2021 World Oil Awards winners honored at live Houston gala
HOUSTON — The 2021 World Oil Awards on Thursday evening (Oct. 14) recognized the upstream oil and gas industry’s leading innovations and thought leaders, in a return to the traditional in-person evening event, held at The Houstonian hotel. The evening took on additional significance, as this was the 20th year for the annual event, which was also streamed live online. A packed house saw the best technical innovation that the industry has to offer, including items geared to the digital transformation and sustainability.
Honorees received awards in 18 categories, encompassing the full breadth of the upstream industry, from exploration, to drilling, completions and production, as well as safety and sustainability. Today’s innovations, many of which would have seemed improbable a generation ago, are enabling operators to find and produce hydrocarbons more safely, economically, and efficiently.
“Competition was fierce this year, as we received more than 295 nominations, from which 102 finalists emerged. This is a record number of nominations, so even being selected as a finalist is a huge achievement,” said Kurt Abraham, World Oil’s Editor-in-Chief and Chief Forecaster. “This year’s awards are also notable in that half of the winning technologies were decided by 1/10th of a point. That speaks to the high level of quality in the technologies nominated.”
A complete list of the categories and winners is as follows:
- Best Completion Technology Award – Dual-Fracturing Stimulation Service – Schlumberger
- Best Data Management & Application Solution Award – Advanced Rock Typing (ARTTM) - Core Laboratories
- Best Deepwater Technology Award – Subsea production increase via DRA - Safe Marine Transfer, LLC
- Best Digital Transformation Award – First CCUS and EOR Intelligent Field Project - Saudi Aramco
- Best Drilling Technology Award – “Indestructible” Drill Bit Cutter Technology – Saudi Aramco
- Best EOR Technology Award – AquaCUT Relative Permeability Modifier – Baker Hughes
- Best Exploration Technology Award – Deep Transient Testing on Wireline – Schlumberger
- Best Health, Safety, Environment/Sustainable Development - Offshore Award – A Novel IoT-based Method for Real-time Detection of Spontaneous Leaks in Pipelines, Gathering Systems, and Offshore Risers – Siemens Energy
- Best Health, Safety, Environment/Sustainable Development - Onshore Award – Beyond Zero Routine Flaring – Saudi Aramco
- Best Oilfield Fluids and Chemicals Award – VeraTherm High-Temperature Water-Based Drilling Fluid – Schlumberger
- Best Outreach Program – Women’s Energy Network Houston
- Best Production Technology Award – iProduction - TechnipFMC
- Best Water Management Technology Award – Field-Scale Acoustic Oil-Water-Fines Separation for Sustainable Produced Water Management – Saudi Aramco
- Best Well Integrity Technology Award – Dual String Barrier Evaluation – Schlumberger & Equinor
- Best Well Intervention Technology Award – reSOLVE iX Service Slot Cutter – Schlumberger
- Innovative Thinker Award – Dr. Guodong "David" Zhan – Saudi Aramco
- New Horizons Idea Award – Fiber-Optic Borehole Seismic Acquisition – Schlumberger
- Lifetime Achievement Award – Dr. Donald Paul – The University of Southern California
Some of these technologies will be appearing in future technical articles in World Oil over the next 12 months, as they are implemented more widely by the industry.
The 2021 World Oil Awards were generously sponsored by Schlumberger, Saudi Aramco, Baker Hughes, Halliburton, TechnipFMC, Mako Rentals, Eddie V’s, and Tudor Pickering & Holt.
Additional information on the World Oil Awards program can be found at www.WorldOil.com/Awards.
