More than 1,000 delegates attended the most recent Annual Technical Conference (ATC), a joint venture of the Pakistan Association of Petroleum Geologists (PAPG) and the Society of Petroleum Engineers, which was held in early December at Islamabad, Pakistan.
The conference’s theme was “E&P Technologies, Innovations and New Frontiers.”
A regular annual event in Pakistan, ATC drew participation from petroleum industry professionals, scientists, academics and members of the related business community.
Opening the conference was the Honorable Adviser to the Prime Minister on Petroleum and Natural Resources Asim Hussain.
Participants then heard 40 diverse technical presentations, a student paper contest and a panel discussion session on the conference’s second day featuring a special focus on the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan provinces.
Although PAPG has been an affiliate of AAPG since 1994, this was the first time the Association was officially represented at the conference: Asia Pacific Region president Peter Baillie, CGGVeritas SVP business development adviser for CGGVeritas, Singapore, delivered a pre-dinner keynote address on the conference’s first night.
Baillie also addressed students at the conference, noting that the industry’s future now is in their hands and not his own generation.
The other keynote was delivered by Jonathon Craig, vice president and strategic exploration adviser for ENI in Milan, Italy, who spoke on the potential of “Unconventionals in Proterozoic Successions of the Sub-Continent.”
The conference chairman, well-known explorationist Moin Raza Khan, with Pakistan Petroleum Ltd., ably led an organizing committee that is to be commended for running a highly successful event.