Alumni engagement and philanthropy



OIL AND GAS INDUSTRY CEO AWARDED OBE  Colette Cohen OBE at conference

07 January 2020

The Chief Executive Officer of the Oil & Gas Technology Centre (OGTC) in Aberdeen – Queen’s graduate Colette Cohen – has been awarded an OBE in the latest New Year Honours for services to the UK oil and gas industry and to government collaboration.  

Originally from Haggardstown near Dundalk in County Louth, Ireland but now living in Scotland, Ms Cohen has worked for over 25 years in the energy sector.

A 2001 Queen’s BSc graduate in Pure & Applied Chemistry, she also has a Masters degree in Project Management and Economics from Ceram University in France, and, in November, received an honorary doctorate from the University of Aberdeen.

Speaking to Energy Voice – the Aberdeen based digital news platform for the oil and gas, renewables and wider energy sectors – Ms Cohen said: “I am still at the point where I’m wondering if this is real, it’s not something you ever expect to happen to you.

“You do a job that you really love and it’s amazing to be recognised. I’m feeling pretty humbled.”

Ms Cohen hopes to use the spotlight to encourage others to follow in her footsteps. “Women come into the industry, and we need them to stay, so we need to see more women who are at the top,” she said.

“I think it’s nice to see a technical woman not only make it to the position of chief executive, but to be recognised externally and outside of the industry.

“It’s really positive and creates a good model for young girls and others already in the industry who can say: ‘If she can do it, so can I’.”

Until her appointment as CEO of OGTC in September 2016, Ms Cohen was Senior Vice President for Centrica Energy’s Exploration and Production business in the UK and The Netherlands. She started her career in 1991 with BP ‘as the only woman on a North Sea platform’ and in the interim has held posts in Aberdeen, Houston, Stavanger and Kazakhstan.

While working in Kazakhstan, she received a Jubilee Medal from the Kazakh Prime Minister in recognition of her contribution to the country’s oil and gas industry.

Ms Cohen spent almost 15 years with American energy corporation ConocoPhillips, most recently as Managing Director of its Britannia Operator Limited joint venture with Chevron in the UK.

Dubbed the ‘go-to’ technology centre for the energy industry, the OGTC was launched in 2017 with £180m worth of funding as part of the Aberdeen City Region Deal to help firms work together following a downturn in the sector. It has gone on to broker millions of pounds of investments including £37m of co-investment in over 70 projects in its first year and over £130m to date, to secure the future of the industry. 

A member of the Society of Petroleum Engineers, the Institute of Directors and a Trustee of Springer Rescue for Scotland, she previously served on the board of Oil & Gas UK and the Oil & Gas Authority (OGA) Decommissioning Board.

Currently Chair of the National College for Onshore Oil and Gas, she sits on the Technology Leadership Board and is a Non-Executive Director for both OPITO (the UK’s Offshore Petroleum Industry Training Organisation and NORECO, an independent international petroleum company based in Norway.

Ms Cohen is also a Commissioner for the Just Transition Commission for Scotland, an active champion for the industrial transition of the oil and gas industry to a net zero future and a committed role model for women in industry.

Further details of Colette Cohen’s OBE can also be found in the Dundalk Democrat.

For general enquiries about this story or to submit graduate news items, please contact Gerry Power, Communications Officer, Development and Alumni Relations Office (DARO), telephone: +44 (0)28 9097 5321.

Main photo courtesy of Energy Voice

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