People

InterMoor has appointedJacob Heikes and Dusan Curic as project managers. Based out of InterMoor’s Houston office, Heikes and Curic will be responsible for project management, procedure development, and offshore supervision for both subsea and mooring projects.

Subsea UK has addedBrian Green, general manager of First Subsea, to its board. Green will represent the views of Subsea UK’s North West of England membership on business and safety issues.

Fluor Corp. has appointedDavid T. Seaton as CEO. He will also become a member of the company’s board of directors. He succeeds Alan L. Boeckmann, who will serve on the board as non-executive chairman. Both appointments are effective Feb. 3, 2011.

RigNet has appointedJesus H. Jimenez as global VSAT manager. Based in Houston, Jimenez will negotiate long-term satellite bandwidth agreements.

Expro North America has appointedKeith Palmer as president and region director.

RWE Dea appointsPeter Immerz as GM for Turkmenistan. He replaces Heiko Oppermann.

The Abu Dhabi National Energy Co. (TAQA) has appointedDavid Cook as executive officer and head of upstream. Cook will be based in at the company’s headquarters in Abu Dhabi.

Cudd Energy Services has appointedTodd Regalado to its technical and management teams. Regalado has lead well control operations in 42 countries. In 1998, he was the first well control team leader to control a blowout in deepwater through vertical intervention.

Occidental Petroleum Corp. has appointedHoward I. Atkins to its board, effective immediately. Atkins serves is senior executive VP and CFO of Wells Fargo & Co., where he is responsible for Wells Fargo’s financial management functions, its investment portfolios, and its corporate properties functions. The company has also appointed Stephen I. Chazen as CEO, effective May 2011. He replaces Dr. Ray R. Irani, who will continue as executive chairman. 

Company News

Derrick Services (UK) has opened a new office in Singapore. The company provides derrick inspection, rig/drilling package refurbishment and upgrade, derrick assembly and outfitting, rope access trades personnel, and in-house engineering, design and fabrication.

Apache Corp.has completed its merger with Mariner Energy. The merger closed on Nov. 10 following its approval by Mariner’s stockholders and subsequent completion of documentation. Apache issued approximately 17.5 million shares of its common stock and paid approximately $800 million in cash to Mariner stockholders. Apache also assumed Mariner’s debt with current fair value of approximately $1.6 billion. As a result of the merger, former Mariner stockholders own approximately 5% of Apache’s outstanding shares of common stock. At a special meeting, 79% of Mariner’s stockholders voted to approve the merger.

Subsea 7 shareholders have approved a proposed merger with Acergy S.A. With this, management says the merger could be complete by January 2011.

Total has an agreement in principle to sell its 75.8% interest in Total E&P Cameroon to Perenco. The operation produces 40,000 b/d of oil. The agreement is subject to Cameroonian official sanction. Other partners in Total E&P Cameroun are Société National des Hydrocarbures, 20% and Paris Orléans – Groupe Rotchshild, 4.2%.

Swire Oilfield Services has acquired Gator Tank Rentals, a tank, container, basket, and mud skip rental company operating throughout the Gulf of Mexico.

Shell Energy Holdings Australia Ltd. (SEHAL) , has entered an underwriting agreement with UBS AG to sell 78.34 million shares in Woodside, representing 29.18% of its interest in Woodside and 10% of the issued capital in Woodside, at a price of $42.66 per share. Upon completion of the sale, SEHAL will continue to own a 24.27% interest in Woodside.

Knight Oil Tools has opened a new Megaton drilling jar facility in Broussard, Louisiana, and has hired Jacob Wright as operations manager of the Megaton drilling jar product line. The 12,000-sq ft (1,115 -sq m) facility provides service and maintenance operations for Knight’s drilling and fishing jars.

Shell has agreed to sell interest in six Gulf of Mexico oil and gas fields to W&T Energy VI LLC for $450 million. The fields being divested include Tahoe (Shell 70%) and SE Tahoe (Shell 100%), Main Pass 252 Complex and Bud Pipeline (Shell 100%), non-operated position in the Marlin (various Shell ownership 11.5% - 25%) and Dorado oil assets (Shell 25%), and a 6.25% over-riding royalty interest in the Droshky field. Subject to Letter of Intent, the deal could include GoM shelf property and associated assets (Shell 64.3%).

FMC Technologies has joined the National Subsea Research Institute (NSRI). FMC Technologies will join NSRI’s industry steering group, which is responsible for ensuring that the institute focuses on developing technologies required to maintain the UK subsea sector’s leading position in global markets over the next 20 years.

Bristow Helicopters Australia has contracted Mobilarm to supply VHF locator beacons. In the initial order, Mobilarm will supply 50 beacons for integration into the RFD Beaufort MK28 lifejackets to be worn by BHP Billiton Petroleum personnel during transfers to offshore platforms in the Western Australian North West region.

Total Safety has acquired Scotsafe, a Scotland-based supplier of safety equipment and services. Scotsafe provides safety equipment and services including gas detection systems and equipment, breathing air, fit testing, and other critical safety systems and personnel.

Intertek Group has acquired Profitech (UK), a provider of mathematical software modeling services to the oil and gas industry. The companies have worked together on projects using Profitech’s advanced non-linear chemometrics software package, PT5.

Colfax has expanded its factory in Monroe, North Carolina, by 17,000 sq ft (1,579 sq m). The expansion includes a 6,000-sq ft (557-sq m) laboratory for high-tech pump testing. Colfax will design and manufacture a variety of fluid-handling systems at the facility, including systems based on the large three-screw Imo 8L-912Y crude oil pump.

Camcon Oil has signed a distribution agreement with AlMansoori Specialized Engineering. The three-year agreement will give AlMansoori the rights to sell, install, and support Camcon Oil products in the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Libya, Kuwait, Iran, Iraq, Bahrain, and Yemen.

Centrica Energy Upstream has signed a five-year collaboration agreement with Senergy for subsurface consultancy, well engineering, and well operations management.

Ofer Investments has agreed to acquire a 50% interest in PC Oil and Gas (Israel) Partnership, a subsidiary of Israel Petroleum Co. (IPC), at a cost of up to $28 million. IPC will use the money to fund its share of the costs for the first planned wells in the Sara and Myra licenses in the Levantine basin in the Mediterranean Sea.

TheIntegrated Aviation Consortium (IAC)in the UK North Sea has awarded Bristow Helicopters a five-year deal to provide helicopter services from Scatsta Airport in the Shetland Islands to the East and West Shetland basins.

SAS has entered into a strategic partnership with Rio de Janeiro-based Natec Equipamentos. The partnership will offer a range of deck equipment for the Brazilian offshore market based upon a joint design and local fabrication.

Faroe Petroleum has agreed to acquire an 18% interest in the Talisman-operated Blane oil field in the UK North Sea from ENI UK and ENI ULX. The value of the transaction, from the effective date of July 1, 2010, is $95 million, prior to working capital adjustments to completion, along with the farm out, on promoted terms, of a 20% interest in three exploration licenses on the Atlantic margin.

The Energy and Mines Minister Dammipi Noupokou of Togo, Eni CEO Paolo Scaroni, and COO of Eni Exploration & Production Claudio Descalzi have signed two Production Sharing Contracts (PSCs) covering the country’s offshore area. The contracts will allowEni to operate block 1 and block 2 with a 100% interest. The company intends to immediately start work on studies and interpretation to evaluate the two blocks.

South Korean engineering contractorDSME has agreed to acquire a 30% stake in the Paenal Joint Venture in Angola.

Aker Solutions has agreed to transfer ownership in its subsidiary Aker Marine Contractors (AMC) to Ezra Holdings, in exchange for equity in Ezra. Under the arrangement, Ezra will also gain 50% of Aker Solutions’ ownership in the newbuild installation vessel Aker Connector, to be renamed AMC Connector.

Baker Hughes has won a multi-million dollar integrated services contract project by the Borgland Dolphin Consortium (BDC)in Norway. The BDC includes seven operators, Wintershall, OMV, Nexen, E.ON Ruhrgas, Rocksource, Front Exploration, and Bridge Energy. The contract, which has an initial three-year period, covers an exploration program on the Norwegian continental shelf encompassing 15 wells.

Endeavour International has completed the sale of its interest in the Cygnus gas discovery in the UK southern North Sea to Bayerngas UK for $110 million. Cygnus, operated by GDF Suez, is one of the UK’s largest undeveloped gas fields.

Shell and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have agreed to invest $25 million in the research and development of high-value, sustainable technologies designed to drive innovation in energy delivery. Beginning this year, the research collaboration will fund a suite of projects at $5 million per year for the coming five years. Those projects will focus on advanced modeling, earth science, biofuels, nanotechnology, and carbon management.

BP has agreed to sell its upstream businesses and associated interests in Venezuela and Vietnam to TNK-BP for $1.8 billion. The agreement includes BP’s interests in the Petroperijá, Boquerón, and PetroMonagas joint ventures in Venezuela and, in Vietnam, BP’s 35% operating interest in the Lan Tay and Lan Do gas fields and associated pipeline and power generation interests. BP’s interests included in the agreement for the Venezuelan sale are a 16% stake in the PetroMonagas SA heavy oil joint venture in the Orinoco basin, a 40% interest in the Petroperijá SA joint venture, and a 26.67% interest in the Boquerón SA joint venture, all of which are operated by Venezuela’s state oil company, Petróleos de Venezuela SA. BP’s interests included in the agreement for the Vietnamese sale are a 35% interest in offshore block 06.1, containing the Lan Tay and Lan Do gas fields. In addition, BP has a 32.67% interest in the Petrovietnam-operated Nam Con Son pipeline that transports gas onshore from the Lan Tay and Rong Doi fields, and a 33.3% interest in the joint venture that owns and operates the 739MW Phu My 3 power plant in Baria Vung Tau province.

Petrobras has paid MEO Australia around $39 million in cash in relation to its farm-in to the WA-360-P permit off Western Australia. This includes around $7.5 million related to back costs for seismic acquisition.

BP has awarded Total Waste Management Alliance (TWMA) contracts totaling $6.4 million. The contracts involve containment, handling, processing, recycling, and disposal of drill cuttings at remote offshore locations using TWMA-designed and operated equipment on the Transocean semisub Paul B Loyd Junior. The agreement includes a two-year offshore waste management contract to provide thermal processing services, including bulk waste containment on the rig, with scope to install bulk storage tanks.

Technip has agreed to a long-term collaboration with MISC Berhad and Malaysia Marine and Heavy Engineering Holdings Berhad (MHB) . To strengthen ties between the groups, Technip will take an 8% stake in MHB in connection with the listing and initial public offering of MHB’s ordinary shares on the Kuala Lumpur stock exchange.

Statoil has entered into an agreement with Kongsberg Oil & Gas Technologies to extend application of drilling software tools across its worldwide operations. The three-year agreement, which has an option for a two-year extension, takes in Kongsberg’s SiteCom real-time drilling data solution, Discovery Web data browser, and SmartAgent calculation tools.

ITS Group has acquired a Columbia-based tubular and downhole tool rental services, tubular and casing running services, and inspection services business. The acquired company has two facilities and 29 employees.

Cove Energy has won approval from Kenya’s Minister of Energy to acquire a 15% interest in five contiguous deepwater blocks from Dynamic Energy Exploration & Production (DEPCO) . These interests have been transferred to the company’s wholly owned affiliate Cover Energy Kenya. Blocks L5, L7, L11a, L11b, and L12, operated by Anadarko Kenya, cover a total of 30,682 sq km (11,846 sq mi) over an extensive Kenya deepwater zone from the Somalia border in the north to Tanzania in the south.

Ashtead Technology has appointed Scope Engineering to represent the company in Australia, New Zealand, and Papua New Guinea. Scope Engineering will offer Ashtead Technology’s full equipment rental fleet, incorporating positioning equipment, ROV sensors, hydrographic and geophysical equipment, IRM, and diving equipment. Scope will provide a technical workshop, support facilities as well as a work force skilled in hydrographic surveys and geophysical exploration.

ABS has created a fifth operating division for its activities in The People’s Republic of China, Hong Kong SAR, and Taiwan. The society has appointed Adam Moilanen as president of ABS Greater China Division, based in Shanghai.

TSC Offshore Group has inaugurated a new, larger warehouse and office complex and a fully dedicated manufacturing facility in Houston. The new warehouse will house the company’s maintenance, repair and operation (MRO) supply and service business, while the office houses its engineering and integration teams, as well as marketing and sales for North America and corporate management. The company will use the 60,000 sq ft (5,574 sq m) production facility to manufacture all drilling equipment, mechanical handling equipment, and deck cranes, and to undertake repair and revamp projects.