He survived the Piper Alpha disaster, campaigned tirelessly for many years to improve safety in the North Sea and now former offshore worker Steve Rae has been honoured for his significant contribution to the oil and gas industry.
The well-deserved accolade came at tonight’s Offshore Achievement Awards (OAAs) at P&J Live in Aberdeen.
Mr Rae, 61, is one of the most well-kent faces in the north-east energy sector.
Since 2018, he has been chairman of the Pound for Piper Memorial Trust to raise funds to maintain the Piper Alpha memorial gardens in Aberdeen
He leads a memorial service at the site in Hazlehead Park every year.
His work was recognised by Aberdeen City Council in 2020, when he was formally recognised as one of the cities “everyday heroes”. He is also a Burgess of Aberdeen.
Life-changing event in North Sea
The event that changed his life in so many ways, compelling him to focus much of his time and energy on safety standards in the oil and gas sector, occurred on July 6 1988.
He was one of 61 workers to survive the Piper Alpha tragedy about 125 miles from Aberdeen. The platform exploded, killing 167 men and changing the industry forever.
Mr Rae jumped into the North Sea from a height of 68ft to escape the blazing installation, even though the sea’s surface was also afire with blazing oil.
Having survived the horrific incident, Mr Rae has strived hard throughout his life to ensure key lessons are learned to try to prevent such a disaster ever happening again.
The former Northfield Academy pupil, North East Scotland College student and Robert Gordon University graduate has held several senior roles during his oil and gas career.
In 2013 he received a prestigious award for services to the drilling industry.
He and his wife, Maryann now run Aberdeen-based safety consultancy Fortitude – Action Beyond Compliance.
Mr Rae is a former chairman of the North Sea chapter of the International Association of Drilling Contractors.
He remains on the board at member-led organisation Step Change in Safety, despite having stepped down as executive director last autumn. Craig Wiggins now has that role.
High praise at the OAAs
The OAAs are organised annually by the Aberdeen branch of the Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE) and are the longest running awards of their type for the industry.
Welcoming Mr Rae on stage to receive his award, Clara Altobell, vice-president, ESG and business innovation, Serica Energy, said the Piper Alpha survivor had been “relentless in his approach to achieve an incident-free workplace”.
He has done so through “personal mentorship, company leadership, trade association involvement and numerous voluntary activities to inspire and promote safety in the sector”, Ms Altobell added.
Mr Rae was also praised for his presentations on the lessons from Piper Alpha.
“His talk should be mandatory for all those working in our industry and is the most impactful training experience I have had in my 20 years in industry”, Ms Altobell said.
Around 430 guests celebrated the exceptional achievements and outstanding performance of companies and individuals in the offshore energy industry at the black-tie ceremony,
The event was hosted by broadcaster, presenter and professionally trained opera singer Wynne Evans.
The 2024 award winners are:
- Pre-commercial deployment technology – Mocean Energy
- Post-commercial deployment technology – Sentinel Subsea
- Transformational technology Award – Balmoral Group
- Collaboration project – The Wellgear Group
- Sustainability project – Peterson Energy Logistics
- Skills development – Score Group
- Young professional – Fraser Stewart, JFD Global
- Exceptional small or medium-sized enterprise/founder – Wellvene
- Diversity and inclusion – Dushant Sharma, BP
- Significant contribution – Steve Rae
Highly commended certificates were awarded to Clear Well Technology, Bumi Armada, X Academy and J&S Subsea.
OAA’s chairman Graham Dallas said: “Congratulations to our 2024 award winners and finalists.
“We received record entries this year, so all the finalists and winners should be proud to be recognised within this extended pool of talent.
“As a result of the entries, it has also been wonderful to take stock of the incredible innovations and progress the sector has made as we also celebrate SPE Aberdeen’s 50th year.”
Ian Mills, managing director of awards sponsor Exceed, said: “I’ve been encouraged by the sheer number of entries submitted and hugely impressed by their innovation and answers to the various challenges thrown up by the world we live in right now.
“I commend all the finalists and am exceptionally pleased to offer my congratulations to the worthy winners of each category.”
And Murdo MacLeod, UK managing director of awards sponsor Wellgear said: ““The quality of entries and in particular the finalists and eventual winner of the young professionals category paint a positive picture for our industry’s future.]
“They all embody the potential for outstanding, varied and meaningful careers our industry provides, which is so critical to future energy development and security.”
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