Monday 15 December 2008

Common Data Access Welcomes New Chairperson

Common Data Access Limited (CDA), which provides data management services to the UK oil and gas industry, has appointed Christine McKay as its new council chairperson and director to the CDA board.

Her appointment follows the resignation of Isobel Emslie who steps down from the post after 15 years of exemplary commitment to CDA.

Christine McKay is currently Maersk Oil's UK subsurface information manager. After working on the acquisition and processing of seismic data in the UK and Holland for Geophysical Service Inc., she joined Shell's data management practice in 1987. Christine then moved to Stavanger and spent the following six years working on the PetroBank development project and implementation of the DISKOS shared data repository, before returning to Aberdeen.

Christine McKay said: "I am delighted to be taking up the chair of CDA's council at a time when the provision of data management services can materially improve the efficiency of operations on the UK continental shelf (UKCS) and raise the basins competitiveness."

The role that CDA plays in collating and maintaining well data is particularly important in an extensively drilled basin such as the UKCS. Whereas an area might have been deemed too technically challenging due to lack of information or too expensive to warrant further activity twenty years ago, a fast-changing commercial environment and advances in technology are increasingly stimulating companies to re-visit those prospects now. CDA helps the oil and gas industry to avoid duplicating work and hence reduce the cost of exploring for new oil and gas reserves.

Malcolm Fleming, CDA's chief executive, took the opportunity to thank the outgoing chair: "Isobel was one of the original architects of CDA back in 1993.  Her energy, passion and sustained commitment has contributed to CDA's success while her enthusiasm and extensive data management knowledge will be missed enormously by the CDA council. Isobel's support and sound judgement will also be a considerable personal loss to me, my colleagues in the CDA management team and on the CDA board of directors." 

Mr Fleming continued: "Christine McKay possesses many years of experience in oil and gas data management and I am delighted that she has agreed to be the new chair of our council. The industry faces challenging times but they will be full of opportunity for CDA."

ENDS

NOTES TO EDITORS

1. Common Data Access is a not-for-profit subsidiary of Oil & Gas UK, set up in 1994 to provide data management services to its members and to the UK oil industry in general.
2. Oil & Gas UK is the leading representative organisation for the UK offshore oil and gas industry.  Its members are companies licensed by the Government to explore for and produce oil and gas in UK waters and those who form any part of the industry's supply chain.

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