Speaker Evening

On Thursday 9th May, members and guests of the Rotary Club of South Queensferry enjoyed a most interesting job talk by Sybille Handley-Schachler, who joined the club last year. Sybille studied in Hamburg and Oxford and now owns Pertinax Oil and Gas Ltd, a consultancy advising the oil industry. She is an expert on asset modelling, real time production optimisation and hydrocarbon allocation. In her well-illustrated talk she gave an example of how computer modelling could help select the best diameter of tube for an oil well valve. Though highly technical in content, Sybille's presentation was understandable to most laymen and emphasised the importance of computer simulation in the oil industry not only to predict production and optimise extraction costs but to help avoid accidents like the Deepwater Horizon disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, the environmental and financial costs of which are still being felt. Sybille's talk prompted many questions from the floor. She was introduced by Derek Clark. Alistair Rarity proposed the vote of thanks.