21st Annual API Cybersecurity Conference for the Oil and Natural Gas Industry

The workshop focuses on practical well integrity solutions across barrier design, remediation, qualification, and lifecycle risk management, emphasizing applications, new technologies, and process methodologies. Field lessons, technical perspectives, and interactive discussion connect engineering principles with real-world deployment challenges. Session topics include cement as a barrier, including establishing cement barriers in a complex onshore U.S. exploration well with a narrow pore-pressure/fracture-gradient window, cementing best practices, and wellbore cementing. Another session covers production-casing integrity risk management, detecting fluid- and cement-driven casing defects through the production life cycle, and artificial-lift decisions under wellbore constraints. An interactive case study has teams solve well integrity challenges and exchange lessons learned and best practices. Further topics include barrier qualification and P&A operations; rigless well integrity remediation; surveillance technology; integrated monitoring for CCS well integrity; corrosion and materials challenges in CCUS Class VI wells; thermal heavy-oil well design; quantitative risk analysis; DHSV strategies in subsea wells; FEP risk assessment using individual barrier evaluation; alternative barrier materials for conventional Australian well abandonments; Permian well integrity solutions; and sealants for flow through narrow pathways.

The November 10 workshop begins work on revising API Standard 1163, ILI Systems Qualification, from its 3rd edition toward a 4th edition, gathering initial input from industry subject-matter experts. The November 11 PIX forum focuses on pipeline operators sharing information and lessons learned from pipeline incidents, near misses, industry practices, and improvements to pipeline safety programs. Agenda topics include API data tools for pipeline operating companies; offshore pipeline operations; H2S sour-service management; dynamic pressure-wave methods for locating pipeline obstructions; personnel and excavation safety; hot-work mitigation; integrity management, waterway crossings, crack penetrators, leak-volume estimation, valve failures, and pipeline repairs; workforce development through internships and co-op programs; AI applications in integrity management; and public engagement and damage prevention. The PIX day is for pipeline operating company representatives; the separate workshop is open to interested participants.

The summit examines how AI-driven demand, geopolitical tensions, and electrification are reshaping energy systems. Discussion themes include building power, infrastructure, and supply chains, and who will fund, deliver, and benefit from the next phase of growth. The event brings together perspectives from energy, technology, digital infrastructure, and finance.

The featured presentation and Q&A address sanctions risks in the maritime industry. The discussion is led by a lawyer whose listed experience includes maritime sanctions enforcement, export controls, anti-money-laundering matters, and government investigations. His representative experience includes leading the seizure and forfeiture prosecution of a North Korean cargo vessel suspected of sanctions violations; coordinating maritime sanctions enforcement with the U.S. Coast Guard and Navy; and advising on sanctions and export-control policies, voluntary disclosures to OFAC, BIS, and DOJ, and supply-chain and counterparty risk assessments.

The conference theme is “Pipeline to Possibilities: Securing Energy, Shaping Futures.” Stakeholder Engagement & Outreach covers community and public engagement, API Recommended Practices 1162 and 1185, environmental justice, Tribal and First Nation considerations, emergency responder education, and damage prevention. Pipeline Operational Excellence addresses safety performance, in-line inspection lessons, pipeline safety management systems, safety culture, management of change, asset remediation, and operational and enterprise risk management. Technology, AI & Innovation includes inspection tools, engineering practices, control room technologies, artificial intelligence, API RP 1165, and emerging fuels. Workforce Training & Development covers succession planning, knowledge transfer, recruitment and retention, multigenerational workforces, operator qualification, inspector certification, and competency-based learning. Sustainability & New Fuels addresses CO2, hydrogen and other low-carbon fuels; safety, integrity, leak detection, corrosion management, emergency preparedness, methane emissions, and environmental stewardship. Other tracks address pipeline construction, project management, commissioning, major maintenance, contract management and trenchless technologies; leak detection systems and predictive analytics; SCADA/OT modernization, industrial control system cybersecurity, threat response and regulatory compliance; and alarm and control room management, including fatigue mitigation, controller training, management of change, records, and regulatory interpretations.

Sessions examine natural gas market fundamentals for AI data center demand, including basin capabilities, rig activity, storage trends, pipeline bottlenecks, competition with LNG exports and other electricity demand, and commercial strategies for procurement, hedging, and risk management. The program also addresses AI and predictive analytics for pipeline nominations, forecasting, capacity management, and gas-flow optimization, plus integration with ERP, ETRM, CRM, and SCADA systems. Infrastructure discussions cover pipeline capacity, reliability and right-of-way; regional transmission, distribution and generation investment; federal-land development models; and the commercial and regulatory structures needed to advance large-load projects. Utility service challenges include pipeline limitations, public perception, permitting, capital requirements, commercial structuring, cost allocation, reliability obligations, and protecting existing customers. A developers roundtable covers demand forecasts versus speculative projects, developer qualifications, speed-to-power and behind-the-meter strategies, gas procurement, community hurdles, and regulatory and policy issues. Other sessions address mobile gas delivery and virtual pipelines, including CNG/LNG solutions for remote or capacity-constrained markets. The keynote considers AI-driven electricity demand, gas and electric utility bottlenecks, regional load growth, and nuclear energy. A Texas-focused panel examines policy, technology, research, planning, permitting, investment, and cross-sector coordination for large-load development, including data centers and advanced manufacturing.

Corporate and site security personnel in the refining and petrochemical industries are invited to hear expert discussion of pressing security issues, including drone usage, international security, and cybersecurity.

The conference focuses on data-driven strategies to maximize upstream production and support digital transformation. Topics include improving data quality for AI, integrating data across IT and operational technology systems, evaluating returns from digital and AI investments, secure and ethical AI adoption, cybersecurity and data governance, workforce upskilling, and change management. The event emphasizes real-world use cases and operational efficiency in oil and gas.

The program spans chemical engineering, process industries, and process safety. Spring Meeting topics include process intensification; automation, data analytics, and machine learning in Industry 4.0; ethylene production; gas processing, conversion, and utilization; refinery operations; distillation; petrochemical processing; and energy-transition technologies, policies, and industry strategies. The AI and Energy Nexus and Chemical Engineering & the Law are also listed as program areas. Process-safety programming includes the Center for Chemical Process Safety (CCPS) International Conference, the Process Plant Safety Symposium (PPSS), the Annual Loss Prevention Symposium (LPS), the Process Safety Management Mentoring (PSM2) Symposium, and a Process Safety Topical Conference. Listed subjects include process-safety management practices, plant-level methods and tools, explosion prevention, fire protection, lessons from incident investigations, hydrogen production, storage and use, and process-safety issues affecting regions around the world.

The technical program covers pipeline integrity management, in-line inspection (ILI), engineering assessments, geohazards, crack and dent assessment, seam-weld threats, repairs, and hydrogen transportation. Plenary topics include operator guidelines and specifications, technical knowledge management, assessing existing pipelines for hydrogen service, selective seam-weld corrosion, and PHMSA MAOP reconfirmation requirements. Parallel technical tracks address landslide monitoring and pipeline strain; crack characterization and management; ILI applications, analysis, and verification; hard spots; dent assessment; engineering assessment; hydrogen transportation; integrity management; difficult-to-inspect pipelines; materials verification; and repair technologies. Presentations include work on ILI run comparisons, risk-informed assessment choices under the PHMSA Gas Mega Rule, dent engineering critical assessment, non-intrusive pipeline assessment, material testing, and repair qualification. A panel addresses PHMSA repair criteria for hazardous-liquid and gas-transmission pipelines.

The November 10 workshop begins work on revising API Standard 1163, ILI Systems Qualification, from its 3rd edition toward a 4th edition, gathering initial input from industry subject-matter experts. The November 11 PIX forum focuses on pipeline operators sharing information and lessons learned from pipeline incidents, near misses, industry practices, and improvements to pipeline safety programs. Agenda topics include API data tools for pipeline operating companies; offshore pipeline operations; H2S sour-service management; dynamic pressure-wave methods for locating pipeline obstructions; personnel and excavation safety; hot-work mitigation; integrity management, waterway crossings, crack penetrators, leak-volume estimation, valve failures, and pipeline repairs; workforce development through internships and co-op programs; AI applications in integrity management; and public engagement and damage prevention. The PIX day is for pipeline operating company representatives; the separate workshop is open to interested participants.

WEI’s largest event includes general sessions with industry leaders and keynote speakers, plus breakout programming across Asset Management, Damage Prevention, Electric Distribution, Electric Substation, Electric Transmission, Grid of the Future, Grid Resilience, Low Carbon Fuels, Natural Gas Emergency Response + Restoration, Natural Gas Integrity Management, Natural Gas Operational Excellence, Operational Leadership, Safety + Health, Safety Management Systems, and Workforce Development. The program is open to anyone in the energy industry.

The biennial symposium focuses on proven and emerging technologies for oil and natural gas development and production. Technical papers address commercially viable solutions to drilling, completion, and production engineering challenges. The 2027 theme, “Fueling the Future,” examines the industry’s role in providing low-cost, reliable energy as energy sources diversify. The program also includes events supporting a lower-carbon future, with goals of improving well and program economics, extending commercial success, and addressing environmental, social, and governance (ESG) considerations.