BUSINESS BRIEFS

The Varg FPSO en route to Norway.

Varg leaves yard

The Varg FPSO has left the Keppel FELS Pioneer Yard in Singapore on its way for operations in Norway. The Varg is owned by Saga Petroleum and is destined for deployment on the Varg oil field in the Norwegian sector of the North Sea. The vessel has a storage capacity of 450,000 bbl of oil and process facilities for about 60,000 bbl of oil production and 1.5 MMcm/d of gas compression. This is the third FPSO to be built by Keppel.

Contracts

Walter Oil & Gas has awarded Global Industries two deepwater contracts in the US Gulf of Mexico. Under the terms of the contract, Global Industries will weld and reel a total of 32 miles of 4-in. diameter pipeline at its Houma facility in Louisiana prior to offshore installation with the Chickasaw reel pipelay barge. Global has also been awarded a contract with Mariner Energy to install flowlines, risers, and a termination skid to support the company's deepwater Dulcimer development.

Ceanic has completed the installation of a 200 series stock system for GFB Resources at the Camar No. 6 well in the Java Sea offshore Indonesia. The cable-guyed monopod structure was installed adjacent to a mud-line suspended well in 210 ft of water, and will support up to three additional wells.

Coflexip Stena Offshore Norge has been awarded a contract from Statoil to supply a riser system on the Åsgard B field development. The contract, valued at $95 million, includes 24 dynamic risers installed in the reverse Pliant Wave and Lazy S configurations.

Sam Offshore has awarded a contract to Newpark Shipbuilding for the repair and modifications of its offshore jackup drilling rig Noram 253. Newpark will also perform topside modifications and skirt plate replacement. Newpark has also been awarded a contract from Sedco Forex to construct eight deck barges scheduled for delivery through December, 1998; a contract from Geco-Prakla for the modification, drydocking, and upgrading of the M/V Geco Tau; and a contract with Transcoastal Marine Services to drydock the bury barge Atchafalaya Bay for repairs, modifications, and upgrades.

Canyon Offshore has completed a three-month contract with Global Industries providing ROVs to support phase III of the Marathon Arnold pipeline installation in the Gulf of Mexico. Canyon used the Triton XL 19 and a backup ROV onboard SeaBulk's M/V Minnesota. Canyon also received a contract from Williams Field Services and Elf Exploration for assistance in the installation of a pipeline in Mississippi Canyon in the Gulf of Mexico using their ROV/Survey vessel Madison River.

Cal Dive International has signed a contract with Chevron to provide logistical support during construction of the Spar for the Genesis Development Project. The MSV Uncle John will be dynamically positioned alongside the Spar in 2,600 ft of water to accommodate personnel and materials involved in the hookup and commissioning of the facility.

TransCoastal Marine Services has signed a contract with Bufete de Infrastructura Maritima Mexicana calling for its recently acquired laybarge, the Vermilion Bay, to work in Mexico for a minimum of 200 days.

Elmeridge Cables Limited has been appointed to supply specialist subsea cables to Sonardyne International Limited.

Dresser Industries' Wellstream unit has finalized a contract with the Chinese National Offshore Oil Corporation to design and manufacture jumpers for the Liadong Bay JZ9-3 development at its new manufacturing facility in Newcastle upon Tyne, England.

People

Baker Hughes has appointed Thomas Bates as Senior Vice President - Corporate Strategy.

A new offshore management team for Newpark Shipbuilding and Repair's rig and ship repair and new construction includes Joseph O'Toole as Executive Vice President of Operations for First Wave Marine, Francis Fair as Executive Vice President of Operations for offshore division, Dale Payne as Vice President of Repairs for the offshore division, Ben Ramirez as Vice President of Shipyard Operations for the Greens Bayou facility, and George Williams as Vice President of Fabrication for the offshore division.

Tom Wertz has been promoted to Vice President of worldwide drilling fluid sales and marketing for M-I.

Moyno, a unit of Robbins & Myers, has recently named Lee Bollow as Director, Sales and Marketing.

Kv?rner has announced the following appointments: Roger McGovern to President, Kv?rner Oil & Gas Asia Pacific, Greg Miller to Senior Vice President, Operations of the Asia Pacific Group, Steve Hindmarsh to Senior Vice President, Technology, and Peter Correy to Vice President, Commercial.

Dean Kypke, Manager of Construction and Conversion for Aker Marine Contractors, will be inducted into the Offshore Energy Center museum's Hall of Fame in Galveston.

BJ Services has appointed Thibaut Dornoy to Business Development Manager - Alliances.

The Expro Group has named Terry Charleton as Client Account Manager responsible for the UKCS/Norway region.

Fred Olsen Energy has announced that Leif Aker has been employed as Senior Vice President, Offshore Projects.

Global Corrosion Technologies has appointed James McCord as President and Chief Executive Officer of the company.

Jim White has been promoted to Vice President, multiclient data library, Western Hemisphere, for Western Geophysical. Western has also promoted Richard Degner to Vice President, Latin America onshore operations.

Cooper Cameron has named Dalton Thomas President of the Cameron Division, Edward Will Vice President of Surface and Subsea Business, and Hal Goldie Vice President, General Manager of the Eastern Hemisphere.

Arild Unneberg of Saga Petroleum's executive committee has been put in charge of the company's Stavanger office.

Larry Myers has been appointed as the National Sales Manager at ABB Process Analytics. EVI Weatherford (Aberdeen) has promoted Gary Warren to Vice President for Europe, West Africa and the CIS. Charles Forbes is now UK Manager while Pete Smith has transferred to West Africa as General Manager.

JP Kenny (Staines, UK) has appointed Dave Baker Operations Director and Colin McKinnon Technical Director. Alan Brackenridge is the new Operations Director for the Aberdeen office. Elsewhere, Steve Witaker is now CEO for the Houston division with Mike Maguire Vice-President Operations, and in Perth, Silvana Ferrario is the new Technical Director.

Dresser-Rand Reciprocating Products has announced that David Vincent has been appointed as Vice President, Business Operations.

BJ Services (Aberdeen) has promoted Richard O'Dowd to Sales and Business Development Manager of the process and pipeline services division.

Newpark Drilling Fluids has realigned responsibilities for its North American operating area. Perry Bennett, Executive Vice President, assumes responsibility for Canada, Mexico, West Texas, the Rocky Mountains, and Oklahoma. Bruce Smith, Executive Vice President, is responsible for the newly created Process division as well as Finance and Administration, Purchasing, and Technology. Steve Daniel, Senior Vice President, has assumed responsibility for Gulf Coast Operations, and Sales and Marketing.

James Parmigiano has been appointed as Vice President, Finance of EVI Weatherford's Completion and Oilfield Services group. The company has also appointed Craig Scott as Vice President, Finance of the Artificial Lift group.

M-I has announced the promotion of Dr. Monica Norman to Vice President of Research & Engineering and Dr. Jim Friedheim to Manager of Research and Development.

Frank's Casing Crew & Rental Tools has announced that Jim Ables has been appointed as the company's Sales Manager for the New Orleans area.

Telecommunications group EAE (Aberdeen) has appointed Bobbie Buskie as Managing Director.

Litton Marine Systems has appointed Frank Coles to the newly created position of Vice President, Information Technology and Business Development.

Racal Survey (Chessington, UK) has named Professor C. Green as Director of Strategic Development.

Hydratight (Aberdeen) has appointed Darryl Dixon as Operations Engineer, coordinating up to 60 technicians.

Wartsila NSD has appointed Bill Malacrida to Vice President, Marine within North America and has made Robert Kimmons responsible for offshore business.

RJE International has appointed John Manley as Marketing Manager for the company's Underwater Products division.

Walter Jackson, III has joined Baker Energy as Manager of Mechanical Maintenance Services.

David Eoff, a member of the National Offshore Safety Advisory Committee, has been named Safety and Environmental Director of Nautica Marine Services.

Mergers, acquisitions & new companies

The European Commission has decided not to oppose the proposed Halliburton-Dresser merger.

Baker Hughes and Western Atlas announced that the waiting period under the antitrust review is over without the receipt of a request for additional information.

Horizon Offshore and strategic alliance partner, Det Sondenfjelds-Norske Dampskibsselskab have signed an agreement for a deepwater joint venture in the Gulf of Mexico for pipelaying operations.

Jenson Marine has become part of AMCOL International, a US-based specialty chemicals, minerals, and environmental company.

Petroleum Geo-Services has completed the acquisition of Acadian Geophysical Services.

In connection with the merger of DeepTech International with El Paso Energy, DeepTech is distributing rights to acquire certain stock issued by Tatham Offshore and held by DeepTech.

Unifab International has completed the acquisition of Allen Tank.

GE Capital Structured Finance Group and Bechtel Enterprise have formed a new company to develop, finance, build, own, and operate major pipeline transportation systems throughout the world.

Advanced Industrial & Marine Services and Offshore Structural Polymers have reached an agreement in principle for the marketing, engineering, and distribution of OSPolymat - an alternative to steel mudmats.

Company news

Global Industries has renamed its DLB 323 400-ft pipelay/derrick barge the Iroquois and the LB 278 pipelay/bury barge has been renamed the Seneca.

Robbins & Myers announced that it will merge its Moyno Oilfield Products and Flow Control Equipment business units into a single entity, R&M Energy Systems.

TDI-Halter has relocated its corporate offices from Orange, Texas to Port Arthur, Texas.

Consler Filtration Products has kicked off a two-year plant expansion that will increase production space by 50% and provide increased manufacturing capabilities to support new product development.

Mobil and ARCO swap assets

Mobil Exploration & Producing and ARCO have reached a definitive agreement to transfer Mobil's interests in the offshore producing and non-producing properties primarily located in the western shelf region of the Gulf of Mexico to Western Midway, a wholly-owned subsidiary of ARCO. In return, Mobil will receive all of ARCO's onshore exploration and production properties in California located in the San Joaquin Basin. Mobil's Gulf of Mexico properties involved in the deal have a total net production of 40,000 b/d and total reserves of about 80 million bbl BOE.

Girassol fab in Angola

A $415 million contract has been awarded to the Alto Mar Girassol (AMG) joint venture between Bouygues Offshore, ETPM, and Stolt Comex Seaway by Elf Exploration Angola for the development of the Girassol Field in deepwater Block 17 off Angola. Stolt Comex Seaway's portion of the contract is worth $138 million and entails the design, engineering, fabrication, and installation of flowlines, umbilicals, and risers. AMG has proposed a novel concept of three towers housing all the risers, with the base of the towers connected to the subsea production system using flowline bundles and the top of the towers connected to the FPSO. The flowline bundles will be fabricated in Soyo, Angola, and the towers in Lobito, Angola. Installation will be performed in two separate phases. Phase 1 will be during the FPSO installation in the second half of 2000 and phase 2 is set for 2002.

Industry records

• Global Marine has spudded the deepest well ever using the Glomar Explorer deepwater drillship. The well was drilled in 7,714 ft of water in Atwater 118 in the Gulf of Mexico for Chevron.
• PGS' Ramform Challenger set a new pro duction record. The vessel acquired over 2,100 sq km of 3D seismic data during a contiguous 30-day period. The previous record was also held by PGS with the Ramform Explorer. The Ramform Explorer also set a daily production record by shooting 101 sq km on a 3D seismic survey in the Barents Sea, while pulling ten full-length streamers with a total spread of 1,350 meters.
• Schlumberger Oilfield Services has successfully completed the deepest logging job ever performed in the Gulf of Mexico. Logged for EEX, formation evaluation data was acquired down to total vertical depth of 25,772 ft. Hydrostatic pressure at this depth was calculated at 19,968 psi and maximum deviation of the well was 28°.
• Veritas DGC has set a new industry towing record for the successful deployment of a 12,000-meter streamer from its new flagship seismic acquisition vessel, the SRV Veritas Viking. The long offset seismic program took place in the White Zone/Faroes area of the Atlantic Margin.

Copyright 1998 Oil & Gas Journal. All Rights Reserved.