Paul Hennsessy: What’s your story?
So far, we’ve heard OESG founder members Lee Petts, Tony Johnson, Richard Sands and Jonathan Foster tell us all about their experience and the motivations behind their support for Britain’s onshore oil and gas sector. Here, Paul Hennessey from atg UV Technology tells us his story.
Q. What does your company do?
atg UV Technology have been working in the water industry for over 30 years, and are a specialist manufacturer of UV water treatment equipment and mobile packaged solutions for a range of industries including drinking water, wastewater and the oil and gas industry.
UV light is an environmentally friendly, chemical free treatment technology that is widely used in drinking water and pharmaceuticals. In the oil and gas sector, our UV treatment packages are used to disinfect well injection water used for oil and gas recovery.
In addition, atg UV Technology use a technique known as Advanced Oxidation to treat any water that returns from the well following stimulation activity. Advanced Oxidation effectively breaks down any organic and chemical contaminants present in the water into their base components of H20 and C02, allowing fluids such as produced water and flowback water to be safely reused for additional injection stages or disposed.
How long have you been working with the onshore oil and gas industry?
I have been working as a water treatment specialist in both the onshore and offshore oil and gas industry for 8 years.
How did you start?
I joined atg UV Technology when I was 22 years old, and started as a Proposals Engineer and Project Manager for both the municipal drinking water industry and oil and gas sector. Shortly into my career I gained experience on a number of large oil and gas water treatment projects for Statoil, Conoco Phillips and Saipem. I decided to specialise in oil, gas and petrochemical water treatment applications and now work as atg UV Technology’s Business Manager for the Oil and Gas sector.
What do you enjoy most about your work?
Every day is different and no two projects are ever the same. As an independently owned and operated UK manufacturer, we are highly flexible and can quickly adapt our resources and focus based on the particular needs of a project. This sees atg UV get involved in many bespoke engineering projects that much larger organisations would struggle to manage in the same time frame and budget.
In taking on this kind of business, I am often asked by clients to provide solutions for a range of complex water treatment challenges which do not always have a clear answer. It is exciting to be part of projects that pioneer the development of new techniques and lead to the design and engineering of new products for the first time.
What motivates you?
I genuinely believe that under the right conditions, with the wealth of engineering experience and scientific understanding we have in the UK, any problem or obstacle currently facing the UK oil and gas sector can be overcome. Every problem provides an opportunity to create a solution, and by investing early in research and product development the UK has a golden opportunity to lead the world on a number of fronts, especially water management.
What motivates me most is the chance to be a part of this and make a real contribution in defining the technical developments for the sector, especially in how to make the process more environmentally friendly. It is very exciting to be involved at the start of a new UK industry such as the shale gas sector, and I hope that the work atg UV Technology are currently undertaking here in Lancashire will change the way water is managed in oil and gas operations worldwide in years to come.
How do you see the future of onshore oil and gas developing?
The UK will always rely on a mixed basket of energy sources. As the cleanest and most flexible of fossil fuels, gas will provide renewables such as wind and solar with its best chance of success. Reducing output when the weather suits, and coming online to fill in the gap when it doesn’t. As imported energy prices rise, the need for home grown energy and the security it provides will become fundamentally more and more important.
Away from energy production, the need to heat over 80% of the UK’s homes and the requirement for feed stock to the chemical industry will see our reliance on natural gas maintained long into the foreseeable future. It is the intention of atg UV Technology to grow with the industry, providing our expertise in water management to operators in the UK, create local jobs here in Lancashire and then export this knowledge and skills to Europe and the rest of the world.