Companies in the news

Devon Energy and Santa Fe Snyder agreed to merge, forming a top-five, U.S.-based independent oil and gas company.

Helix Well Technologies Ltd. opened a new base in Perth, Western Australia.

Anderson Exploration completed its offer to purchase Ulster Petroleums Ltd.

Veritas DGC, Inc., opened its new state-of-the-art Visualization Center in its downtown Calgary headquarters. It offers E&P companies an integrated method of viewing, processing and interpreting seismic data information.

Ramco Energy plc with partners Island Petroleum Developments Ltd. and Sunningdale Oils Ireland Ltd. were granted exploration rights for all of Block 13/7 on Ireland’s northern coast. Work program includes interpretation of all available seismic, magnetic and gravity data, acquisition of new seismic data, and evaluation of a well previously drilled by Texaco in the 1970s.

Bargo Energy Co. acquired producing properties in the Permian basin and Mid-continent from Texaco.

The Institute of Gas Technology formed a new business unit, Environmental Management & Technology Solutions (EMTS), to assist efficient, regulator-approved and cost-effective environmental approaches and technologies to remediate contaminated soil, sediment and groundwater.

Dresser Industries, Inc., completed its purchase of the remaining 50% shares of Nigata Masoneilan Co., Ltd., (NIMCO) from Nigata Engineering Co., Ltd., (NEC). NIMCO has been a joint venture company of Dresser and NEC since 1974.

ALSTOM Schilling Robotics opened its new office in Aberdeen, Scotland, to serve North Sea customers.

CAT Pumps acquired RAM Pumps Ltd. in the UK.

Interprovincial Satellite Services Ltd. changed its name to Wireless MatrixCorp.

McMoran and Halliburton formed an alliance to explore the 160 blocks McMoran recently acquired from Texaco and Shell in the Gulf of Mexico.

Maritime Tentech and Maritime Hydraulics, with their subsidiaries, have been combined into one unit. A merger between the companies is not planned at this time.

ExxonMobil Middle East Gas Marketing Ltd. and Qatar General Petroleum Corp. signed a development and production agreement for the Enhanced Gas Utilization project. Additional gas from Qatar’s North field will be developed for pipeline sales to Qatar’s projects. Meanwhile, ExxonMobil also signed with Italy’s Eni subsidiary Agip Petroleum to explore ExxonMobil’s deepwater blocks on the Outer Continental Shelf, offshore Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi, in the Gulf of Mexico.

Weatherford completed the spin-off of its subsidiary Grant Prideco, Inc. Meanwhile, Weatherford agreed to acquire Alpine Oil Services Corp. and has acquired the sand screen product lines of Oiltools International, including patents and associated trademarks.

Kerr-McGee acquired four deepwater licenses covering about 1.5 million acres, 125 mi south of Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, from Canadian 88 Energy.

Friede Goldman Offshore Division signed an MOU with Brazilian shipyard Estaleiro Ilha S.A. of Rio de Janeiro to pursue offshore energy projects globally, with Friede Goldman Offshore as the main contractor and EISA providing fabrication services.

Interaction Resources Ltd. agreed to acquire Highland Energy Inc.’s issued and outstanding shares.

The Exploration Company closed its acquisition of 95,000 acres on the Farias Ranch in Maverick County, Texas.

EuroGas, Inc., agreed to acquire Tetom Petroleum.

Vanco Netherlands B.V. opened an office in Delft, the Netherlands. While the firm has a 25-year record of accomplishment in the Dutch North Sea, this is the first time Vanco becomes an operator.

Pride International concluded its acquisition of Servicios Especiales San Antonio S.A. from Perez Companc.

Torch, Inc., and Sonsub agreed to work together on identified projects involving offshore installation. Torch will bring its fleet of vessels and Sonsub will contribute engineering, diverless tooling and remotely operated vehicles.

ABB joined an alliance of companies led by Boots & Coots/International Well Control to provide emergency services.

Talisman Energy agreed to acquire Texaco’s 100% interest in the North Sea’s Tartan field (Blocks 14/20A and 15/16A) and related Highlander and Petronella subsea satellite fields (Block 14/20CF 1) as well as interests in adjacent exploration acreage.

Alberta Energy Co. (AEC) agreed to acquire the common shares of McMurry Oil Co., which owns a major interest in one of the largest natural gas fields in the U.S. Rocky Mountains. AEC has also offered to purchase an additional 6% working interest from other owners. Meanwhile, the firm also was successful in acquiring 200,000 acres of exploration lands surrounded by existing infrastructure to minimize future development and operating costs in the Suffield Military Range in the southeast corner of Alberta.

3TEC Energy Corp. agreed to acquire properties located in Glennwood and White Oak fields in Gregg and Upshur Counties, Texas.

Mitchell Energy plans to continue operating as an independent oil and gas company. Its 2001 capital-expenditure budget was set at $221.5 million, a 50% increase from last year’s expenditures of $147.8 million. Of the total budget, $183.1 million is allocated to E&P.

Schlumberger Oilfield Services acquired Houston-based Operational Services Inc.

Fox Energy Corp. finalized the closing of a 20% interest in the Long Coulee Unit No. 2 in southeast Alberta. The properties include a number of producing wells, oil and gas processing facilities and water injection wells.

Chevron plans to invest $45 million in China’s offshore E&D in 2000, mostly on existing projects.

Mariner Energy, Inc., sold its 30% working interest in the Devils Tower discovery in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico to Dominion Exploration & Production, Inc.

Shell and Halliburton formed a 50-50 joint venture to develop and market Halliburton’s Smart/Well technology and Shell’s iWell on a global basis.