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Industry talent recognised in the Offshore Achievement Awards

With their awards at the ceremony last night are, from left, Professor Alex Kemp, Emma Stephenson of Shell UK Ltd and Sandy Clark, of Amec

Top individuals and companies in the offshore industry were celebrated last night at the 2012 Offshore Achievement Awards, with AMEC winning the Best Large Company Award and Professor Alex Kemp being awarded the Lifetime Achievement accolade and Emma Stephenson winning the Young Professional Award.

An audience of more than 370 guests attended the 26th OAA awards ceremony at Ardoe House Hotel, Aberdeen. They saw the best talent in the industry recognised in categories including Great Large and Great Small Company Performance, Export Achievement and Safety Innovation.

The awards were re-launched in October by the Society of Petroleum Engineers Aberdeen Section along with the support of main sponsor TAQA Bratani.

Ian Phillips, director of CO2DeepStore Ltd, who chaired the OAA organising committee as part of his role as a director of SPE Aberdeen Section, told the audience:

"For 25 successful years the Scottish Offshore Achievement Awards thrived under the care and stewardship of Scottish Enterprise. In this, the 26th year, the Society of Petroleum Engineers Aberdeen Section is proud to become the new custodian of these prestigious awards.

"The SPE has made a few changes this year. Award entries were sought from all over the UK, and we have extended the awards to encompass the increasingly important offshore renewables sector, including a new Offshore Renewables Award as well as opening all categories to companies in that sector. Reflecting these changes, the awards have been renamed as The Offshore Achievement Awards. We have however kept some things exactly the same. A rigorous judging process, involving senior representatives from sponsoring companies and SPE Board members, sought to ensure that we maintain the highest standards of objectivity and technical relevance to the industry.

"As always, the awards recognise excellence and outstanding performance in a wide range of categories. Winners can be justifiably proud that their success has been judged by a knowledgeable group of their peers in the industry. The quantity and standard of the entries this year has been superb, and our thanks go to all the companies who took the trouble to apply. This of course created a huge problem for the judges who had to select a winner for each award. In some categories where things were especially close, we have selected an award winner and a second company to be “highly commended” in recognition of their excellence."

Masud Javaid, chairman of SPE Aberdeen and senior economist at Total E&P UK, said:

"It has been a great pleasure for SPE Aberdeen to re-launch the awards and extremely encouraging to receive a record number of entries this year. Not only has the return of these prestigious awards highlighted the talent in the UK’s oil and gas industry, but they have also made a vast impact on the industry calendar. We received an exceptionally high standard of entries this year which gave the judges a real challenge. SPE Aberdeen and the sponsors would like to congratulate each of the winners who really impressed us with the clear ambition, innovation and expertise shown."

Leo Koot, managing director of main sponsor TAQA Bratani, said:

"The awards ceremony was a fantastic occasion and greatly enjoyed by those who attended. It presented the opportunity to celebrate excellence and achievement in the offshore industry, not only for established companies and individuals, but also those starting out and showing promise. I hope to see as much success at future ceremonies."

Lifetime Achievement award winner Professor Kemp is one of the foremost experts on the economics of the North Sea oil & gas industry. He is currently Professor of Petroleum Economics and Director of Aberdeen Centre for Research in Energy Economics and Finance (ACREEF) at the University of Aberdeen. He previously worked for Shell, the University of Strathclyde and the University of Nairobi. For many years he has specialised in research in the field of petroleum economics with special reference to licensing and petroleum taxation issues. He has published over 200 books and papers in this field and was awarded the OBE for services to the oil and gas industry in 2006.

The Offshore Achievement Award Winners in each category are:

• Great Large Company (sponsored by Offshore Europe)
  AMEC
  Highly commended: Ace Winches
• Great Small Company (sponsored by Wood Group PSN)
  Alba Power
• Young Professional (sponsored by Red Spider)
  Emma Stephenson, Shell UK
  Highly commended: Stuart Brand, 3Sun Group
• Working Together (sponsored by Robert Gordon University)
  Veolia Environmental Services
• Offshore Renewables (sponsored by AREG and 3Sun Group)
  Vattenfall
• Export Achievement (sponsored by Maersk Oil)
  Ace Winches
• Safety Innovation (sponsored by Petrofac)
  3Sun Group
• The Innovator (sponsored by BG Group)
  Expro Group
• New Idea (sponsored by Nexen)
  Coretrax
• Lifetime Achievement Lifetime Achievement (sponsored by Aker Solutions)
  Professor Alex Kemp