Deployment of broadband satellite technologies is correctly recognized as an imperative to maximization of cutting-edge digital oilfield applications and to considerations of cost-effectiveness – it is a force multiplier, enabling return on investment, as well as facilitating mission critical communications links.
From almost US$150 in the summer of 2008, crashing to under US$34 during last winter, climbing to US$60 in July, and currently (October 2009) hovering around US$70, the price of a barrel of crude oil has tended to exhibit as much volatility as the refined petroleum we derive from the raw hydrocarbon to fuel our internal combustion engines and power stations.
There is still a lot of debate as to whether the well established and recognised cyclic fluctuations that are characteristic of commodities markets in general will cause the price of crude to stabilise around the current mark, or whether we can reasonably expect the return of high prices sooner rather than later. Unsurprisingly, at a simpler level, it is all a question of the interactions of supply and demand. At a deeper level it is also a question of the complex reactions of the market to a multitude of interpretations, and to equally as many misinterpretations, of supply and demand trends and expectations.
However, my concern here is not to address the vagaries of the market economics of hydrocarbons generally, or comment upon the specifics of the ebb and flow of demand for the oil and gas that fuels the ups and downs of manufacture through to delivery of today’s commonplace goods and services. Instead my concern is towards the supply side of the energy exploration and production industry segment, and on the implications that decisions which determine the variability in supply have for the satellite communications industry.
These implications will be central to the themes to be discussed at the ‘2nd Annual Oil & Gas Communications South East Asia Conference: Redefining the Digital Oilfield Onshore, Offshore, Deep & Ultra-Deepwater Conference’ (O&GCSEA2009) - www.uk-emp.co.uk/2nd.O&G.SEAsia.2009/. The conference will characterise and detail the applications solutions and communications solutions imperatives of the energy market vertical, illustrating that, whilst it is true of these imperatives that, in relative terms, communications solutions represent a small fraction of energy companies’ total CAPEX and OPEX, well-managed ICT networks can play a disproportionately great role in reducing expenditures in drilling, production, exploration, and in every other area of operations.
Taking place at the Kuala Lumpur Crowne Plaza Mutiara Hotel, Malaysia, over the period 17th & 18th November 2009, during a highly dynamic hydrocarbon energy exploration and production environment, this latest in the GVF & UK-EMP oil and gas communications conference series has attracted the widespread support of much of the energy and satellite communications industry.The themes to be explored during the conference are listed in detail at the dedicated conference website at
www.uk-emp.co.uk/2nd.O&G.SEAsia.2009/. Amongst a wide variety of topics, speakers and attendees from the energy and communications industries – including representatives of (in alphabetical order) Baker Hughes; GVF VSAT Installation Training Centre (Thailand); Hughes Network Systems; iPerentis; Inmarsat; Intelsat; Maxis; Newfield Peninsula Malaysia; Pan Petroleum; Parallel; Petronas; SBM; Schlumberger; Scoptel; Shell Malaysia Exploration & Production; Sime Darby; SpaceNet; Talisman; Telekom Malaysia; UMW Standard Drilling; among others.
Deepwater hydrocarbon reserves now appear to be even more abundant than was thought ten years ago, and whereas at the turn of the century the equipment to explore for and produce these reserves was quite limited – fewer than two dozen deepwater drilling vessels were available in 2000 – the recent history of high oil prices stimulated a construction rush in the early years of the new century, and, even with a price tag of US$1 billion a piece, there will be something of the order of 150 such vessels in service for deepwater reserves development by 2012, less than three years away.
Across the South East Asia region, the Malaysian oil & gas industry, for example, continues to be most active in exploration for new offshore hydrocarbon reserves, especially in such deepwater zones which carry with them high E&P operating costs and require substantial technical expertise.
The O&GCSEA2009 programme will also feature a session entitled Oil & Gas Communications and Social Responsibility: Merging Community & Profitability in the Patch, examining the subject of how the corporate social responsibility obligations of the oil and gas sector relates to the satellite communications industry.
Deployment of broadband satellite technologies is correctly recognised as an imperative to maximisation of cutting-edge digital oilfield applications and to considerations of cost-effectiveness – it is a force multiplier, enabling return on investment, as well as facilitating mission critical communications links. The return on investment consideration renders practical what the GVF, together with organisations in the oil and gas industry, has characterised and proposed as an opportunity for energy companies to more effectively identify and implement opportunities to fulfil their social responsibility mandate.
Companies operating in developing countries have an important responsibility to the communities affected by their activities and to the host country in general. Indeed, oil and gas companies typically include community support funding in their overall investment programmes when negotiating for, and executing, their activities.
Given that hydrocarbon E&P often takes place in regions that are both environmentally challenging and economically developing, companies often have to introduce new communications infrastructure that can be applied not only to meeting their own requirements but also to the requirements of the immediately surrounding community and the region/country more generally. That infrastructure is invariably broadband satellite technology-based, or some form of satellite-terrestrial technology hybrid.
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Martin Jarrold is the Chief of International Program Development of the GVF. He can be reached at martin.jarrold@gvf.org
