Hundreds of people gathered in Aberdeen on Wednesday night to celebrate the achievements of companies and individuals in the UK underwater sector.
Organised by the Global Underwater Hub (GUH), the Subsea Expo Awards 2022 was one of the first industry events to take place since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Around 400 people attended the gala dinner at the P&J Live, which was hosted by Neil Gordon, chief executive of the GUH.
The event was sponsored by Vaarst, with energy services giant Subsea 7 sponsoring the drinks reception.
Subsea Expo, the world’s leading annual subsea exhibition and conference, got underway in Aberdeen on Tuesday, also at the P&J Live.
Outstanding Contribution
David Bruton, a chartered engineer with more than 40 years’ experience as a specialist in pipelines and associated facilities in oil and gas, was honoured for his outstanding contribution to the industry.
Throughout his career, which began with BP in 1980, he has been involved in developing new technology for a wide variety of projects.
In 2011, he used his expertise to co-found Crondall Energy Subsea (CES), a consultancy team with experience in challenging pipeline design and operational monitoring.
He has authored, or co-authored, 36 technical papers and holds six patents on transoceanic fibreoptic gathering facilities, based on pipeline technology.
A host of awards
Maats Tech won the prestigious company of the year award, sponsored by Viper Innovations.
Headquartered in the south-west of England, the business has more than 30 years’ experience, specialising in turnkey cable, umbilical and flex lay systems.
Basingstoke-based Aquatec Group picked up the gong for best small company.
The firm creates instruments, services and solutions for measurement, monitoring and communication underwater for all water environments across a range of sectors.
North-east company Verlume went home with the innovation & technology award, which was sponsored by Piper Sandler, with the cross sector innovation award, sponsored by Havfram UK, going to DCN Diving.
Stats Group won the global exports award, sponsored by Scottish Development International, while DeepOcean bagged the innovation in safety award.
Edris Joonaki, fluid properties expert and technical lead at TÜV SÜD National Engineering Laboratory, was honoured with the emerging talent award.
Working in a range of sectors, such as oil and gas, hydrogen and carbon capture and storage, Mr Joonaki is responsible for addressing different flow assurance and metering challenges.
His research projects have won several research funds, as well as UK and international awards, and he is lead-author on a number of publications.
© Supplied by Big PartnershipMr Gordon said: “The calibre of the finalists and winners for this year’s awards was testimony to the outstanding innovation, technology, talent and leadership which continued across the industry despite the challenges created by the pandemic over the past two years.
“It was fantastic to be able to celebrate those achievements and successes in person at what is one of the first major events to take place since restrictions eased. What was clear too, was the growing emphasis on cross-sector collaboration which highlighted the opportunities that have arisen, and are being grasped, in alternative markets and sectors.
“This appetite for diversification and the ingenuity which has grown with it, is evident right across the underwater industry. There’s a renewed sense of optimism and an excitement about what lies ahead with an unprecedented scale of global opportunities in both energy transition and the wider blue economy.”