One of the new strategic initiatives of the World Petroleum Council is to promote regional workshops to discuss major topics of interest to the petroleum industry. The main objective is to gather experts for a thorough review of the latest developments, challenges and new solutions related to the subject being addressed. Usually lasting one or two days, the results of these workshops will be summarized and presented in a Special Session at the next World Petroleum Congress, that will take place in Moscow, in June 2014. One of the most interesting workshops currently being planned will address “The Petroleum Habitats and Exploration New Frontiers in the South Atlantic Basins”, particularly in view of the extraordinary results of the new pre-salt play offshore Brazil (and more recently Angola), the recent discoveries in both sides of the Equatorial Margin, and the renewed interest in the offshore basins of Uruguay and Namibia. This workshop will be hosted by the Uruguay National Committee for the WPC and will take place on Monday, October 28th, 2013, in Montevideo. It will consist of an opening session and three panels addressing the above mentioned exploration plays.

Workshop Outline:

Petroleum Habitats and Exploration New Frontiers in the South Atlantic Basins

Opening Session: Setting the Scene for the South Atlantic Exploration – review of results and future perspectives:

 - Renato Bertani, President, World Petroleum Council
 - Jose Formigli, Director, Petrobras
 - Raul Sendic, President, Ancap
 - Closing of Opening Session: Roberto Kreimerman, Minister of Industry, Energy and Mining Uruguay

Technical Panel I: The Equatorial Margin Upper Cretaceous and Tertiary Petroleum System 

Chairman: Denis Palluat de Besset, Total
 - Pedro Zalan – ZAG, Senior Consultant
 - Shell: Steve Johnson, Geological Advisor South Atlantic Exploration and Appraisal
 - BP: Vander Andrade
 - ExxonMobil: Linda Price, Technical Advisor, South America New Opportunities Offshore
 - Total : Speaker to be confirmed

Technical Panel II: The Pre-Salt Petroleum System 

Chairman: Mario Carminatti, Exploration VP, Petrobras
 - Petrobras: Mario Carminatti, Exploration VP
 - Repsol: Marcos Mozetic, Exploration Managing Director
 - BG: Heitor D’Arrigo, Development Manager, BG Brasil
 - BP: Leslie Neal, South America Regional Exploration Manager
 
Technical Panel III: The Southern South Atlantic Petroleum Systems 

Chairman: Ethel Morales, Chief Geosciences Manager, Ancap 
 - HRT: Nilo Azambuja, Chief Technology Officer 
 - BP: Alonso Navarro 
 - BG: Neil Hurst 
 - Total Uruguay: Christian Tichatschke, Exploration Manager 
 - Tullow: Eric Jungslager, New Ventures VP

Source: http://www.world-petroleum.org/index.php?/Workshops/south-atlantic.html