Thanks for Joining Us at IADC's Annual General Meeting!

Thanks for Joining Us at IADC’s Annual General Meeting!

9 November 2022

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At IADC headquarters in Houston, the fall is a wonderful time of year for multiple reasons. This season brings slightly cooler weather (well, that depends on the day), Astros games (GO, ‘STROS!), and our Annual General Meeting (AGM). This year, AGM was held at The Ritz-Carlton in New Orleans from 2-4 November. This conference creates an air of excitement accompanied by warm familiarity, and this year was no different.

Attendees gathered from far and wide to convene with their fellow drilling contractors. Jason McFarland, IADC President, said it best in his welcoming remarks for the conference,

“I look forward to our Annual General Meeting every year. This event provides us with an opportunity to come together and celebrate our collective successes, share ideas, socialize with dear friends and colleagues, and build foundations for new connections.”

This year there were 300+ attendees who had the opportunity to build their networks, gain and share insights, and have an all-around great time. AGM included a variety of presentations covering everything from developing personnel and the state of the insurance market to Washington DC updates and offshore observations from the regulators’ perspective.

Subodh Saxena, Senior Vice President – Nabors Drilling Solutions, attended the conference and participated in one of the panels. According to Saxena,

“The IADC Annual General Meeting serves as an excellent opportunity to gather as an industry to celebrate our successes and learn from our challenges. I really enjoyed presenting on the Driller’s Outlook panel.”

Many young professionals were present at this year’s AGM. IADC offered all drilling contractors the opportunity to comp registration costs for one young professional from each company. This year, 9 companies utilized that opportunity. Young professional Stephen Foster, HSE Coordinator – Scandrill, attended AGM for the first time. In fact, this was his first industry conference. He shared his insights:

“I absolutely enjoyed it. It felt beneficial for me, both personally and professionally, to see all the different aspects that go into our industry as a whole. You don’t always get to see the bigger picture from the rig floor – getting to see different perspectives and points of view in the industry was really eye opening. On a more personal level, it was inspiring seeing people who started where I started, roughnecking, who worked their way up to be influential – not only in their respective companies, but in the oil and gas industry in general. Also, every keynote speaker brought HSE into the conversation at some point. This reiterated what I already knew and deepened my belief about how important HSE is to the industry.”

IADC Student Chapters were also well represented at AGM. IADC sponsored a total of 26 students to attend:

University of Texas at Austin – 5 delegates
Marietta College – 4 delegates
Louisiana State University – 2 delegates
Lone Star College – 3 delegates
Missouri University for Science & Technology – 5 delegates
Texas A&M – 3 delegates
University of Wyoming – 4 delegates

David “D.J.” LaRosa, Chairman of the IADC Marietta College Student Chapter, shared his experience:

“My first AGM conference was a first class experience. I felt it provided real opportunities for students to network in a realistic professional environment. Everyone at the conference, from the CEOs to the young professionals, were very welcoming and willing to provide help in any way that they could. My favorite part of the conference was the networking – not only with professionals already working in industry, but our peers at other educational institutions. We were able to make connections with our parent’s generations and our own generation which, in my opinion, is a rare experience to get in college. I whole heartedly believe that the conference benefitted my future career. I have more business cards from this conference than every conference I have attended in college combined. I feel like I made real connections with people that could last a lifetime.”

At the conference, a number of awards were presented. Exemplary Service Awards (ESAs) recognize individuals for their outstanding contributions to IADC and their commitment to improving and advancing safety, training, and technology throughout the industry. This year’s ESA recipients were Sarah Kern, Senior Industry Affairs Specialist – Helmerich & Payne IDC, and Nathan Moralez, Senior Rig Automation Engineer – BP.

The IADC Contractor of the Year award was established in 1988 to recognize individual drilling contractors and their outstanding lifetime achievements in technical innovation, safety, and economic efficiency within the drilling industry. Sponsored by National Oilwell Varco, the award is the only one in the industry reserved solely for drilling contractors. All recipients are nominated and selected by IADC Drilling Contractor members.

The 2022 IADC Contractor of the Year recipient was Paul Mosvold, President and COO – Scandrill.

Congratulations to Sarah, Nathan, and Paul! Thank you for your continuous dedication and significant contributions to the industry.

A big thank you to everyone who made 2022 AGM possible — attendees, presenters, panelists, students, program committee members, conference staff, and staff at The Ritz-Carlton.

We can’t wait to gather everyone together again for 2023 AGM in Austin, TX!