“I have always had the feeling that I could present problems to the CERE faculty and know that they would actually take time to think about what the solution might be. Networking is obviously a large part of it. I have enjoyed coming here, not just for the science but also on a personal level. I have made many friends over the years.”
Dr. Klaus Potsch of Austrian based oil corporation OMV, notes with satisfaction that presentations within geology and geophysics take up a larger proportion of the event compared with previous years:
“I see CERE’s expansion into geology and geophysics as natural. Oil and gas exploration is progressing into ever more complex geology and it will be necessary to include the geological features better to achieve accurate reservoir simulations.”
Being a CERE Discussion Meeting veteran, Klaus Potsch is well positioned to comment on the centre’s development in a broader perspective:
“Over the years, CERE has managed to keep up with the developments in the industry. The centre has consistently devoted itself to topics that are necessary to us, while at the same time these problems have not be totally solved by industry.”
“A disappointing thing for me has been the general hesitation in industry to pick up the new tools developed by CERE – for instance within reservoir simulation. Obviously, it is a barrier when the speed of calculations is too slow. However, CERE’s Professor Michelsen and his colleagues have done a lot to speed up things, and this shouldn’t really be a reason any longer for not taking up contemporary simulation tools. It has been suggested that it could all be a PR problem. Or maybe industry just doesn’t want to spend time implementing new tools? In my view there is no alternative, especially since exploration is becoming gradually more complex, as we are getting into fields that are ever more difficult. Without accurate simulations it will just not be possible to do efficient exploration.”
To Klaus Potsch the 2013 version of CERE’s Discussion Meeting marks a mixture of joy and melancholy:
“I have attended the meeting for many consecutive years, but this will be my last event, as I will have retired before next years’ meeting,” he says, summing up his experience with attending over the years:
“I have always had the feeling that I could present problems to the CERE faculty and know that they would actually take time to think about what the solution might be. Networking is obviously a large part of it. I have enjoyed coming here, not just for the science but also on a personal level. I have made many friends over the years.”