Edward E. Horton

Edward E. (Ed) Horton, currently president and board member of Horton Deepwater Development Systems, is the inventor of both the Spar and Tension Leg Platform drilling and production units, the two standard deepwater concepts that represent the vast majority of deepwater floating oil and gas facilities in service today. 

Over the past 30 years, more than two billion bbls of oil have been produced through facilities that incorporate on his patents.  By year-end 2008, 17 production spars will be in operation, 16 in the Gulf of Mexico and one off Malaysia.  Horton is a member of the Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE) and the National Academy of Engineering, and has been previously honored for his accomplishments by the Offshore Technology Conference, the National Academy of Science and SPE. 

Born
13 November 1927
Los Angeles, California 

Yale University, BS Civil Engineering 1949
University of Southern California, MS Petroleum Engineering 1957