Business/economics

OTC Names Distinguished Achievement Award Winners

This year’s OTC awards will go to individuals and companies that have made significant contributions to the offshore section.

jpt-2018-02-otcawards-hero-2.jpg

The 2018 Offshore Technology Conference (OTC) announced this year’s Distinguished Achievement Award recipients, who will be honored on 1 May at NRG Center in Houston.

The conference will recognize Brian Skeels for individual achievement, Shell and SBM Offshore for institutional achievement, Cesar del Vecchio for the Heritage Award, and present a Special Citation to Tom Sifferman.

Skeels, TechnipFMC’s Technology Fellow, will be honored for extraordinary accomplishments in pioneering new subsea completions in record water depths and for the development of new tieback connections that have set and redefined industry standards. In addition to his work as a technical subsea advisor, he is a strategic planning specialist for frontier technologies and new business opportunities, including deepwater riserless light well intervention, ROV and remote robotics technology, and hydrate remediation programs.

Shell and SBM Offshore will be presented the OTC Distinguished Achievement Award in recognition of its successful development of the world’s deepest oil and gas project, the Stones field, using a leased FPSO, an industry-first pairing of a steel lazy wave riser system with the largest disconnectable buoy turret mooring system, and an artificial lift system designed for 15,000 psi.

The OTC Distinguished Achievement Awards Luncheon also raises money for a worthy cause, and this year’s beneficiary will be the Young Women’s College Preparatory Academy (YWCPA). The all-girl, college preparatory magnet school in the Houston Independent School District focuses on college readiness with a strong focus on and science, technology, engineering, and math.

“OTC is honored to have the opportunity to support YWCPA’s efforts to promote STEM education among middle and high schools girls,” said Wafik Beydoun, chairman, OTC Board of Directors. “There is a steadily increasing demand for energy-related skills from tomorrow’s rapidly diversifying workforce, not just within offshore oil and gas field but society at large, and it is important to invest in curriculum that will help meet this need. We are excited that our support will provide more opportunities for these students and expect that we will see some of them at future OTCs.”

Over the past 6 years, OTC has donated a total of $1.6 million to Medical Bridges, the Offshore Energy Center, Engineers Without Borders, Gulf of Mexico Foundation, the Independent Petroleum Association of America, the Petroleum Equipment & Services Association Energy Education Center for the benefit of the Energy Institute High School, Junior Achievement of Southeast Texas, and Oilfield Helping Hands.

OTC will be held from 30 April–3 May at NRG Park.