BRU21 & SUBPRO-Zero Conference

Recent developments in the offshore energy sector call for substantial efficiency improvements across all operations, from field development to drilling, production, and reservoir management. How can it be achieved?

Efficiency enhancement: topside, subsea and subsurface will be the central theme of the 2026 Joint BRU21 & SUBPRO-Zero Conference.

BRU21 is NTNU’s Research and Innovation Program in Digital and Automation Solutions for the Offshore Energy Industry. The SUBPRO-Zero Center focuses on enabling net-zero emissions in offshore operations. Both environments share a strong commitment to developing new technologies and methodologies that increase efficiency across the value chain.

The BRU21 & SUBPRO-Zero conference will serve as a dynamic meeting place for industry, research, and academia to connect, share insights, and explore innovative solutions within the subsurface and offshore energy domains.

Registration

Register here

Day 1 May 27: Scandic Lerkendal Hotel

09:00-10:00 CONFERENCE REGISTRATION AND COFFEE

► Conference registration and coffee

10:00-11:40 CONFERENCE OPENING, STRATEGIC KEYNOTES AND PANEL DISCUSSION

10:00-10.20 Conference opening and SUBPRO-Zero & BRU21 program overview

► Johannes Jäschke, Professor (NTNU&SUBPRO-Zero) & Alexey Pavlov, Professor (NTNU&BRU21)

10:20-10:45 Norwegian petroleum policy

► Lars Erik Aamot, Director General & Head of the Oil and Gas Department (Norwegian Ministry of Energy)

10:45-11:10 R&D - Our Edge in a Complex Future

► Yngve B. Johansen, Subsurface R&D manager (Aker BP)

11:10-11:40 Panel discussion: technology, people, collaboration

► Moderator: Tomas Moe Skjølsvold, Professor (NTNU)

► Panelists: Lars Erik Aamot (Ministry of Energy), Yngve B. Johansen (Aker BP) and Thomas Lerdahl (Lead Advisor Subsurface Quality Management, OKEA)

11:40-12:30 LUNCH

► Lunch

12:30-14:00 PARALLEL SESSIONS A

12:30-14:00 PARALLEL SESSIONS A

A1 Field development: from economic analysis to collaboration

Chairs: Verena Hagspiel-Janssen, Professor (NTNU) and Thomas Lerdahl, Lead Advisor Subsurface Quality Management (OKEA)

12:35-12:55 Stochastic Valuation and Portfolio Optimization of Offshore Exploration Projects under Uncertainty,

► Alessandro Limonta, PhD candidate (NTNU)

12:55-13:15 A New Approach Combining Cooperation and Competition to Maximize Value on the NCS

► Jon Lereim, Professor (BI – Norwegian Business School)

13:15-13:35 Optimizing Offshore Tieback Portfolios Under Uncertainty: A Particle Swarm Optimization Approach

► Mona Helness, MTIØT student, and Erlend Hafslund Veire, Computer science student (NTNU)

13:35-13:55 Toward Intelligent Deepwater Gas Field Development: An Integrated Framework for Data-Driven Decision-Making and Knowledge Management

► Han Meng, Professor (China University of Petroleum - Beijing)

A2 Improved production and reservoir management

Chairs: Dinesh Krishnamoorthy Kallur , Assoc. Professor (NTNU) and Olivier Lopez, Leading researcher (Equinor)

12:35-12:55 Drainage Strategies for Reduced Emissions

► Alv-Arne Grimstad, Senior research scientist (SINTEF)

12:55-13:15 Data-Driven Anti-Slug Control

► Tore Gude, PhD candidate (NTNU)

13:15-13:35 Intuitive Automated Optimization of Uncertain Industrial Processes

► Leontine Aarnoudse, Postdoc (NTNU)

13:35-13:55 Data-to-Decisions: Optimizing multi-asset field operations

► Dinesh Krishnamoorthy Kallur, Assoc. Professor (NTNU)

14:00-15:00 INTERACTIVE/POSTER SESSION AND NETWORKING

14:00-15:00 INTERACTIVE/POSTER SESSION AND NETWORKING

Interactive poster session and networking

► Complete Subsea Oil-Water Separation

Beatrice Daniel Issara, PhD candidate, NTNU

► High-Dimensional State Estimation with Commercial Process Simulators Using a Variant of the Unscented Kalman Filter

Jonas D. Fraihat, PhD candidate, NTNU

► Dissolved Gas Nucleation in Oil/Water Emulsions: A Microfluidic Study

Anil Hatiboglu, PhD candidate, NTNU

► WellPilot: an intelligent field layout optimization system from NTNU-SUBPRO to CNPC

Dr. Haoge Liu, CNPC

► Innovation in Information Infrastructure: A case study from energy sectors

Itishree Mohallick, PhD candidate, NTNU

► Fast Walsh–Hadamard Transform for Well Log Depth Alignment

Sushil Acharya, PhD candidate, NTNU

►Allum Technology – Low Reject CFU for produced water

Bjørn Håvard Brenden and Vegard Klavenes, Allum Engineering

►Detection of Oil Leak and Seawater Influx through Partial Ruptures in Subsea Petroleum Production Pipelines

Daniel Centurion Barrionuevo, PhD candidate, NTNU

►NTNU Drillbotics: autonomous directional drilling with AI support

Jon Hovland Haveraaen and Markus Brekke, Master students, NTNU

► Fully automated CML system using a physical base model, AI & Digital Twin technologies in real-time

Behzad Elahifar, Assoc. Professor, NTNU

► Real-time Digital Twins in Drilling

Sigve Hovda, Professor, NTNU

► Prodecs: project and portfolio investment decision tool

Verena Hagsiel-Janssen, Professor, NTNU

15:00-16:30 PARALLEL SESSIONS B

15:00-16:30 PARALLEL SESSIONS B

B1 Automated and Digitalized Drilling and Well

Chairs: Behzad Elahifar, Assoc. Professor (NTNU) and Henrik Manum, Manager DW Tech Digital (Equinor)

15:05-15:25 Well Integrity and Economic Aware Model Predictive Control for Automated Well Life Extension Decisions

► David Semwogerere, PhD candidate (NTNU)

15:25-15:45 Turning Drilling Analytics into Confident Decisions with Explainable AI

► Dan Sui, Professor (University of Stavanger)

15:45-16:05 Prediction of Hard Stringers while Drilling using Drill-Bit Noise and Real-Time Drilling Data

► Saygin Ileri, PhD candidate (NTNU)

16:05-16:25 Steps taken towards autonomous drilling

► Tron Golder Kristiansen, Chief Engineer DW (Aker BP)

B2 Efficient water management

Chairs: Nadia Shardt, Assoc. Professor (NTNU) and Dan Friedemann, Expert (Aker Solutions)

15:05-15:25 Subsea Technology to Solve the World's Water Problem: FloceanOne the first step

► Fredrik Molberg Hultgreen (Siemens Energy)

15:25-15:45 System-Level Bottleneck Identification across the Produced Water Value Chain

► Ashish Loomba, Postdoc (NTNU)

15:45-16:05 Subsea Salinity-Tuned Water Injection Systems

► Dan Friedemann, Expert (Aker Solutions)

16:05-16:25 Chitosan-Assisted Gas Flotation: The Influence of pH and Chitosan Concentration on Separation of Crude Oil Drops from Produced Water

► Bahar Forouzeshrad, PhD candidate (NTNU)

16:30-16:45 CONCLUSION OF DAY 1

► Conclusion of day 1.

19:00-21:30 DINNER AT E.C. DAHLS PUB & KJØKKEN

► Dinner at E.C. Dahls pub og kjøkken (address Strandveien 71, 7067 Trondheim). Aperitif from 19:00, dinner from 19:30.

Day 2 May 28: Scandic Lerkendal Hotel

09:00-10:10 - WELCOME FROM NTNU MANAGEMENT AND KEYNOTE PRESENTATIONS

09:00-09.15 Welcome and opening of Day 2

► Vikas Thakur, Dean of NTNU Faculty of Engineering

09:15-09:45 OKEA: An introduction to OKEA and some general perspectives on exploration on the NCS

► Andreas Helsem, Chief Explorationist (OKEA)

09:45-10:10 Research-based innovation

► Rasmus Rønning, Business Development Manager (NTNU Technology Transfer AS)

10:10-10:25 COFFEE BREAK

10:25-12:50 PARALLEL SESSIONS C

10:25-12:50 PARALLEL SESSIONS C

C1 AI, Machine Learning and Digital Tools for the Energy Sector

Chairs: Mary Ann Lundteigen, Professor (NTNU) and Kjetil Westeng, Lead Petrophysicist (Aker BP)

10:30-10:50 Incorporating Artificial Intelligence in Safety-Critical Systems for CO2 Capture, Injection, and Storage

► Niclas Flehmig, PhD candidate (NTNU)

10:50-11:10 AI for Facies Identification and Reservoir Characterization

► Olivier Lopez, Leading Researcher (Equinor)

11:10-11:30: WISE-FM: Operation-Aware, Engineering-Informed Deep Learning Model for Multi-Task Well Design

► Idelfonso Nogueira, Assoc. Professor (NTNU)

11:30-11:45 Coffee break

11:45-12:05 Use of Digital Tools for APC in Aker BP

► Adriaen Verheyleweghen, Senior Automation Engineer (Aker BP)

12:05-12:25 Subsea Model Discovery for Safety Demonstration and Decision-Making

► Muhammad Hilmi, PhD candidate (NTNU)

12:25-12:45 Learning Without Data: Physics-Informed Surrogate Modeling for Two-Phase Flow in Pipelines

► Luis Kin Miyatake, PhD candidate (NTNU/UFSC)

C2 Towards Zero emissions

Chairs: Johannes Jäschke, Professor (NTNU) and Margrete Hånes, Leader Efficiency Solutions, Efficient Drainage and Production (Equinor)

10:30-10:50 CO2 Transport

► Audun Faanes, Task Leader CO2 Transport Technologies (Equinor)

10:50-11:10 NMPC Strategies for Optimal Operation of CO2 Pipeline-Injection Networks

► Archana Kumaraswamy, PhD candidate (NTNU)

11:10-11:30 Techno-Economic Assessment for High CO2 Capture Rates with MEA and CESAR1

► Benas Mockus, PhD candidate (NTNU)

11:30-11:45 Coffee break

11:45-12:05 ZEUS Project

► Dan Friedemann, Expert (Aker Solutions)

12:05-12:25 Toward Sustainable Subsurface Utilization through CO₂ Injection: Data-Driven Technologies for Prediction and Decision Support

► Jinjie Mao, PhD candidate (NTNU)

12:25-12:45 Enabling Reliable CCS at Scale: The Critical Role of Multiphase Flow Modeling

► Ludivine Rossvoll, Product Manager LedaFlow (Kongsberg Digital)

12:50-13:00 CONCLUDING REMARKS AND CLOSING OF THE CONFERENCE

► Concluding remarks and closing of the conference

13:00-14:00 LUNCH & END OF CONFERENCE

► Lunch & End of the conference

14:30-16:00 INDUSTRY ACADEMICA MEETINGS

► Industry-Academia meetings

Conference scope:

Automated and Digitalized Drilling and Well

Drilling and well construction represent one of the highest costs in oil and gas production. Over the last decade, digitalization and automation have been pushing these costs down. This section will present recent developments in this area.

AI, Machine Learning and Digital Tools for the Energy Sector

This session showcases state-of-the-art digital technologies in the energy sector. We invite contributions covering both practical applications and fundamental innovations that enhance design of processes and industrial operations.

Field development: from economic analysis to collaboration

The era of smaller discoveries and aging infrastructure on the Norwegian Continental Shelf calls for new approaches to field development. Moving beyond a project-by-project mindset, the industry is increasingly adopting portfolio and area-based perspectives. This session presents recent developments in portfolio-level economic evaluation methodologies, alongside emerging frameworks for enhanced cooperation within and across license partnerships.

Efficient water management

In this session, we will discuss the current gaps in knowledge and technology that need to be addressed in order to achieve efficient water management in subsea operations. We will also showcase recent work between academia and industry that contributes to closing these gaps.

Improved production and reservoir management

Production and reservoir management are at the heart of oil and gas industry efficiency. This session will cover recent developments in these topics in the overlap of industry needs and latest academic developments.

Towards zero emission

This session explores technologies driving the energy transition within the oil and gas sector. We discuss operational energy efficiency, carbon capture and storage (CCS), and the deployment of net-zero technologies for the low-carbon future