Petrobras CEO presented with SPE Distinguished Award

RIO DE JANEIRO -- Petrobras’ CEO, Maria das Graças Silva Foster, has been presented with the highest award granted by the Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE).

SPE Distinguished Lifetime Achievement Awards are given to people who have made an exceptional contribution to the global oil and gas industry. This is the first time that a Brazilian professional has received this honor.

The trophy was handed over during a celebratory lunch at Petrobras’ head office in Rio de Janeiro on Jan. 30.

The CEO received the award from Anelise Quintão Lara, the company’s executive manager for the Libra area, who represented Foster at the SPE awards ceremony, held in Amsterdam on Oct. 28.

"Receiving this award from SPE, made up of engineers and icons of the global oil industry, is very emotional for me. Knowing that this very respected entity’s board recognized the time, effort and dedication I have given the industry throughout my professional life is extremely rewarding," Foster said to the guests present.

The CEO also stressed to those present that, despite the difficult moment, Petrobras’ operational results in 2014 were exceptional.

“On December 22 we broke our production record: Petrobras’ daily oil production, as producer and operator, was 2.3 MMbbl. On that day we produced 3 MMboe. In the pre-salt alone, we are already producing more than 700,000 bopd. This is just eight years since the discovery: it’s a milestone in the global deepwater exploration and production industry,” said the executive, who dedicated her award to Petrobras’ former director of E&P, Guilherme Estrella, who was present at the event.

When handing over the trophy to Graça Foster, Anelise Lara recalled that this is the only award that can only be chosen by SPE’s board, selecting outstanding professionals who are considered leaders in the industry.

“The awards ceremony took place in Amsterdam, but unfortunately Graça was unable to attend. As a result, we decided to hold his lunch here in Brazil to officially hand over the trophy,” said Anelise.

She noted that the Petrobras Research Center (Cenpes) Wells area became a global leader when Graça Foster was at its helm, and she highlighted the CEO’s work in creating the company’s network of excellence in well engineering technology, known as Retep, which has served as an example for other technology networks subsequently developed at Petrobras with the participation of universities and research centers in Brazil and other countries.