President, Peter Velez Engineering, LLC
Technical Adviser, ABS Consulting
Peter Velez was the Global Emergency Response Manager for Shell Energy Resources Company until his retirement in October 2012. He received a B.S. (1974) and M.S. (1975) in Civil Engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York. He was employed by Shell since 1975. His assignments included Drilling Engineering, Civil Engineering, Division Civil Engineer, Operations Superintendent, Production Superintendent, Manager Production Engineering - Gulf of Mexico, Manager Health, Safety and Environment - Gulf of Mexico, Manager Regulatory Affairs, Manager Regulatory Affairs & Incident Command for Shell U.S. and Americas, Global Security Manager, and Global Emergency Response Manager.
He has been active in numerous trade association groups and government advisory efforts. He was appointed by the U.S. Secretary of Transportation to the USCG National Offshore Safety Advisory Committee in which he served for 7 years, the last 4 years as the Chair. He was a member of the Board of Directors of the Marine Preservation Association for 15 years (largest Oil Spill Response Organization in the U.S.). He served as Chair of the API Executive Committee on Drilling and Producing Operations, Member of the API Executive Committee on Environmental Conservation, Chair of the Louisiana HSE Committee, and others. He has been a member of the API Standards Group, API Safety Committee, and others. He chaired the API Committee that developed with the Minerals Management Services' Recommended Practice 75 "Safety and Environmental Management Program for Offshore Operations". He was selected and serves as a member of the National Academy of Sciences' Marine Board.
He organized and chaired the International Oil and Gas Producers (OGP) Arctic Coordination Task Force and chaired the IPIECA Arctic Oil Spill Task Force. He chaired the OGP Executive Committee that is managing the Arctic Oil Spill Response (OSR) Joint Industry Project. He is a member of the U.S. delegation for the Arctic Council Oil Spill Response Task Force that is developing an Agreement between the 8 Arctic States for oil spill response cooperation and collaboration.
He served on the API/NOIA Oil Spill Response Task Force established after the Deepwater Horizon incident and was a member of the API OSR Committee that sets industry direction and funding. He was appointed and serves on the U.S. Department of Interior Offshore Safety Energy Advisory Committee. He will chair the International Oil Spill Conference scheduled for 2014. He has made many presentations on oil and gas subjects at Industry and External Conferences as well as coordinated Industry workshops on a variety of subjects.
As the Incident Commander for Shell, he responded to incidents in the Gulf of Mexico, U.S. Onshore, and Global locations involving oil spills, hurricanes, fires and explosions, Y2K, and other events. He has performed work for Shell at international locations in Nigeria, Oman, Algeria, UAE, Gabon, UK, Norway, Netherlands, Russia, China, India, Mexico, Canada, Brazil, Bolivia, and Venezuela.
He has received several external recognitions that include the USCG Meritorious Public Service Award and Medal (the highest award to a civilian), API Distinguished and Meritorious Service Awards, Offshore Operators Recognition Awards, and others.