Cudd Energy Services announces Gene Sweeney as director of well intervention and integrity
THE WOODLANDS, Texas -- Cudd Energy Services named Gene Sweeney as director of well intervention and integrity. Sweeney will take on responsibilities for Cudd’s domestic snubbing, well control, and special services disciplines.
Sweeney returns to Cudd after leading BP’s global well control team for the past seven years where he was responsible for strengthening BP’s well control capabilities in the wake of the Macondo incident.
“My experience with BP showed me the importance of building engineering and operational processes as the strongest barrier in well control event prevention and mitigation,” says Sweeney. “Robust well control isn’t about the bits and pieces of equipment and training. It is only achieved through a comprehensive well control program based on sound engineering and operations, along with the discipline and commitment to follow the program.”
Earning a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from MIT as well as graduate degrees from University of Michigan and Texas A&M, Sweeney has led and supported extensive well control event mitigations both onshore and offshore.
“It’s not primarily about teaching people mitigations, but rather that they have situational awareness and understand how to react to system limits,” says Sweeney.
Sweeney’s industry experience includes an unyielding focus on safety, incident planning, reliability, and response. He began his career at the U.S. Naval Warfare Assessment Center working on fire control systems trouble and failure reporting for the submarine ballistic nuclear program.
“It’s an exciting time to be at Cudd,” says Sweeney. “Management has set the stage for results that are going to greatly advance the state of the art for snubbing, well control, and special services. We’ve already begun this with our new 285K Standalone unit, which is safer and has greater efficiency and speed than any of our competitors’ units.
“I’ve always thought that Cudd was in a real sweet spot regarding corporate size: large enough to offer almost any field or engineering service, yet small enough to react nimbly. Procedural discipline rivals that of much larger companies, but we still have a personal touch in both internal and customer interactions.”
Sweeney states that Cudd has always focused on safety and treated people like family, developing great traditions and corporate knowledge based on efficient, safe operations.
“It’s in the company’s DNA and comes from successfully operating for more than 40 years,” says Sweeney. “The people are amazing and great to work with. One of my main goals will be to support that tradition and continue the focus on the development of our great people as we expand our snubbing and well control offerings.”
