Keynote Lecture: The Challenge of Offshore Energy Resources

Robert Ryan is Vice President – Global Exploration and he is responsible for Chevron’s worldwide exploration portfolio.  He has 30 years of experience in oil and gas exploration and production, much of it associated with the offshore.  He began his career with Texaco in 1979 as a geologist in the offshore division in New Orleans, and has held a variety of technical and management positions since then.  In 1990, through the President's Commission on Executive Exchange in The White House, Ryan was appointed to the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Conservation and Renewable Energy in the U.S. Department of Energy in Washington, D.C., where he assisted with utility policy issues related to renewable energy and energy efficiency.  He assumed his current position in 2003.  Ryan has BS and MS degrees in geology from Tulane University.  He is vice chairman of the Board of Advisors of the Energy & Geoscience Institute at the University of Utah, chairman of the Corporate Advisory Board of the American Association of Petroleum Geologists and a member of the Scientific Advisory Board of CASP (Cambridge Arctic Shelf Program) at the Department of Earth Sciences at Cambridge University, UK.

Keynote Lecture: Ocean Renewable Energies in Hawaii and the Pacific

Rep. Cynthia Thielen, Assistant Republican Leader in the Hawaii House of Representatives, has served in the Legislature for 18 years. Her background as an Environmental and Land Use attorney enabled her to become a leading force for renewable energy. Noted internationally as the advocate for wave energy systems, Rep. Thielen has successfully encouraged wave energy companies to bring their technology to Hawaii. In recognition of her work on behalf of the environment, Rep. Thielen received the Legislative Lifetime Achievement Award from the Sierra Club in 2008.

Keynote Lecture: Offshore Frontiers - Challenges and Solutions
John Murray has over 25 years experience working on offshore structure designs for open water and ice-covered regions. He started his career with the National Research Council Canada in 1985, where he was head of the Ocean Engineering Program, responsible for the Council's national offshore development program. In 1997, he joined Spars International Inc. in Houston. For the past 11 years, Murray has worked primarily in concept development for deepwater floaters and riser designs, both as a Principal Engineer with Technip Offshore and since 2006 as Director of Technology Development with FloaTEC, LLC. Murray holds a PhD in Ocean Engineering, has published over 100 technical papers in journals and conference proceedings, and holds a number of patents. He is a registered professional engineer in Canada and the State of Texas.

Special Symposia

C.C. Mei Symposium on Wave Mechanics and Hydrodynamics

This symposium honors the significant accomplishments of Professor Chiang C. Mei in the fields of wave mechanics and hydrodynamics. Professor Mei has been one of the leaders in these fields. His former and current students and colleagues will join us to celebrate his extraordinary accomplishments in the last 45 years.

Joint Forum of ‘Offshore Technology’ and ‘Structures, Safety and Reliability’ and ‘Ocean Engineering’ Symposia on Shallow Water Waves and Hydrodynamics

Partial List of Topics included are Low frequency wave content of near-shore waves (infra-gravity waves), Near-shore wave propagation and effects of the shoreline, Low-frequency drift forces in long- and short-crested waves, Low-frequency response of moored vessels, Mooring behavior in shallow water, Effects of seabed bathymetry, Methods for shallow-water model testing, Extreme wave propagation in shallow water, Extreme wave statistics in shallow water, Shallow-water wave modeling and associated loads.

Ocean Renewable Energy Symposium

This is the third year that a specialty symposium is being organized to specifically focus on ocean renewable energy developments and challenges. There is a growing worldwide demand to increase the supply of renewable energy and the world’s oceans offer the resources to meet these goals. However, to exploit the potentials offered by ocean energy resources, various regulatory and technology challenges must be addressed by the engineering and scientific communities. The objective of this Symposium is to provide a forum for the presentation of relevant information and views on regulatory and technology issues to enhance the exploitation of ocean renewable energy resource.

Petroleum Technology Symposium

Petroleum Technology Symposium consists of different sub-disciplines within the area of petroleum and mechanical engineering. Some of the topics to be included are: Flow Assurance, Multiphase flow and measurement issues at the well/manifolds and in flowlines, Description and Optimization of Well Performance, Well Completion, Inflow Performance, Systems (Nodal) Analysis, Artificial Lift Design and Analysis, Power requirements for ESPs and long offsets for production, Production Optimization, Drilling Optimization, Drilling Technology, Deepwater HTHP (high temperature high pressure) wells, HIPPS (high integrity pressure protection system).

Short Courses

The weekend preceding the conference there will be three short courses taught by world-renowned experts:

Saturday, May 30

• Ice Engineering - taught by Walter Kuehnlein

Sunday, May 31

• Wave Energy - taught by Antonio Falcao and Teresa Pontes
• Vortex-Induced Vibrations - taught by Bob Blevins

Visit the Short Courses page for more information.