Programme
Wednesday 27 May 2015
18.00 Welcome Reception. The Houstonian Hotel
Sponsored by
Thursday 28 May 2015
KEYNOTE OVERVIEWS
08.30 Introduction
Mike O’Driscoll, Director, IMFORMED, UK
08.45 Oil & gas market outlook
Steven Ilkay, President, Oil & Gas Advisor, USA
09.15 Oilfield minerals: supplying the market
Dave Frattaroli, Chief Commercial Officer, Unimin Energy Solutions, USA
09.45 Coffee
BARYTES
10.15 Global barytes industry overview
Peter Huxtable, Director, The Barytes Association, UK
10.45 Barytes sourcing & marketing
John Allen, Managing Director, Anglo Pacific Minerals Ltd, UK
11.15 Mexico as a reliable source of barytes
Mario Treviño Saldívar, Vice President Marketing, Baramin SA de CV, Mexico
11.45 Application of barytes in drilling fluids – the recent past and most likely future
John Newcaster, Vice President, Distribution and Logistics, Baker Hughes Inc., USA
12.15 The latest trends in worldwide shipping
Jesper Hoppe, Managing Director, Viking Shipping Co. A/S, Norway & Morten Petersen, Managing Director, Viking Shipping Co. (Hong Kong) Ltd, Hong Kong
12.30 Lunch sponsored by 
CLAYS & ABRASIVES
14.00 Bentonite supply & demand in drilling
Sue Shaw, Senior Analyst, Roskill Information Services Ltd, UK
14.30 A bright future: hectorite in oilfield drilling
Frank Wright, President, Hectatone Inc., USA
15.00 Increase asset utilisation and reduce costs with garnet abrasive
R. Randolph Rapple, President, Barton International, USA
15.30 Coffee
PROCESSING & BULK HANDLING
16.00 New techniques for drying and grinding barytes and bentonite
Jean-Francois Marechal, Managing Director, Poittemill, France
16.30 Use of fluid bed and rotary dryers for frac sand
Doug Spisak, Director of Proposals & Technical Sales, Heyl & Patterson Inc., USA
17.00 Bulk handling systems for minerals
Neal Levine, Business Development Manager, Arrows Up Inc., USA
17.30 Close of Day 1: Reception sponsored by 
Friday 29 May 2015
PROPPANT KEYNOTE OVERVIEWS
09.00 North American proppant market supply, demand, & pricing outlook
Samir Nangia, Principal, IHS (formerly PacWest Consulting Partners), USA
09.30 Frac sand: US exploration and production – where’s it heading?
Mark Zdunczyk, Consultant Geologist, USA
10.00 Coffee
CERAMIC PROPPANTS
10.30 Proppants from Brazil: Curimbaba Group past, present, & future
Rafael Curimbaba, Director Business Development, Curimbaba Group, Brazil
11.15 Chinese ceramic proppant & oilfield chemicals: recent development, status & future
Gene Kim, CEO, AM2F Energy Inc., USA
11.45 The future of ceramic proppants in the unconventional shale market
Jack Larry, General Manager, Saint-Gobain Proppants, USA
12.15 Lunch sponsored by 
EMERGING PROPPANT MARKETS
14.00 The outlook for the Indian proppant market and shale gas industry
Manan Shah, Director, Ashapura International Ltd, India
14.30 Ceramic proppant development using fly ash as raw material
Siegfried Konig, Executive Director, Coretrack Ltd, Australia
15.00 Frac sand developments for the Argentinean shale gas market
Richard Spencer, President & CEO, South American Silica Corp., USA
15.30 Closing Remarks
18.30-20.00 Port of Houston Dinner Tour aboard the M/V Sam Houston
Included in delegate registration fee.