Panel Session Details
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Technical Program schedule
Wednesday, 3 May, 0930 to 1200
PANEL: CHANGING DYNAMICS OF DEEPWATER OWNERSHIP
Room 306
Moderator
Sandeep Khurana, J P Kenny Inc.
Panelists
Renard Falcon, Facilities Coordinator, GOM Deepwater & Exploration Projects, Chevron
William McHolick, Vice President Americas Operations & Development, BHP Billiton Petroleum
Helge Hove Haldorsen, Head of GOM Business Unit, Hydro Oil and Gas
Joao Figueira, Executive Manager, Petrobras
Cory Weinbel, General Manager of Production Contracts, Cal Dive Intl.
Sandeep Khurana, Senior Specialist, J P Kenny Inc.
See below for profiles and photos.
As the balance of risks and costs has declined due to technology advancements and growing experience, the number of companies involved in the deepwater sector is growing rapidly. Owners, many of them focused on operator roles, have different interests based on their portfolio of deepwater fields. Farm-ins, joint ventures (JVs), and production-sharing contracts (PSCs) are very well defined in exploration, leading to equity ownership, but are lean on field development, project execution and construction of the facility, along with its future handling. Due to huge investments in developing deepwater fields and infrastructure, creative commercial arrangements such as facilities ownership by contractors, production contracts and transportation fee agreements are being considered. The owners compete and interact to ensure that they get the best leverage from their ownership in the field.
However, what impact does the involvement of a non-operating partner have on field development? Is it healthy or does it cause delays? The panel will debate various issues regarding the alignment of operating and non-operating partners.
Some of the issues discussed will be:
- Differing corporate cultures.
- Vying for operatorship and its arrangements in different regions of the world.
- Influencing execution of field development and optimization for future use.
- Implementing new technology specifically based on experiences in a different part of the world.
- Integrated project team of owners vs. operator-managed project.
- Contrasts between international vs. Gulf of Mexico joint venture operating agreements.
| 0930 | 17783 | Changing Dynamics in Deepwater Ownership |
Moderator Profile
Sandeep Khurana, Project Manager – Subsea and Facilities, J P Kenny Inc.
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Sandeep Khurana currently acts as a project manager for subsea and facilities at J P Kenny Inc. in Houston where his key roles include project execution, management, co-ordination and field development planning. He has 16 years of diversified experience in planning and engineering of the offshore platforms, topsides facilities, subsea equipment and pipelines accompanied by technical and managerial assistance during the procurement, fabrication and installation phases. Khurana has been actively involved in contributing to the industry and the community via non-profit organizations like MTS Houston section, charter member of Offshore Energy Center, OTC technical program committee and offshore operations chair of ASME. He earned his masters degree in civil engineering in 1990 from Rice University and is a registered professional engineer in Texas.
Panelists Profiles
Renard Falcon, Facilities Coordinator, Deepwater GOM Appraisal, Chevro n
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Renard Falcon has 25 years experience in the oil & gas industry having held various project management and engineering roles associated with the design, construction, and installation of offshore production facilities as well as operational support. He is currently Facilities Coordinator for the Gulf of Mexico Appraisal Group in Chevron’s Deepwater Exploration & Major Projects Business Unit. His key responsibilities include the coordination of early phase conceptual engineering and development planning activities for Chevron’s operated and non-operated deepwater discoveries in the Gulf of Mexico. Renard graduated from the University of New Orleans with a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering and is a registered professional engineer.
William McHolick, Vice President Americas Operations & Development, BHP Billiton Petroleum
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William “Bill” McHolick is the vice president of BHP Billiton Petroleum’s Americas operating and development asset team. He has operating and financial responsibility for the company’s oil and natural gas assets in production in the Gulf of Mexico. During his more than 25 years in the oil industry, McHolick has held positions in process design, project management, reservoir engineering, external affairs/strategic planning and economics/finance. He has worked in north America as well as nearly 10 years internationally. Bill graduated from Oregon State University with a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering and has completed the advanced management program at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School.
Helge Hove Haldorsen , Head of GOM Business Unit, Hydro Oil and Gas
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Helge Hove Haldorsen is currently the general manager of Norsk Hydro's Gulf of Mexico business unit located in Houston. Before joining Hydro, Haldorsen held various positions within reservoir engineering at Esso Exploration Norway in Stavanger, Sohio Petroleum Company in San Francisco and Anchorage and BP in London. He joined Hydro in 1987 and he has held a number of key management positions with the company including chief reservoir engineer, president E&P international, vice president of exploration and vice president of exploration and research. Haldorsen has served on the SPE Board of Directors for three years and he has been an SPE distinguished lecturer. He is the author of many technical articles and papers and he has been a professor of industrial mathematics at the University of Oslo as well as a lecturer at Stanford University. Haldorsen has an MSc in petroleum engineering from The Norwegian Institute of Tecnology in Trondheim, Norway and a PhD in petroleum engineering from the University of Texas at Austin.
Joao Figueira, Executive Manager, Petrobras
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João C.A. Figueira is the executive manager for Petrobras’ international E&P business units in the Americas, Africa and Eurasia where he is responsible for the business units in Colombia, the United States, Mexico, Angola, Nigeria, Tanzania, Libya and Iran. In January 1981he started his career in the oil industry as an exploration geophysicist working for Exxon in Brazil. He joined Petrobras in 1983 and has held various technical and managerial positions primarily dedicated to the international activities. Over the last 15 years, much of his work has focused on management of exploration and production activities and his roles have included chief explorationist for West Africa, exploration and new ventures manager, exploration manager for Petrobras United Kingdom, general manager for Petrobras’ Angola branch and executive manager of E&P international business for Petrobras, where his main responsibility was to building the company’s E&P portfolio in Latin America, the Gulf of Mexico, Africa and the Middle East. He received his degree in geology from the São Paulo University in 1980.
Cory Weinbel, General Manager of Production Contracts, Cal Dive Intl.
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Cory Weinbel currently manages Cal Dive’s Production Facilities Division which is focused on offering innovative offshore infrastructure solutions to oil and gas production companies. This division currently incorporates the Marco Polo TLP and Independence Hub semisubmersible floating production developments of which Cal Dive is a partial infrastructure owner. He has been employed with Cal Dive for over five years and was previously Cal Dive’s project manager for the deepwater Gunnison Spar development and participated with Kerr-McGee on the Gunnison integrated project team. Prior to joining Cal Dive, Weinbel worked for 16 years in various positions from project engineer to deepwater project manager for Kerr-McGee Corporation and Kvaerner Oil & Gas. He has a BS degree in materials science and MS degree in metallurgical engineering from Columbia University.
