Officials Gear Up For Second Annual Oil & Gas Awards

After a successful first year of the Oil & Gas Awards, officials are gearing up for the second annual awards that kick off in October.

“They met our expectations and probably exceeded the market’s expectations,” said Daniel Creasey, chairman and CEO of the Oil & Gas Awards. “For me, who has been involved in a lot of huge awards and have seen awards grow, I expect them to be much, much bigger this year.”

Creasey, Oliver Bridgen, chief operating officer, and Marc Bridgen, chief marketing officer, launched the awards in 2012.

“These awards are a platform for the industry to recognize the outstanding achievements taking place on an annual basis (in the oil and gas industries),” Creasey says. “We have three core values that are interwoven into all the categories and those are health and safety, environmental stewardship and corporate social responsibility.”

Changing the perception

Creasey got the idea of starting the awards recognition program after working in North American Oil & Gas sector exhibitions and conferences.

“A regular topic of conversation was the negative media attention and poor public perception of an industry that is critical to the U.S. economy,” Creasey says. “The oil and gas industry can showcase its efforts to improve in areas of public interest through the awards.”

Creasey says the focus is to try and share the best practices being made by companies in the three values of the awards.

“We will communicate to the industry, not only who the winners are, but also explain why they are a winner and what made them worthy of recognition from our judging panel,” Creasey says.

Regional recognition

There are seven award ceremonies — one for each region — with 26 categories judged in each region. Those U.S. regions include: West Coast, Midcontinent, Rocky Mountain, Gulf Coast and Northeast and Southwest. Canada is also a separate region. The region boundaries are those used by the U.S. Energy Information Agency.

“It is a global initiative, which we’ve launched in North America due to the buoyancy of the market and we have plans in the coming months to launch in South America before moving on to Asia,” Creasey says.

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Creasey adds that with the way technology is developing in the U.S. for the oil and gas industry, that they can export the importance of adhering to best practices into global locations.

“The awards serve two purposes: The first is to help those organizations that have been successful and have been leaders in the U.S. to take their businesses overseas and secondly, to enable best practices to be shared both domestically and abroad throughout the industry,” he says.

Awards ceremony

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The first of the 2013 Oil & Gas Awards will take place on Oct. 22 for the Southwest region in Fort Worth, Texas.

Other dates for the remaining six regions are: Oct. 24 for the West Coast region in Bakersfield, Calif.; Oct. 29 for the Midcontinent region in Oklahoma City; March 11, 2014, for the Canada region in Calgary, Alberta; March 13, 2014, in the Rocky Mountain region in Denver; March 18, 2014, in the Gulf Coast region in Houston; and March 20, 2014, for the Northeast region in Pittsburgh.

“We entered a period of consultation with the market when we launched the awards for guidance on what categories need to be in place, how they should be judged and how best to execute this initiative,” Creasey says.

There are 26 categories that will be judged in each region, according to the Oil & Gas Awards. The categories include:

Construction Company of the Year
Corporate Consultancy of the Year
Corporate Social Responsibility Initiative of the Year
Drilling Company of the Year
E&P Company of the Year
Engineering Company of the Year
Environmental Initiative of the Year
Field Rehabilitation of the Year
Future Industry Leader
General Industry Service
Geophysical Company of the Year
Health and Safety Initiative of the Year
Industry Leader
Industry Supplier of the Year
Law Firm of the Year
Manufacturer of the Year
Midstream Company of the Year
Oilfield Service Company of the Year
Operational Consultancy of the Year
Recruitment Agency of the Year
Risk Management Provider of the Year
Terminal of the Year
Transaction of the Year
Trucking Company of the Year
Water Management Company of the Year
Well Completion Company of the Year

Companies can enter as many regions as they operate in, but nominations should relate to achievements within each specific regional area of the Oil & Gas Awards. Separate entries for each region are required. The awards are free to enter to any operator, service provider or supplier to the oil and gas industry.

The Canada, Gulf Coast, Northeast and Rocky Mountain regions are accepting entries until the end of November. The deadline for awards for the Midcontinent, Southwest and West Coast regions is Friday, Aug. 9.

Over 50 senior executives from E&P and midstream companies judge the awards across the six main oil-producing regions of North America.

“We have a number of media partnerships in place as well as a huge amount of guests that attend the awards,” Creasey says. Some of those guests include senior government officials.

What does the future hold?

Besides expanding into South America and eventually Asia, Creasey says the future of the Oil & Gas Awards will depend on industry trends. “It depends on what the market dictates,” he says. “We’ll do the awards to the best of our abilities, but it’s not for us to tell the market what it needs and how change is going to happen.

“The awards are led by the market to promote best practices and we endeavor to help our entrants do this. Put simply, we promote the good work they do.”

For more information on the awards or the categories to enter, visit www.oilandgasawards.com.

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