MAATS Tech has been named subsea company of the year and David Bruton, Director Subsea at Crondall Energy, was recognised for his outstanding contribution to the industry at the Subsea Expo Awards last night (Wednesday 23rd February).
Organised by the Global Underwater Hub (GUH), the awards celebrate the achievements of companies and individuals in the UK underwater industry during Subsea Expo – the world’s leading annual subsea exhibition and conference.
The gala dinner, hosted by Neil Gordon, chief executive of the GUH, and sponsored by Vaarst with drinks reception sponsored by Subsea 7, took place at P&J Live in Aberdeen with 400 people from the underwater industry in attendance.
MAATS Tech won the prestigious Company of the Year award, which was sponsored by Viper Innovations. The company has more than 30 years’ experience, specialising in turnkey cable, umbilical and flex lay systems. MAATS Tech supplies turnkey, reliable solutions for a wide spectrum of requirements, pushing engineering boundaries to create tailored, progressive answers to challenging conditions.
David Bruton, a chartered engineer with more than 40 years’ experience as a specialist in pipelines and associated facilities in oil and gas, was honoured for his contribution to the industry. Throughout his career, which began with bp in 1980, he has been involved in developing new technology for a wide variety of projects. In 2011, he used his expertise to co-found CES (Crondall Energy Subsea), a consultancy team with extensive experience in challenging pipeline design and operational monitoring. He has authored, or co-authored, 36 technical papers and holds six patents on transoceanic fibreoptic gathering facilities, based on pipeline technology.
Basingstoke-based Aquatec Group was named Best Small Company. The company creates instruments, services and solutions for measurement, monitoring and communication underwater for all water environments across a number of sectors.
Verlume received the Innovation & Technology award, which was sponsored by Piper Sandler, with the Cross Sector Innovation award, sponsored by Havfram UK, going to DCN Diving.
STATS Group was the winner of the Global Exports Award sponsored by Scottish Development International with the Innovation in Safety award going to DeepOcean.
The Emerging Talent award was presented to Edris Joonaki, Fluid Properties Expert and Technical Lead at TÜV SÜD National Engineering Laboratory. Edris is responsible for addressing different flow assurance and metering challenges in a range of sectors including oil and gas, hydrogen economy systems and the CCS value chain. His research projects have won several research funds and UK and international awards, and he is lead-author on a number of publications.
Neil Gordon, chief executive of the Global Underwater Hub, commented: “The calibre of the finalists and winners for this year’s awards was testimony to the outstanding innovation, technology, talent and leadership which continued across the industry despite the challenges created by the pandemic over the past two years.
“It was fantastic to be able to celebrate those achievements and successes in person at what is one of the first major events to take place since restrictions eased. What was clear too, was the growing emphasis on cross-sector collaboration which highlighted the opportunities that have arisen, and are being grasped, in alternative markets and sectors.
“This appetite for diversification and the ingenuity which has grown with it, is evident right across the underwater industry. There’s a renewed sense of optimism and an excitement about what lies ahead with an unprecedented scale of global opportunities in both energy transition and the wider blue economy.”
Full list of winners:
Company of the Year (Sponsored by Viper Innovations): MAATS Tech
Best Small Company: Aquatec Group
Global Exports Award (Sponsored by Scottish Development International): STATS Group
Innovation and Technology (Sponsored by Piper Sandler): Verlume
Cross Sector Innovation (Sponsored by Havfram UK): DCN Diving
Innovation for Safety: Deep Ocean
Emerging Talent: Edris Joonaki, TÜV SÜD National Engineering Laboratory
Outstanding Contribution (Sponsored by the Global Underwater Hub): David Bruton, Crondall Energy