Conference alert: Deep Space, Deep Ocean

"Man cannot discover new oceans unless he has the courage to lose sight of the shore." -- Andre Gide, Writer

Saudi Aramco subsidiary Aramco Services Company has announced a conference titled “Deep Space, Deep Ocean: Exploring Crossover Technologies in the Space and Energy Sectors,” to be held April 7-8, 2015.

To quote a press release …

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Join a special mission to discover a whole new world of possibilities in operational excellence. Oil and gas and aerospace industry professionals are invited to participate in “Deep Space, Deep Ocean: Exploring Crossover Technologies in the Space and Energy Sectors” – an Aramco Technology and Operational Excellence Forum.
Source: http://www.aramcoservices.com/deepdives
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This is not a brand new concept. The National Aeronautics and Space Act of 1958 that created NASA called for the new agency to disseminate its technology for public benefit.  But the imperative of NASA’s technology transfer effort has become more urgent as the petroleum industry explores in increasingly hostile and challenging environments.

There are a number of potential crossover candidates.

Robotics is an obvious one.  The same technologies that enable exploration of the surface of Mars can be applied to exploration of the deep ocean floor on Earth.

Less obvious is the connection between the existence of methane hydrates in deep space and the exploitation of such a resource here on Earth. According to a 2011 US Department of Energy National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) report titled Energy Resource Potential of Methane Hydrate, (http://www.netl.doe.gov/File%20Library/Research/Oil-Gas/methane%20hydrates/MH-Primer2011.pdf) …

“The worldwide volume of methane held in methane hydrates is immense and poorly known. Estimates range from 100,000 to more than 1,000,000 Tcf of natural gas.”

Carolyn Ruppel (http://woodshole.er.usgs.gov/staffpages/cruppel/cv.html), member of the USGS Gas Hydrates Project (http://woodshole.er.usgs.gov/project-pages/hydrates/), has written, “Given the overall uncertainty still associated with gas hydrates as a potential resource, they have not been included in the Emissions Prediction and Policy Analysis (EPPA) model in MITEI’s Future of Natural Gas report. Still, gas hydrates remain a potentially large methane resource and must necessarily be included in any consideration of the natural gas supply beyond two decades from now.”

Quoting Robin Beckwith’s article titled Exploring Deep Earth And Deep Space: What Role Does The Petroleum Industry Play? (Journal of Petroleum Technology, March 2013) …

“When and if hydrocarbons such as methane clathrates become serious objects of petroleum industry exploration and production, astrophysicists’ explanations of their presence elsewhere in the solar system and galaxy may play a role in identifying and safely exploiting them for human consumption.”

Beckwith’s article, by the way, presents an excellent review of the relationship between deep space technology and deep ocean exploration.  Read the full text at: http://www.mydigitalpublication.com/display_article.php?id=1322887.

The forum will be held April 7-8, 2015 at The Woodlands Waterway Hotel & Convention Center located near Houston. (1601 Lake Robbins Drive, The Woodlands, TX 77380).  For details, visit: http://www.aramcoservices.com/deepdives.

Tip: Click the Conferences label at the foot of this post to see descriptions of other events you may be interested in.  While the conferences in some of these posts have come and gone, many are recurring events that you may want to attend in the future.