(WO) – The 2026 Gulf Energy Information Excellence Awards® were presented Thursday evening at The Post Oak Hotel in Houston, Texas (U.S.). The black-tie gala brought together senior leaders from operators, technology providers and service companies to recognize the people, projects and technologies shaping the global energy industry. The 2026 program drew 560 nominations, the most in its history, and 44 awards were presented across the upstream, midstream and downstream sectors.
“The Awards set a new record this year, with 560 nominations from across the global energy industry. That depth of competition is what gives this recognition its weight. This year’s winners represent the technologies, projects and people advancing how the industry finds, produces, transports and processes energy, more safely, more efficiently and with a lower carbon footprint,” said John Royall, President and CEO, Gulf Energy Information.
Lummus Technology, Aramco, ADNOC, SLB, Reliance Industries Limited and Halliburton were among the evening’s top winners. Honorees are based across the Middle East, India, Europe and North America, with recognized projects spanning from the North Sea to Australia. Specialist technology firms, a leading energy law firm and a global professional society were also honored, a clear sign that excellence in this industry is not defined by company size.
Artificial intelligence earned Best Digital Transformation honors in all three sectors, while lower-carbon work in ammonia, hydrogen and CO₂ recovery was recognized alongside advances in drilling, deepwater and pipeline integrity. The individual awards honored careers at every stage, from the industry’s most promising engineers to its lifetime achievers.
A complete list of the upstream winners is as follows:
- Best Completions Technology: FloTracG™ Ultra-Light Buoyancy Gas Nanoparticle Tracer Technology – QuantumPro, Inc
- Best Controls, Instrumentation, Automation Technology – Upstream: iTONG™ Intelligent Well Construction Solution – Expro
- Best Deepwater Technology: SpecStar Elemental Spectroscopy while drilling – Halliburton
- Best Drilling Technology: iCruise® Force intelligent high-performance RSS – Halliburton
- Best Digital Transformation – Upstream: Ai Production System Optimization (AiPSO) – ADNOC
- Best EOR Technology: Subsea Water Treatment – NOV
- Best Exploration Technology: AlphaSight™ – SLB
- Best Health, Safety or Environmental Contribution – Upstream: Cuttings Management and Recycling System – SLB
- Best Modeling Technology: Unified Ensemble Modeling – Halliburton Landmark
- Best Oilfield Fluids and Chemicals: ALARA™ Advanced Low-Aggressive Reservoir Acid – Baker Hughes
- Best Production Technology: ExaCT™ – SLB
- Energy Project of the Year – Upstream: North Sea Standardisation Initiative (NSSI) – TAQA Well Completions
- Most Promising Engineer – Upstream: Pankaj Goel – ExxonMobil Upstream Company
- Lifetime Achievement – Upstream: Ashok Santra – Aramco Americas
- Energy Leader of the Year: Tayba Abdulrahim Al Hashmi – ADNOC Offshore
- Upstream Operator of the Year – ADNOC
The Awards extend sincere thanks to the 2026 partners, led by Platinum Partner Aramco, Gold Partner SLB and Bronze Partner Kuwait Oil Company, along with Expro, Lummus Technology, Halliburton, QuantumPro, Baker Hughes and Oceaneering. Their support reflects a shared commitment to recognizing the best work in global energy and to elevating the companies and people moving the industry forward.
Gulf Energy Information (Gulf)delivers premium technical and business content, as well as market intelligence solutions, to the global energy and infrastructure industries through trusted engagement. For more than 100 years, Gulf’s quality content and commitment to audience needs have led our company to become the most trusted resource in B2B media for the industries we serve. Our market-leading brands, Petroleum Economist,World Oil,Pipeline & Gas Journal,Hydrocarbon Processing,Gas Processing & LNG,H2Tech,Hydrogen EconomistandUnderground Infrastructure, serve their markets with real-time content through digital media and in-person/virtual events. Gulf also provides market intelligence solutions to the global energy industry through Global Energy Infrastructure.
Additional information on The Awards and the 2026 winners can be found at www.e2awards.com.
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