SPE Offshore Europe 2013 in Aberdeen has celebrated its 40th birthday by staging its biggest and best conference and exhibition to date. This year’s theme was “The Next 50 Years”, representing the continuing success story of the industry in terms of future production and the strong supply chain, which was confirmed by the scale and magnitude of this year’s event. The show also provided a moment for reflection when many of the presenters and speakers, including the Princess Royal, paid tribute to the four people who tragically lost their lives in the recent helicopter crash off Shetland.
More than 63,000 people attended the four-day show, from September 3-6 inclusive, an increase of over 25% on the 2011 event. A record-breaking 1500 plus organisations were exhibiting in the six exhibition halls which this year covered an expanded floor space of 27,217 square meters – the equivalent of eight football pitches.
Twenty-two operating companies took stands this year, the largest representation of operators ever to take part, and 262 companies were exhibiting for the first time. The event also provided a valuable showcase for SMEs and many new young companies which had the chance to demonstrate their innovative technologies and products to an international audience.
Confirming its place as a truly global event, companies from 37 countries were represented this year and there were 33 international pavilions. Korea and Australia both hosted pavilions for the first time.
Conference chairman Malcolm Webb said that the UK oil and gas industry is the country’s greatest industrial success story in over a hundred years and this event in Aberdeen served to underline that fact. “At the biggest Offshore Europe ever, we’ve addressed the key themes that will require industry focus to sustain activity in the UK Continental Shelf,” he said. “None of these is more important than safety. Two weeks following the tragic events of the Sumburgh crash, we have returned continually to the issue of safety in many of the presentations, besides those sessions already dedicated to the issue.
“It’s clear that by investing in our industry and being exceptional at what we do, we are creating a legacy of expertise that will continue to provide jobs and support families across Britain, including many in the host city of Aberdeen, and prosperity for this country for decades to come.
“However, there are no grounds for complacency. We must ensure that we continue to drive innovation and secure the best business environment possible for offshore oil and gas in the UK. We must continue to support our unique supply chain and, in particular, we must dedicate ourselves to continuous improvement in safety.
“This year we have seen an unprecedented involvement from UK and Scottish governments - a clear sign of this sector's importance and a very positive signal for the future. The future for this basin lies in close collaboration across our industry and with government. Offshore Europe 2013 has given us many encouraging signs that this can and will be realised.”
A number of Scottish and UK ministers attended this year’s event including Scotland’s First Minister Alex Salmond; Chancellor George Osborne; Lord Green, UK Minister for Trade and Investment; UK Energy Minister Michael Fallon; Fergus Ewing, Scotland’s Minister for Energy, Enterprise and Tourism; Sajid Javid, Economic Secretary to the Treasury; Jan Panek from the European Commission and Vince Cable, UK Secretary of State for Business Innovation and Skills. The Princes Royal, in her role as Patron of WISE (Women in Science and Engineering), gave an address at the Women in Industry Lunch.
Egbert Imomoh, SPE President for 2013 said: "I was honoured to be part of this hugely successful event and to witness the busy exhibit halls, full keynote, and technical sessions all week long. Rightfully so, a note of sobriety ran through the event, with respects paid to those who lost their lives in the Shetland helicopter crash, but it is through these exchanges that we learn and become a safer more productive industry."
Vasyl Zhygalo, Senior Exhibition Director, Reed Exhibitions, said the 40th anniversary of the event had been a fantastic success. “Our conference and exhibition have been successful in equal measure. There has been an outstanding line up of top industry speakers from global operators and service companies and from government with standing room only at many of the key addresses and presentations. We’ve also been overwhelmed at the response from exhibitors many of whom have been queuing to sign up for 2015.
“The show has reinforced Aberdeen’s position as a centre for oil and gas expertise which is exported globally and we have welcomed delegates and visitors from around the world. We could not have achieved this without the superb support from the many people and organisations who make us so welcome, and I’d particularly like to welcome the blue light services, Aberdeen City and Aberdeenshire Councils and the staff at the AECC.”
Jeanette Forbes, CEO of PCL Group is a regular visitor to the show: “This year has been the best Offshore Europe I have ever been too,” she said. “I think the calibre of exhibitors and innovative products on display has been a credit to our industry. I sincerely hope the visitors to this prestigious event return in two years to a warm welcome from the Granite City and would say to them “haste ye back.”
Aberdeen-based Equalizer International, an SME specialising in the design and development of flange maintenance tools, has exhibited in previous years within the SDI pavilion but this year decided to take its own bigger space to showcase two new products. “This has been fabulously successful for us because of the quality of delegates which means we have met exactly the type of people we hoped we would meet,” said Global Sales and Marketing Manager Colin Gough. “We would definitely plan to repeat this in 2015.”
Franklin Lo (17) was one of a group of 40 pupils from Motherwell DL High School, who visited Offshore Europe on the closing day to take part in the skills and schools sessions. “It was very nice to visit the exhibition and to learn about the industry,” said Franklin, who is studying physics, chemistry, biology and maths. “I would certainly consider a career in oil and gas.”
Although many Australian companies and territories have been represented at Offshore Europe in previous years, Australia hosted a country pavilion for the first time this year. “We found this to be a very worthwhile experience,” said pavilion organiser Mike Twiss. “We have been pleasantly surprised by the number and quality of visitors to our stand who have been relevant to our exhibitors and their products. We hope to do this in two years and next time we would like to bring some of our other Australian exhibitors closer to us to create an even bigger national presence.”
SPE Offshore Europe is held every two years at Aberdeen Exhibition and Conference Centre (AECC). The next event will take place September 8-11 2015.
A selection of SPE Offshore Europe 2013 photographs is available from the link below:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/offshoreeurope/sets/72157635266320027/with/9673386702/
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