The Wood Podcast

We will be exploring the unique relationship between the UK and the UAE and how the countries – with all of their expertise, heritage and ambition – can work together to lead the way on the global energy transition.

How are the countries working together to decarbonise energy while ensuring security of supply?

How can they work together to reskill a workforce for a low carbon energy ecosystem?

How will cross-border investment and alignment drive progress towards net-zero ambitions?

This episode is brought to you from our live podcast studio at ADIPEC 2022, where we are hosting live podcasts from the heart of the conference exhibition, travelling deep into the minds of industry experts and influencers to gain valuable insights and perspectives on challenging issues and the opportunities facing the energy sector.

This is episode three out of the 11-episode series.

The episode features:

Mike Mair, Wood’s Vice President Growth & Development, in Abu Dhabi

Ryan McPherson, Regional Director with the Energy Industries Council, in Abu Dhabi

To connect with our guests and explore related insights, subscribe to The Wood Podcast at www.woodplc.com/podcast. 

We discuss the methane detection challenges operators are facing around the world and how newly enacted regulation is changing the decarbonisation landscape across industrial assets.   

How are operators managing methane emissions today?

How will newly enforced regulations affect operations?

What can operators do to overcome these challenges?

This episode is brought to you from our live podcast studio at ADIPEC 2022, where we are hosting live podcasts from the heart of the conference exhibition, travelling deep into the minds of industry experts and influencers to gain valuable insights and perspectives on challenging issues and the opportunities facing the energy sector.

The is episode two out of the 11-episode series.

This episode features: 
Brian Chalmers, Wood’s President, Growth & Development, in Houston, Texas.
Dan Carter, Wood’s Vice President, Decarbonisation & New Energies, in Reading, UK

 To connect with our guests and explore related insights, subscribe to The Wood Podcast at www.woodplc.com/podcast. 

Listen to our experts discuss the role of technology in optimising energy producing assets to ensure energy security.

What role is technology playing in maximising the potential of existing operating assets to ensure energy security?
Can technology help us drive efficiencies in cost and site capacity?
How do we guarantee that operational efficiency is considered early on and is not an after-thought?

This episode is brought to you from our live podcast studio at ADIPEC 2022, where we are hosting live podcasts from the heart of the conference exhibition, travelling deep into the minds of industry experts and influencers to gain valuable insights and perspectives on challenging issues and the opportunities facing the energy sector.

This is episode one out of the 11-episode series.

The episode features: 

Dan Rigby, Wood’s Vice President, Growth and Development EMEA (Consulting), in Aberdeen, UK

Gavin Maxwell, Wood’s Vice President, Asset Performance Optimisation, in Glasgow, UK

To connect with our guests and explore related insights, subscribe to The Wood Podcast at www.woodplc.com/podcast.

As the industry aims to drive greater efficiency and optimise operations, digital solutions are being explored and introduced into the maintenance lifecycle. Wood and Xplorobot guests discuss the everyday challenges they are overcoming at manufacturing plants and refining facilities through autonomously operating robotics. They share the results from their pilot programme and the potential use cases for this technology.  

Nicholas Pierson, Wood, Vice President US North & West Operations Americas, is accountable for the successful execution of existing US North & West region operations, maintenance and brownfield modification and construction contracts, developing new business opportunities and leading approximately 700 employees. Nicholas is a University of Wyoming graduate and has 18 years of experience in various operational, technical, and leadership roles within the energy industry.  

Richard Clarke, Xplorobot, Chief Technology Officer, has a B.A. in Engineering from the University of Cambridge, UK, and a PhD in Geophysics from the French Petroleum Institute. He worked on seismic imaging and processing R&D at bp for 17 years and then as Chief Geophysicist at Spectrum and TGS for 5 years before joining Xplorobot as CTO in 2020. While at bp he received OTC awards for his work on the Valhall Life of Field and Atlantis deep water ocean bottom nodes projects. 

Oleg Mikhailov, Xplorobot, Co-founder and CEO, has held executive roles in the oil and gas industry across eight countries and three continents. He has led large scale on-shore and off-shore operations, negotiated multi-billion-dollar international commercial agreements and deployed novel technology for oil and gas exploration and production. Oleg is currently leading Xplorobot, focusing on automation of data processing, analysis and anomaly identification at the edge without uploading data to cloud servers. Oleg has a Ph.D. from MIT and an MBA from UC Berkeley.

To connect with our guests and explore related insights, subscribe to The Wood Podcast at www.woodplc.com/podcast. 

The International Energy Agency released a report in 2021, outlining the critical role minerals will play in the energy transition. The report highlighted the startling mismatch between the world’s climate ambitions and the availability of critical metals & minerals needed to realize a clean energy economy.  

This is the second of two episodes exploring the future of mining, with this episode asking if green mining is the key to resourcing the energy transition and decarbonizing the world? 

This episode features: 

Mike Woloschuk, Wood’s global technical leader for mineral processing, Salt Lake City, USA 

Julian Sparks, Wood's mining strategy lead, Santiago, Chile 

David Bleiker, Wood’s mining sector leader for environment and infrastructure, Mississauga, Canada 

To connect with our guests and explore related insights, subscribe to The Wood Podcast at www.woodplc.com/podcast. 

The International Energy Agency released a report in 2021, outlining the critical role minerals will play in the energy transition. The report highlighted the startling mismatch between the world’s climate ambitions and the availability of critical metals & minerals needed to realise a clean energy economy. So how will we resource the energy transition? And, will mining ultimately decarbonize the world?

This episode features:

• Mike Woloschuk, Wood’s global technical leader for mineral processing, Salt Lake City, USA
• Julian Sparks, Woods’ mining strategy lead, Santiago, Chile
• David Bleiker, Wood’s mining sector leader for environment and infrastructure, Oakville, Ontario, Canada

To connect with our guests and explore related insights, subscribe to The Wood Podcast at www.woodplc.com/podcast. 

Wood experts focus on the production of blue hydrogen and the challenges and connected perceptions around Steam Methane Reforming (SMR) versus Autothermal Reforming (ATR). What are some of the technologies available for making blue hydrogen, and how do they work? How do some of those technologies stack up in terms of the energy transition? What are some of the myths around blue hydrogen? 

Brian McCarthy, Wood, Vice President – Technology and Products
Brian’s responsibilities include stewardship of process technology and related equipment portfolio including steam methane reforming and synthetic natural gas generation. Brian is an active leader in developing Wood’s overall hydrogen strategy. Brian is based in Hampton, New Jersey.

Brittney Drake, Wood, Business Development Director, Energy Assets & Technology
With a background in technical design across the refining, petrochemical and mining industries, including extensive time spent in the field. Brittney is responsible for the strategic direction, vision and growth for Wood licensed process technologies, specialist equipment and modular delivery solutions. Brittney is based in Houston, Texas.

Omar Bedani, Business Development Director, Global Hydrogen Technology
Originally a process engineer working on fired heaters, Omar has built significant experience and expertise in designing steam reformer heaters for hydrogen production. He now works in business development, growing our global hydrogen technology capability. He has a master’s degree in chemical engineering from Politecnico di Milano. Omar is based in Milan, Italy.
 
To connect with our guests and explore related insights, subscribe to The Wood Podcast at www.woodplc.com/podcast

There is a lot of interest in how hydrogen can be one of the solutions in the race to net zero. But do we really understand how hydrogen can enable that transition and what the stages really are? Join our experts as they explain how we can simplify the rhetoric that surrounds hydrogen.

Josh Carmichael, Wood, Vice President of Hydrogen
Josh has more than a decade experience in the renewable energy field and is considered a leader in both the renewable energy and transport sectors. He has advised some of the world’s largest corporations and governments and delivered key global projects and policies for both hydrogen and large-scale grid batteries in Asia Pac, Europe and Africa. Josh is based in Utrecht in the Netherlands.

Brittney Drake, Wood, Business Development Director, Energy Assets & Technology
With a background in technical design across the refining, petrochemical and mining industries, including extensive time spent in the field. Brittney is responsible for the strategic direction, vision and growth for Wood licensed process technologies, specialist equipment and modular delivery solutions. Brittney is based in Houston, Texas.

Brian McCarthy, Wood, Vice President – Technology and Products
Brian’s responsibilities include stewardship of process technology and related equipment portfolio including steam methane reforming and synthetic natural gas generation. Brian is an active leader in developing Wood’s overall hydrogen strategy. Brian is based in Hampton, New Jersey.

To connect with our guests and explore related insights, subscribe to The Wood Podcast at www.woodplc.com/podcast.