After a promising start in 2018, the Beyond the Borders initiative is coming back with a larger and improved second edition, where another five SPE sections—Germany, Portugal, Vienna Basin, Bergen, and Moscow—have now joined France, Romania, and Italy in their efforts to gather young professionals (YPs) across borders.
This initiative aims to contribute to the professional and personal development of the YPs and increase communication and exchanges among sections, by means of a series of 2-to-3-days events with complementary themes, gathering a group of 20 to 30 YPs from the participating sections and guests from other sections. Each event includes various activities such as conferences, workshops, visits, inter-generational exchanges with SPE student chapters and more senior professionals, as well as a cultural visit.
The second edition of the initiative will take place over the course of 2019–2020, and participating sections will each host an event approximately every 2 months.
France Section Hosts First Event
Themed “From Wellhead to Downstream”, this year’s first event was hosted by the SPE France Section and gathered around 20 YPs of 12 nationalities.
Day 1 started with a Welcome Lunch and was followed by a Meet & Greet session with the SPE France board. The participants then got the opportunity to learn about Innovation Management from Subsea7’s Strategic Technology Development Program Manager, and discuss challenges and latest innovations related to long subsea tiebacks. The technical program of the day continued with attendance to a conference about LNG platforms.
Day 2 focused on site visits with a day trip to Normandy. Attendees visited TechnipFMC’s Flexi France plant, where flexible pipes used in subsea developments are manufactured.
DYK? The flixible pipes in subsea technology was first commercially developed in France by TechnipFMC in the 1970s—impressive accumulation of know-how over time and continuous improvements made at the research and development center associated with the plant.
The afternoon focused on sustainability with the visit to a waste treatment plant, which takes care of oily wastes from the multiple nearby refineries and petrochemical platforms. The distinctive feature of this plant is that it is co-owned by various local industrial actors, and operated by Veolia on their behalf, while they recover some outputs (e.g., steam) to feedback into their own processes.
Insight: Who said the circular economy could not be used in our industry!
Day 3 provided YPs an opportunity to learn, think, and discuss the future. The day started with an introductory course and workshop about the status and stakes of energy transition, which YPs have a serious interest in, especially in light of our generation and career choices.
The gathering of YPs from numerous sections from across Europe was also a good opportunity to exchange information about their respective sections and activities, and the first “Pan-European YP Exchange Forum” took place during the afternoon. This proved to be a good opportunity to share and learn about respective visions and activities, successes, and the challenges faced to promote and maintain SPE membership among the younger generation.
After three intense days of technical events and activities, the group took a sightseeing trip across Paris on a cruise on the Seine river.
The YP Committee of the France Section would like to take this opportunity to thank all the participants of the event, supporting companies, and volunteers for their contributions.
The next Beyond the Borders event will be held in Romania in September. For more information on the activities of the SPE France go to http://www.spefrance.org/home/ or follow us on LinkedIn.
The article was sourced from the authors by TWA Editor Bruno Rivas.