Yemisi Izuora
Shell Companies in Nigeria have won the most coveted Best Exhibitor and eight other awards at the 2019 Nigeria annual international conference and exhibition of the Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE) held in Lagos recently.
This is coming barely a month after winning the Excellence Award, the highest industry recognition at the Nigeria Oil and Gas annual conference in Abuja.
Shell had also won the Best Exhibitor award in the 2016 and 2018 editions of the SPE conference including other industry individual leadership trophies won by staff of the companies.
Shell exhibition combined illustrative and educative posters with learning sessions for young and student engineers and free medical services for conference participants where hundreds of persons received medical checks and drugs.
The SPE International President, Sami Alnuaim and the outgoing Chairman of the Nigeria Council of SPE, Debo Fagbami who made a joint presentation of the award described Shell as a leading light in the oil and gas industry providing direction and support particularly to indigenous companies in the industry.
Country Chair of SCiN and Managing Director, The Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Limited, Osagie Okunbor and the Managing Director, Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company, Bayo Ojulari received the award on behalf of Shell companies.
Okunbor described the award as a reward for consistent excellence and diligence displayed by the hardworking staff of Shell in Nigeria adding that Shell companies would continue to invest in industry growth, new technologies and professional development and affiliation of its workforce. “We recognise that being an industry leader puts on us enormous responsibility and we have continued to rethink and reshape our strategies in a manner that brings optimal value to Nigeria, our partners and the local service industry.”
According Okunbor, Shell companies are up-to-date on the conference theme of ‘Artificial Intelligence, Big Data and Mobile Technology: Changing the Future of the Energy Industry. “We are leaders in deploying artificial intelligence and are using it in areas ranging from seismic analysis to drilling and predictive maintenance because we know that digitalisation has a big role in delivering all of Shell’s strategic goals.”
A Shell Nigeria team of engineers led by Ogochukwu Benheogor won the Best Technical Paper award at the conference while Elisha Ezekiel-Hart won the technical award for projects, facilities and construction. Other winners were Okenufowo Ojonah (Formation Evaluation) and Erasmus John Nnanna (Regional Production and operations). Stella Egwim Ogbodu won the Regional Director’s Recognition Award while Oghogho Effiom received the Award for Regional Service.
Earlier in the year, Shell companies in Nigeria emerged the international oil company with the most impactful local content initiatives in the upstream category at the 2019 edition of the Nigerian Oil and Gas Opportunity Fair organised by the country’s local content regulator, Nigeria Content Development and Monitoring Board. The companies were also named the Local Content Operator of the Year at the 2019 Annual Oil Industry Achievement Awards by the Petroleum Technology Association of Nigeria (PETAN).