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Vol. 226 No. 10 |
Compagnie Generale de Geophysique (CGG) has acquired 6.1 million shares of Exploration Resources ASA, or about 92% of issued shares. CGG has since announced its intent to make a compulsory acquisition of all remaining shares, as allowed by Norwegian law. Exploration Resources specializes in towed seismic data acquisition, multi-client seismic services and 4C/4D seabed operations.
Enventure Global Technology, developer of Solid Expandable Tubular (SET) technology, has established a UK operation. Based in Aberdeen, the wholly owned subsidiary, Enventure International, will serve the company’s North Sea and European customer base. Also, a developmental agreement between Enventure and Norwegian-based operator Hydro has made progress toward the first commercial installation of MonoDiameter technology in the North Sea. This promises to eliminate wellbore tapering, bringing many mature and marginal reservoirs within economic reach. Hydro will incorporate the technology in its Teckno 2005 program in the Norwegian North Sea.
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EnCana has reached an agreement to sell all of its shares in subsidiaries that have oil and pipeline interests in Ecuador to Andes Petroleum Co., a joint venture of Chinese petroleum companies, for about US$1.42 billion in cash. The sale will have an effective date of July 1, 2005 and is expected to close before year-end. It is subject to prior approval by the government of Ecuador, normal closing conditions and regulatory approvals. “This planned sale marks essentially the final step in sharpening the focus on our unparalleled portfolio of unconventional natural gas and oil resources in North America. It is also about concentrating our efforts and investment where we have clear competitive advantage,” said Gwyn Morgan, EnCana’s president and CEO. The net book value of EnCana’s investment in Ecuador is approximately $1.4 billion.
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The Louisiana State University School of the Coast and Environment has received funding from the NOAA Office of Ocean Exploration for a project entitled “Using Industrial, Deepwater, Remotely Operated Vehicles to Census Planktonic Organisms.” The project is a one-year study to demonstrate the benefits of Industrial-Academic collaboration to explore the ocean. The project is part of SERPENT (Scientific and Environmental ROV Partnership using Existing iNdustrial Technology), a collaboration between the oil industry and the scientific world. Since inception in 2002 by founding partners National Oceanography Center, Southampton, Subsea 7, BP, and Transocean, the working partnership has grown steadily to include a number of worldwide organizations and academic institutions, including LSU.
Technip is combining its existing North American offshore-upstream and onshore-downstream businesses into a new organization called Technip USA. The entity will cover the US, Mexico, Venezuela and the Caribbean region for offshore activity and North America for onshore activity. All the company’s activities within these regions and business lines, including engineering centers in Houston, Texas, and Claremont, California; a spoolbase in Mobile, Alabama; and a fabrication yard in Aransas Pass, Texas, will have a single management structure led by Larry Pope as chairman and Luc Messier as president and CEO. The new unit has a workforce of about 1,800 employees.
J. Ray McDermott, S.A., a subsidiary of McDermott International, and Keppel FELS Ltd. will form a new joint venture company, to be named FloaTEC, LLC, to provide deepwater and ultra-deepwater oil and gas development solutions. The two companies plan to draw on the purchased patent rights previously owned by ABB for the Extended Tension Leg Platform (ETLP) and Single Column Floater (SCF) designs. Combined with McDermott’s existing SPAR technology and Keppel FELS’ semi-submersible expertise, FloaTEC, LLC will provide a wide range of solutions for deepwater developments.
Schlumberger signed a joint marketing agreement with Sense Intellifield to provide customers with design and installation of real-time drilling operation centers. Schlumberger will provide operations management and technical services, including the analysis and interpretation of data, software, connectivity and data security. Sense Intellifield will provide complementary design, construction, commissioning, hardware and software, and system support services. In 2002, Statoil worked with Sense Intellifield to build its first drilling operation support center in Stjørdal for its Halten Nordland area. Based on that success, Statoil has established several collaboration and operation rooms.
Emerson Process Management was named the 2005 Process Control & Industrial Automation Company of the Year by Frost & Sullivan. For the second consecutive year, Emerson was recognized for leadership in the world market and for providing exceptional technologies and services that enable customers to improve overall efficiency. Frost & Sullivan presents the award each year to the company that has demonstrated excellence in all operations, including business development, competitive strategy and leadership.
Quantum Drilling Motors and Directional Services, an Oklahoma City-based oil and gas services provider, has acquired the shock absorber inventory and design drawings of the Security DBS Drill Bits product service line of Halliburton’s Energy Services Group. The acquisition adds to Quantum’s current fleet of straight-hole and directional drilling tools.
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