Responding to the growth, demand, and vitality of West Africa’s offshore industry, Offshore West Africa (OWA) is moving to Ghana for its 2010 conference and exhibition. OWA will be held March 9-11, 2010, at International Conference Center in Accra, Ghana.
In its 14th year of providing a platform for information exchange and new business development, Offshore West Africa is the region’s premier technical forum to focus exclusively on West Africa offshore exploration, drilling, and production activity.
OWA provides an annual forum that addresses the technical, environmental, and business challenges associated with oil and gas developments offshore West Africa. The conference provides a unique networking opportunity for attendees to share technology and to address issues with experts in their respective fields.
The conference program will consist of two and one-half days of two concurrent tracks of technical sessions. The sessions will focus on topics such as lessons learned offshore, field development case histories, and deepwater challenges and solutions.
The show is being held in Ghana this year in recognition of that country’s promising offshore exploration. Activity there is expected to increase significantly in years to come, with enthusiasm fueled by Tullow’s success at the offshore Jubilee field, considered to be one of the largest oil discoveries off West Africa in the past decade.
Jubilee is just one of a number of tantalizing prospects near the chosen venue. Anadarko Petroleum recently announced a find off the coast of Sierra Leone and held out the possibility that a 700-mi (1,127-km) span of ocean off the coast of West Africa could hold major reserves.
Chevron currently is involved with subsalt E&P offshore Angola, and some analysts believe West Africa could hold similar promise for subsalt hydrocarbons that is launching Brazil into the world’s list of top producing countries.
Event organizer PennWell is pleased to be able to bring OWA to Ghana at a time when the industry interest in the region is at an all time high.
As with previous years, technical sessions are divided into thematic tracks. The following are planned as of press time.
On Tuesday, March 9, speakers for the early track Lessons Learned will be moderated by Adeyemi Suara of SNEPCO and Philipe Bonneau of Technip, and include representatives from BP Angola, Nnamdi Azikiwe University, TCO, and ABS. The early “Local Content” track will be moderated by Michael Leonard of Wood Group, and include speakers from Total E&P, Wood Group, and Cameron.
After lunch the talks will resume with the Floating Production Systems track moderated by Terry Privratsky of BP and Anthony Abolarin of Total E&P Nigeria. Speakers will include representatives from SNEPCO, SBM Atlanta, and Chester Mead Associates.
The simultaneous afternoon track Regional Challenges & Solutions will be moderated by Oluseyi Afolabi of ExxonMobil and Toyin Akinosho ofAfrica Oil and Gas Report. Speakers in the track will include representatives from Vigeo Oil & Gas, Sunlink Petroleum Ltd., Richardson Oil & Gas, and Nigeria’s Federal University of Technology.
On Wednesday, the morning sessions will be divided into two tracks.
The first, Risers and Riser Technology will be moderated by Fidel Pepple of NNPC and Jean Daniel of Technip. The talks will include presentations from 2H Offshore, Schlumberger, TDW Offshore Services, and Vallourec & Mannesmann Tubes. The morning track Regional Challenges HR and Competence is moderated by Pierre Nouama of Petroci. Speakers will include specialists from DNV Angola, AMEC Paragon, and Chevron Nigeria.
The afternoon sessions include Floating Production Systems and Flow Assurance tracks.
The first will be moderated by Oise Ihonde of Modec International and will include speakers from SBM Offshore Group, GE Energy, and Rivers State University of Science and Technology. The second track, moderated by Richard Taylor of DNZ, will include speakers from NETCO, International Specialty Products, Checkpoint Process Pumps and Systems, and Tracerco. After a coffee break, the sessions resume with two tracks: Lessons Learned 2 and Subsea Technology. The first track will be hosted by Gordon Sneddon of FMC, with speakers from DES Operations, Nigerian Petroleum Development Co., Shell, and EDG. The Subsea track will include speakers from FMC, Total, and DES Operations. Richard Taylor of DNV will moderate alongside Oise Ihonde of Modec.
On Thursday, the final day of the conference, the two tracks are Regulatory, Taxation, & Finance and Flowlines & Pipelines. The first track will be moderated by Akin Osuntoki of Richardson Oil & Gas and Micheal Leonard of Wood Group. Speakers will include representatives from DNV, National Engineering and Technical Co., and Patricia Griffith of Independent Project Analysis. The parallel track will be moderated by Nosa Omorodion of Schlumberger, with speakers from Delrio, Technip, DNV Energy, and Deepwater Pipeline Services.
Afterwards, Eldon Ball, conference director for OWA, will provide closing remarks and present awards.
For more information, please visithttp://www.offshorewestafrica.com.
