OilVoice - National Subsea Oil and Gas Award Winners

National Subsea Oil and Gas Award Winners

Thursday, February 11, 2010

Subsea UK announced the winners of the 2010 subsea awards at its celebratory dinner, sponsored by Triton Group on 10 February 2010 at the Aberdeen Exhibition and Conference Centre.

The fourth annual awards ceremony attracted more than 700 business leaders and entrepreneurs to celebrate the excellence and hard work of subsea organisations and individuals across the high-performing UK sector.

Dominion Gas has been named Subsea Company of the Year. This award was sponsored by Brewin Dolphin.

As Scotland's only independent oilfield service company supplying the full range of diving, welding, industrial, laboratory, test and calibration gases, Dominion Gas has seen its annual turnover rise from £16.3 million to £32.9 million in just four years.

Continued investment has strengthened its supply chain and enabled the development of new products. Dominion Gas is now operating in 20 countries world-wide.

First Subsea Ltd won a special commendation in the Subsea Company of the Year category.

The Emerging Talent Award, sponsored by Fugro Subsea Services, has been won by Katy Wilson, a consultant at Atkins Boreas. In her six years at the company, Katy has rapidly climbed the chain of command, being promoted from engineer to senior engineer and subsequently to consultant.

Having been exposed to and led a wide variety of projects across most disciplines of pipeline engineering, Katy frequently manages technical specialists who are more experienced than herself. She recently set up a student sponsorship scheme as well as developing and authoring a best practice guidance document on preserving the integrity of riser caissons.

NCS Survey was rewarded for its rapid growth with the New Enterprise Award, sponsored by Technip. The company grew by 32% to £5.7 million in the last financial year and committed to becoming the first oil and gas focused provider of the Gavia AUVs (Autonomous Underwater Vehicles). Having recently acquired the survey division of SRD, a manufacturer of sonar and real-time seabed visualisation systems, NCS Survey has seen its employee count rise from eight to 58 in five years.

The first of two new categories at this year's ceremony is the Subsea Innovation & Technology Award, sponsored by Simmons & Company International. This accolade has gone to Atkins Boreas for its ground-breaking research and testing through the launch of an innovative JIP (Joint Industry Project) entitled 'SAFEBUCK'.

As well as developing a design methodology for deepwater pipelines, the JIP has received worldwide recognition and raised a total of £1.5m to support the development of innovative technology.

The Subsea Global Exports Award, sponsored by UK Trade & Investment, is the second new category this year and goes to Optical Metrology Services Limited (OMS).

The company embarked on an ambitious but lucrative export strategy which saw them select markets that in the short term were perhaps more challenging to access but which held potentially higher rewards. Their export growth is is still in its early days but they have demonstrated an ability to drive a highly structured marketing plan and work effectively with support organisations like UKT&I and Subsea UK to develop a platform from which to build sustainable export sales.

This year's Lifetime Achievement Award goes to Dr Bob Allwood, newly appointed chief executive at Society for Underwater Technology (SUT). Allwood has an impressive track record in developing subsea engineers through MSc and PhD at both Cranfield University and The Robert Gordon University in Aberdeen.

Commenting on this year's winners, Subsea UK chief executive, Alistair Birnie, said:
'These awards set out to recognise and reward those individuals and organisations that continue to break boundaries and ensure the UK subsea sector leads the way around the world. The many worthy winners and finalists can be very proud of their achievements and positive impact on the industry.'

The awards dinner is a fitting end to the first day of Subsea 2010 which boasts a two-day exhibition of more than 100 companies showcasing the best of British innovation and expertise.

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