Unifab International (New Iberia, Louisiana) and subsidiary Allen Process Systems announced $20.5 million in new contract awards for projects in Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, Nigeria, and the Gulf of Mexico.
Framatome's (Paris) subsidiaries Jeumont Industrie, Prosernat, and DKM, have been awarded equipment contracts for the FPSO to be operated by Elf Angola. It will be located 200 km off the Angola.
Sonsub International (Houston) and Science Applications International have agreed to jointly offer next generation services to engineer, install, and provide new customer solutions for offshore fiber optic telecommunications and data delivery networks serving the oil and gas and related marine network markets.
BWX Technologies (New Orleans), a unit of McDermott International, and Bechtel National, have been awarded the management and operations contract for the U.S. Department of Energy's Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory located in Southeastern Idaho.
ICS Triplex (Maldon, UK) signed an agreement withSchneider Electric to cooperate on systems integration for the oil and gas industries.
Smit International (Rotterdam) and Keppel FELS (Singapore) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding to transform the present pool arrangement Asian Lift Pte Ltd into a full joint venture with each party continuing to own 50% equity interest in the company.
Shell Exploration and Production (Houston) has entered into a definitive agreement to sell a significant number of producing and exploration properties in the Gulf of Mexico Shelf to the Apache Corporation. Sale price for the properties is $715 million in cash plus one million shares of Apache common stock.
Flex-A-Seal has signed an agreement with Interseal of Australia to become the exclusive distributor for their mechanical slurry pump seals.
CapRock Communications (Dallas) announced a long-term agreement with BP Amoco to provide a satellite communications system for the Transocean drillship Discoverer Enterprise. CapRock holds contracts for every drillship currently operating in the Gulf of Mexico.
Pleiades Shipping Agents awarded a contract to FirstWave/Newpark Shipbuilding (Galveston) for collision damage repair of the 55,000 DWT vessel MT Nestos, at the company's East Pelican Island facility. FirstWave/Newpark Shipbuilding has also been awarded a contract by Sterling Equipment (Boston) to build two 140 ft x 40 ft offshore deck barges.
Manzanita Alliances (Houston) and Conoco have signed a 5-year extension of Manzanita's contract for provision of in-house graphics services in Houston, Midland, Texas, and Ponca City, Oklahoma.
EAE Limited (Aberdeen) has won a contract offshore Sudan to supply turnkey communications for Bluewater's new buoy system currently under construction in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.
Halliburton SubSea Services (Houston) has been awarded a contract to provide remotely operated vehicle services to support Burlington Resources' drilling program in the Gulf of Mexico.
Weir Pumps (Glasgow, Scotland) has been awarded a contract by Kværner Oil & Gas with Texaco, worth approximately £7.5 million, to supply 15 of its unique downhole multiphase pumps for Texaco's Captain expansion project in the UK North Sea.
Torch, Inc. (Gretna, Louisiana) and Delba Maritima announced the signature of a Cooperation Agreement. The companies will jointly develop deepwater installation offering the latest addition to Torch's fleet: the Midnight Eagle and Midnight Arrow to be followed by the Midnight Warrior.
BP Amoco announced the three companies which have been chosen for all BP Amoco's UK offshore installations are incumbents: Baker Hughes, INTEQ, and newly selected BW Mud, and MI. Contracts will be managed from the Aberdeen base, and will run for three years subject to ongoing performance.
Honeywell Industrial Automation and Controlhas signed a $250 million, 10-year contract with Chevron Products Company.
People
Smith International (Houston) announced the appointment ofJohn Kennedy as President and CEO of the combined business of Wilson Supply Unit. Smith also announced Margaret Dorman as Senior Vice President and CFO.
Servomex (Norwood, Massachusetts) announcedKevin Geary to the position of Product Manager and will have responsibility for all operations of the newly formed Servomex Transducers Ltd. in the Americas.
Moore Process Automation Solutions has appointedWilliam B. Moore to the newly created position of Vice President of Business Development, as well as named Peter F. Schiano to replace him as Vice President of Systems Research and Development.
Joe W. Keyhas joined TDI-Halter as Vice President, Engineering Development.
Ken Braudhas been named Director of Business Development for Alliance International Management, Inc.
Bettis Corporation (Waller, Texas) has appointedPhillip R. Vaughanas Managing Director for the company's Bettis U.K. Ltd., subsidiary in Fareham, England.
Mark Thatcherwill assume the newly created role of Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of ABB Vetco Gray's Houston location.
Vanco Energy (Houston) announced the addition of the following staff:Robert J. "Bob" Bankswill serve as Manager of Operations for Vanco's field development projects in West Africa, The Netherlands, and elsewhere; Dr. Gabor Tair joins the company as Senior Geophysicist.
Torch, Inc. (Gretna, Louisiana) announced the following appointments:Robbie Robinson,Vice President - Operations; Willie Bergeron,General Manager - Shallow Water; Stephane Montbarbon, General Manager - Deepwater; Patrice Chemin, President.
BP Amoco'sDr. Wolfgang Schollnberger, Technology Vice President, has been appointed Chairman of the Management Committee of the Oil Industry International Exploration and Production Forum - shortly to be renamed as the International Association of Oil and Gas Producers - and also as Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Offshore Technology Conference.
Raytheon (Cambridge, Massachusetts) announcedDavid L. Myershas been named President and COO of Raytheon Engineers & Constructors.
Netzsch, Inc. (Exton, Pennsylvania) announced the appointment ofPaul Scholtyssekto Vice President of its Filter Press Division.
Aker Maritime (Houston) announcedGreg Rhodes recently joined the company as Manager of Sales & Marketing in the Business Acquisition Group based in Houston.
Donald K. Grierson, President and CEO of ABB Vetco Gray, has been recognized by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers Petroleum Division for his "recognition of excellent leadership and representation of exceptional management in the oil and gas industry," ASME said.
Minerals Management Service announced the recipients of its 1998 Corporate Leadership Award (CORLA). Winners are:Cort Cooper, Tim Finnegan, and Dan Allen(Chevron); Charles Duhon(Kerr-McGee); Mark Witten(Chevron), Steve Brooks (Exxon), and Perter Hill (Shell); Moe Plaisance (Diamond Offshore Drilling); Bill Greenfield (Amoco Energy Trading), John Hunter Sharp (Director of Federal Relations and Counsel); William Schmidt (MAR Inc.); Sandi Fury (Chevron U.S.A. Production); Jeffery S. Harris, Consultant, (formerly with Mobil), Pat Pocock (Amoco), Larry Michel (Texaco), Faye Schubert (Shell Offshore); Octavio Pastrana and Mike Skitmore (BP Exploration); and, Bob Wilkinson (BP Amoco).
Mergers, acquisitions & new companies
Core Laboratories (Houston) announced it has completed the acquisition of privately held
Coherence Technology Company (CTC).
Sooner, Inc. (Tulsa) has acquired the tubular divisions of Wilson Industries, Continental Emsco, and National Oilwell,all of Houston.
Transocean Offshore and Schlumberger Ltd.announced the signing of a definitive merger agreement under which the offshore contract drilling business of Schlumberger, Sedco Forex, will be spun off and promptly combined with Transocean Offshore in a merger of equals called Transocean Sedco Forex.
Bue Marine Limited(Edinburgh, UK) has acquired the North Sea safety standby fleet of US shipping's Tidewater in a $40 million deal.
Stress Engineering Services (Houston) announced the acquisition of H.O. Mohr Research and Engineering of Houston from Oil States Industries, Inc. of Arlington, Texas.
CALTEC(Bedfrodshire, UK) and PSL Group(Aberdeen) have joined forces to supply the complete range of Wellcom systems and equipment for increasing reservoir and well productivity.
Shell Chemicals' Carilon Polymners have been selected by Italy-based NUPI, to be the inner barrier layer in its high-tech Smartflextrademark and OilTechtrademark multilayer pipes.
Weatherford International(Houston) announced the acquisition of ECD Northwestfrom Clearwater, Inc.
L-3 Communications (New York City) has acquired SeaBeam Instruments (East Walpole, Massachusetts), designer and manufacturer of wide swath ocean survey sonar systems.
Anadarko Petroleum has awarded a fabrication contract to Aker Gulf Marine. The project is due to be completed in mid-July 2000.
Leviathan Gas Piepline Partnersannounced that it has closed on the purchase of several companies which hold ownership interests in the High Island Offshore System, U-T Offshore System, East Breaks Gathering Companyand a number of smaller offshore pipeline lateral owned by Natural Gas Pipeline Company of America, a subsidiary of KN Energy.
Company News
Offshore Rig Moving (Larose, Louisiana) an affiliate of Offshore Towing, has purchased the ocean-going tug, Theresa B. The vessel has been renamed M/V J.A. Hardy.
Triton Elics (Watsonville, California) Isis SonarRegistered was used in the discovery of the Israeli submarine, Dakar, which was lost at sea during its maiden voyage from Britain to its home base in Israel. It was located after 31 years. Nauticos (Hanover, Maryland) located the submarine under contract to the Israeli Government.
BP Amoco and Andersen Consultingannounced an agreement to expand and extend their pioneering outsourcing relationship in the North Sea. The five-year deal extends an outsourcing agreement in which Andersen Consulting provides finance and administrative services to BP Amoco.
Tuskar Resources (Dublin) announced a reorganization of the management and operating structure of the company in an effort to reduce the company's day-to-day running costs and facilitate Tuskar's continued efforts to achieve development of the Obe Oil Field in OML 110, offshore Nigeria. Day-to-day operations will relocate to Houston. There, Gene Mason will be appointed Managing Director.
Metairie, Louisiana-based companyAlbert-Garaudy and Associatesannounced its new Houston location.
DUCO, a subsidiary of Coflexip Stena Offshore will provide a three-mile long umbilical system with working pressures from 3,000-15,000 psi for Total Offshore Production Systems' (TOPS)Gyrfalcon project.
Appleton Marine (Appleton Wisconsin) has ordered hydraulic actuated linear chain jack assemblies from Bardex for use in mooring the FPSO now under construction for Petrobras and scheduled for duty in the Espadarte field in the Campos Basin offshore Brazil.
Sonsub Internationalannounced its project completion for client Rockwaterduring the Jotun Field Development operations in the Norwegian sector of the North Sea. The ten-man Sonsub crew supported the installation of spoolpieces, flowlines, and umbilicals in 130msw operating Sonsub ROV Discovery 4 from EMC's DPDSV Bar Protector.
Enea OSE Systems announced OSE RTOS has been chosen to provide full support for Lucent and Motorola's new Star*Core™ SC140 DSP core.
Andrews Survey (Norfolk, UK) has been awarded the exclusive world-wide license for offshore jetpumps and diver dredges produced by Genflo.
Lincoln Electric Company (Cleveland) received the Enterprise Development, Inc. (EDI) Innovation award for its Chopper Technology™.
Solarex (Fredick, Maryland) announced the commissioning of the largest US-based solar electric system using its Millenniatrademark solar electric modules. The 43 kW solar system uses 1,400 Millennia modules.
Broken Hill Proprietary Company Ltd. announced further results of a significant new discovery in the ultra-deepwater Gulf of Mexico with the Green Canyon 826-1 well on the "Mad Dog" prospect located in the Atwater Foldbelt.
BJ Services' operational bases in Port Harcourt and Warri, Nigeria have been awarded ISO 9001 compliance certification by Det Norske Veritas for successfully passing a quality audit.
Endress + Hauser is now accessible via the Internet. Technical literature, latest exhibition and technical training and other information may be downloaded from http://www.endress.com.
As part of the integration process within the newRepsol-YPF Group,the Repsol, S.A. Board of Directors passed a change of name. The company will take on the new name of Repsol-YPF, S.A., portraying the company's new status following the acquisition of YPF.
EdgeTech (Boca Raton) delivered its X-Star Full Spectrum™ Sub-Bottom Profiler to Yellow River Conservancy Commission, Ministry of Water Resources.
CRC Evans Pipeline International, Inc. (Houston) announces a worldwide initiative into concrete weighting products. The initiative follows the 1998 purchase of the assets of B.L. Key Services, LLC, which now operates as CRC Key, Inc.
Landmark Graphics (Houston) announced it has granted more than $28.8 million in integrated E&P software and support services during the first quarter 1999. Universities receiving the most recent grants include Syracuse University, University of Sydney, and University of Western Australia.
Industry Records
Cameron and Emerson & Cuming have designed - and Cameronhas deployed - the world's first completely insulated seafloor production system in the Troika Field in the Gulf of Mexico, jointly leased by BP, Marathon, and Shell. The two companies worked in partnership to apply insulation to all surfaces influencing the temperature of the production fluid. Included were six trees, tree jumpers, manifold, and manifold jumpers.
Geco-Praklahas announced that the seismic vessel Geco Marlin set a record by recording more than 254 kilometers in a single day of production towing an 8,000-meter streamer. The Geco Marlin is working with the Akademik Shatskiy on Brazil '99, an 85,000-kilometer nonexclusive 2D seismic program offshore Brazil. The Brazil project is being acquired and processed as a joint venture between geco-Prakla and TGS-NOPEC Geophysical Company.
ABB acquires CSMA
ABB(UK) has acquired CSM Associates Ltdof Penryn, Cornwall, a UK engineering company that specializes in subsea instrumentation and reservoir management for the offshore oil and gas industry. CSMA has focused on developing high performance borehole tools for hostile environments. Particular attention has been paid to developing the design and manufacture of electronic and thermal management systems that can operate continuously at high temperatures. These tools have applications in the geothermal and oil and gas industries, requiring long-term deployment in high temperature, high pressure environments.
