Companies in the news

Nuevo Energy agreed with Coho Anaguid, Inc., Anadarko Tunisia Anaguid Co. and Pioneer Natural Resources Anaguid to acquire a portion of Coho’s interest in the 1.1 million-acre Anaguid Permit in southern Tunisia’s Ghadames basin. The tract is on trend with Anadarko’s prolific Hassi Berkine field.

The Interstate Oil and Gas Compact Commission (IOGCC) recognized five outstanding projects with its 2001 Chairman Stewardship Awards. Receiving the awards during IOGCC’s Midyear meeting in Anchorage, Alaska, were Phillips Alaska Inc., Evergreen Resources Inc., Southwest Indiana Brine Coalition, National Energy Foundation and Oklahoma Energy Resources Board.

BP Egypt reached an agreement to purchase TotalFinaElf’s 50% interest in the West Mediterranean Deep Water Area Concession in the offshore Nile Delta area. BP will remain operator.

Mitchell Energy & Development Corp. added 580 Bcfe to its oil and gas reserves. The largest single increase (210 Bcfe) resulted from the successful step-out drilling in the Barnett Shale.

The Sawan Joint Venture, comprising Austria’s OMV, Italy’s Agip, Czech Republic’s MND, Pakistan Petroleum Ltd. and Sui Northern Pipeline Ltd. (SNGPL) signed an agreement to supply an additional 170 MMcfgd to SNGPL by October 2003.

BP acquired Malaysia’s Genting Berhad subsidiary Cairns Ltd. for a lump sum of $107 million and a deferred share of future profits from Indonesia’s Tangguh field.

Hoerbiger Corp. of America, Inc., opened a service center in Liberal, Kansas, to provide sales and repair services to reciprocating compressor users.

Novistar, Inc., and Conoco Inc. signed a letter of intent to form a strategic long-term alliance to provide software, hosted operating systems, and outsourced accounting, information technology and administrative services to companies purchasing crude oil directly from producers.

Quicksilver Resources formed a second coalbed methane joint venture with Gulf Canada to explore and develop coalbed methane reserves on selected Gulf Canada Resources’ leasehold acreage in Alberta, Canada. To date, 21 wildcats are being tested and evaluated. The JV capital program was increased to more than C$30 million from C$15 million.

For the first time, one company received the first place safety award in each of three categories awarded by the North Sea Chapter of the International Association of Drilling Contractors. Noble Drilling (UK) Ltd. earned first place in semisubmersible operations, jackup operations and platform operations. The company also received two Special Achievements awards. The Noble Ronald Hoope, a Marine Structure design jackup, was recognized for being the first North Sea mobile rig to attain five years of operations without a lost time incident (LTI) and the Phillips Maureen Platform, operated by Noble, was recognized for seven years of LTI-free operations.

Santa Fe International completed the sale of its jackup rig, Key Victoria, to Nabors Drilling International Ltd. for $27.5 million in an all cash transaction.

TotalFinaElf, with partners Repsol YPF and Venezuelan companies, Inelectra and Otepi were awarded Venezuela’s Yucal Placer Norte and Yucal Placer Sur Blocks.

Gaffney, Cline & Associates relocated its North American headquarters to Post Oak Blvd., Houston, Texas. The new office is a key platform for further growth and expansion of the firm’s services.

Oceaneering International, Inc., entered into a 50/50 joint venture with Det Norske Veritas to provide a new inspection service capability to the offshore oil and gas, shipping and other vessel-related markets, utilizing a unique combination of ROVs and advanced plate-thickness measurement technologies to ensure the integrity of vessels and structures operating offshore and in other marine environments.

Loon Energy Inc. shareholders approved the sale of its interests in a producing gas well and adjacent lands at Strachan, Alberta, Canada.

Petro-Canada agreed to purchase Lundin AB’s 25% interest in Libya’s En Naga block in the Sirte basin for $75 million. The other 75% is held by Libya’s National Oil Company. The sale is contingent on NOC’s approval of Petro-Canada as owner and operator of the block.

Paradigm Geophysical Ltd. acquired the GeoScene product suite and related customer services from Oilfield Systems, Ltd., of Southampton, UK.

Anvil International, Inc., purchased all of the assets of Pottstown, Pennsylvania-based Merit Manufacturing Corp. Merit manufactures welded outlets and drop nipples for the fire protection industry.

Sigma Coatings formed a partnership with Wilson to provide high performance coatings in the Gulf Coast offshore drilling and production marketplace.

Denbury Resources Inc. acquired nearly 100% of the working interest in the West Mallalieu and Olive fields in southwestern Mississippi. Meanwhile, Denbury acquired about 14,000 leasehold acres in the Barnett Shale gas play in Fort Worth basin, near Fort Worth, Texas.

Bridgeville, Pennsylvania-based Union Drilling entered the Canadian market by acquiring all assets of Resource Naturelle Ralex, Inc., an oil and gas drilling operator in the Canadian Maritime provinces. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

R&M Energy Systems expands its tubing wear prevention solutions by acquiring Calgary, Canada-based Alberta Basic Industries, Ltd.

Bouygues Offshore sold its 80%-owned French subsidiary Exprimm to Bouygues Batiment in an EUR 3.4 million transaction.

Regent Energy Corp. inked a letter of intent on June 12, 2001 to acquire interest in a shallow-water field in Louisiana’s Gulf of Mexico for $25 million. The field’s current production is 215 bopd and 5.7 Bcf.

Torch Operating Co. changed its name to Torch Energy Services, Inc. The firm specializes in all aspects of upstream production services, including analyzing properties, increasing efficiencies and decreasing operating costs.

INTEC Engineering and Petrofac UK Ltd. established a UK-based joint venture to pursue and execute deepwater and other challenging offshore oil and gas development projects.