Companies in the news

Production is now underway from Shell’s Cardamom development, the second major deepwater facility that the company has brought online in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico this year, following the start-up of Mars B in February.  Oil from the Cardamom subsea development is piped through Shell’s Auger platform. When Cardamom reaches full output of 50,000 boed, Auger’s total production capacity will increase to 130,000 boed. Since its first production in 1994, Auger has received several upgrades to process additional production from new discoveries. Cardamom is Auger’s seventh subsea development. Cardamom field is 225 mi southwest of New Orleans, La., in water more than 2,700 ft deep.

Gastar Exploration’s board has approved a 2015 capital budget of $257.3 million. This includes $222.7 million for drilling, completion and infrastructure, $28.0 million for land and seismic, and $6.6 million for other capitalized costs. During 2015, Gastar expects to drill 44 gross wells in the Hunton Limestone play, six in the Marcellus shale, two in the Utica shale, and two in the Mid-Continent Stack play. The budget is based on projections that future lower Hunton Limestone wells will be completed at an average cost of $5.5 million and a 4,200-ft lateral; Marcellus shale wells will average $7.8 million and a 5,000-ft lateral, and Utica shale wells will average $16.0 million and a 6,700-ft lateral.

Vancouver, B.C.-based Dejour Energy Inc. has finalized its 2014 development plan for the Woodrush project in northeastern B.C. It will target both the Halfway oil and Gething gas pools. Upon approval of drilling permits, two wells will be drilled, completed and placed on-line by year-end 2014, to enhance field output. Woodrush has been producing 475 boed from three oil wells and six gas wells. The $2-million capex for this project will be funded with cash on hand.

ONGC’s wholly owned subsidiary, ONGC Videsh, has entered into a memorandum of understanding and cooperation (MOU) with Pemex-Exploration Y Production (PEP), the upstream subsidiary of Mexican state firm Pemex, to cooperate on oil and gas development in Mexico. Under the agreement, the two companies plan to discuss future cooperation and collaboration in Mexico’s upstream sector. The MOU also envisages cooperation in the fields of technology, human resources, and R&D, said ONGC.

Pemex Director General Emilio Lozoya Austin and José Calzada Rovirosa, governor of Mexico’s Querétaro state, laid the cornerstone of what will be the Training Center of Pemex’s Corporate University. The facility will be in Querétaro city, the state capital, and it will be built at a cost of $188.6 million. The center will have the best technological resources, said Lozoya Austin, including simulators, multimedia classrooms, laboratories and expert systems that accelerate the learning of complex situations required by the oil and gas industry.

Northcote has completed infrastructure improvements at the Zink Ranch project in Oklahoma and has put recompleted well #13 online. The company recompleted four wells in May 2014, and two of these, 8-A and #13, are now in production. Two further wells, #14 and #15, will be brought online in the near future. Northcote’s program includes recompleting 14 existing wellbores into previously untapped pay zones and drilling four new vertical wells. Additionally, the company has begun working over a well at its Shoats Creek project in Louisiana.

Electromagnetic Geoservices ASA (EMGS) received a $5.5-million contract from Petrobras for 3D EM data acquisition in Brazil. The survey will be done using the vessel EM Leader, which has been in St. Thomas. EMGS also won a $1.0-million contract 3D EM data acquisition in the Norwegian Sea for Statoil. The vessel Atlantic Guardian will conduct that project.

J2 Subsea, an Acteon company, has opened a new facility in New Iberia, La. This facility, which includes a new hydraulic workshop, will provide tools and equipment for ROV and diving companies in North America. The facility will receive support from the company’s headquarters in Aberdeen, Scotland, and is the first stage of a global expansion plan.

ClearSign Combustion Corporation has entered into a field test agreement with Aera Energy LLC, to demonstrate and test its proprietary Duplex tile combustion technology in oil fields within Kern County, Calif. ClearSign will retrofit an existing steam generator unit with this technology, to test the capability to achieve ultra-low emissions (5 ppm) of nitrogen oxides, or NOx. This technology will be paired with an existing forced draft burner and will operate at a heat release of 30 MMBtu/hr to 60 MMBtu/hr. The project was set to begin before the end of the third quarter.

Pulse Structural Monitoring, an Acteon company, has been awarded a two-year contract with Total E&P Norge to provide a real-time integrity monitoring system, to measure platform displacement during drilling. The contract, which includes a two-year extension option, will support Total’s development drilling at Martin Linge field in the Norwegian North Sea. Drilling will be conducted from the ultra-harsh-environment jackup rig, Maersk Intrepid. Pulse also has opened a new facility in Katy, Texas, that will provide modern office, production and testing facilities. The 740-m² facility
will support engineering, project management and testing operations in the U.S. and Canada.

LQT Industries delivered three Motor Control Centers (MCCs), to operate multiple, unmanned, natural gas production platforms that supply gas to Venezuela’s power plants. The MCC buildings feature integrated switchgear, motor controls, owner-provided controls and instrumentation, and seven-day battery back-up systems. All MCC buildings have been shipped to a topside facility contractor in Tampico, Mexico, where they will be integrated with three separate offshore platforms before being installed in the Gulf of Venezuela.

Fairmount Minerals has adopted a new name, Fairmount Santrol. The name change “reflects the combined strength and pioneering history of the company’s prominent Fairmount Minerals and Santrol brand names.”

Select Energy Services, LLC, has launched Affirm Oilfield Services, which will provide services related to drilling, such as wellsite and pipeline construction, logistics and crane services. While Affirm’s various services were previously available under the Select brand, the new entity was formed to enable its management to grow the business as a stand-alone company.

James Russell Engineering Works, Inc., (JRE), has been acquired by Worthington Industries, Inc. JRE manufactures aluminum and stainless steel cryogenic transport trailers, used for hauling liquid oxygen, nitrogen, argon, hydrogen and LNG, for producers and distributors of industrial gases and LNG.

Banking and consulting firm FMI Corporation has opened an office in Houston, representing the company’s fifth office in the U.S. Managing Director Will Hill will be joined by investment banker Scott Duncan and management consultant Michael Clancy at the firm’s north Houston office.