Vol. 234 No. 1
The Greater Lafourche Port Commission announced that the latest phase of Slip C dredging at Port Fourchon is complete, carving out a new expanse of waterfront property, where there once was just open water. The Slip C Additional Hydraulic Dredging Project, which followed the initial Slip C dredging project in early 2012, creates a new slip in the Northern Expansion area of Port Fourchon. The new Slip C is a 400-acre development that will provide 16,300 linear ft of new waterfront space in the port. Once the adjacent property is filled and developed, companies will be able to lease up to 280 acres of waterfront property along the new slip. A fully developed Slip C is estimated to take five to eight years to construct, but over half of the Slip C waterfront property is already promised to companies who have signed leases or rights of first refusal.
InterMoor, an Acteon company, has opened its new mooring equipment yard at Loyang offshore supply base in Singapore. The new facility provides mooring equipment storage and a support location for maintenance, preparation and mobilization.
Petrotechnics announced a partnership with the University of Trinidad and Tobago (UTT) to create sustainable safety training solutions for offshore workers in the region. The duo will select and train local Trinidad citizens in general operational safety protocol,s as well as its own operational safety courses. This will form the basis for a self-sufficient, sustainable and cost-effective delivery model for oil and gas organizations in the local area.
Expro is opening a new facility in Aberdeen to enhance its growing well intervention business, following a strong annual global revenue increase to more than $1 billion. The site, on Howe Moss Avenue, Dyce, will house Expro’s wireline, well intervention, well services, well integrity (Safewells) and cased hole logging services to help provide integrated and multi-skilled teams. Expro also announced the award of its first major subsea completion landing string contract in India. The multi-million-dollar deepwater completion landing string contract is for a three-year term, with options to extend for another two years.
The new High-Performance Computing (HPC) center, scheduled to open mid-2013 at BP’s Westlake campus in Houston, will serve as a worldwide hub for processing and managing geological and seismic data from across the company’s portfolio. It will enable scientists to produce clear images of rock structures deep underground. BP's investment in the facility, research scientists and technology for this high-performance computing facility is $100 million. The center will play a key role in identifying potential exploration targets from the Gulf of Mexico to Azerbaijan. With added computing power, the center will also help teams work more efficiently and accurately than ever before, reducing both drilling risk, and the costs and timetables of future exploration programs.
Tullow Oil has entered into an agreement to acquire Spring Energy Norway, a Norwegian exploration company, for a purchase price of $372.3 million. Spring holds 28 offshore licenses across Norway’s continental shelf in the North, Norwegian and Barents Seas, covering just over 18,000 sq km. The company has made six commercial discoveries out of 12 wells drilled since 2008.
VAM USA, a joint venture between Vallourec, France, Sumitomo Corporation, and NSSMC, Japan, is expanding its Connection Technology Center to 90,000 sq ft in response to customer requests for new, innovative products, and the qualification of existing product lines to new standards or well conditions. At this facility, VAM connections for shale applications, or projects for the Gulf of Mexico, undergo the harsh full-scale tests: make and break, simulation of combined loads (tension or compression), bending, high temperatures, and fatigue life. Building construction was completed in July 2012, and all equipment was due to be fully operational by the end of 2012. At this point, VAM USA will have doubled its R&D capacity from previous levels.
Aker Solutions has signed a frame agreement with Shell for the delivery of subsea umbilicals and cables globally. Aker estimates that the frame agreement could generate revenues between $200 million and $400 million. The Enterprise Framework Agreement (EFA) with Shell is signed for a five-year duration, with an option for an additional five years. Aker Solutions will deliver dynamic and static steel tube umbilicals for both shallow and deepwater applications. The EFA has a global scope. Shell's subsea projects are primarily focused on the Norwegian Continental Shelf, and in the UK, Gulf of Mexico, West Africa and Brazil.
Forum Energy Technologies has acquired Merrimac Manufacturing. Merrimac, located in Plantersville, Texas, manufactures premium consumable parts for drilling, well servicing and pressure pumping applications, including mud pump parts, power swivel parts and valves and seats for hydraulic fracturing pumps. Merrimac also provides mud pump repair.
Caterpillar Inc. and Ariel Corporation have formed a 50-50 JV that will provide well service pressure pumping products for customers in the global oil and gas industry. The combined venture, Black Horse, also announced the acquisition of pump manufacturer ProSource of Houston, Texas. Caterpillar manufactures diesel and natural gas engines for the generation, control and supply of mechanical and electric power for the marine and petroleum industries. Ariel Corporation is a designer and manufacturer of gas compressors. More than 40,000 Ariel compressors are in use throughout the global energy industry to extract, process, transport, store and distribute natural gas from the wellhead to the end user.
Parker Drilling has commenced drilling operations with Rig 273, the first of two Arctic Alaska Drilling Unit (AADU) rigs that the company has developed to safely and efficiently perform in environmentally sensitive, harsh arctic environments. Rig 273 initiated operations in early December under terms of the company's five-year contract
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