People
Central Petroleum has appointedBernard Crawford as CFO and company secretary.
McDermott International has namedJohn A. Fees president and CEO and appointed him to the company’s board of directors effective Oct. 1, 2008. Fees will succeed Bruce W. Wilkinson, who will retire as chairman and CEO on Sept. 30, 2008. The company has also appointed Ronald C. Cambre as McDermott’s non-executive chairman of the board.
Admiral Richard W. Mies has been appointed to McDermott International’s board of directors. Mies also will serve on its audit and governance committees.
J. Ray McDermott has appointedJohn T. Nesser as executive VP and COO, effective Oct. 1, 2008. In this newly created role, Nesser will be responsible for the oversight of all of the company’s offshore oil and gas construction segment’s global operations.
StatoilHydro executive VP for corporate staffs and services,Hilde Merete Aasheim, is leaving to become executive VP of aluminum metal for Norsk Hydro ASA.
HB Rentals has promotedDeidre Toups to president.
John Wood Group has appointedPatrick Bugler as country manager for Angola, responsible for developing the group’s engineering and production facilities activities.
Devon Energy has appointedWilliam F. Whitsitt as senior VP of public affairs. In this newly created executive position, Whitsitt will be responsible for governmental relations, public relations, and communications efforts.
Jergens has appointedEric Van Steenlandt as director of sales and marketing. In his new role, Van Steenlandt will be responsible for Jergens’ sales and marketing activities in North America.
The International Association of Drilling Contractors (IADC) has electedJoseph Eustace as chairman of the Well Servicing Committee.
IADC also elected officers to lead the newly created Advanced Rig Technology Committee.Steven Richards, of Key Energy, will serve as chairman. Jeff Swain, of Chevron, will serve as vice chairman, operators. David Reid, of National Oilwell Varco, will serve as vice chairman, service.
The president and CEO of Murphy Oil Corp.,Claiborne P. Deming, will retire effective Dec. 31, 2008. David M. Wood executive VP, worldwide E&P operations, will become president and CEO.
Furmanite has hiredDr. Paul Hill as global business development manager for composites. He will head up and develop the company’s composite repair service worldwide.
Tidewater Inc. has promotedBruce D. Lundstrom to executive VP, general counsel, and secretary.
Tidewater also hiredQuinn P. Fanning as executive VP. Fanning will assume the duties of CFO, when J. Keith Lousteau retires, around the end of September 2008.
FMC Technologies Inc. has appointedJay A. Nutt as controller.
Grenland Group ASA’s executive VP and current head of subsea fabrication,Magnar Brekka, has accepted a position with Rambøll AS in Sandefjord.
Descalzi
The Eni board of directors has appointedClaudio Descalzi as COO of the E&P division, replacing Stefano Cao.
Enventure Global Technology has appointedGreg Bailey as VP of engineering and technology. Bailey will lead and manage the advancements of Enventure’s solid expandable technology and service lines, and the production of solution-based technology.
Santos has appointedDavid Knox as CEO and MD. Knox has served as acting CEO since March 2008.
Wood Group ESP has appointedJerry Mikla operations manager for the Canadian region. Mikla will manage all facilities, manufacturing, production, and inventory, and will participate in all business planning meetings with regional staff.
Schilling Robotics Inc. has appointedClay Cottingham as VP of customer service. Cottingham oversees all post-sale technical support, spares provisioning, repairs, training, and field service activities.
Paradigm has appointedRichard H. Ward as regional VP for China. Ward will manage and develop business and marketing strategies targeting the needs of oil and gas E&P interests in China.
Swiber Holdings Ltd. has appointed new heads to lead its business units, Offshore Construction Services (OCS) and Offshore Support Services (OSS).Nitish Gupta, previously the COO of Swiber, will take on the role of CEO for OCS. Darren Yeo, previously an executive director and executive VP of Swiber, will head up OSS as CEO. Raymond Goh, founder and executive chairman, will remain as CEO of Swiber. Caltec Ltd. has hired John Wingfield as business development director. Based in Aberdeen, Wingfield will focus on promoting Caltec’s production enhancement and compact separation technology to major operators and contractor companies in the UK, Norwegian North Sea, and internationally.
Rotech Subsea has namedBrian Schacht to concentrate on new and expanding markets throughout the Gulf of Mexico and Latin America.
Sensornet has appointed two VPs and a COO.John Perrin will serve as VP for North and South America. Doug Walker will serve as VP, Asia-Pacific region. Richard Kluth has been promoted from operations director to COO.
Tracerco, part of the Johnson Matthey Group, has appointedDr. Vince Croud as technical director.
England
The Ferguson Group has appointedBill England as technical director of its Ferguson Seacabs divisions worldwide.
Network International Inc. has made several promotions.Gardner Dudley, former VP operations and technology, has been appointed to COO. Grady Goodlett has been promoted from director of finance and accounting to VP of finance and accounting. Elizabeth Satz, former administration, HR, and legal manager, has been appointed to director of administration, HR, and legal manager. Victoria Schlesinger has been promoted from marketing manager to marketing director. Network International also has hired Chauncey Roschbach as IT senior developer.
Foster Marketing Communications has hiredGary Meeks as controller and Kristy Bonner as account associate.
Ferguson Group has appointedTim Sheehan as CEO of its Ferguson Modular Ltd. division.
Diamond Offshore Drilling Inc. has appointedEdward Grebow to its board of directors.
Platinum Energy Resources Inc. has appointedBernard Lang and Norman Rosenberg to its board as independent directors.
Gulfsands Petroleum Plc has appointedRichard Malcolm as CEO, effective 4Q 2008.
Walker Technical Resources Ltd. has appointedSimon Frost as technical director. WTR also has appointed Jacco Huipen, as its new head of marketing and sales.
The directors of Entek Energy have appointed two new members to the board.Craig McGown will serve as chairman. David Anthony Craig will serve as a non-executive director.
CSL has appointedFrank Manning as business development manager for London and Paris.
Schilling Robotics Inc., has appointedPaul A. Whalen as senior VP of operations.
Company News
Swire Oilfield Services has acquired Maritime Products & Services (MPS). MPS was founded in 2001 and is a supplier of chemical tanks, pump, and filtration equipment.
Providence Resources and the Star Energy Group have been offered a three-year licensing option over eight blocks in the Kish Bank basin by the Irish Department of Energy, Communications, and Natural Resources.
Alliance Engineering has received ISO 9001 certification for its quality management system. The certification was awarded following an audit by ABS Quality Evaluations.
CNOOC has acquired the Bozhong (BZ) 29-5 oil and gas discovery in the Yellow River Mouth Sag of Bohai Bay. The wildcat BZ29-5-1, which was drilled on structure BZ 29-5 in the Yellow River Mouth Sag, encountered oil pay zones of 26.2 m (86 ft), the company says. The well was drilled to 1,885 m (6,184 ft) TD, with a water depth of about 21 m (69 ft).
Wison Heavy Industry’s design center has signed a contract to useAVEVA’s engineering IT solutions.
Providence Resources and Sosina Exploration have signed a staged farm-out agreement with Chrysaor Holdings for the Spanish Point discovery, in the Porcupine basin, off the west coast of Ireland.
Oilex has entered into a farm-out agreement with Sasol Petroleum Australia for exploration permit WA 338P. Under the agreement, Oilex and partners will each assign a 6% participating interest in the permit to Sasol.
KBR has awarded Fairstar Heavy Transport a $23-million multiple voyage contract. Fairstar’s semisubmersible heavy transport vessel Fjord will deliver the EGTL modules for Chevron from Abu Dhabi to the Escravos River in Nigeria.
Det norske oljeselskap has signed an agreement with VNG Norge for the sale of shares in three production licenses offshore Norway. VNG Norge will acquire a 30% interest in the Fongen (PL 380) and Struten (PL 383) exploration prospects. In these licenses, the partnerships have agreed to drill one exploration well, planned for next year. Det norske has also sold a 20% interest in the Litjormen prospect (PL 447) to VNG, reducing Det norske’s ownership from 50% to 30%.
Det norske further has implemented the sales and purchase agreement regarding the acquisition of a 70% interest in PL 103B fromLundin Norway AS. Following this acquisition, Det norske will hold a 7% interest in the Jotun unit, including the Jotun field, which is operated by ExxonMobil.
Dockwise Shipping has been awarded two contracts totaling $18 million for the transportation of semisubmersible drilling rigs and various floating equipment. Dockwise Shipping will transport the new build sixth-generation semisubmersible drilling rig Noble Dave Beard in 2009 as well as various floating docks and other equipment in 2008.
INTEC Engineering and WorleyParsons Sea have merged into a new entity called INTECSEA. INTEC Engineering was acquired by WorleyParsons in April 2008. Now, the companies are combining deepwater, subsea, pipeline, and floating production capability into a single source.
NOV Elmar has opened a new assembly facility in Aberdeen. The company also has received a $10.5 million contract from Groupe ENSP for 25 vehicles, consisting of eight Slickline trucks and additional equipment.
Senergy has acquired Leading Edge Advantage (LEA), a well engineering consultancy specializing in advanced drilling techniques. As a result of the acquisition, LEA will become a wholly owned subsidiary of Senergy’s oil and gas business, and will continue to be run as a specialist division within the Senergy’s wells group.
Nautical Petroleum has entered into a farm-out agreement with Canamens Energy North Sea Ltd. Under the agreement, Canamens will acquire an additional 10% interest in the North Sea block 9/2b (Kraken).
Seatronics has opened a new calibration and cable molding facility in Houston. The facility will provide sound velocity, conductivity, depth, and temperature calibrations traceable to national standards.
