Emerging talent and outstanding achievement in the UK oil and gas industry were celebrated at an awards ceremony in the north-east last night.
A record of about 650 people attended the 2014 edition of the Oil and Gas UK (OGUK) Awards at Aberdeen Exhibition and Conference Centre.
Marnie Toal of energy technology firm Proserv came away with the apprentice title after impressing judges with her enthusiasm to take on extra responsibility and her adeptness at identifying ways of improving work processes.
Barry Mitchell of energy service company Wood Group PSN was crowned graduate of the year, thanks to a strong academic record, including his BP prize for best overall achievement at the Robert Gordon University, and also his “unrivalled professionalism, dedication and commitment to deliverfit-for-purpose engin-eering solutions” while at work.
The mentor of the year title went to Alan Muirhead, lead field development engineer at Ingen Ideas, who developed a scheme which sees graduate recruits to the oil and gas consultancy going on to mentor others.
The honours for top small-to-medium (SME) sized firm went to Axis Well Technology for investment in people and Meta, which won the award for business innovation.
Bibby Offshore was investment in people winner in the large business category, with EnQuest honoured for business innovation – particularly its Thistle late life extension project.
OGUK chief executive Malcolm Webb said: “This evening has unearthed some real gems and Ibelieve we can all learn a great deal from their stories.”
As well as Mr Webb, who retires next year, speakers last night included Health and Safety Executive chairwoman Judith Hackitt and Shell UK upstream director Glen Cayley.