• CERAWEEK
  • March 10 - 14, 2025

Ian Conway

S&P Global

Executive Director, Plays and Basins, Upstream Oil & Gas Insight

Ian Conway is Executive Director, Upstream International Division, and Head of S&P Global's International Plays & Basin Group. Mr. Conway leads the London-based Basins and Global Supply Research and contributes to the Upstream Thought Leadership initiative and client engagements in EMEA and the Americas. A petroleum engineer by profession, Mr. Conway spent over 17 years working with BP, Maersk Oil, and Centrica, before joining ExxonMobil in reservoir advisory and asset management roles for seven years. He comes to S&P Global following eight years in exploration, new business, and board level executive management roles for Gulfsands Petroleum, a UK independent with assets in the Middle East and South America. Mr. Conway holds a BA and an MA from Oxford University and an MSc from London Business School.

Sessions With Ian Conway

Wednesday, 11 March

  • 07:30am - 08:40am (CST) / -

    Future Competitiveness of the Offshore

    Upstream Oil & Gas
    The most competitive barrels of the future are anticipated to be lowest cost and lowest emissions and have the shortest cycle time. While this would appear to present severe challenges for offshore businesses, especially in deeper water settings, the offshore in the 2020s will not be the same as in the past. Best-in-class offshore developments now offer shorter project cycle times, with assets returning positive cashflows within the first two to five years of production. New approaches to project design, increased use of tie-backs with greater range, applications of digital and other technologies, and efficiencies in the supply chain, have all helped lower offshore costs. It is not uncommon to see break-even costs for new deepwater projects at some 60% of the level achieved prior to 2015. What are the additional skills, technologies, and new approaches that will further drive down offshore/deepwater projects costs and shorten cycle times in 2020? Are there enough highly competitive investment opportunities remaining globally for offshore/deepwater companies? Should we anticipate consolidation? As we begin the production phase of a new generation of slimline offshore/deepwater development projects, what have we learned that can improve areas such as offshore installation, operations, and field management?