People
Firstdrill has namedPeter Murray as operations manager. Murray will manage Firstdrill’s day-to-day global drilling operations and support international operations managers.
The US Department of the Interior’s Minerals Management Service (MMS) has appointedJon Hrobsky as deputy director.
Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne has namedRandall Luthi director of the MMS. Luthi, currently deputy director of the US Fish and Wildlife Service, is a former speaker and majority leader of the Wyoming House of Representatives.
Phillip A. Gobe, president and COO of Energy Partners, is retiring, effective Sept. 30. Gobe will continue to serve on EPL’s board of directors. Richard A. Bachmann, EPL chairman and CEO, will assume Gobe’s operational duties. EPL has also named Joseph T. Leary as executive vice president and CFO.
Delta Towing has appointedLarry Francois as CEO and president.
Caesar Systems has namedDonald Zmick as vice president of client services. Zmick will work with existing and prospective exploration and production clients.
Granherne has appointedBob Gordon chief technical advisor - marine. Gordon will lead Granherne’s naval architecture efforts.
Chevron has namedJohn S. Watson executive vice president of strategy and development.
Excelerate Energy has appointedRob Bryngelson as president and CEO. Bryngelson will replace Kathleen Eisbrenner, who has held the position since the company’s founding in 2003.
Stable Services has hiredMartin Paisley as global managing director. Paisley will be based in the Middle East and will lead the company’s international growth plans.
Barclays Business Banking has added to its oil and gas team. AnalystsClara Morri and Yasmin Nabi have joined Barclays leveraged finance operation.
Knight Fishing Services has namedMike Foster as mid-continent regional manager.
Knight Oil Tools division Knight Fishing Services has namedHenry J. Theriot Sr. as technical support manager. Theriot will coordinate and provide technical support for customers, sales, and field operations.
GGS-Spectrum has appointedKnut Oversjoen as CEO.
Leigh Pants has hiredRoger Williams as commercial director. Williams will manage the company’s hydrocarbon and marine international business. Additionally, Carl Flavell has been promoted to market manager UK and international OGC marine and hydrocarbon.
J. Rod King, business manager for Lloyd’s Register’s global floating offshore installation (FOI), has retired. Keith Charles, North America FOI and classification manager, will assume some of King’s previous activities until a permanent replacement is named.
Anadarko’s board of directors has electedPaula Rosput Reynolds and Peter J. Fluor to serve as independent directors of the company.
Hydro chairmanJan Reinås has resigned. Vice chairperson Elisabeth Grieg takes over as interim chair for the Hydro board.
Dr. Rilwanu Lukman, founder and non-executive chairman of Afren Plc., has been appointed honorary advisor on energy and strategic matters to the president of Nigeria.
KBR has promotedJohn Rose to president of upstream and Bruce Stanski to president of KBR’s government and infrastructure business segment.
ConocoPhillips has made changes to senior management in the following departments:
Exploration & Production:Bill Berry, executive vice president of exploration and production - Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Middle East will retire effective Jan. 2008. John Lowe, executive vice president of commercial will become executive vice president of exploration and production. Ryan Lance, senior vice president of technology, will be president of exploration and production - Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Middle East.
Commercial:Willie Chiang, president of Americas supply, trading, and commercial, will be senior vice president of commercial.
Corporate staffs:Phil Frederickson, executive vice president of planning, strategy, and corporate affairs, will retire effective Jan. 2008. Sig Cornelius, president of lower 48 exploration and production will become senior vice president of planning, strategy, and corporate affairs. Steve Gates, senior vice president of legal and general counsel, will retire in Jan 2008. Janet Langford Kelly, deputy general counsel, will be senior vice president of legal, general counsel, and corporate secretary.
Artumas Group Inc. has appointedJohn Bentley as non-executive chairman.
GGS-Spectrum has appointedCharles Harmer as head of GGS-Spectrum Multi-Client (UK). Harmer will be responsible for GGS-Spectrum’s business development team and will help generate new projects.
Adri Baan has been appointed chairman of Dockwise Ltd.’s board. Mark Dickinson, Bert Bekker, André Goedée, and Brian Francoeur were re-elected to the board, and Rutger van Slobbe was added as a new member.
David F. Schaible has been named Newfield’s president and COO. He will continue to serve on the company’s board of directors.
Lee K. Boothby is Newfield’s new senior vice president, acquisitions and business development.
George T. Dunn has been appointed Newfield’s vice president, Mid-Continent. Dunn will lead a team continuing the development of the Woodford Shale and other resource plays in the region.
John H. Jasek has been appointed as Newfield’s vice president, Gulf Coast.
John D. Marziotti has been named Newfield’s new general counsel.
Pål Helsing has been appointed executive vice president for Aker Kværner’s business area field development, succeeding Simen Lieungh.
Petrofac has appointedJohn Methven director of Group HSSE (health, safety, security, and environment) and integrity assurance. Methven will lead the new team and have a worldwide remit covering all three Petrofac divisions.
InterAct PMTI has namedBrent Boudreaux director of marine operations.
Hydratight has appointedPhil Maxted global business leader. Maxted has been with Hydratight for 23 years and previously led the company’s Eastern Hemisphere business.
JDR Umbilical Systems has namedJames B. “Brad” Jeter as sales manager for North and South America. Jeter will lead sales and business development in the Americas from the company’s Houston office.
Houston Technology Center (HTC) has appointedMarc Nathan director of development and information technology. Nathan will replace current director Robert Brackenridge.
Seismic Micro-Technology has appointedArshad Matin CEO and board of directors member.
Enterprise Products Partners has elected Offshore Marine Services has appointedSteve Taylor director of operations of its Dubai business unit.
Michael A. Creel president and CEO. Randall (Randy) Fowler has been named CFO to succeed Creel. Enterprise also elected William (Bill) Ordemann as COO. He replaces Dr. Ralph S. Cunningham. Ordemann will be responsible for the operations, engineering, environmental health, safety, and training functions within the company’s shared services group.
MCS has hiredFrancisco Dezen as Houston subsea team leader. Dezen has previously held senior engineering positions at Cameron, FMC, and Chevron.
National Oilwell Varco has appointedMark A. Reese as president of rig solutions group; Jeremy Thigpen as president of downhole and pumping solutions; Robert Workman as president of the distribution services group; and Kirk Shelton as president of mission/mono products.
Companies
Acteon has completed the acquisition of three companies from the Aberdeen-based Craig Group: Seatronics, International Mooring Systems (IMS), and Chain Corp. International.
LeTourneau Technologies Inc. has opened a new facility in Lafayette, Louisiana. The facility, which celebrated its grand opening on July 25, is the first LTI branch in the state.
ROV specialistTriton Group has acquired Lowestoft-based UK Project Support (UKPS) and its sister company Subco. The former provides specialist personnel services, while the latter offers ROV equipment rentals.
Energy Cranes International has acquired Aberdeen Hydraulic Services. Energy Cranes plans to merge the new company with its Sparrows Offshore division to create a larger specialist business called Aberdeen Hydraulics Ltd.
AusGroup Ltd. plans to invest about $20 million to expand production at its Singapore-based subsidiary Cactus Engineering, which designs and engineers drilling spools, wellhead equipment, and other subsea systems.
Era Helicopters (Era) has received Federal Aviation Administration approval for its flight operations quality assurance program.
IHS Inc. has acquired John S. Herold Inc., an independent research firm that provides analyses and key financial and operational data on more than 400 global oil and gas companies.
Petrosys has opened an office in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. This is the company’s first office in Asia. The KL office will support customers in the region’s rapidly expanding energy exploration industry, Petrosys says.
TUV NEL is working with Schlumberger to establish a new facility for developing specialist multiphase flow meters. The UK government’s technology program has awarded TUV NEL funding for the project.
Halliburton has unveiled its Edgar Ortiz Real Time Center in Houston. The center is a real-time collaboration location organized to model, measure, and optimize field assets using computer technology and Internet access.
Halliburton is also making acquisitions, having entered into an agreement with OOO Burservice to acquire the company, pending regulatory approvals. The company is also setting up its first manufacturing facility at Senai in southern peninsular Malaysia to manufacture well completion equipment for the global market.
AlMansoori Specialized Engineering has signed a joint venture agreement with China’s Hilong Group to establish a drillpipe manufacturing plant and an oil country tubular goods finishing plant in Abu Dhabi.
The company also has acquiredTarget Energy Group. Target Energy and its subsidiaries include Target Well Control UK, Tiebo Middle East, Target Well Control France, Target Well Control Syria, and Target MWD Canada.
Chevron is restructuring its global upstream operations into four operating companies. The organization will expand from two companies (Chevron International Exploration and Production and Chevron North America Exploration and Production) to four: Africa and Latin America; Asia-Pacific; Eurasia, Europe, and Middle East; and North America.
Bodycote Testing Group has opened a new facility in Daventry, UK, dedicated to testing steel catenary riser fatigue. The facility, aimed at subsea and deepwater pipeline sectors, will be capable of performing resonance fatigue testing of 2- to 20-in. (5- to 51-cm) diameter pipes.
Victrex has opened a new applied technology center at its primary production facility in Thornton Cleveleys, UK. The new £1.5-million ($3-million), 900-sq-m (9,687-sq-ft) center is an expansion of the company’s product development facilities.
McCoy Corp. has acquired Superior Manufacturing and Hydraulics. The acquisition brings together two independent tong manufacturers - McCoy’s Farr Canada and Superior’s line of clincher tongs.
Downhole swellable elastomer specialistSwellfix has opened its new worldwide headquarters in Altens, Aberdeen, Scotland.
Sealift is acquiring Offshore Kinematics and Ocean Dynamics, under a share plus $15.7 million cash offer.
Aker Kværner has acquired 50% of Erkelenz, Germany-based Wirth Maschinen- und Bohrgeräte-Fabrik GmbH with an option to buy the remaining shares.
Honeywell has completed the $260-million acquisition of Enraf Holding BV, a division of privately held Delft Instruments.
ATransocean subsidiary has entered into a settlement and license agreement with Noble Corp. The subsidiary granted Noble a worldwide non-exclusive license to use Transocean’s patents for offshore dual activity drilling methods and structures on the semisubmersible rig Noble Clyde Boudreaux, which is currently working in the US Gulf of Mexico.
Baker Energy has been awarded a $2-million contract from Cuu Long Joint Operating Co. to develop and supply a computerized maintenance management system for the Su Tu Vang central production platform offshore Vietnam.
Corrosion and coatings management specialistMetacor has won a contract with the WoodGroup in Trinidad and Tobago to monitor and manage the condition of key elements of five of BP Trinidad and Tobago Llc.’s onshore and offshore assets.
IHS Inc. has announced the launch of its comprehensive energy data portfolio on New Zealand, which includes open-file digital seismic and well log data. The portfolio is the result of collaboration between IHS and the Crown Mineral Group of New Zealand, the governmental department that manages the country’s oil, gas, minerals, and coal resources.
The China National Offshore Oil Corp. has contracted Aker Kværner to supply drilling equipment and systems for an ultra deepwater semisubmersible drilling unit for $128 million.
Aker Kværnerwill operate, manage, and maintain the Al Zaafarana FPSO offshore Egypt for Gemsa Petroleum Co. and partners under a contract valued at NOK 200 million ($34.2 million) covering five years starting Sept. 1, 2007.
Emerald Metals has acquired the rights to market, sell, and distribute high-performance perforating gun steel developed by GEODynamics.
Petrobras and Pemex signed two agreements on Aug. 6 in Mexico City for cooperation in studies to develop heavy oil production processes in shallow water and at oil production in fractured carbonated reservoirs.
Saudi Aramco has awarded J. Ray McDermott S.A. a contract to provide engineering, procurement, construction, and installation for the Offshore Maintain Potential Program in Saudi Arabia. The project is known in the industry as the “Long Term Agreement.”
Welding Units has won a $500,000 contract to supply flanges to MODEC, Houston. The order, contracted to MODEC by BHP Billiton Petroleum (Americas), will see flanges installed within the Shenzi hull SCR system.
