The Petrobras presalt development, Elmer (Bud) Danenberger III and Ray R. Ayers will be honored as recipients of the 2015 Offshore Technology Conference’s (OTC) Distinguished Achievement Awards, according to a news release.

Danenberger is set to receive the award for individual achievement, the Petrobras presalt development for corporate achievement and Ray R. Ayers with the Heritage Award.

The awards will be presented May 3 during the annual OTC dinner, which kicks off the conference.

Danenberger III will be honored for his contributions to offshore safety and environmental protection. Having a 38-year career with the U.S. Department of the Interior in the offshore oil and gas program, Danenberger initiated the MMS industry awards program and co-authored legislation leading to offshore renewable energy and alternate use authority, the OTC release said. Danenberger approved and monitored the first exploratory drilling in the North Atlantic and the first California development north of Point Conception. He also authored pioneering papers on the causes and occurrence rates for OCS oil spills and blowouts, which are still widely referenced today.

During his post-retirement consulting, he consulted with the National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and was one of the principal investigators for the Blowout Risk Assessment (BORA) Joint Industry Project, among other accomplishments, according to the release.

The OTC Distinguished Achievement Award for Companies, Organizations and Institutions will recognize Petrobras’ presalt development for its successful implementation of ultradeepwater solutions and setting new water depth records, OTC said in the release.

Petrobras increased its efforts in technology development to exploit this hard-to-access resource in waters up to 2,200 m (7,200 ft). By the end of 2014, Petrobras was producing more than 700,000 bbl/d of oil in the presalt layer of the Campos and Santos basins, the release said. Oil and gas production in this challenging environment demanded the development of different riser systems, which were successfully applied and are now available for the industry. Additionally, Petrobras achieved a significant reduction in the drilling and completion time for wells.

The Heritage Award will be presented to Ayers in recognition of his 50-plus years in offshore R&D contributions to the industry through joint-industry programs he formed at Shell and R&D work he performed for the Pipeline Research Council International, DeepStar, the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement, and Research Partnerships to Secure Energy for America, the release said.

Early in his career, Ayers led a number of significant developments, including testing of techniques to measure and arrest buckles in offshore pipelines, and performing the first wave tank testing of oil spill clean-up on water, which formed the basis for the design of current-day booms and skimmers. He later led programs to make deepwater fiber rope mooring systems safer and more cost-effective, and he formed the DW RUPE Pipeline and HP/HT Flowline repair projects to improve environmental safety, according to OTC.

Ayers has been awarded 49 patents and has received numerous other technical and leadership awards, including one from the American Gas Association for Engineer of the Year, according to the release.

OTC officials also announced the Distinguished Achievement Award Program is expanding to the Arctic Technology Conference and OTC Brasil in 2015. The call for nominations is open for OTC Brasil. An individual and organization could receive this award based on their technological, humanitarian, environmental, and leadership contributions to the industry. The deadline for nominations is March 15, 2015. Visit www.otcbrasil.org for details.