The continent of Africa has beguiled geologists for centuries. Its varied and beautiful landforms and geological features, its mineral and energy resources, its cultural heritage – it’s the birthplace of our species – all combine to form a rich experience of sights and sounds, aromas and flavors.
Once you’ve been to Africa, you want to go back.
And that’s why, after 10 years, we’re heading back to Africa next month – back to Cape Town, for the 2018 AAPG International Conference and Exhibition.
Led by General Chair Femi Esan, president-elect of the Africa Region, and his co-chairs Sa’id Al-Hajri, past-president of the Middle East Region, Nosa Omorodion, past-president of the Africa Region, and Neil Hodgson, president-elect of the Europe Region, the organizing committee is a global group of petroleum professionals who have crafted a stellar technical program.
Science and Business Content at ICE 2018
Highlights of the meeting include an executive plenary session with a panel of experts discussing “Global Energy Supply and Demand: Where Does The Road Lead?” And recognizing the significant and growing role that Africa plays in the global oil and natural gas markets, an executive plenary panel will explore “Capitalizing on Africa’s Success; Energy for Economic Prosperity.”
Another panel will focus on technology and its increasingly important role in allowing the economic discovery and production of petroleum.
Super basins will also feature prominently at ICE 2018 with a dedicated forum covering large basins in Africa and the Middle East, the sources of significant hydrocarbon volumes with much more left to discover.
Special sessions covering the business and regulatory environment, the intersection of exploration and production activities and the environment, the growing importance of natural gas and a review of the history of petroleum E&P in Africa will highlight important topics confronting our business today.
But it’s not all forums and special sessions at ICE 2018. The technical program committee, co-chaired by Alessandro Gelmetti of Eni and K.B. Trivedi of PetroSA, worked hard to deliver a selection of talks and posters that span all aspects of E&P in both conventional and unconventional reservoirs, and covering important basins from across the globe.
From tectonics, sequence stratigraphy and sedimentology to petroleum systems and basin modeling, we have technical sessions designed to demonstrate how your colleagues and peers are applying science to improve our understanding of Earth systems and solving real-world business problems.
African petroleum geology will be a significant feature of the technical program, too, along with adjacent basins in the south Atlantic and Mediterranean. We’re also crossing disciplines, with sessions focused on geological and geophysical integration, petrophysics, and rock mechanics.
Attendees come to ICE for science, and they won’t be disappointed.
AAPG/AOW Prospect Forum
But one special feature of ICE 2018 is that we are holding our scientific and technical conference alongside the premier African energy business conference of the year: Africa Oil Week.AAPG is a scientific and professional association – we use the science of petroleum geology to find and commercially produce a commodity. You can’t separate science and business in our line of work. In fact, connecting the commercial and technology elements of African oil and gas allows for better decision-making. So, we’ve teamed up with AOW to develop the AAPG/AOW Prospect Forum.
Running from Tuesday through Thursday and open to all ICE 2018 delegates at no additional charge, the Prospect Forum will provide a venue for national oil companies and government authorities, independent oil and gas companies, and service companies to showcase opportunities and data sets.
One of the concepts that AAPG wants to promote is the value of exploration, and the Prospect Forum is designed to do just that.
Other Offerings at ICE
Another way we promote exploration is through the International Pavilion, a regular event at both the Annual Convention and Exhibition and at ICE. Once again, countries from across the globe will join us in the International Pavilion, providing attendees with the ability to quickly survey bids rounds and investment terms, get an update on current exploration activity and areas with new data available. It’s a world of opportunity right there on the ICE show floor.
Finally, if you would like to take a short course we’ve got you covered at ICE 2018 with both technical and regional courses. And if you want to get into the field you can do that, too.
Once you’ve been to Africa you want to go back. And that’s why AAPG is headed back to Cape Town for ICE 2018. Join us there from November 4 to 7 as together we shape the future in a changing energy landscape.