At the opening of Rio Oil & Gas 2020, IBP President Clarissa Lins highlighted the resilience and adaptability of the industry in the midst of the crisis caused by Covid-19, which had a strong impact on the oil and gas industry in Brazil and in the world. “This year has been especially challenging, but we have maintained operations and guaranteed the necessary supply. We show everyone that the essentials cannot come short,” he said.

The executive stressed that the industry faces “challenging numbers”, but it is committed to overcoming the current situation. To illustrate the more hostile environment, the IBP president highlighted the projection of a 6% drop in demand for energy and a 30% drop in investments, both data from the International Energy Agency, and a 5% recession in world GDP – forecast by IMF.

To face this scenario, said Clarissa Lins, Brazil needs to remain open and competitive, always guided by the ongoing energy transition towards a low carbon economy.

Minister Bento Albuquerque, on the other hand, listed the recent advances in regulation and the successful block auctions in 2019, with a collection of BRL 84 billion in signature bonuses alone, which “will leverage much higher investments” in the coming years. Looking forward, the minister stated that the challenges are to promote and consolidate the opening of the natural gas and refining markets, which will bring investments to the country and opening of which leads to the possibility of more competitive prices.

The acting governor of Rio de Janeiro, Claudio Castro, highlighted the importance of Rio Oil&Gas to draw attention to the industry and help attract investment to the state. Castro also reinforced the relevance of the oil and gas industry to Rio de Janeiro.  “The industry is one of the main sectors for the social and economic development of our state. In addition to moving the economy, it generates jobs and income. And we remain optimistic. The year 2021 will be one of the great challenges and we already have good projections.”

The acting governor also recalled that, according to Firjan’s projections, the industry will generate 26 thousand direct jobs for Rio de Janeiro by 2024.

The acting general director of the ANP, Raphael Moura, highlighted the strength of the industry in this moment of crisis and the need for the country to remain competitive in order to attract investments in this more challenging scenario. “The pandemic has affected the industry more than any other recent event in our history. There are many uncertainties, which point to the need to be more competitive. We must focus on the sustainability and efficiency of our operations. There is no other way for the oil and gas industry.”

According to Moura, “not only will companies need to be more efficient, but regulatory frameworks must also adapt and improve” in this new environment, in order to help reduce costs and mitigate risks, in an effort to increase the attractiveness of the country. “We need to act quickly and efficiently”, he stressed.

Raphael Moura also pointed out that, even in the face of uncertainties, the export of Brazilian oil this year reached a record, and national production should exceed 5 million barrels/day in 10 years. “As a regulatory body, we have to ensure that these changes will take place effectively, thus resulting in a diverse, competitive market environment, capable of attracting investments and, mainly, benefiting the final consumer, without neglecting, of course, national supply”, completed the acting director-general of the ANP.

Innovation – 100% digital Rio Oil & Gas

Cristina Pinho, corporate executive director of IBP and chairman of Rio Oil & Gas, stressed that the pandemic allowed “a leap of innovation” to the event. “This is the most innovative edition ever held by IBP in its history”. This year, the event is, for the first time, 100% digital, with debates on upstream, downstream, energy transition, diversity, female leadership, among other topics.

Clarissa Lins, president of IBP, highlighted the renewal and strategic reorientation of IBP, which now represents all the links in the sector chain through the creation of an association for the downstream, going through an important phase of opening the segment.

Rio Oil & Gas 2020 is sponsored by Petrobras, Equinor, Shell, BR Distribuidora, Ipiranga, BR, Chevron, ExxonMobil, Raízen, Total, Petrogal, Repsol Sinopec Brasil, Siemens Energy, Braskem, Enauta, PetroRio, Salesforce, Dow, Oracle, Solvay, TBG, Techint, United Airlines, Vallourec and Wintershall DEA.

The panels brought discussions on how the O&G industry can be attractive to entrepreneurs, the opportunities for startups generated by the segment, and how integration between the O&G chain and startups has taken place, aiming at building ecosystems. Moreover, cases of successful startups were presented and shared with entrepreneurs who are just beginning, as well as lessons learned about this market.

Juliano Dantas, executive manager of Petrobras-Cenpes, stated that whatever the company’s strategy will be, it will be very important to accelerate innovation processes, and certainly, startups have a fundamental role in this context, as they work with speed and new talents and bring a new way of thinking to the traditional industry. ”For this to actually happen, we have to build an ecosystem that allows new forms of a contract between major players and startups, in addition to engaging companies with this purpose of innovation,” he said.

Gustavo Araújo, CEO of Distrito, which brings together one of the startup ecosystem in Brazil, spoke about the power of open innovation. “The market is learning that staying connected and linked to what is happening around it is the engine for its own transformation. Open innovation ends up being very efficient in a world where companies have to transform quickly,” he said.

When reviewing the financial market, for example, before opening up to Fintechs, two-thirds of the Brazilian population had no bank account, according to Araújo. Fintechs reduced that rate to 25%. “We can also experience open energy, in a very regulated market. This will lead to improved customer service and lower production costs. So, exercising open innovation is fundamental in the O&G industry, which already has a lot of technology, but now needs to start innovating in its business models, customer service, following other segments”, he added.

Claudia Diniz, Executive Director of MiningHub, the world’s first open innovation hub in the mining industry, explained that startups work as a real pillar of transformation in the segment, by employing new technologies for the operational and administrative areas. “It is a cultural change. We take the challenges of our industry and talk to all players, including suppliers, researchers, and startups, to quickly reach solutions to problems common to mining companies. The knowledge generated, that is, the intellectual property of the projects remains belonging to startups and, thus, we encourage entrepreneurship and the permanence of these companies in the market”, he said.

“I believe that we, like IBP, must encourage this type of hub to be created in the O&G industry, as we are a collaboration platform,” said Clarissa Lins, president of IBP.

At the end of the discussion, Christian Schock, director of O&G at Siemens, brought some tips of what the company is already doing to contribute to the decarbonization of the oil and gas industry, looking ahead. “It is important to make it clear that we will not be doing the entire energy transition process from day tonight. If we look at history, all the transitions took approximately 50 years, and now it will be no different since 80% of the global energy is still based on hydrocarbons and the demand will increase by 40% in the next two decades. The O&G industry has always been one of great innovation. With the decarbonization wave, it will be no different and I believe it will be even more accelerated. Innovation is a major focus for Siemens and; therefore, we encourage startups to develop solutions for our partners ”, he concluded.

Creating opportunities for entrepreneurship

Mediated by Robert Nunes, General Manager of Digital Transformation at Petrobras, the panel “Creating opportunities for entrepreneurship in the O&G and Energy Industry” also aimed at discussing some of the challenges of the partnership between startups and industry companies, in addition to how this cooperation has evolved over the years, over time. Patrícia Grabowsky, Head of Innovation at Subsea 7, Pedro Leal Noce, Innovation Executive at Raízen, Fred Arruda, CEO of the Center for Advanced Studies and Systems of Recife (Cesar), Bruno Rondani, CEO at Open 100 startups participated in the discussion.

The afternoon also included representatives from startups that already work in the O&G area and are escalating to a chat about inspiring cases and lessons learned.

“Ultimately, it is not a question of having good technology, but of a mature market for technology, and the mature market for technology is not like a perfect wave. It is a turbulent and violent tsunami”, explained Duperron Ribeiro, CEO of PhDsoft Technology Inc.

Leandro Basílio, CEO at DeepSeed Solutions, stressed the importance of keeping focus, even if there is portfolio diversification. “It is very seductive, at times, to diversify into various industries, with the promise of scalability, but keep in mind that, in an oil and gas business, you will only be able to stand out if you really become an expert”, he defended.

Mediated by Alex Dal Pont, Manager of Innovation in Entrepreneurial Ecosystems at Petrobras, the round was also attended by Lelio Souza, CEO of Intelie, and José Augusto da Silva, CEO of Pipeway.

Awards

The program also included the Startups Pitch. Evaluated by a strong jury, such as Amure Pinho, president of ABStartups, and Ricardo Marquini, Leader of R&D partnerships at Total, among others, eight startups presented their technology and innovation projects for the O&G industry. The winners of this challenge were: Unidroid, first, followed by Instoor and RZX, second and third, respectively. The startups won a prize sponsored by Microsoft, and the best startup voted by the public won a discount voucher on courses from UnIBP, the university in the oil and gas industry.

All the content for the first day of Rio Oil & Gas will be available in full to congress members on the platform On Demand channel.

One of the largest global oil and gas meetings, Rio Oil & Gas starts today (Monday / Nov 30) a historic edition: it is the first time that it takes place in a 100% virtual environment. Leaders of the main players in the market participate, in addition to governmental and sectoral authorities. Everyone will be connected on an exclusive platform, which will provide interactivity and networking, with sessions and technical works, immersive rooms, virtual storefronts and the On Demand channel in a unique experience.

The 2020 edition of Rio Oil & Gas brings many new features, in addition to the technological field, which may be seen on the website  and continue until next Thursday (Dec 03). The schedule will feature Starting Up – an afternoon totally dedicated to Startups -, the “Dialogues of Rio Oil & Gas” debates, the interviews of the presidents of major global players at the “CEO Talks” and live round tables with presentation of debates and projects, in addition to renowned international speakers such as Daniel Yergin, one of the most credible minds in the world economy for the field of energy and climate change. Among the surprises, it is also worth mentioning the Petroleum Club and the CEO & Wine. Both were customized to provide more comfort and exclusivity for a select group of participants who want to expand their networking.

“The oil and gas chain had the resilience and the courage, even in times of pandemic, to develop a new Rio & Gas with inspiration and warmth with a focus on heating business, excellence in the search for best practices, interactivity of ideas and discussions consisting of different cultures and a lot of innovation’, summarizes Clarissa Lins, president of IBP.

The 2020 edition also entered into partnerships with major global content consultants: LHH; McKinsey & Company; IHS Markit; Boston Consulting Group; and Bain & Company, to bring strategic knowledge to the event’s program.

The Rio Oil & Gas platform will function as a digital hub, constantly fed with information, in different formats: videos from all sessions of the event, playlists with technical papers, webinars, Lives and brand activations, in addition to the network of contacts and of the networking tool. It will continue on the air in 2021, when the event happens again in the second semester, in Rio de Janeiro, in a hybrid format.

Registration for Rio Oil & Gas are available on the website of the event, in the free (visitors) and paid (congress participants) modalities. Paid subscription provides exclusive features. All are very close to those found on social networks: creating your professional profile, setting up a personalized agenda, holding meetings with other participants per areas of interest, chatting with platform users, scheduling meetings with representatives of exhibiting and sponsoring companies, in addition to access to all live congress sessions. Moreover, the participant will be able to watch the recordings of the sessions on the ‘On Demand’ channel.  After registration, the registered email will receive the access guidelines to the platform. Questions and clarifications can be made through the IBP social networks or by riooil@ibp.org.br .

“This is a unique opportunity to expand expertise, increase networking and do business via home office. Today, we have a quality in streaming that provides this connectivity, without leaving home, with the possibility to learn and exchange ideas with world-renowned speakers and a multicultural audience”, concludes Cristina Pinho, Chair of the 2020 edition and corporate executive director of IBP.

Rio Oil & Gas 2020 is sponsored by Petrobras, Equinor, Shell, BR Distribuidora, Ipiranga, BP, Chevron, ExxonMobil, Raízen, Total, Petrogal, Repsol Sinopec Brasil, Siemens Energy, Braskem, Enauta, PetroRio, Salesforce, Dow, Oracle, Solvay, TBG, Techint, United Airlines, Vallourec and Wintershall DEA.