The Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the US involving four hijacked airliners apparently haven't dampened the determination of oil industry travelers to fly to meetings and work sites around the world.
A spot check last week of international majors, large independents, top oil field service companies, drilling contractors, and industry associations indicated no fear of flying. "In fact, it's probably about as safe now as it will ever be," one service industry executive told OGJ Online.
Frequent fliers
With operations around the globe, many oil industry executives and workers are probably second only to airline crews in the amount of flying time logged.
In fact, the International Association of Drilling Contractors boasts that it hosts a major industry conference "somewhere in the world about once a month."
However, top IADC officials could not be reached at their Houston headquarters last week to assess the impact of the terrorist attacks on their travel plans: They were all in New Orleans for the group's annual meeting.
The Society of Petroleum Engineers, Dallas, has 6,000 participants preregistered for its annual meeting in New Orleans Sept. 30-Oct. 1. "That's the largest preregistration in recent years," said an SPE representative.
After Sept. 11, SPE officials posted a notice on its web site giving attendees and exhibitors an opportunity for late cancellation. "SPE understands that personal or professional circumstances may make it uncomfortable for some to attend the upcoming event," they said in their web site message.
However, an official said the dropout has been minimal-"just five exhibitors that I know of, and they were small."
Some industry meetings were canceled or postponed since the attacks, primarily because of problems involved in getting flights in the immediate aftermath of the terrorist attacks.
However, Indonesian President Megawati Soekarnoputri and several of her top ministers flew to Houston to host an energy conference early last week as part of an extended visit with US government and industry officials.
"I admit that, because of the gravity of the situation, some circles in my country have wondered aloud if it would not be wiser for me to wait for a more auspicious time to come here," Megawati said. "But after close consultation with our counterparts in the US administration, I decided to go ahead with this visit to convey the deep sympathy that the Indonesian people bear for their American friends in this difficult time."
Policy changes
That's not to say that Sept. 11 has not changed travel policies at some US companies.
"We had some 700 people traveling at various points around the world on that day. We were concerned for them, and many had problems getting home," said an executive for one integrated oil company.
As a result, he said, the company immediately instituted a policy of "business-essential travel only," with executive approval. "But we are relaxing that a little now. Slowly but surely, it will return to some level of normalcy, I think," he said.
Meanwhile, he said, "We're looking at some alternatives. Teleconferencing, whether audio or video, is one viable option to traveling."
Business travel
In an e-mail survey Sept. 17-19 of 377 of its subscribers, Business Traveler magazine, New York City, found that 70% of the 226 respondents said they still "feel safe" flying on national and international trips for both business and leisure. The largest numbers of those surveyed were residents of California (20%), New York (13%), and Texas (10%).
Among those respondents, 68% said Amer- icans are likely to resume standard business activities, including flying, within 2 weeks, while 79% said business operations ought be back to fairly normal by October. Asked when they personally planned to resume flying, 81% of the respondents said they had business trips scheduled this month, while 64% planned leisure trips in the same period. And 20% said they had already resumed flying for business, compared with 15% who had made leisure flights.
