For the first time, ATC incorporated the Arctic Technology Distinguished Achievement Awards into its conference program in Copenhagen in March 2015. Modeled after the prestigious Offshore Technology Conference (OTC) Distinguished Achievement Awards, they honor an Individual and a Company/Organization or Institution for their major technological, humanitarian, environmental and leadership contributions to the Arctic industry.
In 2015, ATC recognized Dan Masterson for Individual Achievement, and the Chukchi Sea Environmental Studies Program and its supporting entities—Olgoonik-Fairweather, ConocoPhillips, Shell and Statoil—for the Companies’ Achievement.
ATC has announced its 2016 Distinguished Achievement Award honorees for the Individual and the Companies, Organizations and Institutions Categories. Awardees were unanimously selected by the ATC 2016 Awards Committee, led by ATC Oversight Committee Chairman Brian Miller and OTC Board Member Norman Carnahan. ATC will recognize Göran Wilkman for Individual Achievement and the 2015 Shell Alaska Exploration Program for Companies honors. The recipients will be recognized during the ATC 2016 Distinguished Achievement Awards Luncheon on Tuesday during ATC.
Göran Wilkman
ATC Distinguished Achievement Award for Individuals
Since 1973 Göran Wilkman has been involved in all fields of the development of activities and solutions for ice-prone waters including; vessel development, Arctic and Antarctic field expeditions, operational, technical and economical consultations as well as testing of solutions both in model scale and full scale conditions.
Wilkman’s work has contributed to a number of significant developments including year round Arctic marine transport in the Pechora and Kara Seas, and the development of shallow draft icebreakers for Arctic and sub-Arctic operations.
Göran has been generous in sharing the knowledge he has gained throughout his career by publishing widely in international journals and giving presentations in many international maritime conferences. Further Wilkman has been an active supporter of ATC having prepared and published a number of papers and is a former member of the SNAME-ATC 2015 program sub-committee.
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Shell Alaska Exploration Program
ATC Distinguished Achievement Award for Companies, Organizations or Institutions
The 2015 Shell Alaska Exploration Program drilled the first exploratory well in the Chukchi Sea in 25 years and overcame many obstacles and uncertainties, including challenging and changing regulatory requirements, a remote harsh environment with a limited working window, and strong stakeholder interest and influence. A historic partnership was built with the regional and village native corporations that evolved into the Arctic Inupiat Offshore (AIO) organization. This took several years of significant engagement and collaboration including scientific data collection, innovation and most importantly - listening to the local community concerns. The data from this program has been donated to credible custodians to establish critical baselines for future development. Shell sought alignment on offshore exploration and development while valuing native subsistence usage, the environment, communities and local economies.
2015 operations in the Arctic addressed learnings from incidents to create a culture of “Operating Exceptionally Well” and to successfully drill an exploration well during a single season. Shell utilized robust planning, response capability and mobilization of the necessary infrastructure to receive approval to drill in the Arctic and safely complete the program in 2015. The program addressed the current day expectations of regulators and was praised by AIO, who joined Shell as a partner in promoting the safe development of the Arctic.
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