19/5/2015

The 18th Asia Oil and Gas Conference (AOGC) has come to a close after two packed days in Kuala Lumpur. Over 2,070 industry professionals from 30 countries, representing 785 companies, passed through the doors of the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre to hear from over 40 speakers drawn from the highest levels of government, operators, service providers, advisory firms, and energy research companies.

Under the theme "Realising Opportunities Amidst Challenges" the event, hosted by PETRONAS, featured a CEO Strategic Dialogue for the first time, as well as an Energy Hotspot session and dedicated sessions on technology breakthroughs, economic and political scenarios, downstream and upstream. Delegates also enjoyed an exhibition expanded in size from previous years.

On the closing day, delegates heard from global industry leaders on the challenges and opportunities for both oil and gas (including unconventionals and LNG), and both the upstream and downstream sectors.

Speaking at the Keynote Forum on the second morning, Ayman Asfari, Group CEO, Petrofac, focussed his comments on the oil sector and said that he was bullish about the oil price returning to the $80 level, as that was the price needed to meet projected future demand growth. He went on to say that he expected to see more mergers and acquisitions in the future and that this, together with standardisation and more efficient project delivery, will push the costs down.

Mr. Shigeru Muraki, Member of the Board & Executive Advisor, Tokyo Gas Co., Ltd spoke about LNG demand in Japan and the wider Asian market: "Declining oil prices and US LNG exports will have a substantial impact on the Asian gas market and gas trading, and provide opportunities to consider new terms and conditions including price mechanisms… Natural gas will become the most affordable, acceptable and reliable energy source in this growing market".

In the session entitled Gas Current and Future Play that followed, Musabbeh Al Kaabi, Chief Executive Officer, Mubadala Petroleum said: "South-east Asia's importance to the world gas market is growing, both in terms of supply and demand. While there is sufficient gas to satisfy the growth in global demand, we do see regional imbalances that will create continuing opportunities for E&P players to supply gas through LNG and an increasing number of projects focused on local markets.

"Mubadala Petroleum is well-placed to play a role, whether it is through large scale projects, such as Dolphin which supplies over 2 billion cubic feet of gas per day to the UAE and Oman, more locally focused projects such as our Ruby field in Indonesia, which is dedicated to meeting local industrial demand, ‎or in contributing to Malaysia's gas supply through the development of our discoveries in SK 320‎.

"AOGC has been a good platform to discuss the issues and the opportunities‎ ahead of us."

Datuk Wan Zulkiflee Bin Wan Ariffin, President and Group CEO, PETRONAS said "While the current market realities remain challenging with the low oil price environment, I strongly believe that industry players will continue to invest in business development and networking in order to gain new perspectives, as well as to widen their business contacts. This is where conferences such as AOGC, will continue to be the ideal platform for oil and gas players to interact and uncover new business opportunities in line with our theme "Realising Opportunities Amidst Challenges".