Deepwater: Attacking Project Risk

Tom Ehret,
CEO, Stolt Offshore

Tom Ehret joined Stolt Offshore as Chief Executive Officer in March 2003, prior to which he served as Vice Chairman of the Management Board of Technip-Coflexip and President of its Offshore Branch.

Having trained as a mechanical engineer, Tom started working life as an R&D engineer before entering into project management. He has since worked in a variety of positions, both technical and commercial, for various offshore engineering and construction companies. He speaks French, German and English and has worked in France, the U.S. and the U.K .

Michael Lutomski,
Risk Manager, International Space Station Program of NASA

BIRTHPLACE AND DATE: Birmingham, Michigan, 4 September 1965.

EDUCATION: Bachelor of Science Aerospace Engineering, University of Michigan, 1988; Master of Business Administration - Finance, University of Houston, 2003.

RESIDENCE: Houston, Texas.

MARITAL STATUS: Single

CHILDREN: Tatiana, June 20, 1992; Sebastien, August 20 1993; Chloe, March 8 1997

SPECIAL HONORS AND AWARDS: Hon. Diploma al: La Sociedad de Alumnos de la Universidad Iberoamericana est

PROFESSIONAL AND HONORARY AWARDS: Team Excellence Award 1994, 1995, Community Service Award 1994, 1995, Outstanding Performance Award for 1993 and 1995.

EXPERIENCE:

Mr. Lutomski started at NASA as a cooperative education student in 1985 working three tours in operations and engineering. He began full time in 1988 as a Space Shuttle flight controller working in the Mission Control Center (MCC) on the Space Shuttle's propulsion systems.

Since 1990 Mr. Lutomski has worked on NASA's Space Station program in different areas of responsibility. Responsibilities over this period include structures and mechanism, guidance navigation and control, assembly of the space station, international partner integration, and the management of integrated performance and resources of the station.

Mr. Lutomski lived in Moscow, Russia from 1996-1998 working in NASA's International Space Station's Moscow Office. While in Russia he worked in the Mission Control Center just outside of Moscow, in Korolev, Russia during the Shuttle/Mir program, known as "Phase I" of the International Space Station.

CURRENT ASSIGNMENT:

Currently Mr. Lutomski is the Risk Manager for the International Space Station (ISS) Program. He is responsible for defining and implementing the Risk Management process across all the organizations and participants of the ISS Program. Risk management provides a systematic method for identifying, analyzing, planning, tracking, controlling, communicating, and documenting risks on a continuous basis. This is done so that plans may be developed and implemented to reduce the consequences of the risk or likelihood that the risk will occur. Mr. Lutomski is also responsible for building and maintaining a Probabilistic Risk Assessment (PRA) model of the ISS used to quantify and compare relative risks associated with designing, building, testing, and operating the International Space Station with its international partners spanning 16 countries.

Mr. Lutomski enjoys outdoor activities such as camping, windsurfing, and mountain biking. Mr. Lutomski has three children, is an active Jazz musician, and is conversational in Russian and French currently studying Spanish.

Gordon Sterling,
Consultant

EDUCATION: Bachelor of Applied Science in Civil Engineering (BASc.), Structures Major, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, 1963. Master of Civil Engineering (MSCE), Structures Major, Lehigh University, Bethlehem, Pa, 1965

EXPERIENCE:

Over a 35 year career with Shell Oil Company, USA, Exploration and Production, Gordon Sterling worked as a Project Engineer, Structural Designer, Research Supervisor, Design and Installation Supervisor, Production Superintendent, Project Manager, Manager of Deepwater Projects and Director Year 2000 (Y2K) Compliance Project. He was involved with all of Shell's record setting deepwater ventures in the Gulf of Mexico, beginning with the 1024-foot water depth 3-piece Cognac platform in 1974-1978 where he served as Design and Installation Supervisor. He was the Project Manager of the Bullwinkle platform (1350 foot water depth, 1985-1988), and then became Manager of Deepwater Projects wherein all of the Shell Offshore, USA, Deepwater Project Managers reported to him. These projects included the record setting Tension Leg Platform (TLP) series-- Mars, Ram-Powell, and Ursa-- in 3000 to 4000 feet of water, as well as the Sub Sea developments of Tahoe, Popeye, and Mensa (5400 feet water depth).

For several years in the 1990's he was engaged in developing closer and more co-operative working relationships with Contractors and Consultants, to more effectively utilize all the skills available to the multiple projects. This lead to the initiation of Strategic Relationships with selected service providers --relationships that were nurtured and expanded to the benefit of both client and contractor-- and which were evaluated candidly on an episodic basis.

His last assignment before retiring was as Director of Shell E & P's year 2000 (Y2K) project, where he directed the Shell USA E & P company efforts to ensure that all Information Technology Systems, Production Control Systems and Strategic Suppliers were prepared for the year 2000 and associated rollovers.

INDUSTRY ASSOCIATIONS AND AWARDS:

• Member--- American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) --- Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE) --- Project Management Institute (PMI) ---

• Marine Technology Society (MTS)
From 1991 through 1999 represented the ASCE on the Board of Directors of the Offshore Technology Conference (OTC), the largest annual technical conference for Offshore Industry in the world with 45,000, or so, attendees.

• Chairman, Board of Directors, OTC, 1998-1999

• Chairman of an ASCE Board Level Committee on Annual and Specialty Conferences, 2000-2003.

• Industry Service Award, Feb 2000, from the Ocean Offshore and Arctic Engineering Division of the ASME for " pioneering role in development of mega projects in the Gulf of Mexico"

• Member, Board of Governors, Coast Oceans Ports and Rivers Institute (COPRI) of the American Society of Civil Engineers, 2003-2006.

• President, COPRI, 2004-2005.

CITIZENSHIP: United States (Naturalized, in 1993)

CONTACT: Redikop@aol.com or Sterlingkop@aol.com

ADDED NOTE: Since his retirement from Shell he has, in collaboration with two others, authored a book titled," Deepwater Petroleum -Exploration and Production -A nontechnical Guide". Filled with illustrations, graphs and pictures, this nontechnical guide to the offshore industry will help people understand the history, technology, business and future of this multi-billion dollar industry.