FRANCE GEP promoting French oil & gas expertise across the globe

Launching of jacket NKF1 for the new N'Kossa Field development offshore Congo, performed by leading French engineering group ETPM for Elf.

At this year's Offshore Technology Conference in Houston, at least seven companies will be exhibiting at the GEP-coordinated France stand. GEP is the French trade association which groups together 150 companies specializing in supply of equipment and services to the oil and gas sector worldwide.

Members are representative of the whole spectrum of the industry, including leading oil companies Elf and Total, gas group Gaz de France, large engineering concerns such as Doris, ETPM and Technip Geoproduction, and much smaller, specialist equipment suppliers.

In the offshore sector, GEP's main aim is to assist in the development of its members' activities internationally by promoting their expertise and technology in hydrocarbon exploration and production, storage, oil and gas transportation and distribution. Exhibiting groups are organized for all the main oil and gas shows, including this year for PetroVietnam, Neftegaz in Moscow and Offshore Europe in Aberdeen.

GEP collects and disseminates technical and commercial information concerning international markets and organizes seminars, symposia and exhibitions all over the world. It keeps regular contact with its member companies in order to be informed of their strategies, understand their needs and provide support to them where possible.

For instance, it has formed Eurogep, a group of ten French upstream companies, including FMC in France, with three key objectives. First, to lobby on their behalf at the European Union Commission in Brussels; second, to support these companies' efforts to establish themselves in new markets such as the Former Soviet Union, if necessary providing political risk protection; and third, to keep a watching brief on cost-cutting offshore initiatives outside France such as the UK's CRINE.

An example of France's contribution to CRINE is that the TPG500 production platform concept selected for BP's Harding Field, and conceived by Technip Geoproduction in Paris, is regarded in some quarters of the UK as a paragon for cutting costs of field developments. Technip Geoproduction's chairman and CEO, Pierre Dupal, also recently became chairman of GEP.

FSU promotions

Since December 1992, GEP has been a member of the OPET network created by the EU Commission as part of the measures associated with its Thermie R&D support program. Here GEP is responsible for promotion of hydrocarbon technologies in central and eastern Europe and the Former Soviet Union.

The project includes running an EC Energy Center, located in Tyumen, western Siberia, as a key conveyor for promoting European oil and gas technology to Russian markets. GEP also helps French oil and gas service companies set up representative offices in the FSU: at least two GEP member companies have done this, including downhole pump manufacturer PCM.

In addition, GEP has established a small outpost in Baku, involving a number of its members, which has built up contacts with Azerbaijan's government and state oil concern Socar.

GEP is also considering new initiatives elsewhere on behalf of its companies, such as in India and South America. But there are opportunities at home too, now that France's Industry Ministry's Direction des Hydrocarbures is encouraging oil companies to step up exploration off and onshore France.

In the past French offshore programs have failed, says Pierre Dupal, partly "because the exploration was always with obsolete technologies - there was no 3D seismic. However, the petroleum laws are now as good as any in the world. The profit from any field development offshore France would be very sizeable."

GEP works closely with the Direction des Hydrocarbures and the Institut Francais du Petrole on a number of other matters relating to the offshore sector generally. Recently with IFP it set up a seminar on platform dismantling, inviting potential players from oil companies and engineering contractors.

Within GEP, 59 member companies are grouped together in the Exploration/Production division, supplying services ranging from seismic and exploration drilling to turnkey production installations and maintenance. Around 80% of their turnover is performed abroad.

New opportunities are emerging through the growth of floating production developments. Also, Total in particular has a policy of supporting small companies, something which GEP is trying to take advantage of.

Total's strengths offshore at the moment are in the Middle and Far East, while Elf Aquitaine is consolidating its position in the various sectors offshore West Africa and in the UK North Sea.

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