About AEF 2021

Over the past decade, Energy Transition is gaining momentum and is emerging as the winning strategy. The Covid-19 pandemic and the drop in the oil price in 2020 has only accelerated this pace. We see the most valuable energy companies falling over themselves to meet “Net Zero” ambitions, leaving carbon heavy focussed competitors behind. 2020 for oil and gas will also go down as one of the worst years on record with huge write-downs and extreme commercial and operational pressures having annihilated any profitability.

What will be the future for this industry and in particular for the petroleum geoscientists and engineers that are driving the quest to find and produce affordable oil and gas to power our nations? Is it still worth investing in these careers? A key question to be looked at is if we could rejuvenate interest given the sharp decline in students taking up these courses, coupled with slower significant innovations in these disciplines.

Despite these challenges, hard facts demonstrate that energy transition is not just a matter of (political) will, but a phenomenally challenging task of huge proportions. Oil and Gas will likely stay in the energy mix for decades to come but it will be more challenging for petroleum geoscientists and engineers as they work to find the right balance in efficiently securing supply to address demand and also work to economically manage emissions. These will demand models showing ever increasing subsurface complexity that will need to be aided by Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning algorithms.

Renewable energy will certainly need the expertise of the geoscientists and engineers for much of its implementation. Carbon Capture Utilization and Sequestration (CCUS) for example would require subsurface assessment of suitable reservoirs be it saline aquifers, abandoned fields or depleting oil and gas fields. Effective sealing formation is key much like conventional oil and gas exploration. Similarly, geothermal energy will need substantial subsurface insights and skills to be efficient and affordable.

So perhaps we are not seeing “peak petroleum geoscience or engineering” but rather the onset of a big shift to a far more broader application of the skillsets.

In this forum, we will concentrate and debate these key questions and issues – particularly in the context of Asia. We are inviting distinguished speakers and panellists from a broad spectrum of energy focussed organisations to come together and sketch the future, as well as advice on near term steps that must be taken by the geoscientists and engineers not just to stay relevant, but to prosper in the new green world.