AGM and Members’ Dinner

5 December 2013 London, UK

 

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The SUT held its AGM, annual awards ceremony and members’ dinner at the stunning location of the Trinity House, London (situated overlooking the Tower of London and River Thames) on 5 December 2013. The AGM began at 6.00 pm, followed by the annual SUT awards ceremony honouring those who have made exceptional contributions to underwater technology.

During the awards ceremony, SUT Fellowships were awarded to Andy Barwise and Keith Broughton and Chris Milner. Other Fellowships were awarded to overseas members Earl Doyle in Houston, Trond Olsen in Norway, and Norman O’Rourke and Ian Wilson who are both in Perth.The Society wishes them all many congratulations on their awards.

The Houlder Cup for outstanding contribution to underwater operations was awarded to Mr Mike O’Meara for outstanding contribution to Underwater Operations. Mike O’Meara has a long and successful involvement in the subsea world. He started his career in the Royal Navy and, after training as a clearance diver, was involved in a variety of naval diving operations before leaving the RN in 1975. Mike continued diving for a number of commercial diving companies before joining the newly formed Wharton Williams in 1978 as a diving superintendent. In this capacity he was responsible for the offshore management of diving support vessels and project teams and the implementation of subsea projects in the North Sea, Middle East and Asia. These projects involved a range of commercial diving techniques including air, gas, saturation and lockout submarines. In 1981 he was responsible for the successful salvage of £40 million of gold bullion from the Second World War British cruiser HMS Edinburgh resting in 800 feet water depth in the Barents Sea. After 23 years as an Offshore Manager, in 1991 Mike was tasked with reviewing theh Cullen report and the impending UK Safety Case Regulations following the Piper “A” disaster. The outcome of this work was the formal introduction to the company of risk identification and assessment as a specific planning tool in support of safe operations.

Through the years many changes in company ownership and structure have taken place. These have involved the following leading subsea engineering and construction companies: Wharton Williams, Brown & Root, Rockwater, Subsea Offshore, Halliburton Subsea and DSND into the present day Subsea 7. Mike is Vice-President responsible for Health, Safety, Environmental and Quality Strategy for Subsea 7.

The SUT wishes Mike many congratulations on his award.

The SUT Oceanography Award was awarded to Dr Steve Rintoul in recognition of his contribution to the field of oceanography. Dr Rintoul is a physical oceanographer who works for the CSIRO in Hobart, Tasmania. He has published more than 65 papers in refereed journals and books, with more than 1800 citations. He is on the editorial board of Ocean Dynamics and the Journal of Marine Research. In 2005 Dr Rintoul was awarded the inaugural Georg Wust Medal by the German Society of Marine Research. He was elected to the Australian Academy of Science in 2006 and was made a CSIRO Fellow, CSIRO’s highest recognition for scientific achievement.

In 2007 Dr Rintoul graduated with Honours in Physics from Harvard College, USA, and obtained his Doctorate from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology – Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution Joint Program, USA. He is Co-chair of the International Climate of Antarctic and Southern Ocean (CASO) research programme, Co-chair of the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR) Expert Group on Oceanography, Leader of the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR) Southern Ocean Implementation Panel, and was Acting Chief of CSIRO Marine and Atmospheric Research, May-November 2009. Dr Rintoul’s research has laid the foundation for the growing recognition of the importance of the Southern Ocean in the climate system. For example, he has shown that the Southern Ocean plays a critical role in the global overturning circulation that controls climate. He is internationally recognised as a leading authority on the circulation of the Southern Ocean and how it affects global climate systems. A sign of that recognition is that in 2012 he was awarded the prestigious $100,000 Martha T Muse Award of the US Tinker Foundation, for Science and Policy in Antarctica.

Dr Rintoul’s research has made a profound contribution to our scientific understanding of the Southern Ocean and of Antarctica’s role in the global system. His work has provided new understanding of the structure, dynamics and variability of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current, the largest ocean current on Earth. He has also shown how the Southern Ocean circulation links the shallow and deep layers of the ocean to form a global network of ocean currents that strongly influence climate patterns. His research has provided new insights into the nature, causes and consequences of Southern Ocean change. Dr Rintoul’s leadership has been critical to advancing coordinated international investigation of the Southern Ocean and to promoting long term Southern Ocean observing systems.

SUT was very pleased to award Steve the SUT Oceanography Award for 2013.

The SUT President’s Award was awarded to Mr David Brookes in recognition of his enormous contribution, over many years, to the SUT.

With over 40 years of industry experience, David started as an undergraduate apprentice at Esso UK in 1966 at Fawley Refinery. He then went on to work with rotating equipment vendor Ingersoll Rand and then Selection Trust mining company in the UK, Zambia, Peru and Iraq. David joined BP in 1980 and spent time on subsea and coal slurry pipelines systems, followed by becoming Manager of the Marine Systems Group. He was Project Engineering Manager for the BP Chemicals Indonesian Polyethylene Project based in Japan from 1989 to 1991, and then spent a period as BPX Global Subsea Consultant. In 1994, David transferred to the Atlantic Frontier Asset in Aberdeen, initially as Technical Manager and later as Subsea Project Manager for the Foinaven Development. After leading a team of pipeline, multiphase and subsea engineers as part of BPX’s shared technical resource, he became BP Amoco’s Team Leader for Deepwater Developments in the Upstream Technology Group in 1999. In 2001 he became a Senior Advisor in BP EPTG and moved to managing the overall BP Deepwater Facilities Technology Development Programme.

In 2006 David moved to BP’s Upstream Engineering Leadership as their Chief Engineer for Subsea and Floating Systems and is currently a Senior Advisor. David holds a BSc in Mechanical Engineering and is a Chartered Engineer. Also he is a FIMechE, FIMarEST, a member of the SPE, a Past President and Honorary Fellow of SUT, and an SUT Registered Subsea Engineer.

Also he is a past Chairman of DOT, a member of the Organising Committee for SUT International Conferences and the MCE Deepwater Development Conference. He has published more than 30 papers and presentations, including three papers to OTC Conferences and three patents.

David was awarded the SUT’s David Partridge Award in 1995 and the Subsea UK 2009 Engineer of the Year Award. For his many achievements it gave SUT great pleasure to award David the SUT President’s Award for 2013.

The AGM and awards ceremony was followed by a drinks reception and then dinner, attended by around 97 members and guests. After dinner, a game of ‘Heads and Tails’ was led by Ian Gallett and was won by Jodi Roberts. The game raised a fantastic sum of £1195 for the Fund, and all participants were thanked for their contributions

 

SUT InDepth

SUT InDepth is a series of collaborative technology events which will address specific ocean, subsea and deep water industry issues and challenges.

The aim is to bring together the best minds and expertise in a particular area of technology – both management and operational – to address the topics in a relaxed and more informal setting.

These events are highly participatory and future looking with a strictly limited number of attendees.

Attendees will be asked to come prepared to contribute their knowledge and experience to further the development of the technology being discussed.

Summit style sessions will be facilitated by senior level industry professionals and technologists who are experts in their field.

An important aspect of the event will be networking with peers both one-to-one and in small groups.

Subsea Power – Beyond Current Limitations

3-5 December 2013

This high-level technology event aims to innovate and seek solutions to progress the development of subsea electrical power to enable and secure the future of underwater operations, principally in the offshore energy industry.

Topics include:

• Electrical power requirements
• Subsea power equipment – VSDs , transformers, switchgear
• Connectors and cables
• Control and communication
• Applied technologies outlook – AC/DC, Standardisation

Summary of outcomes and results will be made available to all participants after the event.

Cost – fully residential – including hotel accommodation at South Lodge Hotel for 3 & 4 December and all meals and refreshment breaks: £1575 plus VAT

Who should participate?

• The event will be of particular interest to professionals, technologists and managers working in the sphere of subsea electrical power supply – generation and transmission; developers of technology, equipment and solutions in the area of subsea power – eg VSDs, transformers, switchgear, connectors, cables, control systems; academics and researchers with an interest in subsea power issues.
• Attending an In-Depth event builds a professional network amongst peers that will last a lifetime with opportunities to interact with senior executives, senior engineers, innovators, experienced professionals, and leading technologists.
• In-Depth sessions provide an excellent opportunity for early incubation of future trends and technologies.
• They offer an opportunity to establish a reputation throughout the industry that benefits both the individual and the company.

Benefits to You and Your Organisation

SUT ‘InDepth’ sessions allow you to:

• Gain insight and perspective through discussions and exchanges with peers that share similar interests and differing experiences.
• Meet with other experts from international companies, research institutes, and universities in a confidential environment.
• Form professional relationships that will continue beyond the summit.

 

Branch AGM & Life Extension Presentations

20 November 2013 Newcastle Evening Meeting

Chairman Dr Ian Frazer

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Jonathon Doyle, Senior Engineer, Atkins
At the end of design life, the operators of subsea equipment and pipelines face a choice between decommissioning or justifying the extension of the life of their assets. Factors such as commodity price, enhanced recovery techniques, and the economic viability of new infrastructure all contribute to the decision. In recent years Atkins has worked on a number of subsea and pipeline life extension projects, ranging from major infrastructure to small subsea tiebacks. Jonathon will discuss the motivations we have seen for life extension, the techniques that we have employed, and some of the challenges that we and our clients have experienced.

Life in the Old Dogs Yet—An Evaluations of the North Sea’s Remaining Petroleum Resources
Prof Jon Gluyas, Head of Department, Dong/Ikon Chair in Geoenergy Carbon Capture & Storage, Department of Earth Sciences, Durham University

In mid-1975 the Argyll Field became the first UK North Sea oilfield to produce oil. Seventeen years later in 1992 the then operator deemed life was over for this modest sized field and the expectation was that many more fields would follow suit. Indeed by the turn of the millennium it was anticipated that many of the large fields in the North Sea would be abandoned, the expected 30-35% yield factor of oil would have been met. Yet today in 2013 very few fields have been abandoned and many continue to produce oil economical albeit with reduced rate. Professor Gluyas will discuss some of the more likely enhanced oil recovery methods – those which modify the properties of the connate water or the viscosity of the oil and will also examine reservoir contributions to OPEX reduction by examining the value in co-produced fluids.

The sky is not the limit but there are good technical reasons to believe tertiary recovery could add 10% to the ultimate yield of oil in the UK.

 

 

Post-Macondo

22 May 2013 Newcastle Evening Meeting

Chairman Dr. Malcolm Storey, Director, Worldwide Business Portfolios Ltd

 

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Overview

The Macondo Blowout caught the media attention because ‘Public opinion matters’. What this illustrates is that ‘High-Technology businesses are about much more than just the nuts and bolts’; that they are not immune from a worldview.

Yet, it is proper to ask searching quetions about the industry’s strategic awareness, and to cement the answers into practice, because the outcomes reflect the Global Oil Industry and, especially, the Subsea Sector.

This event used Post-Macondo to consider the levels of technology and the perceptions pertaining to the contemporary Oil and Gas industry.

Presentations

Design of the Marine Well Containment System

Dr. Alan Dobson, Research and Development Manager, Technip Umbilical Systems

In response to the significant risks highlighted by the Macondo incident several rapid deployment containment systems are being developed by various consortia. This presentation covered the system developed for installation in water depths up to 3000m and it will provide an overview of the system, its operation and the technology.

 

Perceptions on the British Oil and Gas Industry

Trisha O’Reilly, Communications Director, Oil and Gas UK

Oil and Gas UK’s ‘Industry Awareness’ campaign seeks to shift public perceptions that the British Oil and Gas Sector is a sunset business. It concerns efforts to improve public opinion about the contribution this Industry makes to the domestic economy because, if allowed to persist, the effects will be damaging. The initiative seeks to transform those perceptions for the better.