BUSINESS BRIEFS

Compressco has namedRon Foster as president. Foster has served as Compressco’s senior VP of sales and marketing since 2002.

The Ausclad Group of Companies (AGC) has appointedMark Williamson as GM of its services business unit. Williamson oversees management and operations of the Group’s services business unit, which provides industrial services to the minerals, oil and gas, and utilities markets.

Alliance Engineering has promotedWayne Mueller to VP of its deepwater business unit. Mueller has been with Alliance since 2004 and most recently was project manager of the company’s FPSO developments.

Alliance also has promotedHokan M. Linden to VP of business services. In this position, Hokan is responsibile for information technology, office services, training, and information systems within Alliance. Hokan has been with Alliance since 1997 and has more than 20 years in IT and information systems management positions.

Pride International has appointedSteven A. Manz as VP and CFO of the company’s mat-supported jackup rig business. Manz previously served as director of research for the investment bank Simmons & Co. International.

Minerals Management Service has appointedTroy Trosclair as the MMS Gulf of Mexico Region’s (GOMR) deputy regional supervisor for District Operations, Field Operations. Trosclair supervises the region’s five district offices located throughout the Gulf Coast and oversees several field operations functions including safety inspections, accident investigations, and drilling permits.

Hellespont Hammonia GmbH & Co. has appointedChristian Ramm as joint MD. He is responsible for the company’s commercial and financial matters, working alongside Capt. Matthias Imrecke, who remains responsible for ship management. Ramm replaces Georg von Oldershausen who becomes director of administration at Hellespont AG & Co KG.

Spectrum has appointedRhys Edwards as CFO.

Access Exploration Corp. has appointedBobby Long as exploration manager. Long began his career as an engineer with Texaco and subsequently worked as a geophysicist for Shell Oil, Kirby Exploration, Challenger Minerals, Inc. and more recently as technical director for Sunrise Energy Resources.

Saudi Aramco has appointedKhalid A. Al-Falih as president and CEO, effective Jan. 1, 2009. Al-Falih, currently executive VP of operations, will succeed Abdallah S. Jum’ah, who has elected to retire after 40 years of service to Saudi Aramco, including nearly 14 years as president and CEO.

BJ Services has appointedKevin Robertson as country manager - India for tubular services. In his new role, Robertson is based in Mumbai, where he oversees all aspects of operations, financial management, and market expansion for the company’s tubular services in the country.

North Star Shipping has appointedDavid Coultas as technical director. Coultas replaces Robin Smith who retired after 20 years with the company.

Excel Polymers has promotedMarcus A. Pignataro to president and GM for Asia-Pacific. Pignataro also becomes president of EXLP Global (Foshan) and oversees the completion of the construction and start-up phases of the company’s new manufacturing facility in China. He also is responsible for commercial activities in the region.

StatoilHydro has appointedGunnar Breivik as acting executive VP of corporate staffs and services. Breivik succeeds Hilde Merete Aasheim. Breivik also serves as senior VP of StatoilHydro’s health, safety, and environment cluster.

Royal Dutch Shell has appointedPeter Voser as chief executive. He succeeds Jeroen van der Veer.

Nexen has appointedMarvin Romanow as president and CEO, effective Jan. 1, 2009. He also will join the company’s board of directors. Romanow will replace retiring president and CEO, Charlie Fischer.

Technip has appointedJulian Waldron as CFO. Waldron joins Technip from Thomson where he was CFO from 2001 and interim CEO from March to August 2008. Julian Waldron succeeds Olivier Dubois, CFO since June 2002.

Sensornet has appointedDan Watley as CTO. He is responsible for establishing Sensornet’s technical vision and leading all aspects of the company’s technology development through research collaborations and strategic partnerships. He also is responsible for the management and enforcement of intellectual property rights. The company also appointed Peter Kean as VP of production and technology. He is responsible for the execution of the company’s technology development, bringing new products to market, as well as production of the company’s instruments and customer support management.

Nexen has appointedKevin Reinhart as senior VP and CFO, effective Jan. 1, 2009. Kevin will succeed Marvin Romanow, who will become president and CEO, following the retirement of Charlie Fischer at the end of this year.

XTO Energy has promotedKeith A. Hutton to CEO. Bob R. Simpson, a founder of the company in 1986 and CEO since 1993, will continue as the chairman of the board and founder of XTO Energy. Vaughn O. Vennerberg II, senior executive VP and chief of staff, has been promoted to president of the company.

Kairiki Energy has appointedLaurie Brown as MD. Brown is currently an executive director at the company and has been instrumental in establishing and building Kairiki’s oil and gas asset base, the company says.

Quantapoint has appointedJohn Wilson as president and CEO. Wilson succeeds Eric Hoffman, founder of the company. Wilson will focus full-time on the ongoing development of Quantapoint’s innovative and award-winning laser scanning technology and services.

Lincoln Electric Holdings has appointedSteven B. Hedlund as VP of strategy and business development. The company has also appointed Earl L. Ward as VP of mergers, acquisitions, and investor relations. Hedlund will be responsible for strategic planning, strategic analysis, and long-term project management for the company. Ward will be responsible for Lincoln’s mergers and acquisitions program and investor relations.

Direct Drive Systems (DDS) has appointedKevin McGlensey as president and CEO. He will be responsible for running the company and reporting directly to board members.

Peak Well Services has appointedGordon Angus as regional MD. He will oversee the company’s operations across Europe and Africa. The company has also appointed Andy Stewart as wireline and intervention specialist.

Schilling Robotics has appointedHobart “Hobey” Birmingham and Taft Symonds to its board of directors. Birmingham is an MD of the Perreault Birmingham Group LLC, which provides consulting and investment banking services to high-tech companies.

Oceanteam has appointedRuud van der Steeg as CFO. He replaces Ronald Moolenaar.

Brinker has appointedTrevor Burgess as chairman. Burgess will succeed Bernie Anson, previous CEO of Brinker and chairman for the last five years. Anson remains a non-executive director and will continue to advise on the strategic direction of the company.

Company news

Eni Norge has submitted the Impact Assessment Plan (IA) for the Goliat field to the MPE. The licensees recommend that Goliat will be developed using subsea wells linked to a circular FPSO.

Emerson has opened the Asia Flow Technology Center in Nanjing, China. The 12,500-sq m (134,549-sq ft) facility expands production capacity and services for Emerson Process Management’s flow metering and measurement technologies.

CGGVeritas has made an exchange tender offer for all of Wavefield Inseis ASA. CGGVeritas says it will offer one newly issued share for each seven shares of Wavefield.

London-based private equity firmsLansdowne Capita¹ and Claver Capital have acquired Containental Offshore.

TAQA Bratani has awarded Wood Group Engineering (North Sea)a contract for the provision of operating and maintenance activities and to act as duty holder for TAQA’s offshore assets in the northern North Sea.

J. Ray McDermott has awarded Hallin Marine a $4.2-million contract to provide saturation diving services in support of projects offshore Malaysia during the 2009 season.

Wärtsilä has opened a new office and workshop in Port Moresby, the capital of Papua New Guinea. This latest Wärtsilä facility services power plant installations in the region’s gold, copper, and silver mining industries, as well as regional marine applications in the fisheries and offshore oil and gas sectors.

Neptune Marine Services and its wholly owned subsidiary, US Underwater Services LP, has been awarded two NEPSYS repair projects in the Gulf of Mexico worth a total of $10 million. The combined scope of work comprises a repair to an oil platform jacket leg and repair of a column-to-mat connection on a cantilever mat rig.

ffA has established an office in Houston. The office provides both sales and technical support and acts as ffA’s services base in North America.

Talisman Energy has awarded John Crane a three-year condition-based maintenance (CBM) contract. The contract is to provide CBM services covering a range of rotating equipment at Talisman’s onshore and offshore sites in the North Sea.

Ithaca Energy has signed final agreements with Talisman Energy to lease the Beatrice oilfield and Nigg oil terminal. Ithaca will acquire a lease for a 100% interest in Beatrice from Talisman for a minimum of three years, extendable at Ithaca’s election for the duration of production, in consideration for the sum of £10 million ($16.5 million). The Beatrice offshore facilities include the Alpha, Bravo, and Charlie platforms.

Ithaca Energy has awarded John Wood Group a duty holder contract for the Beatrice offshore facilities and the Nigg onshore terminal.

TGS-Nopec and Wavefield have agreed to settle the dispute related to the merger process between the two companies. Under terms of the settlement, Wavefield will pay $12.5 million to TGS and TGS will charter a 2D vessel from Wavefield for an 18-month period beginning in April 2009.

PFS Shipping (Singapore) has signed a Letter of Intent with SCAN Geophysical for a sale and lease-back agreement for three newbuilds under construction at the ABG Shipyard in India.

TSMarine has completed a multi-client well program for BP, Perenco, and Tullow Oil to abandon four category one suspended wells in the southern and central North Sea.

Technip has expanded its Asiaflex Products manufacturing facility to include the production of subsea umbilical systems as of 2010. The manufacturing facility is under construction in Tanjung Langsat, Malaysia, and is on schedule to deliver flexible pipe, plus umbilicals in 2010, the company says.

Bourbon has inaugurated its new training center in Singapore. The Bourbon Training Center includes an AHTS (anchor handling tug supply vessel) simulator, fully equipped bridge, the deck portion of the vessel, and classrooms.

EXMAR, Excelerate, and Black & Veatch have formed an alliance to develop floating liquefaction solutions.

Nexen has awarded weather forecasting specialists Nowcasting International a €300,000 ($382,944) contract to support its North Sea operations. Nowcasting will provide high resolution weather data and detailed meteorological and oceanographic services to help maximize Nexen’s operations outputs, the company says.

DeepBlue Technologies has opened a subsea operations base in Broussard, Louisiana. The 6,000-sq ft (557-sq m) facility features a 10-ton (9-metric-ton) overhead crane, a tool string assembly system, a 15-ft (4.5-m) wet assembly area, and a biological water treatment and recirculation system.

Noreco has signed an agreement with Spring Energy to farm-out of exploration license PL411 in the Stord basin in Norway. The license was awarded in the APA2006 round. Noreco is the operator of the license and will have a 70% interest after the transaction.

Port Services Engineering has acquired a majority stake in management system and training company Training Competency Consultancy.

Hamworthy has acquired a majority interest in Baltic Design Center (BDC) , a ship design and consultancy business based in Gdynia, Poland. BDC will be renamed Hamworthy Baltic Design Center (Hamworthy BDC).

Tracerco has established a new regional service center in Abu Dhabi, UAE. The company previously supplied the region from its headquarters in the UK.

Reservoir Group has acquired InfoAsset, a company specializing in data management and information services for oil and gas exploration and production. InfoAsset will align with previously acquired Storecore to create Reservoir Group Data Management. According to Reservoir, its new data management group will offer proven and innovative data management solutions to UK and international clients.

Versabar president Jon Khachaturian has been awarded the 2008 NOVA award for his breakthrough deck salvage system. Khachaturian was one of five 2008 winners selected from a pool of 40 nominees. Presented by the Construction Innovation Forum, the NOVA awards are intended to “recognize innovations that have proven to be significant advances that have had positive, important effects on construction to improve quality and reduce cost.”

Wintershall has obtained the necessary clearance from the Norwegian Competition Authority for completion of its voluntary offer to acquire Revus Energy ASA. The company has also received regulatory clearance from the UK Department of Energy and Climate Change concerning the UKCS licenses held by Revus Energy ASA and any of its subsidiaries.

Nexus Energy’s Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) with Vanguard Oil and Viking Shipping for the supply of an FPSO for its Crux liquids project has been terminated. The Crux joint venture was unable to make a final investment decision (FID) with Viking as the FPSO provider.

ode has opened an office in Cairo, its first office outside the UK. The Cairo team will work under ode’s newly appointed North Africa CM and CEO Neil Clark.

FMC Technologies, acting through its wholly owned subsidiary, FMC Kongsberg Holdings AS, and with the assistance of DnB NOR Markets, has acquired 25,000,000 shares in Roxar ASA, representing 10.26% of Roxar’s outstanding share capital.

DNV, together with the industry and Norwegian authorities, has developed a new qualification procedure for CO2 capture technology. DNV’s new process explains in detail how to identify, assess, and manage risks (failure modes or threats). This is done by following a set of sequential steps in the qualification process.

Petrofac has awarded 3sun an £800,000 ($1.2 million) offshore contract. The contracts cover the provision of a new control system and modification to the existing one for the refurbished Centrica-owned, Grove platform, previously known as Camelot CB. The platform will bring three new wells onstream -- one in 2008 and two subsea tie backs by mid 2009.

Apache Energy has awarded Clough a $60 million contract for the Varanus Island gas plant repairs. The contract comprises repairs required as a result of the explosion that caused the temporary shut down of operations on Varanus Island from June 2008.

Niko Resources has acquired a new exploration block offshore southeast Sulawesi, Indonesia. The block covers almost 5,000 sq km (1,931 sq mi) and Niko will have a 25% non-operated working interest.

Coastal Energy has received government approval of its Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) for the 75-sq km (29-sq mi) Songkhla production area in the Gulf of Thailand.