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Vol. 227 No. 4 |
Tenaris S.A. has acquired, through its Argentine welded-pipe subsidiary Siat S.A., the welded pipe assets and facilities of Acindar Industria Argentina de Aceros S.A., in Villa Constitución, Santa Fe, for US$28 million. The facilities have an annual capacity of 80,000 tons of welded pipes, whose small-diameter range largely complements the variety of welded pipes that Tenaris currently produces in Argentina.
European private equity company 3i said that it is selling its stake in Epcon Offshore AS, a major provider of produced-water treatment systems for the oil and gas industry, to M-I Swaco. 3i first invested in Epcon in November 2004. Since then, the company has expanded into Canada and the Middle East.
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Oilfield services provider AlMansoori Specialized Engineering (MSE) will expand into the Egyptian market with the acquisition of Alpine Oil Services Egypt (AOSE).  AOSE was established in 1996 by Alpine Oil Services Corp. in Canada. The acquisition will enhance MSE’s delivery of production testing, drillstem testing and memory gauge equipment through its wholly-owned subsidiary, AlMansoori Production Services (MPS). Also, MSE has opened its new Gulf Technical & Safety Training Center in New Maadi, Egypt. The $500,000 center occupies three floors and includes 15 classrooms, fire training facilities, offices and the high-tech simulation equipment to cover all aspects of training within the oil and gas industry. It is the largest of its kind in Egypt, and there are plans to expand it in the future.
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Arcapita Ltd, the European private equity arm of Bahrain investment firm Arcapita Bank B.S.C., has acquired 100% interest in Roxar AS. Total transaction value is about US$200 million and represents Arcapita’s largest corporate investment in Europe, to date. With its head offices in Stavanger, Norway, Roxar supplies products and services that enable operators to develop fields more cost efficiently, maximize reservoir performance and improve recovery rates. Roxar’s senior management team, headed by CEO Sandy Esslemont, will retain a 1.2% share in the company.
Fifty women, representing at least 28 nations/ nationalities, were announced as winners of the fourth annual Key Women in Energy Global awards. The program identifies, recognizes and honors women who made recent, significant individual contributions or achievements to the energy sector, or to businesses that support energy. Awards cross the entire energy sector. Outstanding activities during 2003 – 2005 were recognized in one of seven categories: Pathfinders/ Trailblazers, Visionary, Leadership, Teamwork, Wisdom, Innovation/ Creativity and Potential (industry new-hires since January 2001). One honoree in each category will be designated as the overall category winner.
ReedHycalog said it will construct a new, purpose-built headquarters and technology center near Conroe, Texas. This center will consolidate three other Houston area facilities into one location to enhance operational efficiencies. The facility will be in the Conroe Park North, with construction estimated to take 18 to 24 months.
Baker Hughes Inc. has acquired Nova Technology Corp. of Broussard, Louisiana, for about $70 million in cash and assumed debt. Nova supplies permanent monitoring, chemical injection systems, and multi-line services for deepwater and subsea well applications. The company has contracts in the Gulf of Mexico, West Africa, Sakhalin Island and Brazil.
Rock Solid Images has opened an office in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, to serve the its customer base in the Asia Pacific region. The company will provide a full range of consulting services for reservoir characterization, delivering well-based rock physics and seismic models, seismic data pre-conditioning, inversion for lithology and fluid prediction, and seismic facies modeling.
Aberdeen-based Balmoral Group has established a new division, Balmoral Offshore Engineering. Balmoral Hitec Buoyancy provided subsea products for more than 20 years before withdrawing from the market in 2003, following a joint venture agreement with CRP Group. However the acquisition of CRP by Trelleborg brought the JV arrangement to an end and motivated the company to move to meet the new demand. Balmoral Offshore Engineering is putting in place the means to design, manufacture and test a wide range of products, including rigid and dynamic riser buoyancy, surface and midwater buoyancy, ROV/ AUV and umbilical flotation, as well as a range of elastomer products.
Devon Energy Corp. signed a production-sharing contract with China National Offshore Oil Corp. (CNOOC) covering block 11/34 offshore eastern China. Subject to governmental approvals, Devon will operate the block with a 100% working interest. CNOOC has the option to participate with a 51% working interest in the event of a commercial discovery. Within the exploration period, Devon must conduct a seismic survey and drill exploratory wells. Block 11/34 covers about 4,200 sq mi in the Southern Yellow Sea basin, offshore China, about 250 mi northeast of Shanghai.
Kerr-McGee Corp.’s Ticonderoga field in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico achieved first production nearly two months ahead of schedule. Located on Green Canyon block 768 in 5,250 ft of water, the field consists of two subsea wells tied back to Kerr-McGee’s Constitution spar on Block 680. Kerr-McGee operates Ticonderoga with a 50% working interest. Noble Energy, Inc., owns the remaining 50%.
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