Ramesh Maini: Silver Lining in a Dark Cloud
Ramesh Maini at OTC 2016 with the Hart’s Meritorious Engineering Award
By Pradeep Anand
HOUSTON: The oil and gas industry has never been for the faint of heart. It is harder for immigrants to be successful in it, especially with dark clouds of recession hovering over it. In this cloud of gloom, Ramesh Maini is an Indian American silver lining.
Maini is the Founder and CEO of Zentech Inc., a company that has been providing innovative engineering solutions for the upstream oil and gasindustry for over 37 years. Through excellence in rig design and engineering, he has established himself as an innovative force, locally and globally.
His reputation has been built through substantial experience in the design, construction, supervision, and rig moves of jackup drilling rigs. He was the principal architect in the design and construction of the jackups Dyvi Beta and Dyvi Gamma for Norwegian drilling contractor Dyvi A/S. In 1977, these jackups were the largest ones capable of operating in the tumultuous waters
of the North Sea.
Maini was also responsible for the engineering and construction of two new mat-supported jackup drilling rigs. Both are currently operating — one in the Gulf of Mexico and the other in offshore Angola. Additionally, he has been involved with major design modifications and enhancement of over 100 jackup drilling rigs, MOPUs and MSVs. His game changing, innovative jackup rig design, the R-550 D was finally built in 2015. With its introduction, Maini is receiving the industry recognition he deserves.
At the 2015 World Oil Awards, the innovator and the innovation were recognized. Ramesh Maini was a finalist among the Most Innovative Thinkers in the World; the R-550D was a finalist for Best Drilling Technology Innovation of the Year.
At the recent Offshore Technology Conference (OTC 2016), the R-550D received the prestigious Meritorious Engineering Award from Hart Publishing. Additionally, Ramesh Maini was selected to be one of only eight Fellows in 2016 of the Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers (SNAME).
Growing up in India, Ramesh Maini received his B.Tech from I.I.T Bombay and his master’s degree from the University of British Columbia in Vancouver.
Ramesh Maini, with his work ethic and innovation excellence, is a superb example of how the Indian American community can contribute locally, in creating a better world.
Pradeep Anand is a veteran oil industry consultant and adjunct professor at Rice University’s Jones Graduate School of Business.