The 2022 Offshore Technology Conference is pleased to announce the recipients of the 2022 Distinguished Achievement Awards. This year, the conference recognizes Drew Michel for individual achievement, Shell’s Appomattox Project for institutional achievement, and Roland Moreau for the Heritage Award.
Recipients will be honored during the OTC Distinguished Achievement Awards Event Reception on 1 May at the NRG Center located in Houston.
OTC Distinguished Achievement Award for Individuals
Drew Michel will be honored with the Distinguished Achievement Award for Individuals for his pioneering work on improving diver safety, the development and advancement of commercial remotely operated vehicles (ROV) and encouraging the next generation to study science and math and pursue careers in marine technology.
As the owner of ROV Technologies Inc. for nearly 3 decades, including through a major acquisition, Michel was instrumental in the early design, development, and operations of commercial ROV systems and the technologies’ acceptance by the offshore energy industry.
Prior to ROV Technologies, he worked for 2 decades at Taylor Diving and Salvage, a Halliburton company, becoming the youngest person at the time to hold the title of vice president of a Halliburton company.
Michel’s passionate support for educators and the future workforce knows no bounds. As the co-founder of the Marine Technology Education ROV competition, a global program that over the last 21 years has touched the lives of more than 25,000 students, 10,000 teachers and mentors from over 30 different countries.
OTC Distinguished Achievement Award for Companies, Organizations, and Institutions
Shell will be presented the OTC Distinguished Achievement Award in recognition of its Appomattox Project in the Gulf of Mexico (GOM), Shell’s largest and most complex deepwater megaproject to date. Appomattox started production in May 2019—4 months ahead of schedule—and its 40-year design life provides modern and efficient infrastructure for the safe and sustainable delivery of energy to the US.
Appomattox is the result of hundreds of companies that came together to align on common goals related to safety, care for people, cost, and schedule. The Appomattox project resulted in arguably Shell’s best-ever project cost and schedule performance to responsibly unlock new resources through efficient new infrastructure,
In addition to maximizing production, Appomattox developed new technology to minimize its environmental footprint. A combined-cycle power- generation system reduced greenhouse-gas emissions by 30%, and the use of cold seawater from 600 m below the surface shrunk the cooling system by 40% compared to established designs. These technologies made it possible for the project to avoid impact to marine life in the shallower, warmer waters of the GOM.
OTC Heritage Award
The Heritage award will be presented to Roland Moreau for his leadership in advocating for the gathering and analyzing of safety data and sharing learnings from operations in the GOM to improve industry safety.
Moreau’s nearly 4 decades of experience, extensive network, and effective recruiting skills have also contributed to enhancing the communications and bridging the knowledge gap between the offshore oil industry and government bodies such as the US Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement and the US Department of Transportation’s Bureau of Transportation Statistics regarding their health, safety, and environmental (HSE) offshore programs.
Throughout his career at ExxonMobil, Macrosys, United Nuclear, and Ragen Precision Industries, Moreau has shown lifelong outstanding leadership and a passionate commitment to the continuous improvement of safety in the offshore industry.
He served as a president of the American Institute of Mining Engineers as well as VP of Finance and Technical Director of HSE for the Society of Petroleum Engineers. He also serves on the Gulf Research Program’s Gulf Offshore Energy Safety and United Engineering Foundation boards. While serving in these senior leadership positions, Moreau has been a staunch supporter of OTC, promoting and participating in various conferences and activities.
Founded in 1969, OTC 2022 will reunite industry leaders and professionals at the world’s premiere event for global sharing of technology, expertise, products, and best practices that address current and future industry conditions. The conference will be held 2–5 May 2022.