On 20 May, the SPE France Section held a half-day-plus evening event to celebrate its first 30 years. The France Section, located in Paris, was established 27 February 1984.
The daytime portion of the event, with 250 attendees, featured a half-day conference on the theme “Building Tomorrow’s Oil and Gas Industry With SPE,” hosted by Total at its La Défense (the major business district in Paris) headquarters. Presentations included the following: “The Birth of the Norwegian Oil and Gas Industry,” by Sir Farouk al-Kasim, president of Petroteam; “Looking Back on the Past 30 Years,” by Loïc Danguy des Déserts, chief executive officer of Doris Engineering; and “Looking Ahead 30 Years,” by Yves-Louis Darricarrère, president upstream at Total. A roundtable discussion was led by young professionals on the theme “Technology Scenarios and Job Profiles for the Future,” with participants Alain Goulois, R&D director at Total; Jean-Claude Heidmann, Center for Exploration-Production director at IFP (Institut Français du Pétrole) School; and Claude Valenchon, director innovation and technological development at Saipem.
Egbert Imomoh, 2013 SPE president, made the concluding comments.
The evening portion, attended by 200 people, took place at the Musée des Arts et Métiers. The museum contains an impressive collection of technical objects, instruments, and machines—“an appropriate setting [in which] to gather a society of engineers for a birthday celebration,” exclaimed Jean-Marc Dumas, France Section chair. The evening included an awards ceremony. The awards were presented by Arnaud Breuillac, Total E&P president; Nicolas Milesi, representing Arnaud Montebourg, French minister of economy; Egbert Imomoh; Maurizio Rampoldi, SPE regional director for South, Central, and East Europe; and Jean-Marc Dumas.