BUSINESS BRIEFS

Knowledge Systems namedRussell Smith as its new managing director for the Asia/Pacific center. Smith will relocate to a new facility in Perth.

In the Europe, Africa, and Middle East market, Knowledge Systems namedMorris Covington its new managing director for the center.

Steve Wellburn has been appointed sales and marketing director of Peter Brotherhood Ltd. engineering company. He will be responsible for the company’s steam turbine and reciprocating gas compressor sales divisions, as well as its international marketing activities across all products and services.

SAGA Oil ASA has has appointedThor Jensen vice president of drilling operations to strengthen the SAGA management in drilling activities. Jensen will be responsible for creating and implementing a new and modern drilling management in Russia to safeguard and to optimize SAGA Oil’s extensive drilling campaign on the Rodnikovsky license

Cecilie Ditlev-Simonsen has been appointed executive vice president and will join the company’s management team with the responsibility for communication and reputation management.

IONIK Consulting has appointedDirk van Oostendorp regional manager of the Americas. Van Oostendorp’s responsibilities include day-to-day management of IONIK’s Houston hub operations.

Transocean Inc. has added two new members to its board of directors.Mark Hellerstein was appointed as a Class III director, and Michael McMahon was appointed as a Class II director. The term of Class III directors runs to the 2008 annual general meeting, and the term of Class II directors runs to the 2009 annual general meeting.

Helix Energy Solutions has electedWilliam Morrice, Brent Shinall, Troy Matherne, and Stephen Rogers as officers of the company. Morrice, promoted to vice president of global well operations, joined Helix as general manager of well opportunities UK in 2002. He is based in Aberdeen, Scotland. Matherne joined Helix in October 2006 and was promoted to vice president of information technology. He joined Helix from Dresser Inc. where he was vice president and chief information officer. Shinall joined Helix in November 2006 to head the company’s newly formed global supply chain department, and has been elected as vice president of supply chain management. Rogers joined the Helix Eastern Hemisphere Business Development in May. Recently promoted to vice president of international business development, Rogers is based in Singapore.

Jiskoot has appointedMark O’Hanlon as the new sales manager for the Middle East, the former Soviet Union, and North Africa. O’Hanlon will focus on achieving business growth in the Arabian Gulf.

Aker Kvaerner Subsea has appointedRemi Birkeland managing director. Birkeland also becomes senior vice president of the group’s controls business stream. Birkeland replaces Paal Helsing.

Petrobras made changes in its executive staff, effective Jan 1, 2007.Alberto Guimarães is president of Petrobras America Inc., Carlos Fontes is general executive director of Petrobras Energia S.A., Renato Bertani is executive manager for the Americas, Africa, and Eurasia at the international area at the company’s headquarters, and João Carlos Figueira is exploration and production director of Petrobras America Inc.

TSMarine has appointed finance professionalSteve McPhail as its first chief financial officer. TSMarine is anticipating a threefold growth in revenue in the next two years with a forecast turnover of $194.8 million by 2009 and has hired McPhail to assist in meeting these targets.

ABS namedKen Richardson as vice president of energy development effective Jan. 1, 2007. Richardson will be located at the ABS worldwide headquarters in Houston.

Companies

Hydro has awarded AkerKvaerner a contract to upgrade the system for reinjection of produced water on the Brage platform. The scope of work includes engineering, procurement, and construction installation. The contract value is $24.5 million. Project completion is scheduled for the end of 2008.The Brage modification project will be executed by Aker Kvaerner in Bergen. Pre-fabrication of steel and pipework will be done in the company’s workshops. Design and procurement began immediately and pre-fabrication will start in April 2007. The offshore installation work will take place during 2007 and 2008. The main installation will be during a shutdown in 2008.

AkerKvaerner has been awarded several contracts for delivery of loading and offloading systems with a total contract value of about $21 million. One of these contracts involves delivering an offshore offloading system to Lukoil’s Varandey platform at the Peninsula Coast of the Barents Sea. The work is being completed by Aker Kvaerner subsidiary Aker Kvaerner Pusnes in Arendal. In addition to the Varandey contract, Aker Kvaerner Pusnes has been awarded contracts for delivery of FPSO offloading systems. Manufacturing will take place in Europe and Asia. Deliveries are scheduled for 2007/2008.

PPL Shipyard Pte Ltd. in Singapore has awarded Aker Kvaerner a contract for drilling equipment for a Baker Marine Pacific Class 375 jackup drilling rig. The total contract value for Aker Kvaerner is $15 million and is based on a letter of intent signed with PPL Shipyard Pte Ltd. in October 2006. Aker Kvaerner subsidiary, Aker Kvaerner MH in Kristiansand will perform the work. The scope of work includes delivering drilling equipment as well as engineering and commissioning services. The drilling rig is designed for world-wide operation and is scheduled for delivery at the end of 2008.

Plexus Holdings Plc. has won contracts to supply Repsol E&P T&T Ltd. and Petro-Canada with its POS-GRIP wellhead systems. Both companies will use Plexus’ exploration rental wellhead equipment, mudline suspension equipment, and service support in offshore Trinidad. The Repsol contract begins this month for an undefined period. The Petro-Canada contract runs for two years starting in early 2007. The number of wells will depend on the overall level of exploration activity, but the directors believe Repsol and Petro-Canada will drill at least six wells.

Global Marine Energy Plc. subsidiary,Patriot Mechanical Handling, has won an order valued $20 million from Star International Drilling Ltd. Star International has ordered one mechanical handling rig set that will include a vertical racking system, fingerboards, an iron roughneck, drillfloor winches, a BOP crane and transporter, a christmas tree carrier, king post deck cranes, a riser gantry crane, and a catwalk machine and derrick. This equipment will be used to upgrade the Olinda Star semi-submersible.

Tritech International Ltd. is joining Halma Plc. The completion agreement was signed on Nov. 24, 2006. The acquisition includes Swift 943 Ltd. trading as System Technologies and Ulvertech Engineering Ltd. The three companies will now trade under the name Tritech International.

KCA Deutag Drilling Llc. has awarded BJ Tubular Services a contract, on behalf of Sakhalin Energy Investment Co. (SEIC), to provide hammer conductor-driving services offshore Sakhalin Island. BJ pre-install all conductors for SEIC for the Sakhalin Phase II Project on the Lunskoye-A and Piltun-B platforms using two of BJ’s hydraulic S200 Hydrohammers. The operation will be supported by BJ personnel and equipment from BJ’s base in Singapore. The multi-million dollar contract is scheduled for completion in 2010.

Heerema Fabrication Group (HFG) has acquired the entire share capital of Albert-Garaudy Consulting Engineers (AGA). AGA is a multi-disciplined consulting engineering company serving the international oil and gas, refining and chemical industries, and employs 300 people. AGA’s design experts and registered professional engineers provide engineering, drafting, and design services in all of the major engineering disciplines.

Qserv has acquired KCA Deutag’s wireline division in a multi-million-dollar deal. The contract, which was concluded on Dec. 6, 2006, sees 25 KCA Deutag employees transfer to Aberdeenshire-based Qserv. The transaction also includes all wireline equipment. Qserv will support the ongoing contracts and business requirements previously undertaken by KCA Deutag.

BJ Tubular Services has been awarded a contract by CNR International S.A.R.L., a subsidiary of Canadian Natural Resources Ltd., to provide a range of well services offshore Côte d’Ivoire, Africa. The two-year contract provides for casing and tubing running services, pipe yard services, and onshore completion assembly services for all 12 wells on CNR’s West Espoir wellhead tower offshore Abidjan. BJ is providing all services from its facilities in Abidjan. The scope of work includes running 13% chrome tubular completions from the Al Baraka 1 tender-assisted drilling barge. Onshore, BJ will carry out completion assembly services using the company’s transportable Series 2000 bucking unit with Chromemaster jaws at its base in Abidjan.

CSL has announced the formation of an engineering division. The current engineering division consists of a team of 15 specialists, but CSL has aspirations to double this number within the next 18 months and is actively recruiting people to join the team. Short-term planned investment in the region of $1.9 million between now and June 2007 will deliver a number of initiatives that are expected to enhance the division’s efficiency including ongoing recruitment, building and implementing business processes, and a program of business development activities.

Lime Rock Partners have committed more than $90 million to C&M Group to fund the MBO and provide capital for future investment to allow the new management to pursue its aggressive growth strategy. The management team of David Kellas and Alisdair Harrison will embark on an investment plan designed to put the company into a position to capitalize on what they sees as major opportunities within the international oil and gas construction market.

PetroCom LLC has increased its telecommunication services due to heightened hurricane activity. They have implemented a full-service emergency response solution to service five of BP’s largest offshore platforms in the Gulf of Mexico.

The company has secured a secondary teleport in Atlanta to allow communication services to be transferred from the main teleport in Louisiana in the event of a disaster. They also provide BP with a disaster recovery team that includes technicians and engineers that can be on location during an evacuations situation.

“Petrocom’s emergency response program provides BP with the total communication solution they needed for their deepwater offshore production,” says John Hebert, director of HSE and Emergency Preparedness at PetroCom. “Regardless of what type of disaster and where it happens, they will have communications restored very quickly.”

Aberdeenshire-based global offshore accommodation specialistsFerguson Modular has secured two contracts worth a combined $3.1 million (£1.6 million) with drilling contractors Global Santa Fe and Diamond Offshore (UK) Ltd.

The first order is for the supply of additional permanent living quarters on Global Santa Fe’s jackupGalaxy II. Two A60, ABS-certified, 20-person accommodation complexes, each comprising four modules linked over two levels, will together form a permanent complex on the rig. The modules will be manufactured at Ferguson’s Inverurie manufacturing facility.

The order for Diamond Offshore calls for the supply of two A60, DNV 2.7-1 modules. The first module is a smoking/non smoking tea shack and the second unit will be configured as a laundry module for use by personnel on the semiOcean Nomad.