Kamel Ben Naceur, Chairman of DAMORPHE is speaking at SPE Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition (ATCE) 2021, Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

Technical Panel Session: Transitioning to Net Zero: Governments and Corporations

Date & Time: September 21, 2021; 14:00 – 15:30
Location: Sheikh Rashid A; Dubai World Trade Centre 

To achieve the target set by the Paris Agreement to limit global warming to 1.5o C compared to pre-industrial levels, it is necessary to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050 which requires effective cooperation and collaboration between governments and corporations. A growing number of countries are politically committing to the achievement of net-zero within the next few decades in line with the growing public calls to prevent a catastrophic irreversible climate change.

The combustion of fossil fuels represents the single largest source of CO2 and methane emissions making the oil and gas industry the main target for decarbonization among all other sectors. Hence, to meet the goals of the Paris Agreement, the sector must take the necessary steps to self-transform because they have a significant role to play.

In such a shifting landscape, governments are positively seeing new opportunities; to diversify economies, reduce fossil-fuel dependency, address energy poverty, create new employment opportunities and attract incentives offered by the United Nations and investments by private clean-energy driven investors. corporations, on the other hand,  will have to revise their investment and operational plans and strategies to survive in the new energy landscape.

While oil and gas companies are highly exposed to energy transition risks, they have considerable scientific, technical, and financial powers to drive the energy transition and build low-carbon sustainable models. Some companies have already taken steps towards that goal.

Studies have shown that the global pandemic and resulting economic slowdown, has further accelerated the call for energy transition exerting more pressure on the oil and gas industry to promptly respond.

In this panel we will discuss the implications of the growing calls for energy transition on the oil and gas industry and how can governments and corporations cooperate and collaborate to achieve successful energy transition?  We will discuss how can the industry work together to achieve a net-zero future and we will explore how can corporations transform the net-zero associated challenges into opportunities. We will also listen to how companies build their road maps to net-zero.

Technical Panel Session: Funding Future Projects: Access to Capital, Risk Management

Date & Time: September 22, 2021; 14:00 – 15:30
Location: Sheikh Rashid A; Dubai World Trade Centre 

Oil and gas projects have had a roller-coaster experience over the previous decade as a result of economic, commercial, and more recently COVID-19 risk factors. Going forward, and approaching recovery from the impact of the pandemic, new factors need to be taken into account for greenfield investments, as well as for the rehabilitation of existing/mature assets. They include the increased pressure for a sustainable energy future, arising from governments with the Paris Climate Agreement and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, as well as from the financial sector, investors groups, and the public. Additionally, prices of renewable energy generation, and energy storage to a lesser degree, have shown a remarkable decrease, competing with fossil-fuel-based power sources. Finally, the enormous cost of the pandemic has taken a toll on the financial resources, which may limit the availability of capital funds for the coming years.

The high-level executive panel will discuss the new context for capital project funding from different perspectives: national oil companies, international oil companies, and oilfield services, as well investment groups (e.g. sovereign wealth funds), the new partnership models, the drive for a sustainable/resilient energy portfolio, and approaches to risk management.

Special Session: Finding New Horizons in the Energy Transition

Date & Time: September 22, 2021; 8:30 – 11:55
Location: Sheikh Rashid B; Dubai World Trade Centre 

With the energy transition gathering pace and the collapse of oil demand in a pandemic world, the future of petroleum professionals now enters unchartered territory. The aspiration of a carbon neutral future is creating an era of rapid change as the petroleum industry evolves in how we generate, manage and utilize energy. To succeed, individuals must now reinvent themselves to adapt to the changing landscape requiring a mix of technical and leadership skills. The SPE Business, Management and Leadership Committee invites you to join us for an exciting and thought-provoking panel session.

Special Session: An Update on the Potential AAPG-SPE Merger

Date & Time: September 22, 2021; 11:00 – 12:30
Location: Sheikh Rashid C; Dubai World Trade Centre 

In May 2021, the American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG) and the Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE) announced an exploration of the benefits and opportunities of a merger creating the “organisation for the future” for energy professionals. In this special session, the 2021 SPE President and members of the (Exploration) Merger Steering Committee will discuss the case for consolidation and how a new combined organisation could respond to the evolving energy sector, member needs and the challenging COVID-19 impacted market environment.

Technical Paper Session: 014 WELL COMPLETIONS: State of the Art Advances in Well Intervention Technology

Paper # 205902: Liners with Bulk Metallic Glass/High Entropy Alloy, Degradable in Formation Fluids for a Skin Free, Clear, Perforating Tunnel, Enabling Enhanced Reservoir Connectivity

Date & Time: September 21, 2021; 16:10 
Location: Room 600; Dubai World Trade Centre 

Abstract: A shaped charge for wellbore perforation includes a solid metal or powder liner pressed onto a case, sandwiching high explosives which may have varying thermal stability, dictated by the expected time of exposure and bottom hole temperature (BHT). It is common knowledge that post detonation, the liner-jet punctures the gun body and casing, continuing forward to perforate the formation until its eventual collapse. The jet debris is deposited on the crushed zone forming an impermeable skin and a slug at the end of the perforation-tunnel. This reduces fracture conductivity, and thus, production. Here we present a game changing innovation, the development of a shaped charge with a novel responsive liner. The jet created from our novel degradable liner, post detonation punctures the casing and progress to penetrate the formation until an eventual collapse. However, this system is designed so that, during detonation, a water disintegrable reaction product, bulk metallic glasses (BMG) and/or high entropy alloys (HEA), are formed. These degradable BMG/HEA or complexions decorate the grain boundaries and domain interfaces of the impermeable skin lining the crushed zone of the perforation tunnel as amorphous intergranular films (AIFs) and plug at end of the pathway. Interacting with flowback fluids the BMG/HEA promotes grain dropping, disintegrating the liner and carrot leaving behind a clean perforation tunnel, improving fracture conductivity thus enhanced productivity. In addition, a clear perf tunnel has zero skin value. As such, compared to a coated tunnel with gun and charge debris, it needs little or no acid to clean-up. This results in a demarked reduction of formation breakdown pressures with improved economics for the client. Last but not least this leads to cost reduction of authorized field expenditure (AFE) to support optimized performance of completion design allowing for increased production. CLEAR shaped charges have been qualified to customer specifications in field conditions and are ready to be commercialized. An extension of this technology is being applied to design charges for “Big-Hole” perforations, for the Plug and Abandonment (P&A) market where an effective cement squeeze, anchoring a plug effectively seals the wellbore, preventing the leakage of residual hydrocarbon and associated contamination and emissions.