By Joseph A. Pratt The time was ripe for the creation of the Offshore Technology Conference (OTC) in 1969. The offshore industry was nearing the end of a long and productive era from 1946 to 1969, when ambitious and innovative industry pioneers and their companies laid the foundation for the future development of offshore technology. […]
Edited by Joe Pratt The Offshore Technology Conference has been a central forum for sharing information on the extraordinary technical changes that have allowed the offshore industry to expand its operations into deeper waters and harsher environments. Much of the early development of deepwater technologies can be seen through the career of Carl Wickizer (1931-2007), […]
For the last fifty years, the Offshore Technology Conference has served as a platform for industry professionals to present and exchange advances in offshore technology. Due to its success and demand from a globally expanding industry, OTC has created three separate events to address region specific challenges. Starting with the Arctic Technology Conference, OTC has […]
By Debbie Z. Harwell The first OTC met at the Albert Thomas Convention and Exhibit Center downtown (now Bayou Place) with 4,200 in attendance, 125 papers presented, and 38,500 square feet of exhibit space occupied by 200 exhibitors. In need of more space, in 1973 OTC moved to the Astrodome complex, now NRG Park, where […]
By Joe Pratt The fiftieth anniversary of the Offshore Technology Conference (OTC) offers a reason to look forward and backward. The waves of technological advances that have shaped the growth of the modern offshore industry began in earnest in the late 1940s. Looking back to the years after World War II, we see offshore pioneers […]
The Offshore Technology Conference (OTC) recognizes major technological, humanitarian, safety and environmental, and leadership contributions to the industry each year. In recognition of peer-nominated truly outstanding accomplishments or achievements, the OTC Board honors an individual and an organization as recipients of the prestigious OTC Distinguished Achievement Award. In some years, OTC also awards a Special […]
Download the Full PDFLetter from the Editor1OTC at 50: Bold Vision Led to Unimagined SuccessBy Joel Parshall6The Offshore Industry, Houston, and the Creation of OTCBy Joseph A. Pratt12Deeper Through the Decades: An Interview with Carl WickizerEdited by Joseeph A. Pratt20Connecting the World: OTC as a Platform for Global ExchangeBy Johnny Zapata25“A Love Affair 50 Years and Counting”: OTC’s Economic and Cultural […]
When we conceived the idea for this issue almost a year ago, we planned to focus on examples of industrial accidents and environmental improvement. That was before Harvey hit.
Houston will become “ …beyond all doubt, the great interior commercial emporium of Texas.” Thus bragged the Allen brothers in an August 1836 advertisement. Thirteen months later rains from a hurricane in September 1837 flooded the city’s Main Street to a depth of four feet. This inundation did not deter the city from its predicted […]
By Cheryl Lauersdorf Ross On the morning of April 16, 1947, the SS Grandcamp, surrounded by refineries and chemical plants near the Texas City docks, exploded with a force compared to the Nagasaki atomic bomb, taking the lives of nearly 600 people and injuring thousands more. When a catastrophe like this strikes, reports focus on […]
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