"Chemistry in the Oil Industry" 2009 Style
And so once again we had the pleasure of attending Chemistry in the Oil Industry XI, jointly sponsored by the Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) and the European Oilfield Speciality Chemicals Association (EOSCA), in Manchester. As a long serving member of the organising committee it was very heartening to note that the attendance (about 150) was second only to
the record largest crowd in 2007.
So what was new in the oilfield chemicals business this year? Well, almost inevitably a large chunk of the conference timetable was dedicated to regulatory affairs - one year into REACH and ongoing OSPAR environmental compliance for the so called "North Sea" market. Added into the mix was a fascinating presentation on sustainability by Professor Adisa Azapagic from the University of Manchester. The world at large, including a significant effort by both the oil and chemical industries, needs to move quickly to save the planet! The unknown factor - what is going to come out of the Copenhagen governmental climate conference?
However, the conference theme was "Regulation meets Innovation - Moving Forward" and new chemistry was certainly the main theme for the conference. Bearing in mind the speciality chemical industry focus (paranoia?) on intellectual property I was encouraged that industry research programmes are now set to deliver new molecules with low environmental impact for offshore and deepwater oil production. The unanswered question - will the consumer and our oil company customers be willing to pay for this advanced chemical technology?
So we all shook hands, set off back to our part of the world (30 minute car trip in my case) and promised to meet again in Manchester in two years time - assuming, of course, that the polar ice caps have not melted by then and the city is part of the Irish Sea!
Written by Jack on 13 November 2009