Shell has appointedDirk Smit as chief scientist for geophysics, John Karanikas as chief scientist for reservoir engineering, and Vianney Koelman as chief scientist for petrophysics.
Peak Well Services has appointedNigel Avern as chief executive. Avern initially will base at the company’s two main offices – in Aberdeen, UK, and Perth, Australia. He will also sit on the company’s board of directors.
Hyperdynamics Corp. has appointedArthur F. Meadows as operations manager based in Conakry, Republic of Guinea.
Polarcus has appointedCameron Astill as VP of marketing, Asia-Pacific. He will be based in the company’s newly opened regional office in Singapore, and is responsible for managing and expanding the Polarcus brand presence across the region.
UniversalPegasus International has appointedJohn Harrower as COO of its offshore division. With over 24 years experience in the engineering and construction industry, Harrower has served as senior VP of operations, as well as roles on senior project management teams with major energy and consulting firms.
United Spiral Pipe has appointedPatrick J. Mullarkey as president.
Paradigm Flow Solutions has appointedJohn Simpson as business development director and Martyn MacDonnell as business development manager.
Drillsearch Energy has appointedJean Moore as company secretary. Moore replaces Ian Bucknell who remains CFO.
Company news
Petrofac is taking a 20% interest in Gateway Storage Co., the developer of a new subsea gas storage facility in the eastern Irish Sea off northwest England. Under the agreement, Petrofac will join Gateway as technical project operator, with joint responsibility for developing the project ahead of a final investment decision in 2011. Gateway says front-end engineering and design for the project is nearing completion and the focus now switches to project execution and finalization of the consortium of storage capacity holders and investors. The new 1.5 bcm (52.97 bcf) facility involves conversion of a subsea salt cavern. Assuming the project comes onstream in 2016 as planned, it should add almost 30% to the current UK gas storage capacity.
Oil Spill Response Ltd. says it has completed a response to a fuel oil spill in the Arabian Gulf. The spill, which occurred in early August in Kuwait, was the result of a malfunction in part of a process system. A small quantity of fuel oil spilled into the surrounding environment.
Petrofac, the international oil and gas facilities service provider, will expand its capability to deliver Major Emergency Management (MEM) training to the US offshore and onshore oil and gas industry by opening a second, state-of-the-art simulation suite at its Houston Training Center.
Freudenberg has agreed to acquire Offshore Seals (Asia) Pte Ltd., a manufacturer of specialized seals for the upstream oil and gas industry. The deal is expected to close on Jan. 3, 2011.
Swire Oilfield Services has launched a new subsidiary and has opened a regional office in Singapore. The Singapore office will work with the company’s existing European and Australian offices to target markets including Indonesia, China, Brunei, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, and the Philippines.
KBR is opening an Angola Operating Center in Luanda. The center will offer engineering, project management, and construction management services.
Camcon Oil has signed a distribution partnership agreement with Amrtur Corp. Under the thee-year agreement, Amrtur will have the rights to sell, install, and support the APOLLO product range throughout the Sultanate of Brunei.
Nakilat-Keppel Offshore & Marine (N-KOM), Qatar’s newest offshore and marine shipyard, has been opened officially by the emir of Qatar and Singapore’s minister for Trade and Industry. This is a joint venture between Keppel Offshore & Marine and Qatar Gas Transport Co.
Rosneft and China National Petroleum Corp. (CNPC) have agreed to expand co-operation in the upstream sector. The two companies signed a memorandum in St. Petersburg, Russia, under which they will consider purchasing new offshore and onshore blocks through LLC Vostok Energy. The latter is a joint venture owned 51% by Rosneft and 49% by CNPC, which was established to operate upstream assets in Russia.
Energy XXI has bought certain shallow water Gulf of Mexico interests from ExxonMobil for $1.01 billion, the company reports. The properties include nine fields generally located between Energy XXI’s existing South Timbalier and Main Pass operations in water depths of 470 ft (143 m) or less.
Shell Exploration and Production Co. has awarded RBG a three-year contract to supply a coatings and maintenance program for offshore platforms in the Gulf of Mexico.
RBG initially is commissioned to work on three of Shell’s six major offshore facilities in the Gulf of Mexico. The company will start work on one the platforms immediately.
Audubon has launched a new SURF division led by Shamim Suleman. The new division will engineer, plan, design, and manage the construction of complete subsea systems, including flow assurance, heavy oil, riser systems, and pipeline and flow line services.
ConocoPhillips has awarded AMEC a contract for the detailed engineering and procurement for the Judy platform and the hook-up and commissioning of the new Jasmine facilities in the North Sea. Jasmine is a high-pressure/high-temperature gas-condensate reservoir discovered in June 2006. It is 9 km (6 mi) west of the Judy platform in ConocoPhillips’ J-block area. Jasmine will use the existing processing capacity on the Judy platform, with first production anticipated in 4Q 2012.
Providence Resources has signed a 10-month option agreement with Star Energy Group concerning an exploration license offshore southeast Ireland. Providence currently has 100% ownership of Standard Exploration License (SEL) 1/07 (Dragon) in the St George’s Channel basin. The permit is in 90-m (295-ft) water depth, 40 km (25 mi) offshore. It contains the mapped extension of the Welsh offshore Dragon gas discovery into Irish waters, as well as the deeper Orpheus and Pegasus exploration prospects. Under the option agreement, Star can acquire a non-operated 50% interest in the license by conducting subsurface studies on the Dragon gas discovery. If it exercises this option, it will participate in drilling of a planned appraisal/development well.
Baker Hughes has opened a new facility in Welshpool, Australia. The 340,000-sq ft (31,587 sq m) facility houses the company’s pumping, tubular, and process and pipeline services. The facility, which serves as the operations base for Australia and New Zealand, includes offices, laboratories, training space, workshop facilities, a warehouse and storage, and an equipment lay-down area.
AGR Group has opened an office in Abu Dhabi. The facility will house AGR Petroleum Services, AGR Drilling Services, AGR Field Operations, and CannSeal.
Schlumberger has inaugurated a new research and geoengineering center in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The Brazil Research and Geoengineering Center is designed to promote the integration of geosciences and engineering to improve hydrocarbon production and recovery from the complex deepwater reservoirs and pre-salt carbonates offshore Brazil.
Mainticare has agreed to represent Viking Moorings’ equipment and services throughout the western and central Mediterranean and in the Middle East. The company will also provide management, warehousing, and logistics services. Under a reciprocal arrangement, Mainticare will establish an office in Aberdeen to extend the services provided by Mainticare to UK clients operating offshore North Africa and in the Mediterranean.
Oil Search has agreed to farm-in terms in two new exploration licenses offshore Papua New Guinea. PPL 276 is in the Gulf of Papua west of Pandora and Pasca gas fields. PPL 312 is in the northern Gulf of Papua, east of Uramu gas field. The farm-in arrangements are subject to ministerial approval. Oil Search says the acquisitions are in line with its strategy to optimize its license holdings with potential gas accumulations that could support commercialization.
Special Oilfield Services Co. (SOS) has signed a three-year agreement to sell, install, and support Camcon products throughout Oman.
China-basedJ&L Group, a technology and manufacturing leader in wire rope, synthetic rope, cable laid slings, and a variety of other rigging equipment for heavy lifting since 1985 announces the establishment of J&L Offshore, LLC headquartered in Houston. Harry Urech, a 30-year industry expert with extensive international oil and gas marketing and management credentials, heads J&L Offshore, LLC as its Executive Vice President. J&L Offshore will focus on offshore products currently produced as well as the enhancement of these products. Expansion of the company’s product line, with a focus on new equipment and services for the offshore oil industry, is also part of the J&L mission. Examples of new equipment being considered include traction winches, spooling machines, chain buoys, and anchors. J&L Offshore’s services may also include rig moving, as well as subsea installation and project engineering.
Siemens Energy says it will supply a turnkey shoreside power supply system for the Goliat floating offshore platform for the production, storage and offloading of oil and gas north of Norway in the Barents Sea. The Goliat platform will not, as is customary practice, be supplied with power generated by onboard gas turbines and generators but from the shore via a 106-km (66-mi) long subsea cable. This decision, in turn, is expected to result in a 50% reduction of CO2 emissions. Siemens says it will supply the shoreside power supply system, which essentially comprises a substation located in Hammerfest in northern Norway, overhead transmission lines, buried cable and a state-of-the-art reactive-power compensation system. The purchaser is the oil and gas company Eni Norge based in Stavanger, Norway. The shoreside power supply to the platform is scheduled to come on line in 2012; the start of production in the Goliat field is planned for late 2013.
ABB says it has won several orders collectively worth $42 million to provide power supply infrastructure and equipment for several floating, production, storage and offloading (FPSO) vessels. The vessels will produce crude oil off the coast of Brazil; they will be operated by several oil and gas producers, with Petrobras as the end customer. The orders were booked during the third quarter.
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