MORE than 350 members, associates and guests of the International Association of Drilling Contractors (IADC) gathered in the Mercure Aberdeen Ardoe House Hotel last night for the North Sea chapter’s annual dinner and safety awards.
Presenting the honours as guest industry speaker was James McCallum, chief executive of diversified energy service firm Senergy. Noble Drilling came away with four accolades.
The company won safety performance awards for jack-ups and smaller semisubmersible projects, while Noble’s George Sauvageau and Lynda Bossler were honoured for outstanding safety performance.
Transocean won the award for larger semisubmersible projects, with Seawell taking one for platform safety and another for outstanding performance.
Sureclean came up trumps in the associate member category, Stena Drilling won the environmental award and Transocean’s Tom Whelan triumphed in the chairman’s special category.
IADC North Sea chapter chairman John Monks said: “Many fine examples of safety and environmental success have been considered . . . and our members should take pride in the commitment being shown by their employees.
“Across our industry, safety statistics reveal a downward trend for the 10th year in succession and for that we should be proud.
“Any injury, however, is an injury too many and we all need to raise the bar further.”
The awards were compered by TV sports presenter Dougie Vipond, with former rally driving champion Penny Mallory giving the after-dinner speech.
IADC offshore division vice-president Steven Gangelhoff spoke on behalf of the international organisation.
