The conference and exhibition were held at the Center Convencions Internacional Barcelona (CCIB), located on the Mediterranean Sea, in the northern part of the city, near the El Maresme Forum Metro Station.
Traditionally, the grand opening ceremony of the conference was followed by the annual ceremony of awarding outstanding geophysicists with prized named after renowned scientists - Conrad Schlumberger, Loranda Atvesh, Alfred Wegener, Arie Van Velden, and others. Last year's EAGE President delivered a report and the newly elected President symbolically pushes the ex-President out of the podium.
There was a sharp increase in the number of Chinese companies offering different types of seismic receivers at relatively low prices - Zhaofeng Geophysical Exploration Equipment Co. Ltd., Challenger Geoinstruments Ltd., etc. The largest part of the exhibition was occupied by companies performing offshore seismic exploration, mainly 3D - WesternGeco, CGG-Veritas, FairfieldNodal, Schlumberger Oilfield Services, PGS, TGS, Fugro, BGP, Russian DMNG, and SMNG. They perform speculative surveys, process data and form databases for oil companies.
Since modern 3D imagery requires huge amounts of external storage with multiple duplications of information, a number of companies are developing fast and reliable data storages for fast and long-term storage - NetApp, Panasas Inc. and other. The geophysical partners of these companies are Schlumberger, Paradigm, Halliburton, Roxar, and others.
Despite the loud slogan of the conference, the exhibition, unfortunately, did not show the sharp development of geophysical science and technology.