Envorem has won the Downstream Excellence and Innovation award at the ADIPEC 2026 Technical Excellence Awards in Abu Dhabi, beating competition from some of the biggest names in energy.
Managing director Mark Batt-Rawden received the trophy on 4 November. The award recognises Envorem’s achievement in taking its water-based oil sludge treatment technology from pilot trials to the world’s largest sludge processing system, now built and commissioned in Saudi Arabia.
ADIPEC is a major fixture in the global energy calendar, drawing visitors from more than 170 countries, and its Technical Excellence Awards are among the most respected in the industry.
The judging committee included Dr Bassam Fattouh, Director of the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies and Professor at SOAS University of London. He was joined by Dr Erdal Ozkan, Professor of Petroleum Engineering at Colorado School of Mines, and Susan Howes, President of Subsurface Consultants & Associates and 2027 SPE President. The committee was looking for technical breakthroughs that had made it all the way from concept to industrial scale, which is exactly the journey Envorem has made from its early pilots to the plant in Saudi Arabia.
“To win at ADIPEC is a huge moment for us,” said Mark. “We’ve done this as a small company with no industry funding, so to see our work recognised alongside some of the biggest names in energy means a great deal to the whole team.
“For a small company, recognition like this can really speed things up and put our technology in front of people who might not otherwise have come across us. Our Saudi plant shows the process works at industrial scale, and we’re looking forward to bringing it to many more operators. I’m grateful to our engineers, partners and investors, who believed in Envorem from the start and helped make this possible.”
From pilot trials to Saudi Arabia
The journey began with a pilot alongside Petroleum Development Oman, followed by work with Saudi Aramco at its Shaybah facility. There the process recovered valuable oil from the sludge and cut residual waste by 97%.
Those results gave the team the confidence to scale up. Envorem’s first industrial system was built in the UK and shipped to Saudi Arabia, where it was assembled and commissioned near Jubail.
The process uses cavitation and hydraulic shock to free oil from the sand and sediment it clings to, with water as the only process chemical. The recovered oil is ready for refining and the cleaned solids can often be returned to the environment.
With the Saudi plant ready for deployment, the system can now be replicated and put to work wherever oil sludge is a problem.
Operators who would like to see what the process could do for their own waste streams can find out about sample testing and treatment evaluation through Envorem Labs.
