BUSINESS BRIEFS

Tendeka has appointedRaymond Garcia as a non-executive director. Garcia is currently VP of ventures at Tucker Technologies.

Energy Partners has appointedGary C. Hanna as CEO. The company has also named Charles O. Buckner, Scott A. Griffiths, Marc McCarthy, Steven J. Pully, and John F. Schwarz to its board of directors.

MOGAS Industries has appointedMatthew L. Mogas as president and CEO.

Premier Oil has namedMike Welton as non-executive chairman. He replaces Sir David John, who served as chairman for 11 years.

Stingray Geophysical has appointedChris Cottam as VP of global sales. He will be based in the company’s newly opened office in Houston. The company has also appointed Alan Knowlton as supply chain director.

Global Tubing has hiredPete Sinner as manager of North American sales.

Total has appointedCharles Paris de Bollardière as company secretary. He succeeds Thierry Reveau de Cyrières, who is taking new responsibilities within the company.

BMT Scientific Marine Services has namedDr. Kent Davies as senior project manager. Davies will lead a team of engineers and technicians. He will focus on technical coordination of design inputs, and budgetary and schedule management.

INTECSEA has appointedBill Westcott as director of business development for the Americas. Westcott previously served as VP of upstream oil and gas for the Americas for Lloyd’s Register.

Toreador Resources Corp. has hiredBernard de Combret as an independent director, Marc Sengèsas CFO, and Tony Vermeire as commercial director.

Sigma Offshore has appointedAllan Millmaker as executive president of business development. The company also has appointed Eirik Refstie as VP of business development to lead Sigma’s newly opened office in Oslo, Norway.

Dana Gas has namedJames Dewar as Group CFO. Dewar has over 27 years experience in global/regional CFO roles with BP Plc in the UK, Dubai, Kuwait, Indonesia, Singapore, and USA.

iicorr has appointedTerry Stebbings as business manager to head up the company’s integrity consultancy business unit.

Scottish Rig Repairers has hiredWalter Linemann as operations manager. He will coordinate and supervise project teams and clients on rig repair, shutdowns, and major upgrades.

Steminic has namedDuncan Bonner as business development director.

Maersk Oil has appointedJakob Thomasen as CEO. He succeeds Thomas Thune Andersen.

Acergy S.A. has appointedSimon Crowe as CFO.

Oceaneering International has namedKevin Kerins as senior VP for remotely operated vehicles (ROVs). Kerins has been with Oceaneering for 31 years.

Fred. Olsen Energy ASA has namedIvar Brandvold as CEO. He succeeds Helge Haakonsen.

INTECSEA has appointedGarry P. Mahoney as chief technology officer.

Tendeka has namedGary Smart as COO, and Alan Pearson as CFO.

Company News

The boards ofDet norske and Aker Exploration have approved the companies’ merger plan. The merged company will have a strong presence along the coast of Norway, with its registered address in Trondheim and offices in Stavanger, Oslo, and Harstad. According to the plan, the company will retain the name Det norske oljeselskap ASA and Erik Haugane will be CEO. Kjell Inge Røkke, chairman of the board of Aker Exploration, will be proposed as chairman of the board of the new Det norske oljeselskap ASA.

Woodside Burrup has contracted Ferguson Modular to supply a 15-module complex with galley, mess, office, and medic facilities for the Pluto project offshore Australia.

Total E&P Angola and BP Angola (Block 18)have awarded Acergy a $110-million contract for the block 17/18 GEP Phase II project offshore Angola. The contract covers installation of over 70 km (43 mi) of 24-in. (62-cm) pipeline from block 2, together with associated jumper, PLET, and tie-ins to the nearshore/onshore pipeline in water depths up to 40 m (131 ft).

Companhia Brasileira de Offshore (CBO)has awarded Northrop Grumman’s Sperry Marine business unit contracts to supply bridge navigation systems for four newbuild vessels. The four multipurpose platform supply vessels will be built at the Estaleiro Aliança shipyard near Rio de Janeiro. Once complete the vessel will be on long-term charters with Petrobras.

FMC Technologies has constructed a global technology center at its Houston campus. The company says the center will enhance its ability to develop innovative equipment and services for customers worldwide. The building will house product technical management teams and core technology groups made up of mechanical and electrical engineers, designers, metallurgists, material scientists, chemists, welding engineers, and other specialists required for the design and verification of high performance deepwater equipment.

Aker Solutions has entered into a frame agreement with BP Norge to provide well intervention services on all BP-operated assets, including Valhall, Ula, and the future Skarv development on the Norwegian continental shelf. Under the agreement, Aker Solutions will provide mechanical wireline, wireline tractor, and production logging services.

ThePetroleum Safety Authority Norway has granted StatoilHydro consent to use the Veslefrikk field facilities until 2020. The consent includes the Veslefrikk A and Veslefrikk B facilities, the oil pipeline from Veslefrikk to Oseberg, and the gas pipeline to Statpipe.

SPIR STAR is now the exclusive distributor for SAMI Instruments high pressure valves. This new product line consists of NPT, medium, and high pressure needle valves, ball valves, and check valves with working pressures up to 60,000 psi.

Vertec Engineering is investing $12.3 million to expand its rental fleet of engineering cabins to more than 200 modules.

Expro has redesigned its Aberdeen facility. The $1.9-million investment includes additional capacity for the assembly of deepwater electro-hydraulic deepwater safety systems as well as a new clean room, training room, and hyperbaric cell that simulates subsea conditions during testing.

Chevron has selected Mustang as main automation contractor for its global upstream business units. Mustang will provide front-end engineering design, detailed engineering, procurement, programming, and integration for the monitoring, process control, safety, and management systems at Chevron’s new and existing upstream offshore and onshore oil and gas facilities.

Logan Oil Tools has acquired Dennis Tool Co.Based in Houston, Texas, Dennis Tool Co. focuses on the design and manufacture of polycrystalline diamond compact products including PDC cutters for oilfield drill bits, PDC bearings for downhole drilling motors, and other wear parts for a variety of industries.

ARGAS, a joint venture between CGGVeritas and TAQA, has opened a Technology Center in Al Khobar, Saudi Arabia. The new facility is an open center designed to serve the oil and gas community in the Kingdom with a suite of state-of-the-art capabilities and resources.

Oceanteam has signed a heads of agreement with a company in the subsea industry for the sale of its 60% share in Oceanteam Subsea Services.

McJunkin Red Man Corp. has acquired Transmark Fcx Group, a distributor of specialty valves and flow control equipment.

Brazil’s Federal University at Rio de Janeiro plans to open a $10-million research center to facilitate research into development of massive subsalt hydrocarbons offshore. Petrobras and Schlumberger have partnered with the university to build the international research facility at UFRJ’s technology campus next to the COPPE’s “Ocean Lab,” another state-of-the-art subsea research facility.

Lloyds Register, Shell, and Acergy have joined the National Subsea Research Institute (NSRI) as industry members. NSRI was established by Subsea UK, and Aberdeen, Dundee, and Robert Gordon universities via the Northern Research Partnership in Engineering to provide a focus for the development of subsea technology and expertise.

Hydratight has launched a new range of subsea training courses in mechanical joint integrity. The courses, developed in direct response to feedback from customers, cover the use of hydraulic torque and tensioning equipment for the subsea sector and provide an insight into other Hydratight subsea integrity equipment such as flange pullers, nut splitters, and bespoke equipment.

Shell has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Expro covering the two-year extension of two contracts. The contracts, which Expro values at approximately $100 million, provide wireline and well test services in the UK, Norway, Holland, and Ireland.

ASCO has been awarded four contracts totaling £30 million ($50 million) to provide logistics services to Mobil North Sea, Total E&P UK, Chevron North Sea, and Nippon Exploration and Production UK.

E. ON Ruhrgas has awarded HB Rentals a $3.25-million contract to supply a dozen custom-built, high-specification cabins for the Babbage platform in the UKCS southern North Sea. The units are capable of accommodating 32 people, across eight four-man sleeping quarters, and house a galley, medical room, recreation area, and locker room/lounge.

Walker Technical has contracted Fairwinds International as its sole distributor in the US. Walker Technical will operate under the name Technopipe America, providing composite pipe repair services to US customers.

Oil & Gas UK and NATS Services (NSL)have launched a new helicopter surveillance system for the North Sea. The new system enables air traffic controllers to see helicopters on their radar screens at Aberdeen Airport at a greater range from the shore than has previously been possible using shore-based radars.

Esso Exploration Angola (Block 15)has awarded GE Oil & Gas a contract for subsea production equipment for Kizomba Satellites, a new deepwater oil production project off the coast of West Africa.

Fugro has acquired General Robotics Ltd. (GRL). GRL provides high-performance dynamic simulation and visualization software to the offshore oil and gas industry. The company will be renamed Fugro GRL and will be a part of Fugro’s subsea services business line.

Deepwater Corrosion Services and FORCE Technology Norway are teaming up to offer local engineering and project management support services to Europe and the Gulf Coast region.

Tracerco has established a Norwegian base in Bergen. The base includes full operational facilities for the storage, maintenance, and mobilization of process diagnostics services across the region. The company can also conduct subsea equipment testing at up to 600 m (1,969 ft) water depth in an adjacent fjord.

Maersk Oil North Sea has awarded Champion Technologies a $10-million, three-year contract to provide production chemicals for subsea and topside applications. The contract has extension options for a further four years.

Schlumberger has organized its sand screen and inflow control device products under a single banner.

BG Group has acquired BP’s entire equity in the Everest, Lomond, and Armada fields and part of BP’s equity in the Erskine field. In return, BG Group has transferred all of its equity interests in southern North Sea fields to BP. With this acquisition, BG Group is now operator of the Everest and Lomond fields. The company will continue as operator the Armada field.

Aberdeen-basedCSL has created a US operation based in Houston, Texas. The company has appointed Bill Washington as GM for the new office.

Japan Energy has acquired a 15% interest in offshore block JPDA 06-103 in the Timor Sea from Oilex.

Framo has signed a technological cooperation agreement with Petrobras to install a submarine multiphase pumping system in the Campos basin off Brazil. The prototype, which pumps multiphase fluids (oil, water, and gas) from the well to the platform, will be the first helicon-axial-type pump to be installed in the world to exert differential pressure above 60 kgf/cu m, the companies say. The device is expected to be installed in the second half of 2011 in the Barracuda field, and will operate in a platform P-48 satellite well. Water depth in the region is 1,040 m (3,412 ft).

Talisman Energy (UK) has chosen the Craig Group’s latest newbuild vessels to support operations in its northern business area in the North Sea. The two IMT 948-designed vessels, currently under construction at the Balenciaga shipyard, will go on long-term charter next year to provide emergency response and rescue services to Talisman’s Piper B, Saltire, Tartan, and Claymore installations.

Balmoral Offshore Engineering is investing over $3.2 million in a new 30,000-sq ft (2,787-sq m) manufacturing facility at its Aberdeen headquarters. Designed by Balmoral’s engineering and technical teams, the plant will increase production capacity for the company’s buoyancy products, particularly marine drilling riser modules.

Shell has awarded Halliburton a contract to deliver fluid services on a deepwater rig and a TLP in the Gulf of Mexico. Work began in the third quarter and includes the delivery of clay-free, high-performance fluid systems that are engineered to address deepwater challenges through improved control of downhole pressures and cold-temperature rheology, Halliburton says.

PEP has awarded Dragados Offshore and its subsidiary Dragados Offshore Mexico a contract for the ZAAP-C project. The contract covers engineering, procurement, fabrication, load-out, mooring, transportation, installation, hook-up, testing, commissioning, and start-up of a generation platform to be installed in the Mexican sector of the GoM.

National Oilwell Varco (NOV) and Schlumberger have formed the IntelliServ joint venture to provide high-speed drillstring telemetry systems.

According to the companies, the joint venture is expected to accelerate development and delivery of intelligent drilling solutions through the expanded use of the IntelliServ Broadband Network, a technology that provides high resolution data in real time to and from the bottom of oil and gas wells as they are being drilled. IntelliServ also will provide along-string evaluation services, enabling real-time monitoring of drillstring conditions, and an ability to actuate downhole tools on-demand. National Oilwell Varco owns 55% of the joint venture and Schlumberger owns 45%.

FMC Technologies is acquiring Multi Phase Meters (MPM). Based in Stavanger, Norway, MPM manufactures high-performance multiphase flow meters for the oil and gas industry. The transaction is expected to close in the fourth quarter.