Schlumberger is the latest organisation to come on board the Oil & Gas Africa Expo. Schlumberger is showing its support in the form of sponsorship for the third event in a row. In addition, London based Bill Wright, in his capacity as Global Account Director at Schlumberger, will speak at the conference on the topic of Remote Drilling.

All sectors of the Oil, Gas, Petrochemical and related industries are set to converge on the Cape Town International Convention Centre (CTICC) between Tuesday 16 and Thursday 18 March 2010, when OIL & GAS AFRICA 2010 – the continent’s leading Oil, Gas and Petrochemical Engineering Supply Chain event – takes place daily between 10h00 and 18h00. The event will place notable emphasis on the rise of independent African oil companies in upstream and midstream sectors. As one of the top events on the African Oil and Gas calendar and Southern Africa's leading industry interface globally, the event is expected to attract in the region of 750 delegates from throughout the African continent. As the fourth iteration of this event, OIL & GAS AFRICA 2010 seeks to explore the challenges faced by the sub-Saharan and African Oil & Gas markets during economically uncertain times.

Says Nick de Blocq, Business Development Manager for Schlumberger East and Southern Africa: “Schlumberger is pleased to announce our support once again through being a sponsor of this key industry event. From our perspective, networking aside, by showing our support and sending a speaker, we are able to build our brand and gauge the business community’s reaction to what the industry – and by extension Schlumberger – is currently involved in. Our experience during economically uncertain times has included the challenges of delayed projects, shrinking markets and a rationalisation of resources. Our strategies have had to be overhauled and realigned more closely with those of our Customers. These include almost all of the Government Agencies, National Oil Companies, Majors and both medium and smaller Independents. The anxieties related to hard times have manifested themselves in various undesirable ways in the countries and societies where we are operational, for example the Niger Delta and further afield where we and our Clients have experienced other criminal activity. However, we believe that with experience such as ours comes a risk-mitigating awareness and a willingness to adapt to the situations of the day and ensure that we remain available to our Customers as and when their projects and campaigns gain new life. This is one of the reasons why we fully endorse this year’s theme of “Preparing for the Crest.”