As the first forum on maximising economic recovery (MER) from the North Sea gets underway in Aberdeen today, the Oil and Gas Authority (OGA) has announced the new chiefs for its MER task force groups.
Bill Dunnett (left) managing director of Repsol Sinopec, takes over as chairman of the Technology Leadership Board from Paul White, managing director of Baker Hughes GE:
Nick Terrell (left) managing director, Azinor Catalyst, becomes the new chairman of the Exploration Task Force, succeeding Phil Kirk, CEO at Chrysoar, and:
Jon Graham (left) managing director, Apache North Sea, will chair the Asset Stewardship Task Force, superceding Ray Riddoch, managing director of Nexen.
The MER UK Forum brings together government, industry and the OGA with the objective of maximising the economic recovery of North Sea oil and gas.
The new chairmen sit on the MER Steering Group which oversees six task forces which work on the following priority areas – technology, exploration, asset stewardship, decommissioning, efficiency and supply chain and exports.
Terrell commented: “As the industry starts to recover from the recent downturn, the continued revitalisation of N. Sea exploration is fundamental to the longevity of our world class basin.
“I look forward to working with all Task Force members to help drive exploration activity forward and attract the investment capital that it deserves.”

Meanwhile, Aberdeen-based Churchill Drilling Tools, is enjoying ‘growing demand – despite the global reduction in drilling operations – for its specialist tools and, in particular, its flagship product, the dart activated DAV MX™ CircSub.
Chief executive Mike Churchill said yesterday that demand for the DAV MX™ CircSub reached new highs in 2017 with the drill being used in more campaigns and across more applications than ever before.
26 Jan 2018