Satish Pai, Co-Chairman of the 2008 Executive Committee and President Europe, Africa and Caspian at Schlumberger, said in a joint statement with his Co-Chairman Sjur Bjarte Talstad of StatoilHydro: 'The Conference Committee has compiled an exciting agenda.

The response for technical papers, combined with the committed participation from industry technology providers and the global IT industry has been tremendous.

Confirmed speakers include CEOs from our own industry along with senior managers from the IT industry.

It is particularly encouraging to see so many young professionals making such a valuable contribution to this year's conference.

Many of them have grown up in the digital age and their input, energy and enthusiasm will be critical in driving the future of the industry'.

Mr Pai added that it is vital for the oil and gas industry to embrace more efficient methods that enable better production performance to meet increased demand, and that it also has to balance how best to meet this challenge with methods that are safe for people and kinder to the environment.

'The answer will inevitably lie in combining digital technology, our industry knowledge and expertise, and the vision to take production processes to the next level.

Here, our aim is to focus on the vital role that digital technology can play in this equation'.

The innovative conference will also see the audience live-link in the opening scene-setting session led by the co-chairmen with facilities around the world.

The chairmen will connect in real-time with teams in locations as far apart as Azerbaijan, Brazil, Holland, Norway and the United Kingdom to help give an insight into the rapidly changing world of the upstream oil sector.

Val Johnston Jones, Industry Director, Energy and Marine at Reed Exhibitions, commented: 'The first IE event, held in 2006, attracted 41 exhibiting companies from a host of countries around the world, and over 1,200 visitors.

Already, 14 weeks away from the second edition of the event, 62 exhibiting companies from countries including Russia, the United States of America, the United Kingdom, Sweden, The Netherlands, Saudi Arabia, Algeria, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates and Norway have taken space at the 2008 event.

This illustrates the industry desire to continuously improve effectiveness in all areas of activity, from initial exploration to maximising the ultimate economic recovery through the adoption of new ideas and technologies - often IT related technologies, and sometimes from other industries - to achieve this goal.

The proven success of the first edition of the event and the subsequent growth of the second edition, demonstrates that the Intelligent Energy Conference and Exhibition captures the concept of a new approach, harnessing new IT-enabled capability, to respond to the energy challenge'.