BUSINESS BRIEFS
People
Diamond Offshore Drilling Inc. has appointedJohn Bolton to the company’s board of directors.
GlobalSantaFe Corp. has namedBlake Simmons senior VP, operations, responsible for worldwide contract drilling operations. Simmons was president of GlobalSantaFe’s drilling management services subsidiary, Applied Drilling Technology Inc. (ADTI), since 2003. He will be succeeded by Steve Morrison, ADTI’s VP of planning and analysis.
Ikon Science has addedFela Aromolaran as a regional sales manager for Africa based in Tunis, Tunisia, and Dr. Phil Clegg as a senior consultant geologist at UK-based GeoPressure Technology.
McMoRan Exploration Co. has electedSuzanne Mestayer to its board of directors.
Keith Williams retired from the board of Rockhopper Exploration and is succeeded by David Hamilton Bodecott as exploration director.
Reflex Marine has appointed two new board members.Duncan Cuthill becomes operations director, and Felicity Wilshaw becomes business support director.
Peter Brotherhood Ltd. has appointedKen Andrews as engineering director responsible for the engineering, design, and research and development of the company’s steam turbine and reciprocating gas compressor products.
MMS director Johnnie Burton has appointedChris Oynes the new associate director of the agency’s Offshore Minerals Management Program. Oynes has served as regional director of GoM outer continental shelf region for the past 13 years. He managed the leasing of OCS lands for oil, gas, and other mineral development. Oynes has more than 30 years of federal government experience with energy matters, including 11 years with the MMS in Washington, D.C., as chief of the Lease Sale Planning Branch and the Leasing Division. He served as the deputy regional director in the Gulf for seven years before being named regional director in 1995. Oynes has received the two highest honor awards from the US Department of the Interior, the Distinguished Service Award and the Meritorious Service Award.
AGR Group has appointedRichard Erskine as executive VP, Petroleum Services, of the Norway-based oil technology and services group. Per Inge Remmen is moving from AGR Petroleum Services to take a new group-wide special projects role.
The Exxon Mobil Corp. board of directors has electedStephen R. LaSala as VP and general tax counsel. LaSala succeeds Paul E. Sullivan, who is retiring after more than 37 years of service. LaSala had been associate general tax counsel, Exxon Mobil Corp. since May 2000. LaSala joined Mobil Oil Corp. in 1974 as a tax counsel in New York. He has held several tax positions before being appointed assistant treasurer for Mobil Corp.’s exploration and production division in Fairfax, Virginia, in 1992. In 1996, he became general tax counsel and assistant controller for Mobil Corp.
Tom Røtjer and Jørgen C. Arentz Rostrup have been appointed to Hydro’s corporate management board, with responsibilities for projects and power, respectively. The appointments will take effect following completion of the proposed merger of Hydro’s oil and gas activities with Statoil, expected in 3Q 2007. Røtjer, now project director for the Ormen Lange gas field development, will be responsible for Hydro’s projects in Norway and abroad, including the planned Qatalum aluminum project in Qatar. He will continue to head the Ormen Lange project until the field comes onstream in October 2007. Rostrup will manage Hydro’s power production facilities, including solar energy activities. Since joining Hydro in 1991, Rostrup has held a variety of management positions in energy, finance, and international business development in Norway, the US, and Singapore.
Keppel Philippines Marine Inc. has appointedNelson Yeo as chairman. Yeo also has been appointed chairman of Subic Shipyard & Engineering Inc., an associate of Keppel Corp. Ltd. Yeo takes over the chairmanship of both companies from Charles Foo, managing director (special projects) of Keppel Offshore & Marine. Yeo has been an employee with Keppel since 1982.
Total’s board of directors has split the function of chairman and CEO.Christophe de Margerie was named CEO, and Thierry Desmarest will remain as chairman. The new CEO is a member of the Total SA board and is president of E&P.
New Logic Research Inc. has hiredJoseph Rund as global director, refining and oilfield operations. Rund’s responsibilities include sales, marketing, and field operations. For over 12 years, Rund was area VP over the Western US, Western Canada, Asia-Pacific, Australia, and SureClean Services group for Baker Petrolite Inc. and before that an account representative for Nalco Chemical Co.
Production Services Network has hiredMichael Coffelt as Gulf of Mexico production operations manager covering Texas, Louisiana, and the GoM. Coffelt has more than 25 years of industry experience and most recently served as senior manager for companies in the GoM, where he was responsible for the daily operations of more than 600 people and 140 offshore production facilities.
Occidental Petroleum Corp. chairman, president and CEO, Ray R. Irani, announcedLawrence P. Meriage will retire later this year upon completion of 27 years of service. The company’s board of directors has elected Richard S. Kline as VP, communications and public affairs. Kline joins Occidental from Fleishman-Hillard Communications, where he was regional president and senior partner. He previously served as president of Shandwick USA, and COO of Golin/Harris Communications.
W&T Offshore Inc. has appointedJohn D. (Danny) Gibbons senior VP and CFO. Gibbons formerly was senior VP and CFO of Westlake Chemical Corp. Before joining Westlake, Gibbons was with Valero Energy Corp. since 1981. He was executive VP and CFO at Valero from January 1998 through 2003. Prior to joining Valero, Gibbons spent five years working for Deloitte & Touche in Houston. He is a member of the Financial Executives Institute, American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, and the Texas Society and Houston chapter of Certified Public Accountants. Gibbons holds a BBA in accounting from the University of Texas at Austin.
ABS has promoted Dr.Kirsi Tikka to the position of VP global technology and business development. Tikka previously was VP, special projects. She also serves as the ABS representative on the Council of the International Association of Classification Societies. In her new role, Tikka reports to Christopher J. Wiernicki, ABS president and COO, and will assume direct oversight of the worldwide network of technology and business development executives within ABS.
Prior to joining ABS in 2001, Tikka was a professor of naval architecture at Webb Institute in New York. In addition to teaching, she carried out research on structural strength of tankers and risk analysis, and was involved in the US National Research Council Marine Board studies on double hull tankers. Tikka also has worked for Chevron Shipping in San Francisco and for Wartsila Shipyards in Finland. A native of Finland, Tikka has a PhD in naval architecture and offshore engineering from the University of California, Berkeley, and a master’s degree in mechanical engineering and naval architecture from the University of Technology in Helsinki.
Companies
Aker Kvaerner plans to build a production riser manufacturing facility and to expand its subsea aftermarket facility in Rio das Ostras, Brazil. The company plans to add 1,600 sq m (17,222 sq ft) to its existing facility and to acquire 13,000 sq m (139,931 sq ft) adjacent for the new drilling riser manufacturing installation. Start-up of the expansion is scheduled for 3Q 2007. Queiroz Galvão Óleo e Gás has the first contract for three full subsea drilling riser systems using Aker Kvaerner’s CLIP design.
Brunei Shell Petroleum Co. Sdn. Bhd. has awarded a $146.6-million contract to Swiber Holdings Ltd. subsidiary Apecs Offshore Pte. Ltd. for offshore engineering, procurement, construction, installation, and commissioning (EPCIC) projects in 2007 and 2008. Apecs Offshore Pte. Ltd. will carry out in-house engineering and project management, as well as transportation and installation of offshore facilities, including platforms, pipelines, and subsea cables on three major projects. The scope of the pipeline replacement project also includes fabrication of lines at Brunei Shell’s yard at Telisai, tow to the site, and installation.
Hallin Marine Subsea International Plc will build two new saturation diving systems for its own use and has agreed to sell one existing systems. Hallin has agreed with Great Offshore Ltd. of Mumbai, India, to sell HMS Sat 02 for $4.2 million. Great Offshore specified engineering modification work to the system at a cost of $350,000 and is paying an additional $350,000 for an air diving system, bringing the total transaction value to $4.9 million. Hallin expects the first of the newbuild systems to be completed by June this year and the second system to be completed by year end.
Singapore’s Ezra Holdings Ltd. is using the $40-$50 million from the sale of 15 million shares to finance expansion of its offshore support service vessel fleet.
Rolls-Royce has landed contracts for six platform supply vessels for South America, including the first offshore orders from Chile. Total value of the contracts is $88 million. Companhia Brasileira de Offshore has ordered four UT-Design type UT 715 L offshore supply vessel design and equipment packages. The 3,000-dwt PSVs are to be built by Allianca shipyard near Rio de Janeiro for delivery in 2009 and 2010. The vessels will go directly into long-term charters with Petrobras. The other UT-design contract is from Chilean shipyard Astilleros y Servicios Navales SA, which is to build two UT 745 CD (clean design) supply vessels.
Hydratight has moved its Houston operations to new, larger premises. The company says this move was to accommodate its growing business. Hydratight also will move its DL Ricci pipe cutting and machining rental services to this new facility to consolidate all its operations. “We have improved and broadened the range of torquing and tensioning products and services we offer, and we have been able to increase and expand our inventory levels, and will continue to do so,” says Bob Boychuk, Hydratight team leader for America. “This solid foundation means we are now well placed to continue to expand our customer base in the Gulf Region and in South America, and to further develop all Hydratight operations managed out of Houston.”
Offshore Hydrocarbon Mapping Plc. is expanding. It is moving to larger offices in both Houston and Singapore. This announcement follows the company’s recent commitment to a five-year charter of a dedicated Atlantic survey vessel scheduled to launch in May 2007. OHM’s Houston-based team is moving to new premises in the Houston Energy Corridor. The move brings the company closer to a number of key clients and provides the space to expand the survey planning, data processing, data analysis, and research facilities. The office also will accommodate OHM’s expanded American sales force. The Science Park office in Singapore, managed by James Tomlinson, will continue to provide survey planning and data processing support for companies exploring for hydrocarbons in Asia as well as logistical support for clients participating in OHM’s CSEM survey programs.
Saipem has awarded BJ Process and Pipeline Services a two-year contract to provide pipeline pre-commissioning services on stretches of the Kashagan field in the Caspian Sea. BJ’s services will include swabbing, air drying, nitrogen purging and packing, and caliper survey on the main 711 mm (28 in.), 95 km (59 mi) oil and gas pipelines; the 203 mm (8 in.), 95 km (59 mi) fuel gas trunk lines; and associated 203 mm (8 in.), and 152 mm (6 in.) infield lines. The operation has been designed to minimize consumption of liquid nitrogen, reduce costs, and limit logistics problems. BJ will manage the operation from its Kazakh bases in Aksai and Atyrau.
Ocean Scientific International Ltd. has won a contract to supply three instrumented Flotec Subsea ADCP Mounts for installation in a GEMS Survey Ltd. project offshore Nigeria in block H for Shell. The metocean monitoring equipment will measure current profiles and wave data as part of a year-long study on the block.
Statoil has contracted FMC Technologies to supply subsea systems for the Alve project in the Norwegian Sea. The $55-million contract covers one four-slot template with manifold, one subsea production tree, related control systems, umbilicals, and a protection structure. Deliveries are scheduled to begin in 3Q 2007 from Kongsberg, Norway. Alve is a tieback to the Norne FPSO.
BP has awarded a 4C seismic survey over Shah Deniz in the Caspian Sea to Reservoir Exploration Technology ASA. The five-month survey is scheduled to start in 4Q 2007.
Global Industries Ltd. has won a contract to transport and install pipelines and jackets in the Middle East. Work is scheduled to begin in June 2007 from the REM Fortress and the pipelay barge 264.
SBM Offshore NV has received an extension of one of its FPSO lease contracts and a number of turnkey supply orders. Petrobras has exercised its three-year extension option in the lease contract for the Brasil FPSO, owned and operated through an SBM/MISC Berhad joint venture. The FPSO will continue working in the Roncador field offshore Brazil until May 2012. New turnkey supply orders include one from Total Cameroon for the supply and the offshore change-out of a CALM buoy and ancillaries at the Kole field offshore Cameroon. The CALM buoy, which was built at the Nigerdock yard in Lagos, is the second structure for the offshore industry built in Nigeria by SBM and subsequently exported. Statoil ASA has contracted SBM for a large swivel stack comprising high-pressure oil and gas flow paths and hydraulic and electric control swivels. The stack will be installed on the Norne FPSO operating offshore Norway as part of an upgrade of the vessel and tie-in of additional production. Chinese drilling contractor COSL has placed an order for the basic design package for the construction of two jackup drilling rigs and the supply of leg fixation and drill floor skidding systems for the two units.