Offshore Leaders to Debate Falling Oil Prices and Need for Sophisicated Vessels at SEA ASIA 2015

SINGAPORE, April 14, 2015  /PRNewswire/ -- Offshore industry experts are gearing up to debate, discuss and analyse the impact of falling oil prices and the complex technological challenges of moving to deeper water at Sea Asia 2015.

Speaking at the conference's Offshore Marine Forum session Neil Glenn, Managing Director, Swire Pacific Offshore Operations Ltd and Alessandro Ciocchi, Vice President Offshore, V.Group will share their insights on how these issues affect the industry.

Providing a sneak preview, Mr Glenn said: "The falling oil prices have undoubtedly impacted the whole offshore oil and gas industry. The downturn of oil prices since June last year has prompted significant cuts in expenditure by the oil and gas companies which in turn has reduced overall activity levels and seen pressure to cut costs across the supply chain.

"Shipowners and operators face a range of challenges in the current environment and I look forward to exploring how the impact of the challenges with my offshore colleagues next week."

In addition to the impact of falling oil prices, there is also the increasing need for the industry to look into equipping itself with more technically sophisticated vessels today, according to Mr Ciocchi.

He said: "In the last few years, exploration and production (E&P) activities have started to move into deeper water and more challenging environments. As such, more sophisticated vessels, equipment and technologies will be required to enable this new play in E&P.

"At the same time, technically savvy equipment, which is usually designed to be more fuel-efficient, can also enable the industry to reduce its environmental footprint amid growth expectations to ease the industry's impact on the environment."

Speakers at the Offshore Marine Forum will also highlight the other complexities and opportunities facing the industry, including the manpower challenge, changing regulatory environment for offshore marine support, and the changing geography of E&P in Asia and around the world.

Established as one of Southeast Asia's largest maritime conferences and leading forum for analysis and debate on the challenges and opportunities facing the sector, Sea Asia will take place in Singapore next week from 21-23 April 2015.

For more information, please contact:

Sharon Chan
Email: sharon.chan@bbspr.com.sg
Mobile: +65-9759-9528
DID: +65-6239-4107

About Sea Asia

Sea Asia, an international conference and exhibition for the maritime and offshore industries, is returning for the 5^th edition from 21 to 23 April 2015 at the Marina Bay Sands^®, Singapore. Sea Asia serves as a focal point for both the global and local maritime communities to network, explore new businesses, and showcase the latest maritime innovations, equipment and services. Co-organised by Seatrade and the Singapore Maritime Foundation, Sea Asia is an anchor event held in conjunction with the Singapore Maritime Week and is well-attended by the most influential and respected leaders in the industry. The 3-day Sea Asia conference will bring forth the latest discussion and debates on key trends, opportunities and challenges facing the maritime industry.

Sea Asia is supported by principal sponsors Anglo-Eastern Ship Management Ltd, DP World UAE Region, Executive Ship Management, Lloyd's Register, Neptune Orient Lines (NOL), Sohar Port & Freezone, as well as sponsors ABS, Admiralty, AXSMARINE, ClassNK, DNVGL, G Travel, Hempel, JTJB LLP, Keppel Offshore & Marine, LUKOIL Marine Lubricants, M3 Marine Group Pte Ltd, Mobil Industrial Lubricants, Pacific International Lines (Pte) Ltd, PANAMA MARITIME AUTHORITY, WORLDWIDE LEADER FLAG STATE, PSA Corporation Limited, QBE INSURANCE (INTERNATIONAL) LIMITED, Singtel, The Standard Club Asia Ltd, Veritas Petroleum Services, and Zamil Offshore.

For more information, please visit http://www.sea-asia.com.

About Seatrade

Seatrade provides a range of global events, websites and publications that covers every aspect of the cruise and maritime industries, bringing together key people to encourage innovation and to produce powerful learning, networking and promotional platforms. Founded in 1970, Seatrade was acquired recently in 2014 by UBM, the world's second largest media and event organiser. Seatrade sits with the UBM EMEA, which connects people and creates opportunities for companies to develop new business, meet customers, launch new products, promote brands and expand markets. Operating in over 23 countries, UBM EMEA organizes many of the world's largest, most important exhibitions, conferences, awards, directories, websites and publications in a wide variety of industries.

For full details about this event, visit http://www.sea-asia.com. Find out more about Seatrade and UBM, visit http://www.seatrade-global.com/seatrade-global-information/about-seatrade.html and http://ubmemea.com/.

About the Singapore Maritime Foundation

Established in 2004, the Singapore Maritime Foundation (SMF) is a private sector-led organisation that seeks to develop and promote Singapore as an International Maritime Centre (IMC). As the representative voice for the commercial players of the maritime industry, SMF seeks to forge strong partnerships with the public and private sectors of the maritime industry. SMF spearheads initiatives to promote the diverse clusters of the maritime industry in Singapore and at international frontiers, and to attract young talents to join the sector. SMF is directed by its Board of Directors which comprises prominent leaders in the Singapore maritime community. For details, visit http://www.smf.com.sg.

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