Business Briefs

Feb. 21, 2020
The latest personnel changes and company news for the offshore oil and gas industry.

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Providence Resources has appointed Alan Linn as CEO. He also joins the board as an executive director.

DORIS Group has appointed Christophe Debouvry as CEO.

Occidental Petroleum Corp. has elected Andrew Gould to its board of directors.

Noble Energy has elected Martha B. Wyrsch to its board of directors.

John Evans has succeeded Jean Cahuzac as CEO of Subsea 7. In addition, the company has appointed Olivier Blaringhem as executive vice president - SURF and Conventional, Steph McNeill as executive vice president – Renewables, and Phil Simons as executive vice president - Projects and Operations.

Borr Drilling Ltd. has appointed Francis Millet as CFO, Magnus Vaaler as vice president of Investor Relations and Treasury, and Neil Glass to its board of directors.

ION Geophysical Corp. has appointed Mike Morrison as executive vice president and CFO. He succeeds Steve Bate, who will remain with the company as a strategic advisor to the CEO until the end of June.

Pierfrancesco Latini has resigned as a non-executive and non-independent member of the Saipem board and a member of Audit and Risk Committee.

Noble Corp. plc has appointed Stephen M. Butz as executive vice president and CFO.

Talos Energy Inc. has appointed Robert Abendschein as executive vice president and head of operations.

Brian Gilvary, BP CFO, has decided to retire from the company and step down from the board on June 30, 2020. He will be succeeded by Murray Auchincloss, currently CFO of BP’s Upstream segment, who will take up the role and join the board on July 1, 2020.

VAALCO Energy Inc. has appointed William R. Thomas as president. He will be responsible for the company’s strategic M&A activity.

Ocean Installer has appointed Odd Strømsnes as CEO.

The Oil and Gas Authority has appointed Scott Robertson as director of operations, Pauline Innes as head of decommissioning, and Alistair Macfarlane as area manager – SNS and EIS.

Sandeep Sharma has joined EnerMech as CFO.

Valaris plc has appointed Adam Weitzman to its board of directors. He will also serve on the Finance Committee and the Compensation Committee.

Kosmos Energy has appointed Khady Dior Ndiaye as vice president and regional director for West Africa.

Total has appointed Alexis Vovk as president, Marketing & Services and an Executive Committee member.

Oceaneering International Inc. has named Earl Childress as senior vice president, Business Development.

Richard Blackett and Trevor Ashurst have joined Deep Down Inc. as vice president of Sales and Business Development and vice president of Finance, respectively.

Halliburton Co. has appointed Robb Voyles as executive vice president, secretary and chief legal officer, and Van Beckwith as senior vice president and general counsel.

Trevor Stapleton and Katy Heidenreich have joined OGUK as health, safety and environment director and operations director, respectively.

READ Cased Hole has appointed Bruce Melvin as CEO.

Xodus Group has hired Przemek Marek to lead its new wind analysis team.

Integrated Global Services has hired Tim Miller as executive director for the Republic of Kazakhstan and senior advisor – Global Upstream Operations, and Dauren Turebayev as country manager – Kazakhstan.

Emerson has named Justin King vice president of Engineering and Rob Trefz vice president of Marketing.

AqualisBraemar has appointed Allan Kelly to lead the adjusting division in Europe and West Africa.

Stratagraph has appointed William A. Hagan as president and CEO.

The National Ocean Industries Association has promoted Justin Williams to vice president of Communications. Richard England and Ashley Parkins have joined NOIA as vice president of Government Affairs and director of Meetings and Events, respectively.

KENC Engineering B.V. has hired Vincent Vinkoert as business development manager.

Sparrows Group has appointed Dave Morrow as regional director for Middle East, India and Caspian.

Applied Petroleum Technology has appointed Helge Nyrønning as CEO.

Centurion Law Group has named Zion Adeoye as managing director.

Phoenix International Holdings Inc. has promoted Matthew Long to corporate vice president.

Danos has promoted Brady Hebert to shelf operations manager and Mark Theriot to competency assurance and training manager.

Sandvik Materials Technology has appointed Erik Bäck as sales manager for the Nordic region.

Joe Wightman and Darran Falconer have joined Zenith as drilling engineers.

Airswift has hired Keith Gee as general counsel.

ASL GRP has appointed Dan Graves as project manager and Laura Jones as soft armour technician.

Fircroft has appointed Christophe Menger as global sales and strategic accounts director.

Company News

McDermott International Inc. has the support of more than two-thirds of all its funded debt creditors for a restructuring transaction that will equitize nearly all the company’s funded debt, eliminating more than $4.6 billion of debt. The restructuring transaction will be implemented through a prepackaged Chapter 11 process that will be financed by a debtor-in-possession financing facility of $2.81 billion.

Bristow Group Inc. and Era Group Inc. have entered into a definitive agreement to combine the two companies in an all-stock transaction. Under the terms of the agreement, which was unanimously approved by the board of directors of both companies, Bristow shareholders would own 77% of the equity of the new company and Era shareholders would own 23%. The combined company, which will be named Bristow, will be headquartered in Houston. The transaction is expected to close in the second half of 2020, following receipt of required regulatory approvals and satisfaction of other customary closing conditions, including approval by Bristow’s and Era’s stockholders.

TechnipFMC says its plans to split the group into two companies, TechnipFMC and Technip Energies, remains on track for completion, probably during 2Q 2020.

Deep Casing Tools has appointed Africa Oilwell Technology as its partner in Angola, Cameroon, Democratic Republic of Congo, Gabon, Republic of Congo, and South Africa. The company has selected Omasup Energy Services as its representative in Nigeria.

James Fisher Offshore has merged with James Fisher Subsea Excavation.

Stress Engineering Services Inc. has acquired Laserstream, LP.

Fugro has agreed to acquire CGG’s 40% shareholding in Seabed Geosolutions thereby terminating the two companies’ joint venture agreement. Fugro views the company as a non-core asset and will seek to sell the business.

Mammoet has completed the acquisition of ALE.

Chrysaor has awarded OPEX Group a digital services contract.

PSW Group has signed an agreement to operate the former EMAS spoolbase in Gulen Industrial Harbor, western Norway. The agreement covers all activities related to production and spooling of offshore pipelines. The company will rename the facility, constructed in 2014, PSW Spoolbase.

SEACOR Marine has contracted Oceaneering C-Nav Positioning Solutions to supply C-Nav5000 global navigation satellite system receivers for a select number of its support vessels. The scope of work calls for two receivers per vessel. SEACOR will license corrections signals from the company while the equipment is onboard, and the vessels are working. C-Nav expects to install the receiver on seven vessels by the end of the year.

Superior Energy Services Inc. has entered into a definitive agreement to divest its US service rig, coiled tubing, wireline, pressure control, flowback, fluid management and accommodations service lines and combine them with Forbes Energy Services Ltd.’s complementary service lines to create a new, publicly traded consolidation platform for US completion, production and water solutions.

Tenaris S.A. has completed the acquisition of IPSCO Tubulars Inc., a US manufacturer of steel pipe, from PAO TMK in a transaction valued at $1.067 billion. The parties have entered into a six-year master distribution agreement whereby Tenaris will be the exclusive distributor of TMK’s OCTG and line pipe products in the US and Canada.

Inchcape Shipping Services has opened an office in Georgetown, Guyana.

Halo, Survitec’s new passenger lifejacket solution for helicopter transfer, has received European Technical Standard Order approval certification from the European Aviation Safety Agency.

READ Cased Hole Ltd. has opened new facilities in Houston and Anchorage, Alaska.

T.D. Williamson turned 100 on Jan. 2, 2020.

Blue Water Shipping has opened an office in Guyana.

ClassNK has joined the International Windship Association.

The National Ocean Industries Association has launched an environmental, social and governance program.

Society of Exploration Geophysicists has sold the Geophysical Resource Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma, to League Capital, LLC.

Halliburton Co. has signed a strategic agreement with the Advanced Remanufacturing and Technology Center to become an anchor member.

IPCOM Group has acquired 3T Energy Group’s energy insulation business AIS Technical.

NHV Group has gained an air operator certificate by the UK Civil Aviation Authority.

Special Piping Materials has achieved ISO 45001 accreditation.

Premier Oil has awarded Peterson a new five-year contract worth more than £20 million ($26 million). The company will deliver transport and materials management to customs support through bases and quaysides across the UK.