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Vol. 228 No. 11 |
Arcapita Inc., a private equity investment firm, announced that its affiliates have signed an agreement to acquire Varel Holdings, Inc., from KRG Capital Partners for about $369 million. The Carrollton, Texas-based Varel produces PDC and roller cone bits for oil and gas drilling, mining and industrial applications. The company generates 50% of its revenue outside North America.
Schlumberger has opened its Breakthrough Performance Center, an innovation lab and executive briefing center in Houston, to showcase, create and test digital technology innovations in the oil and gas industry. Schlumberger Information Solutions (SIS) is collaborating with several technology firms-Barco, Dell, HP, IBM, Intel, Microsoft, NetApp, NVIDIA, Panoram Technologies and The Whitlock Group-to develop the center. Also, Schlumberger has announced the acquisition of InnerLogix, a supplier of data quality management software for the E&P industry. InnerLogix has offices in Houston and in Stavanger, Norway.
The Fieldbus Foundation has joined with the HART Communication Foundation and Profibus Nutzer organisation e.V. (PNO) in launching a cooperative initiative for wireless technology in the manufacturing and process industries. The new project is an extension of the organizations’ collaboration on Electronic Device Description Language (EDDL). As part of the initiative, the three organizations will develop a specification for a common interface to a wireless gateway based on the WirelessHART technology of the HART Communication Foundation and the emerging ISA SP100.11a standard.
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Transocean’s deepwater drillship Discoverer 534 has concluded a major upgrade requiring 3.1 million man-hours at Singapore’s Sembawang Shipyard. The project included hull tank steel replacement, painting of all tanks and decks, a 15-year hull-life extension, a new aluminum helideck forward and navigation mast, a dynamic positioning system upgrade from DP 1 to DP 2 classification, an extensive overhaul of all six thrusters, and new vessel and power management systems. Drilling enhancements include a new driller’s instrumentation system, iron roughneck, casing-stabbing basket, subsea tree-handling system and dedicated well-test area. Liquid mud storage capacity was significantly increased to accommodate the multiple mud types and volumes required for modern deepwater drilling. Refurbishments were made to the mud pits, blowout preventer, lower marine riser package, main engines and top drive. Also added were a high-capacity Seatrax deck crane, new rig living quarters and a central warehouse. The vessel is destined for offshore Pakistan, where it will drill the 13th offshore exploration well constructed in that country’s history.
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InterMoor Inc., an Acteon company, has signed an agreement with a subsidiary of Diamond Offshore Drilling, Inc., to store and maintain Diamond Offshore’s mooring hardware in InterMoor’s new 22-acre facility at Port Fourchon, Louisiana. The new facility includes more than 1,200 ft of bulkhead waterfront dock space, a warehouse, office, training center and living quarters.
UAE-based AlMansoori Specialized Engineering (MSE) has acquired additional logging assets in Thailand. A new company, AlMansoori Logging Services (Thailand) Ltd has been formed, and is currently working with Thai national oil company PTT to provide perforating services for the onshore S1 field in the Pitt San Ulok region of central Thailand, and with Canadian exploration and production company Pan Orient Energy to deliver perforating and cased-hole logging services in the onshore Wichian Bury area 260 km north of Bangkok.
Tri Drill Inc. has opened a new facility, Tri Drill Inspection Services, in Conway, Ark. The company will offer a variety of services out of the new location, including drill pipe and bottom hole assembly inspections. The facility includes a warehouse and a 22,000-sq-ft covered outdoor work area, dock space, warehouse, office, training center and living quarters.
Aberdeen-based Dominion Gas, a supplier of industrial gases to the offshore industry, announced the acquisition of Global Gas Supplies. The £22-million deal increases Dominion’s international scope with offices in Baku, Singapore and West Africa, along with UK and Norway bases.
Landmark, a product service line of Halliburton’s Drilling and Evaluation Division, has acquired the intellectual property and substantially all of the assets and existing business of GeoSmith Consulting Group, LLC, of Minnetonka, Minn. GeoSmith is a developer of software components for 3D interpretation and geometric modeling applications, including robust topology engines capable of representing subsurface geology.
Newfield Exploration Co. signed an agreement to sell all of its interests in the UK North Sea to Centrica plc, the owner of British Gas, for $486.4 million. The sale includes an 85% interest in the Grove Field, 80% in the undeveloped Seven Seas discovery and an interest in about 200,000 net acres in the Southern Gas Basin.
Control Flow, Inc., has acquired all property rights of the RETSCO product line from Cameron International Corp. The product line includes motion compensators, tensioners and riser recoil designs and systems.
Pathfinder Energy Services has announced the opening of a new Egyptian headquarters and operational facility. The company specializes in providing measurement while drilling, logging while drilling, steerable mud motors, 3D rotary steerable systems and other services.
The Society of Exploration Geophysicists announced a new program called “Advancing Geophysics Today, Inspiring Geoscientists for Tomorrow,” dedicated to attracting more young people to geoscience careers. SEG hopes to raise $15 million to support geophysical summer field camps, travel grants for conferences and workshops and a global scholarship program.
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