Business Briefs

Chickasaw reel pipelay barge [5,270 bytes]

CONTRACTS

Global Industries is commencing work on two contracts with Marathon's Oyster and Arnold subsea field developments located in Ewing Banks Block 917 and 963. Global, under contract to ABB Offshore Technology, will weld and reel eight miles each of dual 6-inch in 10-inch diameter pipe-in-pipe insulated flowlines at its Houma facility. The flowlines will then be reeled and laid using Global's Chickasaw reel pipelay barge to connect both developments to fixed platforms located nearby. The Oyster and Arnold flowlines will be the third and fourth reeled pipe-in-pipe insulated flowlines in the Gulf of Mexico, all of which have been laid by the Chickasaw.

Sterling Fluid Products has been awarded a £1.5 million contract to supply diesel generator packages through ABB Industrial Services to BP's ETAP project. As well as supplying a Caterpillar 3508 diesel generator set for emergency service, it will provide the auxiliary diesel generator packages.

MM Industral of Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, Canada and JV partner, Brown & Root Energy Services, have won a second contract worth C$13 million, for the fabrication of the North Triumph platform topsides, on the Sable Offshore Energy Project.

Halter Marine has launched the Ram Challenger, the second of two nearly identical 220 ft supply boats under construction at Halter Lockport for Aries Marine of Lafayette, Louisiana.

Halter Marine has delivered the Seacor Vision 225 foot anchor handling/towing supply to Seacor Marine of Houston for deepwater service in the Gulf of Mexico.

Louisiana Machinery Power Systems has received an order for five diesel-fueled Cat 3516 engine/generator sets for use on Diamond Offshore's Ocean Quest.

AmClyde has received a contract worth $1.2 million for offshore oilfield equipment including a linear winch and pedestal crane from Petrobras America.

BJ Process and Pipeline Services has been awarded a contract by the Azerbaijan International Operating Co. to provide nitrogen and helium leak testing of hydrocarbon process pipework as well as nitrogen de-watering and nitrogen inerting all of the subsea gas export pipeline for the Chirag 1 platform in the Caspian Sea.

Motherwell Bridge has won a £3 million contract to supply oil processing equipment for the FPSO to be located on Woodside Petroleum's Laminaria and Corallina fields in the Timor Sea, off northwestern Australia. It will design and build steel alloy pressure vessels which will be used to separate oil and gas. The units will be shipped in the first quarter of 1998 to Korea, where the vessel is being.

Bibby Line has secured a three-year extension contract in the Arabian Gulf to elevate the accommodation/work platform Bibby Marina, which has been at Occidental-operated Production Station-1 in the Idd El Shargi North Dome field offshore Qatar since 1995. The platform is undergoing expansion to handle a peak output of 150,000 b/d of oil.

Jotun Paints coating and cathodic protection systems have been chosen to protect the Schiehallion FPSO. The areas include anti-corrosion of the hull, anti-fouling below the waterline, topsides, as well as the interior of oil storage tanks, ballast tanks. A new concept ICCP system of cathodic protection has been chosen for the hull.

The Odebrecht-SLP yard at Lowestoft has won the EPC contract for the fabrication of the 800-ton, 60-bed accommodation module for Statoil's development of the Sin field in Danish waters. This is a sub-contract from Kv'rner which has the overall EPIC contract for the platform. Completion is scheduled for ten months. The field is scheduled for first oil in late-1998.

Jordan Kent has been awarded a contract from Atlantic Floating Production/Seatankers to supply metering equipment for the Northern Producer, the FPF for Texaco's Galley field development. Delivery is scheduled for mid-August.

Strainstall Engineering Services of Norway, cooperating with Ulstein Norwinch, has delivered its WMS2000 winch monitoring system for retrofitting to three mobile rigs China Offshore Oil Drilling's Nan Hai 2, Bill Shoemaker, operating out of the USA and Dolphin's Bideford Dolphin. All are currently undergoing upgrading.

DSND of Norway will buy 90% of the Brazilian company Consub for $23.9 million. Consub is an offshore contracting company engaged in subsea engineering and installation, surveying, and positioning, with Petrobras as its main customer.

YPF International and Syntroleum have reached a non-exclusive licensing agreement for the Syntroleum gas-to-liquids conversion process. YPF will be able to use the process in broad geographical locations outside North America for manufacturing transportation fuels.

Coflexip Stena Offshore has been awarded a contract by Total Oil Marine for a 52-km oil export pipeline that will carry liquid hydrocarbons from Alwyn North to Shell's Cormorant Alpha platform where they will flow into the Brent system to Sullom Voe.

Bardex Industries has won the contract from Deepwater Drilling, a 50-50 JV between Conoco and Reading & Bates, to provide the riser centralizer system for the world-class dynamically positioned drillship being built by Samsung Heavy Industries.

Astilleros Espanoles has signed a contract with Esmeril of Brazil for converting a 300,000-dwt VLCC into a floating, storage, and offloading unit. Esmeril will operate the FSO for Petrobras, the state-owned Brazilian company.

Sofec has won the contract from Modec for a 12-leg spread mooring system for a 139,000 dwt tanker for Marathon Petroleum Gabon and Santa Fe Energy Resources Gabon. The contract includes management, design, engineering, and component supply of the entire spread mooring system.

People

Smith [5,092 bytes]
Beasley [5,171 bytes]
Platt [5,526 bytes]
Grant [5,072 bytes]
Turner [4,865 bytes]

Maver [5,011 bytes]

The E&P Department of the Houston Chapter of the American Petroleum Institute has elected the following Officers and Committee Chairmen for 1997-1998: Ross Frazer, British-Borneo Exploration, Advisory Chairman; Terry Lesch, BJ Services, Vice Chairman; Robert Hanley, Consultant, Secretary-Treasurer; Mike Stone, Big "6" Drilling, Assistant Secretary-Treasurer; Mike Huhnke, Texas Crude Energy, Donations; Perry Dillon, Halliburton Energy Services, Program; Steve Otis, BJ Services, Membership; Ken White, Torch Energy, Student Affairs; Michael Leonard, Stewart & Stevenson, Publicity; Carbett Duhon, Halliburton Energy Services, Golf Tournament; Tim Riggs, Dailey Petroleum Services, Sporting Clays Tournament; Fred Staggs, Rebel Rentals, Sponsorship.

The Society of Professional Well Log Analysts awarded Harry Smith, director of Halliburton's Houston Technology Center, the Gold Medal for Technical Achievement at the SPWLA annual symposium for outstanding contribution to the development and application of logging technologies. This is the highest honor awarded by SPWLA.

BHP Petroleum (London) has appointed ex-British Foreign Secretary Malcolm Rifkind as director, international strategy. Rifkind has also joined the board of Ramco Energy (Aberdeen) as a non-executive director.

Fluor Daniel (Camberley, UK) has named Kutsch Lojenga president, Europe and Central Asia operations.

Downhole well monitoring specialist Sensor Highway (Andover, UK) has enlisted John Platt as non-executive chairman.

Apache has announced that Roger B. Plank has been elected Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, Matthew Dundrea, Treasurer, and Thomas L. Mitchell, Controller (all vice presidents) and Daniel Schaeffer has been promoted to Vice President, Human Resources.

Western Geophysical has promoted Craig Beasley to vice president of research and development, and Laurent Meister to manager of research and development.

Hamworthy Combustion Engineering (Poole, UK), a supplier of FPSO and LNG tanker burner/boiler conversion systems, has named Richard Price marine sales manager.

Tony Sanders has assumed responsibility for offshore services at Lloyd's Register (London) from Clive Bainbridge, who has retired.

Mooring systems group Bridon International has appointed Rodger Webster regional sales manager for the UK and Eire (Aberdeen).

Oil States MCS (Aberdeen) has named Eddie Grant business development manager, with Jim Bell as sales manager based in London.

Global Marine has elected Ben G. Streetman to the company's Board of Directors and W. Matt Ralls, Vice President and Treasurer.

Alliance Engineering has announced the appointment of James H. Crestinger, Jr. as project manager.

Well services Group ASEP (Aberdeen) has named John Verling as director of sales and marketing, and Andre van der Ende as technical director, both responsible for the North Sea region.

Michael Combes, a specialist in oil and gas finance transactions, has become a partner of legal services group Lawrence Graham (London).

Ingersoll-Dresser Pumps has appointed Owen Turner vice president, aftermarket, for Europe, Africa and the Middle East.

Daniel Stephens has accepted the position of Divisions Manager for underwater mateable electrical and fiber optic connector products with Sea Con.

Danish oil exploration software group Odegaard & Danneskiold-Samsoe has created a new company called Odegaard, based in Copenhagen and led by Dr. Kim Gunn Maver. An office has also been opened in Houston.

Texaco has elected former US Senator Sam Nunn of Georgia as a member of the company's board of directors.

Thomas D. Labiosa has joined Barnett & Casbarian (Houston, Texas) as Manager of Structural Engineering.

Tommy M. Miller has been promoted to Division Manager of Fairfield's Data Acquisition Division.

John M. Swanson has re-joined Bacharach, Wood, Peters & Associates as manager, special projects in the firm's Metarie, Louisiana office.

Michael Craig has been appointed General Manager - Deepwater Development for Unocal.

Apache Corp. has elected F.H. Merelli to the company's board of directors.

Kenneth J. Allen has been named Vice-President of worldwide sales for M.W. Kellogg.

Cougar Directional Services has named David E Youngblood president and Peter F. Lewand manager of operations and marketing.

Trevor W. Wilson has been named director of GHP Exploration.

Coastal Geosciences (Great Yarmouth, UK) has recruited John Wenlock to assist development of specialty geotechnical markets for the offshore industry.

Hazard protection specialist Pyroban (Shoreham, UK) has appointed Robert Double offshore safety division customer services manager.

Inspection group Sonatest (Milton Keynes, UK) has named Chris Strangeways, Kelvin Cook and Tim Berry as regional sales managers.

Halter Marine has announced the following: Wayne Bourgeois has been appointed Senior Vice President, Vessel Operations; A. Fred May, vice president, has been promoted to senior vice president, repair and barge operations; Maureen O. Sullivan has been hired as senior vice-president and general counsel for Halter Marine group; Harvey B. Walpert, senior vice president, corporate affairs has been elected Louisiana state president of the Navy League of the United States.

Sonsub International has announced that Milind Baride has been appointed Vice President, Contract Management and Project Control.

Baker Petrolite has named a new leadership team: Glen Bassett, president; Rusty Brice, oilfield operations vice president and general manager - western hemisphere; Stuart Monro, oilfield operations vice president and general manager - eastern hemisphere; Pat Marfone, Industrial Division vice president and general manager; and Toby Graves, polymers division general manager and vice president.

Australian Geophysical Survey Organization has appointed Colin Chartres as the new chief of the Land and Water Resources Division.

Stephen Peck has joined American Mobile Satellite as chief financial officer.

George Trautman has been named vice-president of sales and marketing for Petrotech.

Peter Menikoff has been named president and CEO of Continental Emsco Co.

Keith Codd has been named chief surveyor for KC Offshore.

Dresser-Rand Turbo Products Division has named Donald Kintner, Jr. manager of media communications.

Mike Tuohy has been hired as the marketing representative for the data services division of Fairfield Industries.

Leica has announced that Gunnar Mangs has been named business director of the company's Marine GPS Group.

ECI Consulting Engineers has named Felipe Gonzalez chief engineer and Ken Moore facilities manager.

Donald E. Snortland has joined the SKAGIT division of Continental Emsco Co.

Don Greenlee has been named general manager of custom mold products, proprietary products, and Texas mold and manufacturing for Oil States Industries.

James E. Moylan, Jr., is the new senior vice-president and chief financial officer of Sonat.

President of Sonat Services James A. Rubright, has been promoted to president of Southern Natural Gas Co. and head of Sonat Pipeline Group. He will continue in his current position as senior vice-president of Sonat.

Vaalco Energy announces that Robert L. Gerry, III has replaced Charles W. Alcorn, Jr. as Chairman and CEO.

Tech Development has announced that William Nordby has been appointed general manager in order to enhance the company's product development and company service.

Fiber Optics has announced the appointments of Marcus Annicelli to its Director of Manufacturing position.

Mergers, Acquisitions, New Companies

J. Ray McDermott and Aker Marine Contractors have announced the formation of a joint venture to provide marine contracting services for deepwater drilling and production developments in the Gulf of Mexico called Deep Gulf Contractors.

Apache and Western Geophysical have entered into a technology alliance to jointly design, conduct, and process seismic surveys on Apache acreage around the world.

Halter Marine has acquired the McDermott Three Rivers shipyard on the Industrial Seaway in Gulfport, Mississippi. The facility will now be known as Halter Gulfport - Three Rivers.

Hydril (UK) has purchased Rototec, an Aberdeen based manufacturer of a range of patented non-rotating drill pipe/casing protectors proven in the North Sea.

Pool Energy Service has announced that it has signed a letter of intent to acquire R&H Well Service and associated operating assets.

Houston Industries has received approval of a pending merger with NorAm Energy, making Houston Energy one of the largest combination electric and natural gas companies in the nation.

Wood Pressure Control announced the acquisition of Church Oil tools, a Houston, Texas-based manufacturing company which serves the drilling products market.

Tuboscope announced the acquisition of Gator Hawk, a Houston, Texas-based provider of inspection services for tubular oilfield connections.

BW/IP has announced a merger with Durco International. The name of the merged company will be Flowserve.

Nalco/Exxon Energy Chemicals and RohMac Additives GmbH have signed two agreements giving Nalco/Exxon exclusive and worldwide rights to sell and market RohMax dewaxing aids for oil refining.

Company News

Oil States Industries has opened a Singapore location by purchasing the assets of the Construction Division of Hunting Oilfield Services in Singapore.

PGS has strengthened its presence in the Asia Pacific area with the opening of a new seismic data processing and data management in Perth, Australia.

Odegaard & Danneskiol-Samsoe has announced the creation of a new company and a Houston office. The new company Odegaard A/S, based in Copenhagen, Denmark will take over the functions of the group's former Geophysical Division.

ABB has opened a new office and training center in New Berlin, Wisconsin.

Western Well Tool has relocated its corporate office from Costa Mesa, California to Houston, Texas.