A double win for bp at the SPE offshore achievement awards
Congratulations to Laura Steedman, who takes home the young professional award, and also to the bp and Subsea 7 team who were joint winners of the collaboration award at the SPE offshore achievement awards 2018
bp was delighted to have been shortlisted in three categories at the SPE offshore achievement awards (OAA), one of the biggest and longest established oil, gas and renewables industry awards for the UK offshore energy sector.
The winners were announced at the awards ceremony, hosted by Rachel Riley and attended by more than 450 guests, at the Aberdeen exhibition and conference centre on 22 March 2018. The categories covered technology innovation, company performance and individual achievement across the UK offshore energy sector, with entries from over 100 companies involved in the offshore oil and gas and renewables sectors.
Young Professional Award
Laura Steedman picked up the young professional award, which recognizes the professional capability and the wider contribution made to the offshore industry, by a person aged 35 or under.
Laura joined bp in 2016 as a mechanical engineer graduate. Initially working in the discipline engineering team, she quickly established a reputation for delivering business results. In less than a year, she delivered an industry first by working with key suppliers to develop and implement a new and cost-effective technology to expand gas turbine operability, improve efficiency, gain more output and extend the life of existing equipment.
Laura’s commitment to project delivery and influencing and problem-solving skills have led to her acting as a global consultant within bp to retrofit this new technology across all applicable assets. Her work is directly helping us achieve our plant efficiency goal of 90% by 2020.
In September 2017, Laura took the opportunity to work offshore as the Eastern Trough Area Project (ETAP) platform’s production support engineer.
As an active member and chair of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers (IMechE) Aberdeen young members panel and a bp schools link ambassador, Laura demonstrates a passion for promoting engineering to the next generation.
The judges were so impressed with the entries for this category that they shortlisted 4 finalists and awarded the three runners-up highly commended certificates.
Collaboration award
bp and Subsea 7 were joint winners of the collaboration award for the teamwork that successfully unlocked oil from the stranded Arundel field. The prize recognizes the efforts of a multi-company team working together to achieve outstanding results on an offshore oil and gas project.
The two companies worked closely together to bring the Arundel field into production - 16 years after it was first discovered. The field, located in the Central North Sea approximately 15 kilometres north of the Andrew platform, was discovered in 2000 but proved challenging to develop. Particularly challenging to access, a single horizontal well was selected as the best strategy, with tie-in provided via the Kinnoull pipeline. Using innovative techniques to insulate the pipeline, upcycle existing equipment and adopt a flexibile approach to subsea vessel scheduling, first oil was achieved less than 18 months from sanction.
The team were represented by Linda Masson, Graeme Dustan, Andrew Hall and Mark Hudson at the awards ceremony.
Above and Beyond award
Adam Zalewski was shortlisted for the above and beyond award which recognises the workplace contribution made by an employee which has brought significant improvements to their workplace, the wider industry or community.
Adam was nominated for using his initiative, drive and coding skills to seek out value-adding opportunities to support the Eastern Trough Area Project (ETAP) platform operations. Adam delivered a portfolio of tools that automated administration tasks across the ETAP platform. This resulted in saving 1,000 hours of offshore leaders’ time, as well as improving maintenance processes, execution and efficiency.
Once again this category was keenly contested and the overall winner was John Fraser from Sparrows Group who has worked in the industry for nearly 50 years and has “almost single handedly defined crane operating standards for the industry”.