News

September 2008

Helix RDS Limited support Macmillan

Staff at Helix RDS Limited, Aberdeen, have voted to support the MacMillan Cancer Support for the next 12 months. To kick off the fund raising staff raised nearly £500 at a coffee morning held on Friday 26 September at their Aberdeen and London offices. Staff from the two offices got together via video conference and raised money with raffles for luxury hampers, ‘Guess the number of Coffee Beans’ competitions, sales of greeting cards and the sale of wonderful home bakes that people brought in.

John Harris, Managing Director, Helix RDS, “Helix RDS are delighted to be involved in such a worthy cause. Both staff and management are fully supportive of this charity and more money raising events are planned over the forthcoming year.”

Macmillan improves the lives of people affected by cancer locally. They provide practical, medical, emotional and financial support and push for better cancer care. Katie Smart, Fundraising Manager for Aberdeen said “We are delighted to be chosen as Helix RDS’ charity partnership. The team have already worked hard fundraising at the coffee morning and we have got a lot more exciting activities planned. Having a partnership with such a high profile company will allow Macmillan to reach more people and get one step closer to achieving its aim of reaching and improving the lives of everyone affected by cancer by 2010. The employees have been really supportive and we are looking forward to working with them over the next year.”

June 2008

Helix RDS Alumni Get-together

The first get together of the Helix RDS Alumni took place in Aberdeen on the 4 June at Mannofield Cricket Club.

There was a great turnout with a good mix of current and past employees. Alan James, former Business Development Manager at Helix RDS, provided a fun and informative presentation on the evolution of Helix RDS through it's branding.

April 2008

Helix RDS Limited included in ‘The MPF 100 Best Professional Firms to Work For 2008’

Helix RDS Limited has been included in ‘The MPF 100 Best Professional Firms to Work For 2008’ which confirms Helix RDS’ commitment to corporate excellence in the workplace as the company continues to attract talented people. This inclusion came as a result of participating in the Sunday Times Best Companies Survey 2008, in which Helix RDS were awarded a ‘One to Watch’ accreditation

March 2008

Helix RDS Limited named ‘One to Watch’ in Sunday Times Best Companies Accreditation 2008

Helix RDS Limited has been named ‘One to Watch’ in the Sunday Times Best Companies Accreditation 2008, which confirms Helix RDS’ commitment to corporate excellence in the workplace as the company continues to attract talented people.

John Harris, Managing Director, Helix RDS said, “We are committed to making Helix RDS the company of choice for our people and our clients. Our people are critical to our business growth and it is extremely encouraging to receive this recognition”.

The Best Companies accreditations’ vision is to provide a forum where best practice can be recognised and rewarded, in a world of business where employee welfare is promoted as a way to business success, and adoption of best practice is encouraged as demonstrated by the best companies.

January 2008

Helix RDS appoints Managing Director

Helix RDS, part of the Helix ESG group of companies has appointed John Harris to Managing Director of Helix RDS. The position will be responsible for all four of the company’s offices in Aberdeen, London, Kuala Lumpur and Perth.

Commenting on his appointment, John said, “I am delighted to accept this role and I am very excited about the future ahead as Helix RDS is in a strong global position to successfully achieve serious growth targets.

We value our role as an independent consultancy however as part of a much larger organisation this presents us with a number of unique opportunities to support our affiliated companies on global projects.

The future of Helix RDS includes a strong emphasis on integrating our subsurface and well engineering disciplines to provide our clients with a complete solution to achieving their production requirements while maintaining our reputation for quality, service and innovation”.

John brings over 25 years industry experience to the role. He graduated in 1980 and worked for Schlumberger in various locations before establishing Read Well Services in 1989. In 1995 he became Vice President of Transocean and managed the development of their Coiled Tubing and associated Drilling business until 1997 when he became Commercial Director of RDS. As a director John has been involved in the strategic development, leadership and general management ever since and in March of 2002 he moved to Malaysia to expand the merged entity of Helix RDS into the Far East and Australia. After a business development assignment with ERT, the production division of the Helix Group, John was appointed Managing Director of Helix RDS in December 2007.

November 2007

Helix RDS announces growth of global Geomechanics Team

Leading Aberdeen well and subsurface consultancy, Helix RDS, is pleased to announce 4 new staff have joined the company, in what is a significant expansion of their Petroleum Geomechanics capability.

Led by Toby Kayes, the team consists of industry experts from various consultancy, operator and academic backgrounds working in the company’s offices in Aberdeen, London and Perth Australia.

Well Technology Manager Mark Cullen commented, “I am very pleased to have 4 new Geomechanics specialists join the team. It is a difficult market to find candidates who possess the knowledge and expertise that meets our exacting criteria. Our philosophy for Geomechanics is based on a complete analysis involving the integration of all petroleum disciplines. This provides a comprehensive measured understanding of formation mechanical behaviour. I believe it is this uniquely integrated approach that has attracted these individuals, bringing with them a wealth of industry experience”.

Helix RDS Geomechanics expertise includes:

Rock mechanics testing
Geomechanical model build
Pore pressure prediction
Wellbore stability evaluation
Sand production prediction
Fracture stimulation modelling
Water and injection modelling
Cuttings injection modelling
Subsidence modelling
Compaction modelling
Fault seal and activation assessment
Stress sensitive reservoir modeling.

The Helix RDS Geomechanics Team now includes:

Toby Kayes(Formerly Schlumberger - Europe, CIS and Africa) is the Team Leader for Petroleum Geomechanics based in Aberdeen.

Dr Abbas Khaksar (Formerly GMI - Perth) has recently moved from the Helix RDS Perth office to the London office. He brings a wealth of experience from South East Asia and is the main contact for Geomechanics in London.

Dr Khalil Rahman (Formerly Senior Lecturer of Geomechanics - University of Western Australia) replaces Abbas in Perth as the main contact for Geomechanics in South East Asia and as a recognised hydraulic fracture expert he will lead the reservoir stimulation and injection capabilities of Helix RDS.

Phil Taylor (Formerly EGIS - Aberdeen) joins the Aberdeen team as a SCAL and Geomechanics expert. He will work closely with Craig Lyndsay (Helix RDS Principal SCAL Specialist) in the Aberdeen Petrophysics team developing novel techniques for formation damage assessment and prediction.

Abraham Salazar (formerly of IESL - Aberdeen) joined in August 2007 to work in the Geomechanics Team and also develop as a Production Technologist. He was the project leader for several sand management and wellbore stability projects while with IESL and is continuing to develop this Geomechanics experience with Helix RDS.

Zhi Fang (formerly Geoscience Limited) joined Helix RDS in January 2008 with particular expertise in drilling optimisation and wellbore stability. He is also the focal point for numerical modelling techniques (FD, FEM, DEM, BEM etc.) for Geomechanics in Helix RDS.