People

Vallourec & Mannesmann Tubes namedDidier Hornet as its deputy managing director of the company’s new North America oil country tubular goods division. Hornet will oversee all of the company’s North America OCTG operations. He will also be chairman of the board of V&M STAR.

Vallourec & Mannesmann STAR, formerly North Star Steel, namedRoger Lindgren as chief executive officer. Lindgren will oversee operations of the company’s plants in Houston, Texas, and Youngstown, Ohio.

Veritas has appointedYoram Shoham to the company’s board of directors. Shoham will fill a newly created board position. He was formerly vice president of external technology relations and consultant to Shell International Exploration and Production Inc.

Dolphin Marine International, formerly Dolphin Towing Services, namedBill Kearney IV as president. Kearney previously headed the sales development, client relations, and marketing programs, and was also responsible for certain internal assignments.

Petrofac has appointedRodney Chase as chairman. Chase is deputy chairman of Tesco plc and is on the board of Computer Sciences Corp. and Nalco Co. in the US.

Foster Wheeler Ltd. appointedUmberto della Sala as CEO of the company’s Global Engineering and Construction Group. In this newly created role, della Sala will report directly to Raymond J. Milchovich, chairman, president, and CEO.

Stabil Drill has promotedMike Domino to Houston district manager for its full-service facility in Houston. He oversees 25 people including operations managers, sales representatives, and 12 machinists.

AnTech Ltd. has appointedAziz Rashid as engineering manager. Aziz is responsible for leading the company’s Engineer Group and will help develop standards, objectives, aims, and strategy.

Ziff Energy has appointedDennis Elias to manager, Gas Consulting. Elias will present his professional view for North America Gas Strategy Retainer Service clients across North America, executive critique of the Northern Gas New Assessment of the Impacts report, and undertake pipeline and regulatory consulting assignments.

Sandvik Materials Technology appointedHaydn Eagle as technical sales manager.

Qserv has promotedGarry Michie from wireline manager to general manager for its well services team in Aberdeen, UK. He will be responsible for health and safety policies. He will provide operational management, support, and direction for the well service side of the business.

The Louisiana Gulf Coast Oil Exposition has namedBill Flores Jr., senior vice president of drilling for Energy Partners Ltd., as its public relations chairman for this year’s event. Other professionals serving on the public relations committee include KirbyArceneaux of Offshore Energy Services, BradDuplantis of Ambar Lonestar, A.B. “Laj” CarrollJr. of BJ Services, EmmettGauthier of Weatherford, CathyGuidryspan> of Devon Energy, Larry Lemarie of Halliburton, Art Mixon of PetroQuest, Brent Mosing of Frank’s Casing Crew and Rental Tools, and Rick Voth of SPS International.

Companies

Hercules Offshore LLC has acquired a 17-liftboat fleet from Superior Energy Services and will operate them as part of Hercules Liftboats LLC. Hercules now has 38 units capable of working in water depths greater than 70 ft. The vessels have leg lengths ranging from 65-130 ft and are in the US GoM.

Fiber Glass SystemsLP, a National Oilwell Varco company, opened a new factory in Suzhou, China, near Shanghai. The 18,288 sq m facility will focus on marine and offshore fiberglass pipe and fitting applications. It will offer application engineering, material recommendations, stress analysis, and fabrication services to shipyards in China and the Asia-Pacific region.

Dolphin Towing Service changed its name to Dolphin Marine International. “We have long felt that our name too narrowly reflected the array of services we are providing to our clients around the globe,” John Georges, chairman of the board, Dolphin, says. “Dolphin Marine International better defines our mission.”

Honeywell has opened a Caspian-region head office in Baku, Azerbaijan. The company will provide process technology and services to the oil and gas industry in Azerbaijan and the wider Caspian area and provide support to oil and gas firms in the region.

Wärtsilä Propulsion (Wuxi) Co. Ltd. inaugurated a production plant in Wuxi, China. This factory is 100 km west of Shanghai and is the company’s first wholly owned production venture in China. It will manufacture Lips-brand transverse thrusters.

KCA Deutag Drilling Norge AS has signed an agreement with Prosafe ASA to buy Prosafe Drilling Services AS. Estimated net sale proceeds to Prosafe are NKr960 million. The companies plan to close the transaction in 3Q 2005 after due diligence. Prosafe intends to focus on its Floating Production and Offshore Support Services divisions.

Epic Consulting Services Ltd. and geoLOGIC systems ltd. have signed a marketing agreement for three Epic products: ResSurveil, ResBalance, and ResWorks. Under the agreement, geoLOGIC becomes the exclusive marketer of geoSCOUT-integrated versions.

Drillers.Com Inc. and NRG Consultancy Ltd. have formed a joint venture company to provide a complete well engineering package to independent national and international oil and gas companies. It will trade as NRG in the UK and Drillers.Com internationally. Drillers.Com Inc. specializes in well operations project management, well engineering training delivery, and web-based services. NRG Consultancy Ltd. offers management and safety systems, well examination, subsurface consultancy, engineering studies, legislative advisory services, and litigation assistance.

Centrica Energy has awarded a five-year contract to SBS Logistics Ltd. to operate and develop its supply base in Heysham, UK, with extension options to until the end of the economic life of the Liverpool Bay or Morecambe fields. The Heysham base supports oil and gas activity in the Irish Sea.