URTeC 2027

The technical program covers the lifecycle of offshore energy projects, from exploration and development through production, maintenance, and decommissioning. Topics span offshore oil and gas, offshore wind, carbon management, hydrogen, marine resources, and technologies for operational efficiency, safety, reliability, and performance, including advanced materials, automation, robotics, artificial intelligence, and digital transformation. Program elements include the Opening General Session on energy demand, market dynamics, policy and regulation, offshore innovation, collaboration, and sustainability; panel and technical sessions; keynote presentations; the University R&D Showcase; and the Presentation Hub and Around the World Series. Executive Dialogues use a limited-participation, peer-to-peer format and address emerging technologies, policy and regulation, capital investment, market outlooks, energy transition strategies, workforce development, and energy demand and security. The Energy Evolution Exchange Pavilion features carbon capture and storage, offshore wind, hydrogen, marine resources, low-carbon solutions, and energy efficiency. URTeC is co-located with OTC, with distinct technical programs focused on offshore and unconventional resource development.

The technical program covers the lifecycle of offshore energy projects, from exploration and development through production, maintenance, and decommissioning. Topics span offshore oil and gas, offshore wind, carbon management, hydrogen, marine resources, and technologies for operational efficiency, safety, reliability, and performance, including advanced materials, automation, robotics, artificial intelligence, and digital transformation. Program elements include the Opening General Session on energy demand, market dynamics, policy and regulation, offshore innovation, collaboration, and sustainability; panel and technical sessions; keynote presentations; the University R&D Showcase; and the Presentation Hub and Around the World Series. Executive Dialogues use a limited-participation, peer-to-peer format and address emerging technologies, policy and regulation, capital investment, market outlooks, energy transition strategies, workforce development, and energy demand and security. The Energy Evolution Exchange Pavilion features carbon capture and storage, offshore wind, hydrogen, marine resources, low-carbon solutions, and energy efficiency. URTeC is co-located with OTC, with distinct technical programs focused on offshore and unconventional resource development.

Themes cover CO₂ capture and transportation, including point-source capture, direct air capture, pipeline design, transport economics, and repurposing infrastructure; commercial and regulatory considerations, including pore-space access, UIC permitting, liability, and government support; and enhanced oil recovery and other CO₂ utilization. Technical themes include regional and site-focused subsurface characterization; reservoir-scale geologic, dynamic, geomechanical, and reactive-transport modeling; injection-well design and integrity; and testing and monitoring methods such as seismic and geochemical monitoring, leakage detection, and real-time analytics. CCUS frontiers include regional topics and adjacent applications involving hydrogen, data centers, and geothermal energy.

An intensive workshop on projected electricity demand and expanding the supply of natural resources used to generate power. Topics include natural gas, geothermal development and repurposing oil and gas assets; hydrogen, uranium, lithium and critical minerals; and water, environmental, storage, site-selection and regulatory considerations. Program discussions cover grid shortfalls and raw materials for electricity generation, solutions for increasing electricity supply, geothermal, and technology including ORC, sensors and small nuclear reactors. Other sessions address AI prompts for grid and behind-the-meter planning; lithium direct lithium extraction (DLE) and hydrogen technologies; regulatory and legislative factors affecting geothermal, critical minerals, low-carbon energy, grids and data centers; and mining and oil-and-gas intersections, including near-surface imaging and copper for electricity transmission. The program also includes an AI prompt clinic focused on water, the environment, science and regulations.

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 conference brings together offshore energy, maritime, defense, and technology industries around shared infrastructure, capabilities, and supply chains. Its preliminary program will examine offshore energy and autonomous systems, ports and vessels, subsea infrastructure, and maritime security, alongside market developments and opportunities for established companies to apply their expertise across emerging ocean technology markets. Related sectors include offshore wind, shipbuilding, manufacturing, engineering, marine robotics, grid innovation, and advanced manufacturing. The agenda is in development, with additional sessions and speakers to be announced.

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.

Topics include electrical safety and high-risk work environments; serious-incident reviews and lessons learned; human performance and error reduction; contractor safety; confined-space, work-at-height, and rescue practices; and emergency response, thermal runaway, and fire preparedness for battery energy storage systems. Operations and asset-performance topics include predictive maintenance, reliability optimization, advanced analytics, major-component reliability for gearboxes, blades, inverters, and BESS, aging fleets, asset-life extension, hybrid wind, solar, and storage operations, and operational readiness and commissioning. Workforce themes include fatigue management, technician readiness, apprenticeships, cross-training, frontline leadership, knowledge transfer, and succession planning. The PowerCast Stage features practical presentations on operational experiences, demonstrations, emerging technologies, and best practices.

The forum brings together cleantech innovators, investors, corporates, and other ecosystem participants to address grid stability, water scarcity, waste-to-value, critical minerals, and geopolitical pressures on supply chains and energy security. The program includes a closed-door, peer-level executive roundtable and an opening plenary covering cleantech trends, capital flows, innovation, and the 2027 Global Cleantech 100. Agenda topics include nuclear fuel supply and nuclear supply chains; mineral processing, refining, recovery, and the post-mining supply chain; physical AI applications in grid construction, critical minerals, and dual-use; data-center power demand, grid capacity, water use, cooling, and wastewater resource recovery. Other sessions address heat resilience, energy efficiency for AI compute, geopolitical risk across energy and cleantech supply chains, and investor perspectives on cleantech funding. Innovation Showcases feature cleantech companies presenting technologies and business models.

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.