Last year’s young professional winner, Marianne McKevitt, petroleum engineer at BP North Sea (photo: SPE Aberdeen Section)

The Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE) Aberdeen Section has opened entries for the 32nd Offshore Achievement Awards (OAA).

The OAAs, which were launched during last month’s Offshore Europe, have already began gathering momentum with many companies planning submissions for the 2018 awards.

Categories remain similar to last year’s line up, with the exception of the newly created HSE Innovation award which combines the existing Safety Innovation and Environmental Innovation awards. The 2018 categories are:

• Emerging Technology (sponsored by the Oil & Gas Technology Centre)
• Innovator (sponsored by the Oil & Gas Innovation Centre)
• HSE Innovation (sponsored by the Offshore Europe Partnership)
• Collaboration (sponsored by Nexen)
• Export Achievement
• Outstanding Skills Development
• Young Professional
• Above & Beyond
• Great Company – SME
• Great Company – Large
• Significant Achievement

Ian Phillips, chairman of the SPE Aberdeen Section and the OAA organising committee, says, “The OAAs go from strength to strength every year and the calibre of entries we have become accustomed to is tremendous. We’re particularly excited by the quality of the submissions in the technology categories, these are always closely fought and present an unenviable task for our judges.”

“The Young Professional award is another category which, year-on-year, showcases the remarkable talent that our industry continues to attract. After its success last year, we’re pleased to once again include an interview stage for this category, which was valuable for both judges and finalists. This is our seventh year as custodian of the awards and we remain involved because of the unrivalled opportunity the awards present to recognise success and share technical knowledge. This is a key part of SPE’s mission and is arguably more important now than ever. We urge any companies and individuals with a great story to tell to start working on their entry as soon as possible,” adds Phillips.

Donald Taylor, managing director at principle sponsor TAQA adds, “The Offshore Achievement Awards are both a showcase and celebration of all the great activities and talented people that we have in our industry. In every company there are teams and individuals going above and beyond to move our industry forward and it’s important that these people are recognised.”

“I’d encourage everyone to consider submitting an entry into the Awards as the benefits are twofold. The team at TAQA who won an award in 2017 were not only absolutely delighted that they had been recognised at an industry level for their hard work but also that they had the opportunity to share their story and successes with others to learn from,” says Taylor.

Last year’s young professional winner, Marianne McKevitt, petroleum engineer at BP North Sea, says, “Being announced as the YP winner is certainly the highlight of my career to date. It raised my profile with senior leaders across the company and allowed me to build a stronger network that gives me exposure to more global opportunities. I encourage any high performing individual to enter the OAAs or make a nomination to showcase their work at the prestigious event and to be independently recognised for their impact to the business.”

Entries are open from now until Friday 1 December 2017. Submissions are welcome from UK based companies operating offshore in both the oil and gas and renewables sectors, with categories, criteria and application forms available at www.spe-oaa.org.

Tags: SPE Aberdeen Section, The Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE)