How operators sustain safe, reliable, and cost- efficient operations during sudden oil price shocks and supply-demand imbalances. Focus areas include lifting cost reduction, operating model simplification, and decision-making under volatility.

Session chairs: Amresh Mohan, Staatsolie; Bibi Shameer, ExxonMobil

How do we continue to build strong technical careers and retain critical knowledge when activity levels, investment, and workforce needs keep changing? This session will explore how operators, service companies, and contractors can develop and retain technical talent through growth and downturn cycles, with a focus on meaningful technical career paths, mentoring, knowledge transfer, competency development, and creating the hands-on experience needed to develop the next generation of technical experts and leaders.

For Suriname and other emerging offshore regions, the challenge is also an opportunity: how can today’s investment and project activity be used to build local technical capability that will remain for decades? The discussion will explore how industry, universities, and local organizations can work together to develop petroleum engineers, geoscientists, and other technical professionals while transferring knowledge and building experience that can support the industry well beyond a single project or market cycle.

Session chairs: Celia Garcia-James, Halliburton; Lumay Viloria, Endeavor Management

Strategies to navigate investment decisions when price signals are distorted by volatility and disruption. Emphasis on phased developments, short-cycle opportunities, and deferral risk management in capital-intensive projects.

Session chairs: Daniela Torres, Halliburton; Kenny Anthony Bissoon, ExxonMobil