Earlier this week, GE Oil & Gas held its 14^th Annual Meeting in the historic Italian city of Florence.

Setting Records

This year’s meeting (the largest ever), saw over a thousand oil and gas professionals travel from around the world to take part in the two-day event, hosted in the state-of-the-art facilities of the scenic Palazzo dei Congressi.

After a cocktail reception held on Sunday evening in the nearby Fortezza da Basso, which saw GE’s CEO, Jeffrey Immelt praise the tenacity of the industry, the meeting kicked off with beginning of the plenary sessions on Monday morning. The theme of this year’s event was “Redefining What’s Possible”. Accordingly, the Meeting’s schedule filled with presentations and discussions on topics such as “Envisioning the Future: Understanding the Trends of Tomorrow,” “Driving Progress Together” and “Delivering on the Future.”

Whilst the mornings were devoted to the plenary sessions, the afternoons took a different approach. Monday afternoon saw the attendees visit ‘Breakout Sessions,’ which focused on various challenges currently facing the industry, whilst Tuesday afternoon was devoted to Technology Forums and Plant Tours.

Highlights

Arguably the highlights of the plenary sessions were the panel discussions, which saw speakers from various areas of the oil and gas industry give their insight on key topics.

Monday’s panel discussion, “Envisioning the Future: Understanding the Trends of Tomorrow – Revolutions in Transition” was aimed at predicting some major trends for the future of the industry. The panellists were: Keith Elliot, VP of Major Projects for Noble Energy; Laszlo Varro, Head of Gas, Coal and Power Division of the International Energy Agency; and Beth Comstock, Chief Marketing Officer & SVP, GE.

Tuesday’s panel topic touched on another of the major themes of this year’s meeting: Collaboration, with the discussion, entitled “Progress & Partnership: Leveraging Growth for the Future, Together.” The panellists were: Tom Delay, CEO of the Carbon Trust UK (described by the moderator as a “very brave man” for attending an oil and gas event); Dr Peter Klingenberger, CEO of E.ON Gas Storage; and Charlie Williams, Executive Director of the Center for Offshore Safety.

Plant Tours

After the plenary session was drawn to a close on Tuesday morning by Dan Heintzelman, President & CEO, GE Oil & Gas, there was a pause for lunch before the attendees were off to either the various Technology Forums or one of the two Plant Tours available.

The Plant Tours allowed attendees to take a close look at the operations of the Florence and Massa Plants and see first-hand the various construction techniques used in the development of oil and gas machinery, such as electrical discharge machining (EDM) and 3D printing.

Written by David Bizley

Read the article online at: https://www.lngindustry.com/liquid-natural-gas/31012013/2013_ge_oil_and_gas_annual_meeting_highlights/