Rice co-sponsors oil and gas conference engaging industry and academia from 22 countries

About 300 leading specialists from academia, national laboratories and industry from 22 countries shared their expertise last month at the 15th annual PetroPhase Conference co-organized by Rice University and Baker Hughes.

About 300 leading specialists from academia, national laboratories and industry from 22 countries shared their expertise last month at the 15th annual PetroPhase Conference co-organized by Rice University and Baker Hughes.

“This is the premier international conference on petroleum phase behavior and fouling for upstream and downstream oil and gas that has been held every year, alternating between Europe and the Americas,” said Walter Chapman, Rice’s William W. Akers Professor of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering. He co-chaired the conference with David Jennings of Baker Hughes. George Hirasaki, Rice’s A.J. Hartsook Professor Emeritus of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, co-chaired the technical program with Corina Sandu of Baker Hughes.

“The strong technical program coupled with an environment promoting interaction among conference attendees make PetroPhase a unique and special conference,” Chapman said.

More than 113 companies, institutions and universities participated in the conference in Galveston, which focused on the study of the chemistry and properties of petroleum fluids and their effect on producing, processing and refining in the upstream, midstream and downstream industries.

“PetroPhase is of great importance to the petroleum industry for improving processes that bring energy to the world,” Chapman said.