BUSINESS BRIEFS

Contracts

Hydralift has a letter of intent from Stena Drilling for the delivery of a complete drilling package and cranes to Stena's new semisubmersible rig, Stena Don, which is to be built at the Kv?rner Warnow yard in Germany. Hydralift has also been awarded a contract from Saipem for the delivery of a drilling equipment package and cranes for the Saipem 10000 drillship to be built by Samsung in South Korea.

Seateam Technology has received a contract from Interoil Africa for the charter of the DSV Taurus for three years.

Cal Dive has entered into an exclusive marketing contract with Charles F. Martin for an ROV-installed AXI-Forge Delta deepwater pipeline connector system. Also, Cal Dive has entered into an agreement with Radoil to design and manufacture a new generation subsea pile driving hammer.

Canyon Offshore has taken delivery of a new 100 hp Triton XL deepwater ROV built by Perry Tritech. The ROV is depth rated to 8,200 ft.

Shell Deepwater Development Systems has awarded Alcatel a contract worth $5.6 million to supply a specialized umbilical cable for offshore fields in the Gulf of Mexico.

Brown & Root Energy Services has entered a joint venture with Corporacion Mexicana de Mantenimento Integral and Bufete Industrial of Mexico. Pemex has released the three to proceed with project management, design, procurement, fabrication, transportation, installation, hookup, and commissioning for the Cantarell EPC-22 project in the Bay of Campeche.

Cal Dive International has been awarded a contract by Forest Oil covering full life cycle services for Forest's Ship Shoal 276 subsea tie-back project.

Ensco has contracted with Bardex for an upgrade transverse skidding system for the Ensco 53

cantilever jackup drilling rig currently at the Keppel FELS yard in Singapore.

Empresas of Mexico has won a $52.4 million

contract to build a drilling platform for Pemex. The platform will inject nitrogen gas for crude oil extraction in the Gulf of Mexico.

Horizon Offshore has signed a letter of intent with Det Sondenfjelds-Norske Dampskibsselskab (DSND) to extend the bareboat charter for the Stephaniturm, a 230 ft diving support vessel until Dec. 31.

Gearhart [5,977 bytes]
Thomas [15,690 bytes]
Grenoilleau [7,869 bytes]
Fahrmeire [9,613 bytes]
Brandon [10,095 bytes]
Gurzwiller [12,322 bytes]
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Armitage [8,804 bytes]
Bolland [16,043 bytes]
Bruce [10,554 bytes]

People

Global Marine has appointed Bruce Watson as President of Global Marine Drilling based in The Hague, Netherlands. Also, Gary Kott, Chief Financial Officer of the company, is taking early retirement.

Friede & Goldman International has elected Jobie Melton, Jr. as the company's Chief Financial Officer.

Marvin Gearhart has taken over the role of Chief Executive Officer of RBI-Gearhart, formerly RockBit International, following the sale of Gearhart Industries to RockBit International.

Marathon Oil UK (Aberdeen) has named Les Thomas as General Manager in place of Mike Mueller, who has taken a new position with the company in Houston, as Manager of deepwater development.

James Rubright has been promoted to Executive Vice President of Sonat with responsibilities for the Sonat Pipeline Group and Sonat Energy Services. Sonat has also promoted James Yardley to President of the Southern Natural Gas Company and James Cleary to Executive Vice President and General Counsel of Southern Natural Gas.

Mustang Engineering announced the Andrew Wainwright has joined its staff as Senior Consulting Engineer.

Jean-Erick Grenoilleau has joined Baker Hughes as Executive Marketing Director, responsible for developing global business relationships between Baker Hughes and major French oil companies.

Oil States has announced the following appointments: Charlie Fahrmeier has been appointed President of Oil States HydroTech Systems; John Brandon has been appointed the new President of Oil States MCS; also, Oran Tarlton has been named Vice President of Engineering, and Gerald Douglas has been named Director of Engineering, both with Oil States Hydro Tech Systems.

Thomas Gutzwiller has taken over as President of Sulzer Pumps following the retirement of John Naegeli.

Alliance Engineering has appointed Marsh Armitage as Project Manager and Les Mann as Automation Specialist.

Veritas Geophysical has named Jerry Young Manager of Depth Imaging.

The PSL Group has named John Bolland as Business Development Director and Steve Bruce as Well Services Director for the Progenitive Services Limited subsidiary of the group.

Expro Group has appointed Mark Docherty to Business Development Manager for Ecotoec and Tom Leeson to Group Marketing Manager for Subsea.

Leland Robichaux has been appointed to Vice President of Sales and Marketing for Cor-Val and Cor-Val Services.

Danos & Curole has announced the promotion of John Bigler to General Manager of Western Operations.

Anne Wilms has been named Vice President and Chief Information Officer of Sonat Services.

Cameron Valves has promoted Duane Morgan to President of Orbit Valve, which was acquired earlier this year by Cooper Cameron.

Kjell Hausken has been appointed North Sea Sales Manager for Emerson & Cuming Composite Materials.

Cardinal has hired Mike Mayer as Vice President and Chief Financial Officer.

Ceanic has appointed Robbie Champagne as Shop Manager for Ceanic's New Iberia, Louisiana office.

Sonsub International has appointed Giuseppe Baldini to the position of Vice President, Marketing, Commercial and Contracts.

EVI Weatherford announced that it has appointed Donald Galletly as Vice President, Communications and Investor Relations.

Brookfield Engineering Laboratories has named David Brookfield as its new President and CEO. The company has also announced that Craig Scott has been appointed as Vice President of the company's Artificial Lift Group and James Parmigiano has

been appointed as Vice President, Finance, of the

company's Completion and Oilfield Services Group.

Enterprise Oil Italiana's new Chief Executive is Peter Kallos.

Expro Group (Aberdeen) has appointed Michael Macdonald as Sales Coordinator for drilling engineering subsidiary Ecodrill.

UK gas regulatory group Ofgas (London) has named Dr. Eileen Marshall as Deputy Director General.

Oil services group PSL (Aberdeen) has appointed Ramsay Spence as its Non-Executive Chairman and George Kynoch as Non-Executive Director.

Dundee & Angus Oil Venture Group (Dundee, UK) is now a formally constituted industry association. John Beaton of Kolfor Plant has been re-elected Chairman, Graham Blades of Pacson is now Deputy Chairman, and Glyn Evans of Advanced Drilling International is Group Secretary.

Wood Group Engineering & Operations Support (Aberdeen) has named Nick Brown as commercial/contracts Director.

Charles L. Griffith Jr is the new President and CEO of Ingersoll-Dresser Pump (Liberty Corner, NJ).

Sealing specialist Flexitallic (Cleckheaton, UK) has appointed John Hoyes as worldwide Technical Director.

Indianapolis-based Diamond Chain Company has recruited new District Managers in Hamburg and Paris - Stefan Magnusson and Jean-Marie Constant.

MFRI has announced that its PERMA-PIPE subsidiary has appointed Hank Reuser and Poul Poulsen as Senior Managers.

Albert Spiers has been appointed an Officer of Dames & Moore, a global professional services company.

Edward McIntosh has joined The Procurement Centre as a Senior Procurement Analyst, and Nancy Parvin has joined the company as a Procurement Analyst.

Mergers, Acquisitions & New Companies

Schlumberger and Camco have announced the signing of a definitive merger agreement by Schlumberger.

Sun Drilling Products of New Orleans has announced closure of an asset purchase transaction of Coastal Superior Solutions, including all the operating assets of Coastal.

Dresser Industries has announced that its shareholders have approved the proposed merger agreement between Dresser and Halliburton. The merger is expected to be completed in the fall.

Brown & Root Energy Services has signed an agreement to participate in Chevron's "Deep Water Alliance," a 10-year commitment to help develop Chevron's deepwater leases in the Gulf of Mexico.

Compagnie Generale de Geophysique (CGG) and GeoNexus Interpretive Modeling have entered into a letter of intent to sell GeoNexus to CGG.

PGS has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Acadian Geophysical Services of Louisiana.

ABB Lummus Global and Odebrecht Oil and Gas Services have announced that UK engineering, procurement, and construction activities, excluding the subsea activities, for ABB Lummus Global Oil and Gas will be transferred to Odebrecht Oil and Gas.

Newpark Resources has agreed to acquire Mid-Continent Completion Fluids and Red Hill Disposal for $4.3 million in cash plus 389,000 of Newpark stock.

GeoQuest has acquired all the assets of Technical Software Consultants of Norway.

Aker Marine Contractors has announced the acquisition of Universal Rigging and Supply, Unirig, and Universal Testing Services (Perth, Western Australia-based mooring equipment and testing specialists).

NICC has entered into a joint venture with Shell Oil to develop and market NICC's new anti-vortex system for underwater pipelines.

Halliburton and Expro Americas have formed an alliance to provide a range of subsea technology and testing services to clients in the Gulf of Mexico.

The Expro Group has recently acquired Tronic, a provider of high integrity instrumentation and power system solutions for harsh environments.

Nopec International and TGS-CALIBRE Geophysical have officially closed the previously announced merger transaction in which a new company TGS-NOPEC Geophysical will be formed.

Aker Maritime has established a new seismic company called Aker Geo.

Company News

RockBit International has announced that it will incorporate the new name RBI-Gearhart to better reflect its successful track record in industry innovation and quality.

The Stavanger-based geology and geophysics company JSI, which is a subsidiary of Aker Geo, is changing its name to Aker Geo Petroleum Services.

Racal NCS has relocated its Lafayette, Louisiana office to larger premises in New Iberia, Louisiana.

The Rexroth Corporation, Pneumatics Division has changed its name to Mannesmann Rexroth Corporation, Rexroth Mecman Division.