After three days of exhibitions in the 2019 Society of Petroleum Engineers Nigeria Annual International Conference and Exhibitions (SPE NAICE), through an evaluation exercise anchored by PricewaterhouseCoppers (PWC), Shell, CypherCrescent and Chevron emerged 2019 winners at the event award nights held on August 7, 2019 at Eko Hotels and Suites, Lagos, Nigeria. While the Anglo-Dutch oil giant-Shell was adjudged the best overall exhibitor, CypherCrescent took the centre stage as it bagged double awards, winning the second overall best exhibitor as well as the best Nigerian Company- a position that has not been won by a Nigerian technology and service provider since inception of the awards. Also, on the victory train at the awards night was the American multinational -Chevron who emerged as second runner up, as well as Tenaris, that won the best first timer exhibitor for the year 2019.
The theme of 2019 SPE NAICE was Artificial Intelligence, Big Data and Mobile Technology: Changing the Future of the Energy Industry.
SPE NAICE is the largest oil & gas industry technology exhibition event in Africa. It serves as an annual hub for E&P companies, oil & gas services and Petrotech companies, consultants, academia, regulators and ancillary service providers to showcase their innovations, projects and services to the oil and gas industry.
While the E&P companies showcased the adoption of advanced technologies to enhance their operations and strategic projects, the service providers displayed their new solutions, geared towards improvement of operational efficiency to the industry.
Of particular interest and attraction to many attendees was how CypherCrescent Limited, a wholly Nigerian applied research, mathematical modelling and digital transformation consulting company, demonstrated their breakthrough set of solutions – powered by SEPAL ® technology, aimed at improving efficiency across the well, reservoir & facility management (WRFM) ecosystem, and optimizing asset value through digital transformation.
CypherCrescent’s exhibition was focused on leveraging existing well, reservoir and facility data, mathematical modelling, digitalisation technology, WRFM analytics and machine learning techniques to gain improved insight into oil & gas assets for improved operational efficiency and asset value optimisation.
On display and demonstration at the CypherCrescent technology exhibition booth were the company’s proprietary software- SEPAL® Well, Reservoir & Facility Management solution (SEPAL WRFM); SEPAL Business Forecasting Solution (SEPAL® BFS); SEPAL® Drilling Sequence Planner (SEPAL DSP) and SEPAL® PVT Reports Management Solution (SEPAL® PVT RMS). Also presented were their novel services including WRFM Data Digitalisation & Democratisation, Asset Management Consultancy, Well Intervention Project Management Consulting, and Information Technology Service Management.
The SPE International president, Mr Sami Al-Nuaim, a vastly experienced petroleum engineer with Saudi Arabia’s oil & gas giant, Saudi Aramco, commended the outstanding initiatives of CypherCrescent in the application of AI, ML and Analytics to solving petroleum engineering problems. He said that the era of very high oil price is gone. Hence, the need to leverage advanced technologies to improve production from oil and gas assets.
According to the Technical Director of CypherCrescent, Mr. ThankGod Egbe, the SEPAL® WRFM software is the first- of -its -kind in the global WRFM space as it functions on the principle of Integration of Interpretations, coupling mathematical models and intrinsic physics of the entire production system in a single application to help improve consistency and reliability of data across the WRFM ecosystem. The solutions integrate WRFM data, engenders egalitarian collaboration across WRFM disciplines, enables end-to-end well reviews for opportunity identification to optimize production and improve asset integrity.
He added that the company’s core expertise includes mathematical modelling, advanced computing, petroleum engineering and geosciences consulting, engineering software development, process digitalisation, artificial intelligence & machine learning (AI & ML) research.
During the VIP tour led by the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Petroleum Resources- Mrs Folasade Yemi-Esan, Acting Director, Department of Petroleum Resources- Mr. Ahmad Rufai Shakur NNPC GMD, Mr Mele Kyari, to the CypherCrescent technology booth, the Business Development Manager, Mr. Aniekan Udo stated that CypherCrescent is continuously investing in research & development to evolve improved solutions with the capacities to help E&P companies in Nigeria and other countries of the world to produce a barrel of oil and a standard cubic foot of gas at the lowest unit technical cost (UTC), which is in line with the new drive of the GMD. He therefore solicited for stakeholder support to ensure that Nigeria rises to become Africa’s oil & gas solution hub.
Welcoming delegates who attended the awards night, Chairman of SPE, Nigeria Council, Mr. Debo Fagbami, said it was an overwhelming experience in the last twelve months of overseeing the affairs of SPE after a change of guard and mantle of leadership was given to him.
Giving historical background and account of SPE in the last four decades, Fagbami said, “My first NAICE attendance was in 1997, and it was in Port Harcourt, for those of you who thought Port Harcourt has never hosted NAICE, Port Harcourt once hosted NAICE and we had it at that time in what use to be Port Harcourt Airport Hotel, thereafter, we moved to Lagos in 1998 and I was part of it.”
Later the event was held at the famous Muson Centre. After 1998, it was relocated to Abuja for the first time and TINAPA in Calabar. NAICE event was also moved to Abuja but confronted with security challenges of which the International Oil Companies (IOCs) frowned and expressed concern about security of their members of staff. The oil majors made it clear that safety of their staff should be put into consideration.
NAICE then returns to Lagos and it becomes its abode in Eko Hotel and Suites from 2012 till date.
Fagbami revealed that 2019 was a record-breaking experience for SPE because it surpassed its attendance, exhibition and sponsorship records. In technical papers, poster session presentations including faculty programmes organized by NAICE, there were significant improvement compared to previous occasions.
He commended the SPEI president, who had been from the inception of the programme and came from Saudi Arabia.
In his remarks, Fagbami greeted the Africa Regional Director, Professor, Wumi Iledare and the BoT Chairman, Engr. Andrew Olotu. The SPE Chair added that Professor Iledare’s humility is acknowledged, “almost bowing to shake my hands. He has been one body of encouragement all through the way, he encourages me even from the slightest thing I do which I think is nothing, those things actually do not go unnoticed and it meant a lot to me and it helped me a lot throughout the success of my career.”
Fagbami added, “Olotu made my role very easy and it was a smooth ride. It was probably easier dealing with him than dealing with council members. He made my life extremely easy.”
The SPE Chair extolled council members who worked with him during his tenure. The think tank of the association holds the values and ethics of SPE entrusted on all the members.
He used the occasion to thank exhibitors who were the biggest sponsors of the event saying the large chunk of money being used to keep the event alive was from them.
Fagbami expressed gratitude to the Oildata group including his boss, Emeka Ene, who he called his mentor and the supportive role his wife also played to ensure a successful running of SPE in the last one year.
The awards night also led to the emergence of a new Chair for SPE Nigeria Council, as Vice Chairman, Joseph Nwakwue becomes new Chairman.
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