BUSINESS BRIEFS
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Dockwise Shipping has appointedMartin Adler as COO, effective May 15, 2008. Adler will lead global sales and marketing operations and will be responsible for strategy, senior clients, contracts, proposals, and commercial alliances.
Ingrain has added two new members to its board of directors and two executives to its management team. The board additions includeGary Jones as chairman and Paul Ching as director. Management team additions include Barry Stewart as CFO and Tom Guidish as chief marketing officer.
Enterprise Products Partners and Duncan Energy Partners have appointedJohn R. (Randy) Burkhalter as VP of investor relations.
Bergen Oilfield Services has appointedTor Søreide Sivertsen as VP of operations. Sivertsen will manage teams onboard two seismic vessels: BOS Arctic and BOS Atlantic with initial operations in Norway and Singapore.
Wintershall Holding has appointedAndreas Priefler as director of communications. He will be responsible for communications, energy policy, and events management at the wholly-owned BASF subsidiary.
Ambar Lone Star Fluid Services has appointedR. E. “Ed” Gee as regional sales manager.
The company has also namedZachary L. Brazzel as Dallas/Fort Worth sales manager.
P. Boone DuBose has been promoted to executive sales representative for the DFW area.
ODIM ASA has appointedBjørn Roger Andersen as senior VP of global after sales and service, and Ståle Hoff as senior VP for HR.
OPE has appointedRandy Seehausen as global business development manager of the company’s pipeline and subsea divisions.
MODEC has reconstructed its board of directors. The changes include:
Kenji Yamada, president and CEO (MODEC); Nobuhiro Yaji, MD and COO (MODEC); Shashank Karve, director (MODEC), Toshihiro Soejima, external director (Mitsui & Co.); Tamiyoshi Iwasaki, external director (Mitsui Engineering & Shipbuilding Co.); Toshiro Miyazaki, external director (Mitsui Engineering & Shipbuilding Co.). The company has also made the following organizational changes: Rick Hall, president and CEO of SOFEC, a MODEC subsidiary, assumes the additional role of president of MODEC International. Colin McStea, deputy COO, is responsible for global project development and execution. Sateesh Dev has been appointed president of MODEC Offshore Production and Operation Systems. Fred Bridgewater has been appointed global director of HR.
OAO Lukoil has appointedAzat Shamsuarov as VP of the company and general director of OOO Lukoil - West Siberia. Nikolay Inyushin, former head of OOO Lukoil-West Siberia and VP of OAO Lukoil, has been appointed general director of ZAO Lukoil-Trans.
Caesar Systems has appointedJeff Nelson as client services manager.
Energy Partners has appointedJames R. Latimer III, Bryant H. Patton, and Steven J. Pully to its board.
Holger Temmen has been appointed CEO of the Abbot Group and the KCA DEUTAG group of companies.
Mike Horgan, UK resident manager of Marathon Oil has been appointed chairman of OPITO – The Oil & Gas Academy. Horgan replaces Malcolm Webb. Joining Horgan on the board are new directors Gordon Ballard, chairman of Schlumberger UK; George Rafferty, chief executive of NOF Energy; and David Pridden, chief executive of Subsea UK.
Santos has appointedPeter Coates to its board of directors, effective immediately.
Nordic Heavy Lift ASA has appointedRob Boer as CEO. He also will become CEO of its soon-to-be-established subsidiary company, Nordic Heavy Lift Management BV. The company has also appointed Erik Hageman as CFO of Nordic Heavy Lift ASA.
Maersk Oil North Sea UK has appointedNeville Browne as director of HR. He will also become part of the company’s senior management team.
Frontline Management AS’s CEOBjørn Sjaastad has resigned. Until the position is filled, CEO of Frontline John Fredriksen, and the board of Frontline Management AS, will take over Sjaastad’s responsibilities.
Aker Yards has appointedOle Heggheim as CFO and executive VP, succeeding Leif Borge. Heggheim previously served as executive VP for business development at the company.
Atwood Oceanics has appointedRonald Hall as VP of operations.
Chevron Corp. has nominatedJames L. Jones for election to the company’s board of directors. Jones is president and CEO of the Institute for 21st Century Energy, a policy, economic, and educational center in affiliation with the US Chamber of Commerce.
Occidental Petroleum’s executive VP of HR,Richard W. Hallock, plans to retire at the end of the year after 14 years with the company. The company has named Martin Cozyn as VP of HR.
Offshore Marine Services UK has appointedKarl Fear as marine superintendent.
Swellfix has appointedMario Gibson as general manager for Brazil. Gibson will focus on driving Brazilian regional sales, while targeting key markets and developing client relationships in the rest of the continent.
Geotrace has appointedScott Humphrey as manager of Latin America marketing. Humphrey will assist Geotrace to identify new business opportunities in Latin America. His responsibilities include sales of Geotrace’s reservoir seismic and reservoir services to new and existing customers, as well as expanding Geotrace’s geographic presence in the region.
Company news
Baker Hughes has opened Phase I of its new Center for Technology Innovation (CTI) in northwest Houston. The facility includes HP/HT test cells, research labs for materials, fluids, elastomers, composites, and electronics, as well as prototype manufacturing capabilities. Approximately 575 scientists, application engineers, and laboratory technicians will conduct research, engineering, development, and testing at the facility. Phase II of the CTI campus, consisting of additional office buildings and research facilities, is expected to be completed by year-end.
GE Oil & Gas is moving its Americas regional headquarters to a new site at Westway Park II in Houston. The headquarters is under construction at West Beltway 8 and Clay Road. It also will be the new business headquarters for VetcoGray and PII Pipeline Solutions
Fairfield Energy has completed a 100% acquisition of the Clipper South discovery area from Shell and ExxonMobil. The Clipper South discovery was made by well 48/19a-3 in March 1983 and further delineated by well 48/19-13z in July 1992.
Mass-flow excavation specialistsRotech Subsea plans to open a base in Singapore. Regional manager Barry Silver will head the team.
Heerema Marine Contractors has acquired Pipeline Technique Ltd. PTL specializes in automatic pipeline welding. PTL will continue to operate as a separate business unit from its headquarters in Rothienorman, Scotland.
Petrobras has established a Pre-Salt Executive Management to coordinate all exploration and production in the pre-salt. The group will report to Exploration & Production and will manage assessment plans, testing, and the Tupi production pilot.
Norse Cutting & Abandonment AS has acquired LIS Energy Services. LIS Energy Services operates five rigless P&A spreads from a base in Belle Chase, Louisiana, and has plugged more than 700 wells since its inception in 2001. As of April 2008, LIS Energy Services will be operating under the name of NCA Energy Services LLC from New Orleans.
Petrofac Energy Development has awarded MCS a $1-million contract to design and deliver the complete riser system for the Don Southwest and West Don development in the northern North Sea.
Sensornet has signed a supply and cooperation agreement with Ziebel for Distributed Temperature Sensing technology.
The supply agreement will allow further expansion of Ziebel’s current fiber optic permanent downhole monitoring solutions as well as intervention services. Sensornet and Ziebel also have signed a new three-year exclusive agreement to cooperate on the commercialization of the ZipLog wellbore optic surveying method.
StatoilHydro has awarded completion equipment and services contracts on the Norwegian continental shelf for about $234 million a year over a three-year period. Six three-year contracts, each with two, three-year options, have been awarded to Baker Oil Tools, Halliburton, Roxar, Schlumberger, Weatherford, and WellDynamics. The contracts start Sept. 1, 2008.
Aker Kværner has changed its name to Aker Solutions. The company has launched an internal process that will lead to the creation of one, new business area integrating maintenance, modifications, operations, and field development. The new business area will have nearly 8,500 employees, including more than 2,300 engineers. The new model is expected to be fully operational from Jan. 1, 2009.
Dockwise Shipping has been awarded four contracts totaling $25 million for the transportation of drilling and production equipment. The company will transport jackup drilling rigs Transocean Nordic, Murmanskaya, and Atwoord Aurora within 2008. The company also will transport the PetroProd CJ 70 production jackup, which is under construction at Jurong Shipyard in Singapore and is scheduled for delivery in 3Q 2010.
GE’s Oil & Gas business has completed its acquisition of Hydril Pressure Control from Tenaris.
Oceanteam has agreed a joint venture with KCI Oil & Gas Engineers for the renewables market.
Trident Offshore has commissioned Veripos to provide precision GNSS positioning services and associated support under an exclusive five-year global contract.
Norsk Hydro ASA has completed the sale of its Production Partner and Production Services subsidiaries toBilfinger Berger Industrial Services. Hydro will retain 15% of the shares in the two companies until the end of 2009.
Global Energy Group has acquired Aberdeen-based Reel Group. Reel Group specializes in special periodic inspections and hull thickness surveys, hoisting and lifting equipment surveys, along with drilling hoisting and handling tool surveys to the API RC 8C industry standard.
Paradigm has released a new version of GOCAD for reservoir engineering and geological interpretation which adds four plug-in applications.