Techdrill was founded in 1992 by a group of former executives from Total. The company initially based in Paris relocated to Aberdeen in 1995. Today Techdrill is a limited company registered in Aberdeen, Scotland with its head office in London.

Our staff is composed of well engineers, software development engineers, sales and administrative personnel. Our team is composed of senior well engineers and specialists. It also includes several experienced retired oil & gas executives that are still keen to take up a challenge.

Management

Maria-Helena Daget
CEO & Co-President
Lena has been CEO of Techdrill since 1992. She is a former head of governmental relations for Total Angola in Luanda. Before co-founding Techdrill, she ran several companies and start-ups involved in international trading and entertainment. Lena was previously a professor and ran the research department of the ministry of cultural affairs of the government of Abu Dhabi. Lena graduated in liberal arts from University of Fribourg in Switzerland.

Louis Heuzé
Co-President
Louis served over 35 years in Total´s drilling division, and exploration & production positions, in various technical and management roles, former drilling manager, operations manager and general manager of various Total affiliates, in Africa and Southeast Asia. Louis also involved in new ventures & asset management, mainly for African and Middle East countries. Louis was then president of Total´s Security Division (QHSE). Louis graduated in physics from University of Orsay.

Philippe R. Daget
Executive Vice-President
Global Business Development, Sales, Legal & Corporate Affairs
After several years with various law firms and co-managing an NGO, Philippe joined Techdrill more than 25 years ago as legal & negotiations manager, later serving several years as director of business & legal affairs before becoming vice president for business development eastern hemisphere then western hemisphere. Philippe is now serving as executive vice president since 2007. Philippe graduated in Law - corporate law, international transactions, conflict of laws & arbitration - from University Panthéon-Assas (Paris).

John Dewhurst
Senior Advisor and Director
John has advised Techdrill for more than 20 years. John has a worldwide experience with international law, including the US, the European Union and South Africa, extensive high-level experience with corporate law. Specialist knowledge of cross-border business transactions. Former attorney of the Supreme Court of South Africa. Former lecturer in taxation law at the University of Rhodesia. Former associate partner in Bowman, Gilfillan and Blacklock Inc., in Johannesburg. Fellow, and member of the Council of the Chartered Institute of Taxation (United Kingdom) and UK representative on the Council of the Confédération Fiscale Européenne in Brussels.

Founder

Patrick Daget
former Vice President Well Engineering and Director, Author of Techdrill Software
After several years with Schlumberger, Patrick joined TOTAL in 1969 and quickly became appointed drilling manager in Angola. Subsequently becoming TOTAL’s drilling engineering department head in Paris, conducting fundamental research, and running operations on dynamic positioned drillships Glomar Challenger, Pelican, Pelerin and Sedco 445. Involved in launching the Frigg field, he then ran TOTAL’s North Sea drilling campaigns, later co-managing the drilling division globally from Paris headquarters. In 1979, Patrick then served as drilling manager of ZADCO - Total's operatorship of the Zakum field, introducing a novel engineering approach to overcome Upper Zakum challenges,. He managed the drilling of the first major phase of Upper Zakum, with the drilling & completions of the first 160 wells. Upper Zakum rapidly became one of the world’s largest oil fields.
After several years running Blocker Energy’s (now Ensco) Africa and Middle East business, Patrick advised Shell (Brent field), the Hughes Group and Total on global complex well construction & drilling engineering before founding Techdrill with senior executives and colleagues of oil majors. Patrick was a visiting professor at the French Petroleum Institute for nearly 20 years and gave courses on advanced well engineering in more than 45 countries. Former French representative for the ultra-deep sea IODP, former officer of the French Air Force (Mirage III fighting squadron), Patrick was a graduate engineer of Ecole Centrale de Paris (ECP 1964). Patrick sadly passed away on the 7th November 2022.
Read full Obituary

Advisory Committee

Jean-Pierre Anselmini
Senior Business Advisor

Augusto Carmona da Mota
Senior Drilling Advisor

Jean Miramon
Senior Advisor Exploration & Production Services

Technical Committee

Igor Okljesa
Vice President IT Development & Projects

Helen Wells
Vice President IT Production

Esteban Brito
Vice President Well Engineering

Gerard Cuvillier
Senior Advisor, Well Engineering

Guillaume Orieux
Senior Advisor, IT

Company Secretary

Grant Smith Law Practice, 252 Union Street, Aberdeen

Auditors

Anderson Anderson & Brown LLP, Kingshill View, Prime Four Business Park, Aberdeen