Oil & Gas UK Award Winners Announced

The winners of the Oil & Gas UK Awards 2014, sponsored by Shell U.K. Limited, have been announced following a sold-out evening event in Aberdeen.

All seven winners were presented with their awards at a ceremony in Aberdeen on Thursday 6th November, where some 650 people from across the oil and gas industry and throughout the UK gathered to celebrate their achievements.

Despite the industry facing a number of challenges at present, record-breaking turnout for the event demonstrated the sector’s commitment to sharing best practice and celebrating success.
An annual showcase for the UK offshore oil and gas industry, the Oil & Gas UK Awards honor the top performing companies and their people. This year’s company awards categories were split into Small and Medium-sized Enterprise (SME) and Large Enterprise categories to encourage a broader range of companies to submit entries.
 
The winners across the seven categories were:
Investment in People (SME) - Axis Well Technology
Investment in People (Large Enterprise) - Bibby Offshore
Business Innovation (SME) - Meta
Business Innovation (Large Enterprise) - EnQuest
Mentor of the Year - Alan Muirhead, lead field development engineer, Ingen Ideas
Apprentice of the Year - Marnie Toal, apprentice technician, Proserv
Graduate of the Year - Barry Mitchell, graduate electrical engineer, Wood Group PSN
 
Oil & Gas UK’s chief executive, Malcolm Webb, said: “I’m delighted to see our industry come together for an evening to celebrate the extraordinary achievements of these businesses and individuals. Winners tonight exemplify all that is remarkable about the industry – and I’m sure we will continue to follow their progress with great interest.”

The Oil & Gas UK Award for Investment in People recognizes the outstanding efforts companies make in developing their people – enabling them to perform at the highest levels. The SME winner for this year’s award, Axis Well Technology, was recognized for its commitment to the continuous development, growth and retention of its 160 employees and consultants, noting that the company’s commitment to training has contributed towards strong year-on-year sales growth of 14 per cent. Large enterprise winner Bibby Offshore was recognized by judges for the launch of its Academy, which has trained over 30 graduates and its successful engineer conversion program which works to bridge the skills gaps in the subsea engineer sector through training and mentoring.

The Oil & Gas UK Award for Business Innovation champions those enterprises delivering improved operational performance through innovation. Meta is the first SME winner for this year’s award and the company impressed judges with its unique ‘Metalmorphology’ downhole isolation technology which shapes metal using hydraulic fluid pressure, creating products its clients call ‘crucial’ to their well integrity plans. Large enterprise winner Enquest was recognized for its focus on drawing value from undeveloped oilfields and ageing assets. The judges singled out the Thistle Late Life Extension project, which is designed to recover a further 35 million barrels of oil from the Thistle and Deveron fields, as a significant achievement.

The title of Oil & Gas UK Award for Mentor of the Year was awarded to Alan Muirhead, lead field development engineer at Ingen Ideas. A mentor of new graduates as well as school and summer placement students, the judging panel were also impressed by Alan’s efforts in developing the company’s chartership scheme, resulting in all graduates who have received chartership remaining with the company and now mentoring others.

The Oil & Gas UK Award for Apprentice of the Year and the Oil & Gas UK Award for Graduate of the Year recognize the next generation of talent in the offshore oil and gas industry. Apprentice of the Year, Marnie Toal of Proserv was recognized for her enthusiasm in taking on extra responsibility, as well as her skills in identifying opportunities to improve work processes, meeting all safety requirements and achieving significant cost efficiencies for her company. 

Graduate of the Year, Barry Mitchell of Wood Group PSN, impressed the judging panel not only with his significant academic achievements, winning the BP Prize for Best Overall Achievement following his graduation from Robert Gordon University, but also for showing unrivalled professionalism, dedication and commitment to deliver fit-for-purpose engineering solutions for Wood Group PSN’s clients.

Webb added: “Every year, the Oil & Gas UK Annual Awards celebrate extraordinary talent and the dedication of individuals and businesses to the success of our industry as a whole. Greater collaboration across industry and with and across governments will continue to be critical for future success if we are to maximize economic recovery of the significant oil and gas resources which still lie offshore.”