Wednesday 23 April 2008

Young Oil & Gas Industry Professionals Make Their Views Heard at Aberdeen Conference

Over 200 young oil and gas professionals, all in the first ten years of their career, today challenged the offshore industry with their recommendations on a range of major issues that will affect the sector's future.   

The Oil & Gas UK Next Generation Conference, sponsored by Maersk Oil, heard views from the industry's future leaders who had travelled to Aberdeen Exhibition and Conference Centre to discuss ways forward on health and safety, economic and commercial challenges, skills and the environment.

Safety recommendations include establishing a global knowledge base for sharing and communicating lessons and best practice; and amongst the environmental recommendations was proactive investment in innovative technologies, greater transparency in industry performance and the more efficient use of existing infrastructure.

Malcolm Webb, chief executive of Oil & Gas UK said: "I am delighted that todays conference has been such a success. The industry's younger professionals where challenged to think innovatively about some of the very big issues facing the sector and the important part they as individuals have to play in building a successful and sustainable long term future for our industry.

"It is imperative that the industry continues to recognise the importance of informing, developing, and moreover listening to the next generation of leaders. This conference has certainly played a part in that and I look forward to discussing their ideas and recommendations with the board of Oil & Gas UK."

Speaking on the day Wayne Hemingway MBE, the co-founder of fashion label Red or Dead and HemingwayDesign, offered delegates an interesting insight on how to approach new challenges. In particular he encouraged delegates to be more creative and experimental: "You may ask what a designer possibly has to say to the oil and gas industry... well all industries experience the same drivers, influencers and constraints. Creativity can play an important part in meeting these challenges by inspiring people to challenge accepted practice and harness the power that this generates. Creativity leads to exciting idea generation and radical visions that bring about different solutions that were previously not thought of."  

The conference was also supported by AGR Petroleum Services and Technip UK Limited. It was run in association with SPE Aberdeen Young Professionals Programme.

The conference findings, including summaries of the discussions in the breakout sessions and all the recommendations, will be fed back to the Oil & Gas UK Board and Councils, and a report of the proceedings will be published on the Oil & Gas UK website.

ENDS

NOTE TO EDITORS

1. Oil & Gas UK is the leading representative organisation for the UK offshore oil and gas industry.  Its members are companies licensed by the Government to explore for and produce oil and gas in UK waters and those who form any part of the industry's supply chain.  It has 67 members.
2. Photos from the conference are available on request.

For more information, please call 020 7802 2400.