Business Briefs
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ABB has appointedMike Crawford as country service manager for the UK and Ireland. He is responsible for defining the strategy and setting up a service organization to maximize ABB growth opportunities in line with the UK service activities.
Hyperdynamics Corp. has appointedJasonDavis as CFO.
Petrofac has namedPaulGroves as MD of Petrofac Training Services.
Wood Group has appointedNigelPollard as director of engineering excellence.
Sevan Drilling ASA has appointedJonWillmann as CFO and VP of finance. He will take over Aug. 1.
Deep Down Inc. has namedMarceloLardosa as business development officer.
Hess Corp. has namedGaryBoubel as senior VP of global developments. Effective in September, he will succeed Keith Hunter, who has retired.
Diamond Offshore Drilling Inc. has namedRobert G. Blair as senior VP for contracts and marketing.
Wintershall Holding AG’s supervisory board has appointedDr. Rainer Seele as chairman of the board of executive directors. Effective Oct. 1, he succeeds Reinier Zwitserloot, who is retiring. The board also appointed Dr. Gerhard König as a new member of the board and WINGAS GmbH & Co. KG Management spokesman. Effective Oct. 1, he will assume responsibility for the Natural Gas Ressort.
Aker Solutions has appointedKarl Erik Kjelstad as executive VP and member of the executive management team. Kjelstad will lead development of a strategic initiative related to oilfield services and the company’s fleet of marine vessels.
Ensco International Inc. has announced that senior VP of operations,Phillip Saile, will retire effective July 31, after 22 years of service. Senior VP Carey Lowe will assume responsibility for the deepwater business unit. Executive VP and COO Bill Chadwick will assume responsibility for the North and South America business unit.
Petrovietnam has appointedPhung Dinh Thuc as president and CEO. He was previously the company’s VP.
Infinity Energy Resources has appointedDr. Renato T. Bertani and Jeff Roberts to lead the technical team for exploration and development of offshore Nicaragua oil and gas concessions.
EIC has appointedMike Rolls as chairman of its board. He has served on the board for more than 15 years, including five years as treasurer.
Gasol has namedCharles Osezua as chairman of the steering committee of the Zafiro gas monetization project in Equatorial Guinea.
Heerema Marine Contractors has appointedJan-Pieter Klaver as COO effective July 1. The company also has named MichelHendriks as project director for block 31, the company’s largest offshore project to date.
The T&T Bisso Response Network has namedTimDickensheets as director of vessel response services for the company’s Oil Pollution Act of 1990 (OPA 90) emergency response, salvage, and marine firefighting team. The network also has added DeeAnnMcMillen to the OPA management team.
Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar has appointedLizBirnbaum as director of the department’s Minerals Management Service. She is an attorney with two decades of federal government and private sector experience in energy and environmental policy.
Metoc has appointedMickCook as principal adviser to the business in strategic growth and development.
Quantapoint has namedPaulHackleman as director of business development for the US western region. He will build upon the awareness of Quantapoint’s laser scanning technology and services and how they can be used to minimize risk and rework in the process, power, and offshore industries.
Depco Power Systems has namedPabloRivera as sales associate, and Karie Cortes-Costa as marketing manager.
Otto Energy Ltd. has appointedPaulMoore as CEO.
Sovereign Oilfield Group has appointedChris McGeehan as group chief operating officer.
Transocean Ltd. has appointedDavid A. Tonnel as SVP for the Europe and Africa Unit.
Ashtead Technology has namedAllan Pirie as CFO.
The corporate assembly of Statoil ASA has electedEinar Arne Iversen to serve on the company’s board as an employee representative. Lill-Heidi Bakkerud and Morten Svaan were re-elected as employee representatives.
Australian Worldwide Exploration’s non-executive directorEdward S. Smith has resigned due to health issues.
Maritime Industrial Services has appointedStephenSmith as business development director for its Marine & Newbuild Rig Services division. The company has also appointed ZubinShroff as VP for strategic development.
L-3 Offshore has appointedPeterRogers as MD.
Enventure Global Technology has appointedAlastairMcClean as GM. McClean’s responsibilities include sales, marketing, and operations in Europe and West Africa, and the development of growth strategies in neighboring markets. Enventure also has appointed JimBeattie to coordinate the company’s sales and marketing in West Africa.
TAM International has namedJohnRobinson as director of manufacturing.
Flexlife has appointedGraemeBeaton as integrity manager to help develop the company’s business in the UK and internationally.
National Oilwell Varco has namedHegeKverneland as corporate VP and chief technology officer. Kverneland succeeds Bob Bloom who is retiring after 40 years with the company.
The supervisory board of RWE Dea AG has appointedThomasRappuhn as CEO, effective Jan. 1, 2010.
Vertec has namedCraigMcLeish as chairman and StuartMortimer as non-executive director of the company.
Trelleborg CRP has appointedKevinMcNelis as VP of finance and accounting. His areas of expertise include strategic planning, business development, and customer programs.
Total has appointedManoelleLepoutre as executive VP for sustainable development and environment. Lepoutre succeeds Jean-Michel Gires.
Offshore Ship Designers has appointedAndrewRichards as technical director of OSD-IMT, its UK subsidiary. He previously worked as a naval architect at OSD’s Montrose office.
Company News
Cortec Manifold Systems and partner Empayar Damai Sdn Bhd have delivered compact manifold valves for Petronas Carigali’s Tangga Barat cluster project offshore Malaysia. The manifold consists of 29 slots with piping and valves manufactured using 316 stainless steel material. Each slot includes multiple 6-in. (15-cm) double ball valves, poppet diverter valves, check valves, and 2-in. (5-cm) ball-and-throttle valves. Petronas estimates that the project will flow 950 MMcf/d of gas through the manifold.
TPH Partners has created BlueRock Energy Capital II, a financing company that provides small, independent exploration and production operators with $1 million to $10 million of acquisition and development capital.
Baker Hughes INTEQ has won The Intervention & Coiled Tubing Association (ICoTA) 2009 Intervention Technology Award. The award recognized INTEQ’s rib-steered motor (RSM) for coil tubing directional drilling.
Cameron has entered into an agreement to acquire NATCO in an all-stock transaction that values NATCO at approximately $780 million. Under the agreement, NATCO shareholders will receive 1.185 shares of Cameron common stock in return for each of NATCO’s approximately 20.3 million shares outstanding.
BakerHughes is moving its European headquarters from Egham, UK to Chiswick Park, UK. The move is scheduled to take place over the summer and involves current UK office staff, along with members of the senior management team from Houston, Aberdeen, and Moscow.
PT Pertamina Hulu Energi has acquired a 10% participating interest in Production Licenses VIC/L26, VIC/L27, and VIC/L28 from AnzonAustralia for $31.5 million. The offshore Victoria licenses include the Basker Manta Gummy project.
KeppelShipyard is building a safety training complex next to the Keppel Offshore & Marine Group Training Centre at its Tuas Yard. When completed by the end of the year, the safety training complex will be the first such training center in Singapore, the company says.
Centrica is acquiring a 45% stake in gas development block 5(c) from Canadian Superior Energy for $142.5 million (£87 million). The agreement is subject to pre-emption rights from the existing field partners and subject to approvals from the Trinidad Government and Canadian courts. The block, off the southeast coast of Trinidad, is operated by BG Group.
OMV Exploration & Production has contracted Knowledge Reservoir to provide OMV with consultancy services for fully integrated studies in petrophysics, geology and geophysics, and reservoir engineering for all its international assets.
Iran has authorized development of phases 20 and 21 of the South Pars gas field in the Persian Gulf.Oil Industries Engineering and Construction will be the project’s main shareholder, with Iran Offshore Facilities Construction and Engineering Co. the lead contractor.
A subsidiary ofJohn Wood Group has acquired a 51% stake in Regional and Northern Maintenance Service (RANms), a provider of operations support services to the oil and gas industry. Wood Group has options to acquire the remaining 49% of RANms over the next five years.
ASCOMarine has acquired SeletarShipping. Seletar provides ships agency and related services to clients in the offshore, freight management, and logistics sectors.
GermanischerLloyd (GL) has opened new offices in Ho Chi Minh City and Danang, Vietnam. The company hopes to open another office in Nha Trang later this year.
Weatherford has acquired TNK-BP’s Oil Field Services enterprises in exchange for 24.3 million shares of Weatherford common stock and other consideration. The transaction remains subject to approval from Russia’s Federal Anti-monopoly Service.
StatoilHydro has awarded Aker Well Service and DeepwellNorge framework contracts for mechanical wireline services for fields on the Norwegian continental shelf (NCS).
The two framework contracts are valid for three years, with two, two-year option periods.
ExxonMobil has entered into a joint development agreement with WeatherfordInternational to develop and commercialize a new completion technology called MazeFlo, designed to mitigate sand production risk in a broad range of applications.
Royal Dutch Shell is reorganizing its upstream and downstream activities. Upstream will now consist of two businesses -- Upstream Americas covering North and South America, and Upstream International covering the rest of the world. The downstream portfolio will be expanded to include Trading and Alternative Energy activities in Shell, excluding wind, which will be part of upstream. A new business - Projects & Technology - will combine all of Shell’s major project delivery, technical services, and technology capability covering both upstream and downstream.
DevonEnergy is combining its International and Gulf divisions into one offshore division.
AED has acquired from Nexus a 50% interest in the Longtom project (VIC/L29) and surrounding exploration permit (VIC/P54).
Rosneft has signed an exploration and development agreement with the Ministry of Economy of the Republic of Abkhazia. Under the five-year accord, the two parties will pursue upstream and downstream co-operation in oil and gas field projects.
ChampionTechnologies has invested in a new headquarters in Aberdeen and facilities expansion in Scandinavia, the Middle East, Africa, and Caspian. The company has expanded its premises in Altens, Aberdeen, and construction of a new technology and research and development center is under way.
ACS Cobra Castor UTE has awarded NobleDenton a $21-million contract for project management and procurement support services for Castor’s underground gas-storage development initiative.
ABS has issued an Approval in Principle (AIP) for a second floating gas-to-liquids (GTL) concept and is currently involved with the review of several additional GTL concepts from leading energy operators. ABS provided its first AIP for a GTL concept (a floating production barge facility) in 2006.
SigmaOffshore has secured $3 million to further develop its enabling technology for stranded oil reserves. The company received a $1.5 million investment from Scottish Enterprise’s Scottish Venture Fund.
DockwiseShipping has secured 11 near- and longer-term contracts for the transportation of jackups, semisubmersibles, and port and marine infrastructure. Total revenues for the contracts are $63 million.
Chevron Energy Technology has awarded INTECSEA a facilities engineering services contract for the current phase of the Rosebank project. The field is located in the West of Shetland area on the UK continental shelf in approximately 3,700 ft (1,128 m) of water.
Cutting Underwater Technologies (CUT UK) has invested $5 million in a new headquarters in Aberdeen. The new site at Aberdeen Science and Energy Park contains 10,000 sq ft (929 sq m) of workshops; R&D and test facilities, including a trial and test tank; and 7,000 sq ft (650 sq m) of office space over two floors.
Exprois establishing a new base in Ghana to support its contract with Tullow Oil for the Jubilee Phase 1 development.