November 2016, Vol. 243, No. 11

Features

IPLOCA’s 50th Anniversary Convention – Paris

By Cleve Hogarth, Publisher
The Board of Directors, (left to right). Front row: Jan Koop, Atul Punj, Andrew Ball, Rubén Kuri, Mesut Sahin and Juan Arzuaga; second row: Doug Fabick, Jean Claude Van de Wiele, Georges Hage, Ma Chunqing, Oliviero Corvi, Bruno Guy de Chamisso and Alexander Kolikov; third row: Adam Wynne Hughes, Brian Laing, Scot Fluharty, Bruno Maerten, John Tikkanen, Mark Barrows, Iosif Panchak and Steve Sumner; Back row: Albert Zakhem, Bill Partington, Bill Solomon, Fatih Can and Aqeel Madhi.

The IPLOCA Convention is an annual gathering of the leading global players in the pipeline construction industry. It takes place over five days and registration is restricted to IPLOCA regular members, associate members, corresponding members, academic members, honorary members, media partners and guests of IPLOCA.

This 50th Anniversary Convention, attended by 600 participants from 33 countries, was the first one to be held in Paris, the city where the association was established on June 20, 1966 as the International Division of the Pipeline Contractors Association of the U.S.A.

The open general meetings held Thursday and Friday featured presentations on a wide variety of subjects including the challenges and the lessons learned from two major gas pipelines in Europe and Mexico, an overview of global economic conditions, an update on the business trends in the international upstream sector, case studies for success or failure of operator and contractor alliance use, and delivery of economic benefits for future generations through pipeline mega-projects.

The opening speaker shared her perspective of the changing face of Paris through 2,000 years of architecture.

Members attended the annual general meeting consisting of the president’s year in review, the treasurer’s report on the status of IPLOCA’s accounts and the incoming president’s objectives for the year. The results of the 2016-17 Board of Directors elections were also ratified.

During the event, three industry awards were presented:

• The IPLOCA Health & Safety Award, sponsored by Chevron, went to Max Streicher GmbH & Co. KG aA, represented by Giovanni Muriana, in recognition of the company’s Low Jump, High Risk! – The Jump Scales Initiative.

• The IPLOCA Environmental Award, sponsored by Shell, was awarded to to Consolidated Contractors Group S.A.L., represented by Rashid Shuhaiber, for the company’s Portable Green Technologies.

• The new IPLOCA Excellence in Project Execution Award went to McConnell Dowell Group Limited, represented by Rodney Blackwell, for its Fourth Transmission Pipeline, Stage 2, a complex, fast-tracked project completed in a challenging, densely populated environment.

Next year’s convention will be held in Mexico City from Sept. 25-29.

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