2004 Offshore Energy Achievement Awards Winners named at Gala Event




The oil industry elite turned out in top hat and tails on December 16th for the first annual Offshore Energy Achievement Awards. This black tie, red carpet event, held at the Hilton America in downtown Houston drew an international crowd of hopeful nominees and their supporters for an evening of fine dining and fun.

Houston Mayor Bill White kicked things off with a moving speech about the important role the offshore industry plays in the Houston economy and community. He had particular praise for the industry's outstanding safety and environmental record. Atlantic Communications Chairman Shaun Wymes presented the Wiess Energy Hall with a donation to support its educational exhibits, and OEAA Selection Committee Chairman, Don Weisinger of BP framed the event in the context of this technologically advanced industry. Based on the overwhelming success of this year's event OEAA 2005 has already been scheduled for Thursday, December 8 at the Hilton Americas.

And the winner is…

Don Weisinger; E.G. Ward, Associate Director of the Offshore Technology Research Center; and Chairman of ATP Oil & Gas Corp. Paul Bulmahn took turns naming the lucky winners, while at the same time, describing both the finalists and the categories. The following is complete listing of winners with descriptions of both the category and the winning nomination.

Achievement Award Winners:

Category:      Emerging Innovation/Technology
This category considers technologies or best practices that are on the verge of making a real, and measurable, difference in safety, throughput, or cost savings.

Winner: Submerged Turret Loading Buoy System for LNG Imports: APL
APL's Submerged Turret Loading Buoy System, has been developed for Regas LNG and is an essential component and the enabling technology for the world's first Offshore LNG Receiving Terminal. The terminal will be located in US Gulf of Mexico, 116 miles offshore and is scheduled to commence operation January/February 2005.

Category:      Innovation/Technology
This award will honor a new technology that has been field-proven and resulted in a material improvement in safety, throughput, or cost savings. This category is also designed to recognize an innovative application of existing technology or the use of technology in a novel way that expands its range of benefits.

Winner: Innovative Method for Cost Effective Relocation of Fixed Platforms: ATP Oil & Gas Corp.
ATP Oil & Gas reduced field development cost, accelerated schedule, and saved on abandonment by successfully relocating two platforms in 360 ft of water by utilizing an innovative subsea "plinth" designed to adapt the platforms to water depths greater than their original location.

Category:      Design/Construction
In this broad category engineering, operating and service companies compete for best-in-class performance in design and/or construction of surface, subsea, pipeline, integrations, and facilities. This award is not about the size of the project. It is meant to honor safety, cost savings, and quality of work.

Winner: SeaStar TLP: Atlantia Offshore Limited
The Atlantia SeaStar TLP progressed from first concept through implementation of four installations in the Gulf of Mexico in the period from 1993 to 2003. Steve Leverette and Kent Davies performed the conceptual design of a small-field, economical Tension Leg Platform concept while consulting for Steve Kibbee at Atlantia in 1993. Their firm, OSAC, was subsequently acquired by Atlantia, and the development begun in earnest in 1995. Steve and Kent have guided the designs through four successfully installed platforms.

Category:      Geoscience
It would be impossible to honor the upstream, offshore oil and gas industry without recognizing achievement in the field of exploration. This category acknowledges outstanding technology and performance in the area of geology, petrophysics, and geophysics. Individuals, project teams, and specific hardware/software were considered based how well they inform and guide the development of offshore assets.

Winner: 3D Surface Related Multiple Elimination over Atlantis: Ken Matson and Raymond Abma; BP
After the application of this method to the seismic data over BP's Atlantis field, the resultant images beneath salt are less contaminated with noise than the previous state-of-the-art. This significantly improves the accuracy of the seismic interpretation and thus the placement of wells to optimally produce the field.

Category:      Drilling
This category is open to both operators and drilling contractors. Considerations such as speed, efficiency, difficulty of programs, and amount of feet drilled were weighed against safety, costs, and environmental impact.

Winner: Blow Out Preventer Pressure Testing Advancements: BP
Pressure testing BOPs every 14 days, is a time consuming operation. While holding pressure for these tests, the industry has been plagued with a declining pressure prior to obtaining the necessary five-minute flat line. The declining pressure mystery has now been solved, and simple software is being written to replace the circular chart recorder. These developments will conservatively save 7 to 10 days ($2-4MM) per year per deepwater rig.

Category:      Production
This award will honor field personnel in categories that include engineering, operations, development and reservoir management. An emphasis was placed on efficiency, safety, up time, and scope of work. This category is open to start-up fields as well as expansions and life-extension of existing facilities.

Winner: Marco Polo: Anadarko Petroleum Corporation
Marco Polo is the world's deepest TLP. It is owned by GulfTerra and their partners but Anadarko-operated. This platform was built significantly oversized to accommodate undiscovered potential in the area. The coordinated production effort allowed the tie-backs and completions to finish 30 days ahead of schedule. The six wells contained 17 zones all frac-packed and completed for commingled production with installations designed to mitigate flow assurance issues. The platform has averaged less than 1.5% downtime (excluding storms and rig moves) since start-up.

Category:      HSE
This award will honor successes in the areas of Risk Management, Environmental and Health Systems as well as Emergency Response. The emphasis is on proactive efforts, contingency planning and training.

Winner: HP/HT Subsea Completions: FMC Technologies, Inc.; FMC Pressure Testing Safety Team members Richard Lalor, Graeme Collie, Steve Hotchkiss, Bill Hopson, Gavin Reilly, Ah Hin Ee, Washington Cuoto, and Bjorn Kare Rustad
Subsea developments are expanding into High-Pressure/High-Temperature applications and are handling larger volumes than ever before. The combination of test pressures up to 22,500 psi and increased volumes has resulted in significantly higher stored energy. This has raised the risk of injury during factory acceptance, system integration, and offshore deck testing. FMC Technologies implemented a step-change improvement to mitigate the risks associated with HP/HT pressure testing. These improvements include the use of ballistic calculations, temporary volume reducers, projectile barriers/restraints, rigorous Job Safety Analyses and product design.

Category:      Leadership Development
With the graying of the industry, champions in both academia and the private sector play an increasingly important role in promoting petroleum engineering as a career. Efforts to attract students to this field of study, maintain relevant and dynamic curricula, and recruit graduates into the industry were considered. In addition, volunteer efforts in both a mentoring capacity and participation in the self-regulatory infrastructure that supports this industry fall under this category.

Winner: John Donachie, Schlumberger
John Donachie joined Schlumberger as a design engineer seven years ago. He has held positions of increasing responsibility leading to his current role as business development manager. Donachie started Aberdeen's Emerging Leaders Program to facilitate technical and career development for a diverse network of students and young professionals. He co-chaired the inaugural Society of Petroleum Engineers workshop developing a repeatable and successful format to promote professional growth beyond an individual company's training program.

Category:      Project of the Year
This award will not necessarily go to the largest or most dramatic project to come on line. Rather the focus was placed on teamwork, and accomplishments within a project that were instrumental in the project's success. Potential areas to be considered include issues resolution, value creation, innovative thinking, and illustration of coming trends.

Winner: Na Kika Development: BP
BP and Shell brought their brightest minds together to successfully develop and start up Na Kika, the deepest, permanently moored floating production system in the world. This deepwater wonder demonstrates how a novel approach to partnership can result in cutting-edge innovations to deliver peak performance. Sharing best practices with other operations opens new doors for BP, financially and technologically.

These nine winners were selected from more than 100 nominations received. In addition to drawing public attention to the offshore oil and gas industry's contributions to the culture, community, and economy of Houston and the world, a portion of the proceeds from this event benefited the Weiss Energy Hall at the Houston Museum of Natural Science. It is expected next year's event will draw an even larger crowd with more nominees and new award categories. Sign up now for what is sure to be a sell-out event.

For more information on the 2005 OEAA event, visit our website at www.oilonline.com/oece/oeaa or contact Lisa Carls at lcarls@oilonline.com (713) 535-1523. For sponsorship opportunities, contact Tiffany Tosh at ttosh@oilonline.com or call (713) 535-1524.