GEP/AFTP merger set to foster innovation in France and overseas
Jeremy Beckman
Editor, Europe
Two of France's leading petroleum industry groups have agreed to merge later this year, creating a new force to promote the interests of 180 companies in France and over 1,000 engineering professionals.
Jean Ropers (L) and Gerard Momplot (R) of GEP.
The oil and gas contractors and suppliers' council, GEP, has worked closely for many years with AFTP, the oil industry engineers/technicians association founded in 1930. For instance, AFTP organizes with GEP the annual Hydrocarbon Days technical conference in Paris, heavily attended by GEP member companies, and attracting high-profile speakers from international oil and gas operators and contractors.
AFTP stages various other technical and economics-related events and seminars, describing itself as "a forum for exchanging a multitude of ideas and experience in the field of hydrocarbons." It is also the secretarial headquarters of the French National Committee on the World Petroleum Council.
Both GEP and AFTP have received support from leading organizations and companies such as IFP and Total. However, the purpose of the union is emphatically not to cut costs, according to GEP's President Jean Ropers. "In fact, we are preparing to do more with the same combined budget," he says. "For instance, we want to boost the technical committees that AFTP used to have in the 1980s when the French oil and gas business started its success.
"But there are numerous other benefits to be derived from working together. For instance, we can better help our members develop local contacts in hydrocarbon-producing countries as we did well in the past in the UK and Norway.They are now in the position where more of the products and technologies invented in France are manufactured in the countries where they are used."
The newly enlarged association is still waiting for its final title that could be GEP AFTP or AFTP GEP, as both names are familiar outside France. Among the executive, GEP's General Manager Gerard Momplot, will remain the association's general manager and will focus on international affairs, while AFTP's Director General Gabriel Gombart, who will become Momplot's deputy, will be in charge of technical committees for R&D.
"AFTP currently runs seven technical committees," says Gombart, "but we want to develop these under the new organization to focus more on technology innovations, and industrial research with real, rather than theoretical, applications." Themes under review include drilling and production, geosciences, EOR, oil and gas transportation and distribution.
"Once these committees are in place," Ropers adds, "they should provide relevant subjects not just for ‘Hydrocarbon Days' in October, but also for other technical events that we want to organize in various countries around the world."
One beneficiary of the proposed think-tanks could be the GEP-led CITEPH program, established in 2007 to provide sponsorship for research and innovations targeted at exploration and production. Sponsors include most of the country's main oil and gas operators, contractors and service groups, allocating together up to Eu 10 million ($13.4 million)/year. Projects must be initiated and led either by a French company, or a French subsidiary of an international company, preferably an SME associated to a private or university lab.
Last year, 28 out of 70 proposed projects were awarded funding. Twelve of these were in the field of offshore engineering and construction; three in innovative and new materials; two each for LNG and transportation, and electronics/advanced hardware equipment; and one for electro-magnetic technology in the field of geophysics. GEP intends to announce the first results of CITEPH-sponsored projects this year.
GEP also recognizes the achievements of its member companies through its annual Innovation Prize. Last year there were two winners: Metering Technology for an ultrasonic flow meter; and Marseille-based Cybernetix for its ALLMS leg load monitoring system, which was presented at the Deep Offshore Technology conference in Monaco last year. ALLMS is being deployed on Chevron's Frade field offshore Brazil and has also been selected for the mooring lines attached to BP Norge's Skarv field FPSO internal turret.
In January, GEP/CITEPH organized the Euronet seminar in Paris. This brought together counterpart supplier/technology associations in the UK, Norway, The Netherlands, and Denmark, one aim being to discuss collaborative oil and gas R&D programs.
Outside France, GEP leads trading missions for groups of member companies to emerging regions, some tied in with oil and gas conferences. In 2009, GEP delivered a presentation at the Economic Forum in Murmansk to Russian engineering and shipbuilding contractors. Last month, GEP also took a French group to Abu Dhabi for meetings with national oil company ADNOC.
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