"Petroleum Engineering in the 21st Century – The New Challenges"
by Mr. John Colligan, SPE 2000 President
The Brunei Society of Petroleum Engineers
held SPE luncheon sponsored by BSP:
Date: Monday, 19/09/2000
Venue: Jerudong Polo Club
Time: 12.00 noon
Don't miss this excellent opportunity!
Abstract
Petroleum Engineering in the 21st Century – The New Challenges
These are difficult times for the upstream industry. To be successful, petroleum engineers are going to have to work differently. A range of new technologies, from advanced seismic through smart wells to deep water, will require petroleum engineers to have much broader and integrated knowledge for effective application. More data will become available, but with massive increases in computing power and data management capability, opportunities will exist for continuous feedback and reoptimisation of field developments to maximise recovery and minimise unit costs. Working methods will also change, for example involving virtual teams.
But non-technical developments will increasingly impinge on petroleum engineering activities. The nature of the industry is changing, with the roles of the different players becoming less distinct. More and more, societal expectations will mean that field developments will have to be justified as being socially responsible and contributing to sustainable development, as well as being wealth creating, safe, and environmentally sound. Petroleum engineers will need to demonstrate best practice from a range of alternatives, taking the above factors into account. Keeping abreast of technology will always be part of the solution, but petroleum engineers will require new skills to meet the challenges of the next centur
y.Biography
John A. Colligan - SPE 2000 PresidentJohn A. Colligan is a Director and Vice President Research and Technical Services for Shell International Exploration and Production (SIEP) B.V.; previously he was Director for Far East, Australasia and South America for SIEP.
A graduate with a degree in physics from Oxford U. In 1963, Colligan joined Shell as a petroleum engineer in 1964. After assignments in The Netherlands, Turkey, and Qatar, he became senior reservoir engineer in Brunei in 1971. Over the next 15 years, he worked in management positions in oil and gas field development, economics and planning, and drilling and production operations in Malaysia, Turkey, the UK and Brunei. Since 1986, he has worked in Shell’s Central offices in The Hague in various positions involving Shell’s worldwide upstream activities.
A member of the Society of Petroleum Engineers on a continuous basis since 1986, Colligan has been chairman of the Netherlands Section, Director Europe and Africa Region, and a member of the Society’s Executive Committee. He served as chairman of the Internationalization Committee, and has twice served as a member of the SPE Nominating Committee. In 1996, he was recipient of the SPE Europe and Africa Regional Service Award. Other service includes membership on the Economics and Evaluation Award Committee and the Forum Series Europe.
Colligan also presently serves as chairman of the Oil Industry International Exploration and Production Forum (E&P Forum). With the E&P Forum, Colligan has served as Shell’s representative and as a member of the Management Committee from 1990 to the present. He served as Vice-Chairman from 1992-1995 and commenced a three-year term as Chairman in 1995.
Colligan is author of several publications on oilfield development and industry regulations.