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Vol. 234 No. 8
Newpark Drilling Fluids, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Newpark Resources, has opened its new world headquarters and laboratory facility in Katy, Texas. Newpark Drilling Fluids President Bruce Smith joined the company’s executive staff in welcoming employees to their new home. The facility is on 11 acres along Houston’s Interstate 10 Energy Corridor, just off Mason Road. Newpark’s R&D laboratory, including a field services lab, occupies 37,000 sq ft of the building’s combined 106,000 sq ft.
Independent E&P company EPL Oil & Gas has relocated its corporate headquarters from New Orleans, La., to 919 Milam St., Suite 1600, in Houston. With a focus on shallow-water Gulf of Mexico shelf E&P, EPL recently doubled its operations, in part by augmenting its geoscience and engineering teams in Houston, while keeping its accounting and production teams in New Orleans. To support the company’s growth, a small number of employees relocated to Houston. EPL's revenue for first quarter 2013 was $182.3 million, compared to $98.8 million for the same period a year ago.
Specialty chemicals producer Clariant has opened a new R&D laboratory for catalysts for the chemical and oil and gas industries. Housed in the company’s largest manufacturing plant in Latin America, in Suzano, Brazil, the laboratory begins operations with a complete infrastructure, state-of-the-art equipment and well-qualified team of researchers dedicated to developing new generations of catalysts. Fully operational in June, the new R&D laboratory was established from the acquisition of relevant catalyst assets from Brazilian company Oxiteno in mid-2012, which included patents and research labs.
Cluff Natural Resources was awarded a further, conditional, underground, coal gasification license; an option for a lease; and a non-exclusive exploration license for an underground coal gasification (UCG) prospect in the Firth of Forth, near Kincardine, Scotland. The award, given by the UK Department of Energy and Climate Change’s Coal Authority, follows the award of two licenses in the Dee Estuary, on the border of Merseyside and North Wales, and Lougher Estuary, in Carmathenshire, Wales, in January 2013. The project consists of a 3,687-ha. license, in which Cluff has a 100% working interest.
Accelerated Companies, a subsidiary of White Deer Energy, has acquired DynaFlo Artificial Lift Systems and Five Star Equipment. DynaFlo and Five Star are Oklahoma-based providers of electric submersible pumps (ESP) and related services to the oil and gas industry. Founded in 2010, DynaFlo provides ESP products and services from its headquarters in Skiatook, Okla., and from four field locations in Oklahoma, Wyoming and Kansas. Five Star, which was founded in 2004, is based in Ramona, Okla. Five Star provides ESP products and services throughout the U.S. at the wholesale, retail and OEM levels.
Norwegian private equity fund Herkules has acquired Norwegian-headquartered oilfield technology specialist Petroleum Technology Company (PTC), which has an operating base in Aberdeen, Scotland. Herkules acquired a majority of the shares in PTC, and will partner to significantly grow the company, which specializes in gas lift and wellhead integrity for the global oil and gas industry. PTC is experiencing growth and, as part of the deal, almost $21 million will be injected as growth capital. Herkules is partnering with PTC’s current owners, several of whom are key members of the management team.
2H Offshore, an Acteon company, has been awarded a contract by Total for the delivery management of the TLP top tensioned riser (TTR) systems for its Moho Nord field development, offshore Congo. Located about 75 km from Pointe-Noire, and 25 km west of N'Kossa, in water depths ranging from 450 m to 1,200 m, the Moho Nord project will target additional reserves in the southern part of the license, and new reserves in the northern part. 2H will be responsible for the riser delivery management, which includes design finalization, procurement management and inspection services for 17 production and water injection top-tensioned risers, and one high-pressure drilling riser.
Alcoa Oil & Gas, an Alcoa business, announced that it has executed a seven-year supply agreement with ALTISS Technologies for Alcoa’s innovative AADP aluminum drill pipe. ALTISS will provide rental, inspection and maintenance services for AADP drill pipe in North America. ALTISS is a Houston-based company that provides products and services for the oil and gas industry. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed. This agreement significantly expands the availability of aluminum drill pipe within the growing North American market.
Plexus Holdings has been awarded its first contract with Eni’s Australian subsidiary for the supply of POS GRIP wellhead technology with mud-line casing support and services, initially for one exploration well offshore Australia. The contract is worth more than $400,000, with revenues commencing in September, and includes an option for the continuing use of Plexus wellhead and mud-line equipment. This is anticipated to lead to a further three wells, with an additional estimated value of $1.52 million.
Schlumberger has officially opened the Schlumberger Reservoir Laboratory in Chengdu, China. The 32,000-sq-ft facility is the newest addition to the Schlumberger global network of reservoir laboratories. The laboratory offers an integrated suite of petrophysical and geomechanical services, to help customers improve hydrocarbon recovery and maximize production. The laboratory in Chengdu is designed to provide a complete suite of services, from field core acquisition to laboratory measurements. Laboratory personnel and petrotechnical experts work in close collaboration with domain experts, from initial data gathering through sample selection, rock testing, model calibration and further interpretation.
Louisiana Gulf Coast Oil Exposition (LAGCOE) will hold its inaugural LAGCOE Career Fair on Oct. 24, from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., at the Cajundome & Convention Center, during the 2013 LAGCOE show. The group said that the creation of the LAGCOE Career Fair aligns with its mission of “fostering public education of the function and services of the oil industry” and “promotion of the oil industry as a whole.” The event will be free to the public.
Vallourec inaugurated a new Research Center in Rio de Janeiro. Due to be operational by October 2013, the new center will focus on all pre-salt activities for the group, with the support of Vallourec’s Research Center in Belo Horizonte, which was recently expanded as well, and other Vallourec research centers throughout the world. Vallourec has a worldwide network of more than 500 R&D engineers and technicians, and spent $119 million in 2012 on R&D.
Moncla Offshore Operations has transported its first platform workover rig, Moncla 301, to Cook Inlet in Alaska. The Moncla 301 was contracted by Hilcorp Alaska, a subsidiary of Hilcorp Energy Company, which is a privately-held E&P company based in Houston. The rig is one of two workover rigs being built by Louisiana manufacturer, Superior Derrick Services, at its facility in Parks, La., to be used in the Cook Inlet project. The rigs were specially designed to sustain the harsh weather conditions of Alaska’s winter.
GE Oil & Gas will establish its new global headquarters in London. Florence will remain the global headquarters for GE Oil & Gas Turbomachinery Products & Services, a more-than-$6-billion business and a key manufacturing and engineering site for the production of centrifugal compressors and gas turbines. The new global headquarters will support the business and 43,000 employees working in more than 100 countries. The new headquarters will be operational in London, starting in January 2014.
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