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Members gather in Italy’s capital of innovation and commerce

Milan was the venue for IOGP’s Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM) on 2 November. The event attracted members from the Americas, Australia, Asia and Europe. Eni was the host company.

IOGP Chair Monika Hausenblas opened the session by thanking those who attended. ‘The fact that you made it here to Milan – whether from within Europe or travelling halfway around the world – conveys two things: First, it’s an expression of your own confidence in the importance of IOGP and second, it’s obvious that your company recognizes the benefits that accrue from active membership.’

Monika placed the EGM within the context of IOGP’s revised strategy, which reflects the pressures that the industry is feeling every day. For one, she said, ‘our industry’s social licence to operate is under threat’ due to the mistaken belief that practical, affordable alternatives to oil and gas are readily available in the scale the world needs. We have started addressing this, and we need to continue, she said.

Simultaneously, market forces are having an impact on the industry, she said. ‘Sometimes they work in our favour. At other times – like now and in the recent past – market forces challenge the viability of at least some aspects of our businesses. While we might moan about the current impact of market forces, they also give us an opportunity to get better control of our industry’s costs and reduce wastage,’ Monika said, adding: ‘IOGP is perfectly placed to identify how and in what ways our industry can achieve both of these objectives.’

Focusing on another theme to be covered in the EGM itself and the following day’s workshop, she stressed the importance of greater attention to lean management processes and other continuous improvement philosophies and systems. ‘Adopting these will re-invigorate our industry; ensuring that it reaches the levels of reliability and excellence in operations that already benefit other industries,’ she said.

While doing all of that, she added, the Association ‘won’t lose sight of IOGP’s traditional objectives; safer and more sustainable operations. Some things don’t change. Nor should they,’ she added.

Following a keynote speech from Eni host Angelo Ligrone and updates on regulatory regimes from John Campbell, Chris Hawkes and Christian Schwarck and news from IOGP’s Houston office, members heard from Executive Director Gordon Ballard about the year’s achievements – including publication of 40 reports, the start of a campaign to make the case for oil and gas among global opinion leaders and decision makers and an initiative to raise the profile of the Association throughout the industry.

In a departure from previous EGMs, instead of presentations from standing committees, participants joined a poster session. This enabled them to have informal discussions with Committee Chairs and secretariat managers. As one attendee put it: ‘The poster session was a huge improvement in format. It generated better dialogue and was a more effective way of transferring information and generating a better understanding of what each committee does. It was good for Chairs to engage with the broader membership. I also appreciated the greater interaction I was able to have with IOGP’s secretariat.’

While most participants would like to see the committee poster sessions become a regular feature of EGMs, they did request some improvements: places to sit and write and a lower level of ambient noise. EGM planners will factor those suggestions in for 2017.

During the afternoon, members voted to approve the 2017 budget, based on maintaining fees at the current level – unchanged since 2011.

In her closing remarks, the Chair thanked ‘all of those at Eni who have worked so hard to make the IOGP’s time in Milan so worthwhile and enjoyable: including Angelo Ligrone, Paola Pedroni, Alessandra Gambarotta.’ She also thanked IOGP’s Finance & Administration Manager Dianne James and Operations Coordination Manager Ed Walsingham for their work in making the meeting a success.

She concluded by announcing that the next EGM will be in Houston during the week beginning 6 November.

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