Regions and sections
European Region Conference
The Oslo 2008 AAPG European Region Conference, The North Sea After 40 Years, 5-7 October, was arranged in Oslo, Norway. Two hundred delegates attended and the conference generated a nice profit. The technical program was of high quality and the feedback on questionnaires submitted by delegates was very positive. The time from initiation to execution was only one year.
The aim of the conference was to pose the question - after over 40 years of varied upstream activity in the North Sea petroleum province, what are the key learning points to take forward in the future?
The organizing committee was:
- Geir Lunde (Concedo), General Chairman
- Keith Gerdes (Shell), Technical Program Chair
- Gro Haatvedt (StatoilHydro), Technical Program Co-Chair (replaced by Tom Dreyer just prior to the event)
- Aernout Korevaar (Shell), Technical Program Co-Chair (young professional)
- Mona Nyrud (Sagex), Young Professionals Chair
- Aernout Korevaar (Shell), Young Professionals Co-Chair
Some of the key success factors for the event were:
- High quality talks
- Good student program (essay competition, questionnaire, presentation, social program)
- Good localities
- Good sponsoring.
The conference focused on five main themes;
- Exploration and production innovation
- Technological development
- Environmental protection
- Attracting and developing the next generation
- Fiscal and commercial structures and incentives.
The conference was operated by the London AAPG office (Steve Veal, Lika Chambers and January Arnold) and supported by AAPG Tulsa.
I am very grateful for all efforts by speakers, organizing committee, the AAPG London office, AAPG Tulsa and financial support from sponsors. It was an especially positive experience to have young professionals involved in the organizing committee. This conference will form a good basis and valuable learning experience for future conferences in Europe.