Izah Azahari
In recognising the importance of the energy sector’s resilience, an Energy Seminar was held in hybrid format at the Muzakarah Hall of the International Convention Centre (ICC) in Berakas yesterday as part of the Brunei Mid-Year Conference and Exhibition 2022 (Brunei MYCE 2022) Energy Week.
Organised by the Petroleum Authority of Brunei Darussalam (PA), the seminar gave a glimpse into the oil and gas sector and where it is heading.
Permanent Secretary of the Department of Energy at the Prime Minister’s Office and Interim Managing Director of PA Haji Azhar bin Haji Yahya officiated the opening.
With speakers from the Southeast Asian region, the Energy Seminar featured four sessions and fostered discussions among participants covering topics and case studies such as the subsurface; asset integrity; Health, Safety, Security and Environment (HSSE); green energy; and enabling technology to unlock upstream opportunities.
Haji Azhar highlighted that the seminar is to provide a platform for knowledge sharing; opportunity to interact among industry players, policymakers and academicians; learn good practices from actual projects and detailed research studies, and to gain valuable insights from experienced technical specialists.
“The seminar is set up and conducted for the audience to gain insight and information that would benefit everyone in conducting daily work and operations,” he said.
Haji Azhar also expressed hope that the seminar will inspire and motivate attendees so they will walk away with greater knowledge and understanding.
The Energy Seminar began with discussions on ‘Marginal Field Upstream’ with international speakers from Petronas, Malaysia; Pertamina Hulu Energi, Indonesia; PTT Exploration and Production Public Company Limited, Thailand; and S&P Global.
Examples of marginal fields becoming economically viable were presented through optimisation of process, governmental and regulatory promotion, standardisation, cost control and integrated solutions. These are met with the application of new technologies to enable development of challenging fields to be viable and economical.
This was followed by a session on ‘Asset Integrity’. As oil, gas and petrochemical sectors are capital intensive, maintaining optimal performance levels of the assets are critical to sustain profitability.
Asset integrity and process safety are strongly interrelated and are of significant importance as they play a key role in anticipating and preventing unforeseen events and recommending appropriate action plans.
The speakers shared insights and best practices on how to effectively manage assets to deliver value and innovative solutions to tackle current and future challenges to achieve productivity gains, while meeting safety and environmental standards. Speakers for the session were represented by Brunei Shell Petroleum Company Sdn Bhd, Brunei LNG Sdn Bhd and PA.
Meanwhile, the seminar’s afternoon session covered Growing Importance of HSSE in Energy Sector; Towards Efficient and Green Energy Future; and Enabling Technology in Challenging Fields.
HSSE plays a critical role in the energy industry business and technical operations. With good practices and deep expertise, all built upon many years of learning, the session was represented by experts from the Safety, Health and Environment National Authority (SHENA), Hengyi Industries Sdn Bhd and Total Energies EP (Brunei) BV.
‘Towards Efficient and Green Energy Future’ provided discussions, insights and an opportunity to learn more on innovative green technologies.
Finally, the session on ‘Enabling Technology in Challenging Fields’ revealed a special overview of low-cost development and deep-water perspectives to unlock opportunities through utilising the latest development in research and technologies. Digitalisation, innovation and the pipeline of the future were deliberated and how they will shape the upstream oil and gas industry.
Participants ranged from higher education institutions, research, government and businesses to the public and the private sector.
