KCA DEUTAG director named 2008 IADC Contractor of the Year
The Contractor of the Year Award is the most prestigious award in the drilling industry, and the recipient is selected by IADC’s leadership for career contributions to the association and the drilling industry. Recipients must have demonstrated significant efforts to promote safety and technical innovation and economic efficiency.
Photo at left: John Deane, president of ReedHycalog, announces the 2008 IADC Contractor of the Year Award on 19 March 2008 in Houston.
The award, now in its 21st year, is sponsored by ReedHycalog. Every year the company donates a scholarship in the award recipient’s name to an educational organization of his choice. To date, ReedHycalog has donated more than $50,000 to various schools through the IADC Contractor of the Year Award, said John Deane, president of ReedHycalog.
This year, Mr Chur selected the Institute of Petroleum Engineering at the Technical University Clausthal in Germany as the recipient of the $7,500 scholarship.
Mr Chur received his master’s degree in petroleum and drilling engineering from the University of Clausthal in 1979. He then joined a Shell Exxon affiliate as a drilling engineer. In 1985 he was appointed operations manager and later technical director of the German government’s Continental Deep Drilling Programme. The project, also known as the KTB project, was a geoscientific research initiative to investigate physical and chemical processes in the deeper continental crust.
In 1995 Mr Chur joined DEUTAG, where he has since held several management positions. In 2001 he was appointed to the KCA DEUTAG board.
Photo at right: From left are Dr Lee Hunt, IADC president; 2008 IADC Contractor of the Year Claus Chur of KCA DEUTAG; and John Deane, president of ReedHycalog, which sponsored the award.
Today, as director technical services, he is responsible for the technical integrity of KCA DEUTAG’s rig fleet and group-wide supply management. He also serves as managing director of KCA DEUTAG Drilling GmbH, based in Bad Bentheim, Germany.
In addition to various positions with industry advisory committees and the Society of Petroleum Engineers, Mr Chur served as IADC chairman in 2006. He also is a charter member of the IADC Environmental Policy Advisory Committee.
Mr Chur thanked KCA DEUTAG, IADC and ReedHycalog in his acceptance speech. He also noted that although the Contractor of the Year Award recognizes “career contributions,” he is somewhat reluctant to accept it as a lifetime achievement award. “I still have some challenging and exciting plans and am still committed to deliver.”
