Press Release (10-11-2008)

Oil & Gas Communications: South East Asia

Digital Applications & Communications Dynamics

Onshore, Offshore & Deepwater

Crowne Plaza Mutiara, Kuala Lumpur, 18th & 19th November 2008

ENERGY SECTOR OFFSHORE & DEEPWATER EXPLORATION & PRODUCTION COMPANIES FLAG DIGITAL OILFIELD APPLICATIONS & COMMUNICATIONS CONFERENCE AS VITAL REGIONAL NETWORKING OPPORTUNITY FOR SOUTH EAST ASIA

More Oil & Gas Sector “Big Names” to Attend Gathering of Satellite Communications Solutions Providers at Major Kuala Lumpur Cross-Sector Gathering, 18^th & 19^th November

Issued by the GVF, 10th November, 2008—London

LONDON & KUALA LUMPUR – Major providers of ICT services to the regional oil & gas exploration & production (E&P) segment such as (in alphabetical order) CapRock Communications, Hermes Datacomms, iPerintis, Maxis, SAT GE, Schlumberger, ScopeTel, SpeedCast, Telecom Malaysia, and TSAT have now registered in large numbers to participate in the latest of the Global VSAT Forum (GVF) and UK-EMP series of Oil & Gas Communications Conferences, taking place at the Crowne Plaza Mutiara Hotel in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, over 18 & 19 November 2008.

Joining these organisations at the Oil & Gas Communications South East Asia: Digital Applications & Communications Dynamics Onshore, Offshore & Deepwater (O&GCSEA), the first in this series of conferences to take place in South East Asia, will be such oilfield services companies as Sime Darby – involved in the design, procurement, fabrication, load-out, installation, operation and maintenance support of offshore structures for the oil and gas industry); SBM Malaysia – a major contractor in the offshore oil & gas industry with a product range covering Floating Production Storage & Offloading Systems (FPSO), Floating Storage Offloading (FSO) systems and all types of Mooring Systems (shallow to very deepwater); Intec Engineering – which provides pipeline construction services; M3nergy – providing engineering, project management, operations and maintenance, shipping and construction for the offshore industry; SapuraAcergy – which specialises in technologically sophisticated deepwater and shallow water engineering, planning, designing and delivering complex integrated projects in harsh and challenging environments; Technip Geoproduction – which provides engineering, technology, and construction services to the oil & gas and petrochemical sectors and Mott MacDonald, a global organisation servicing both the upstream and downstream segments involved in project management and facilitation, techno-economic studies, pipelines, engineering and terminals.

Numbering among the attending ICT solution end-users from the oil & gas sector will be Carigali PTTEPI – a joint venture between Petronas Carigali JDA Ltd, Malaysia and PTTEPI, Thailand; Murphy Peninsula Malaysia; ONGC; Petronas Carigali; Sabah Shell Petroleum Company; Sarawak Shell, Talisman Malaysia and KIC Oil & Gas, the largest private operator of oil terminals in Malaysia.

Also participating in the conference is Prosafe – the world's leading owner and operator of semi-submersible accommodation/service rigs; and, the major firm of business analysts Frost & Sullivan.

Earlier conferences in the Oil & Gas Communications series have been held in Cairo with a regional focus on the Middle East and North Africa oil & gas communications markets, in Nigeria focusing on West Africa’s energy production environment, and in Aberdeen with a focus on the North Sea offshore oil & gas communications context.

The Malaysia event is set against a backdrop of a complex and highly dynamic interplay of supply and demand factors – factors which have created a particularly vibrant regional energy environment – and has not only attracted the high-level participation of the wide range of key players listed above, but continues to receive registrations from both communications solution vendors and applications end-users on a daily basis.

The organisers of the event have opened conference participation to such representatives of the oil & gas sector as drilling platform operators, rig owners/managers, and oil/gas field services companies on a free of charge basis, and such oil & gas industry representatives wishing to register should contact Paul Stahl (paul.stahl@uk-emp.co.uk) to arrange their attendance.

O&GCSEA will take place just 500 metres from the iconic Petronas Twin Towers, and will provide extended networking opportunities for demand (end-user) and supply (vendor) expert practitioners, set against the background of a conference programme in which the nature of the applications and communications imperatives of the energy market vertical will be fully addressed.

For their support of O&GCSEA the GVF and UK-EMP are pleased, once again, to thank conference supporters Schlumberger, TSAT, and Hermes Datacomms. The organisers are also delighted to have the support and endorsement of the Asia Pacific Satellite Communications Council (APSCC) and the Indonsian Satellite Industry Association (Asosiasi Satelite Indonsia – ASSI), both of which have been selected as ‘Supporting Regional Satellite Associations’ for the conference.

Mr. Martin Jarrold, the GVF Chief of International Programme Development and the Chairman of the Conference, also pointed to the contribution of the Oil & Gas Communications series Steering Committee, which for the purposes of the Kuala Lumpur conference had successfully identified a number of improved points of focus for the event programme dialogue. On the topic of the regional digital oilfield, the Steering Committee noted in particular difficulties associated with the sensitivity of certain types of exploration data which, in the case of a number of countries in the region, cannot be sent outside of the national jurisdiction in question. More information about the Steering Committee, and all aspects of the conference programme, can be found at www.uk-emp.co.uk/O&G.SEAsia.2008.

Another area on which the conference dialogue will focus is the inter-relationship between the price of a barrel of oil (or a cubic metre of gas) and the propensity of oil & gas companies to match their investments in cutting-edge communications solutions with their fluctuating levels of profitability deriving from the ups and downs of the world market price of hydrocarbon energy sources.

NOTES FOR EDITORS

Conference Organisers:

GVF (www.gvf.org)

Founded in 1997, GVF is the single and unified voice of the global satellite industry. It brings together organisations engaged in the delivery of advanced broadband and narrowband satellite services to consumers, and commercial and government enterprises worldwide. Headquartered in London, GVF is an independent, non-partisan and non-profit organisation with 200+ members from more than 80 countries. The broad-based membership represents every major world region and every sector of the satellite industry, including fixed and mobile satellite operators, satellite network operators, teleports, satellite earth station manufacturers, system integrators, value added and enhanced service providers, telecom carriers, consultants, law firms, and users. Contact martin.jarrold@gvf.org in the UK headquarters office, or in the US regional office please contact david.hartshorn@gvf.org or kristen.kloster@gvf.org.

UK-EMP (www.uk-emp.co.uk)

UK Event Management Partners (UK-EMP) was founded in 2004 for the purpose of developing, organising, and managing a niche portfolio of highly specialised conferences and summits for the telecommunications industry. Our primary geographical focus is on such rapidly developing regional markets as: Sub-Saharan Africa, North Africa, and the Middle East. The UK-EMP focus on these geographic areas is founded on the extensive and direct experience of our personnel in these markets, and on an extensive ‘Database of Expertise’, comprising professional contacts obtained, and maintained, for countries throughout these, and other, regions. The UK-EMP partnership works very closely with key industry and government bodies active in these regions to ensure that the events we develop are stakeholder driven, and that critical industry objectives related to the focused subject areas stipulated are fully explored, and analysed in depth. Contact paul.stahl@uk-emp.co.uk.

Supporting Regional Satellite Associations:

Asia Pacific Satellite Communications Council (APSCC)

www.apscc.or.kr

Indonesian Satellite Industry Association (Asosiasi Satelite Indonesia – ASSI)

www.assi.or.id