Abstract
ECMOR proves its worth in Amsterdam
Jan Dirk Jansen, chairman of the programme committee, reports on the successful 15th European Conference on the Mathematics of Oil Recovery (ECMOR XV) held recently in Amsterdam.
The more than 255 participants who came to Amsterdam far exceeded our expectations given the current low oil prices and the associated travel restrictions in many companies. A total of 88 oral presentations and more than 100 poster presentations covered a wide variety of topics related to the mathematical modelling of geological structures and multi-phase flow in subsurface reservoirs.
While ECMOR from the recent past indicated a significant interest in various methods for computer-assisted history matching, and especially the Ensemble Kalman filtering technique, the current conference showed a more even distribution of topics with a slight emphasis on multi-scale simulation. Other topics included classics such as mesh generation and discretization, linear and non-linear solvers, geological modelling, history matching, and risk and uncertainty analysis. Application domains such as enhanced oil recovery, unconventional oil resources, and subsurface CO2 storage, and the hot topic of high-performance computing were also addressed in many papers.
The conference started with an inspirational keynote speech from Prof Alfons Hoekstra of the University of Amsterdam. He spoke about the use of Lattice-Boltzmann methods to simulate complex dynamic fluid systems, especially the blood flow in human bodies. Part tutorial and part review, his presentation formed an excellent opening to the conference with a fresh look at pore-scale flow simulation in a non-oil-related field of application.
Another noteworthy part of the programme was the series of one-minute presentations ahead of the poster session. In a rapid succession of succinct sales pitches, presenters tried to maximize the attention for their contribution to the poster session which took place at the end of the first day as an integrated part of the Icebreaker Reception.
The Beurs van Berlage venue, in the centre of Amsterdam, proved to be a popular choice. Built around 1900 as a stock exchange, it is a Dutch architectural landmark which formed a stepping stone in the transition from 19th century neo styles to modern architecture. The spacious rooms with well-kept masonry architecture and the many sculptural details helped to create a good conference atmosphere. A fantastic week of sunny weather allowed many to enjoy the city of Amsterdam on the Tuesday afternoon, which was programme-free. The traditional conference dinner took place in the Grand Hotel, a former seat of the Admiralty of Amsterdam and later its town hall.
Proceedings of the conference are available electronically via the EAGE EarthDoc conference paper repository; see http://earthdoc.eage.org. As in the previous four conferences, the programme committee has arranged an agreement with the Computational Geosciences journal to publish a special issue with a selection of (extended) ECMOR XV conference papers. The aim is to publish the entire special issue in printed form in about a year, but certainly before the end of 2017.
Finally, on behalf of the programme committee, I would like to thank all those who made this possible: the EAGE staff, the sponsors, notably Shell and Schlumberger, the venue staff at the Beurs and the Grand, the TU Delft student volunteers, the session chairs, all authors and presenters, and, last but certainly not least, the visiting participants.
Jan Dirk Jansen, chairman of the programme committee, reports on the successful 15th European Conference on the Mathematics of Oil Recovery (ECMOR XV) held recently in Amsterdam.
The more than 255 participants who came to Amsterdam far exceeded our expectations given the current low oil prices and the associated travel restrictions in many companies. A total of 88 oral presentations and more than 100 poster presentations covered a wide variety of topics related to the mathematical modelling of geological structures and multi-phase flow in subsurface reservoirs.
While ECMOR from the recent past indicated a significant interest in various methods for computer-assisted history matching, and especially the Ensemble Kalman filtering technique, the current conference showed a more even distribution of topics with a slight emphasis on multi-scale simulation. Other topics included classics such as mesh generation and discretization, linear and non-linear solvers, geological modelling, history matching, and risk and uncertainty analysis. Application domains such as enhanced oil recovery, unconventional oil resources, and subsurface CO2 storage, and the hot topic of high-performance computing were also addressed in many papers.
The conference started with an inspirational keynote speech from Prof Alfons Hoekstra of the University of Amsterdam. He spoke about the use of Lattice-Boltzmann methods to simulate complex dynamic fluid systems, especially the blood flow in human bodies. Part tutorial and part review, his presentation formed an excellent opening to the conference with a fresh look at pore-scale flow simulation in a non-oil-related field of application.
Another noteworthy part of the programme was the series of one-minute presentations ahead of the poster session. In a rapid succession of succinct sales pitches, presenters tried to maximize the attention for their contribution to the poster session which took place at the end of the first day as an integrated part of the Icebreaker Reception.
The Beurs van Berlage venue, in the centre of Amsterdam, proved to be a popular choice. Built around 1900 as a stock exchange, it is a Dutch architectural landmark which formed a stepping stone in the transition from 19th century neo styles to modern architecture. The spacious rooms with well-kept masonry architecture and the many sculptural details helped to create a good conference atmosphere. A fantastic week of sunny weather allowed many to enjoy the city of Amsterdam on the Tuesday afternoon, which was programme-free. The traditional conference dinner took place in the Grand Hotel, a former seat of the Admiralty of Amsterdam and later its town hall.
Proceedings of the conference are available electronically via the EAGE EarthDoc conference paper repository; see http://earthdoc.eage.org. As in the previous four conferences, the programme committee has arranged an agreement with the Computational Geosciences journal to publish a special issue with a selection of (extended) ECMOR XV conference papers. The aim is to publish the entire special issue in printed form in about a year, but certainly before the end of 2017.
Finally, on behalf of the programme committee, I would like to thank all those who made this possible: the EAGE staff, the sponsors, notably Shell and Schlumberger, the venue staff at the Beurs and the Grand, the TU Delft student volunteers, the session chairs, all authors and presenters, and, last but certainly not least, the visiting participants.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Number of pages | 1 |
| Journal | First Break |
| Volume | 34 |
| Issue number | 11 |
| Publication status | Published - 1 Nov 2016 |