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Vol. 228 No. 6 |
Cameron will supply subsea systems to Petrobras for its Gas Production Anticipation Plan (Plangas) efforts offshore Brazil. Petrobras’ investments in the Plangas program are designed to significantly increase domestic natural gas production in southeastern Brazil. Cameron will provide 22 subsea Christmas trees, control systems and related equipment for a cost of $127 million. Initial delivery and installation will begin the second quarter of 2008, with additional deliveries of subsea trees and equipment to continue through 2009.
TGS-NOPEC Geophysical Co. L.P. and Parallel Data Systems, Inc., (PDS) have entered into a definitive agreement, whereby TGS will acquire all shares of PDS. Founded in 1997, PDS is a high-tech seismic imaging specialist with offices in Houston and Dallas. It has developed a number of software applications designed to accurately and efficiently process seismic data in the time and depth domains.
SBM Offshore has announced the integration of two of its Houston Group companies, Atlantia Offshore Ltd (Atlantia) and SBM-Imodco Inc. The new company will be called SBM Atlantia and continue to be based in Houston. The two companies have worked together on major floating production facility projects since early 2005. Bernard van Leggelo, president of SBM-Imodco, was appointed president of SBM Atlantia.
The 1st Annual ICoTA Intervention Technology Award was presented to TecWel for its WLD (Well Leak Detector), an ultrasonic leak-detection tool. The award recognizes the best, most innovative, value-adding applications of well intervention technology. The WLD is a real-time detection tool that detects and locates ultrasonic energy generated by leaks in the casing or tubing of a well with a depth accuracy of a few inches without the need to pull the tubing.
Invensys Process Systems has broken ground on a new 15,500-sq-ft regional headquarters facility in southeast Calgary, Canada. It will be twice as large as the company’s present Calgary facility, and will have three times the staging area to accommodate staging, testing and verification of automation systems. The new facility, scheduled for in fall 2007, will also include a customer center, complete with meeting spaces, a training facility and a fully equipped demonstration area.
Fifth Ring Integrated Corporate Communications has opened a new office in Inverness to support companies based in the Highlands and Islands of Scotland. The company, which also has an established office in Dubai, UAE, will open a fourth office in Houston, Texas, later in 2007.
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Prysmian Cables & Systems, which manufacturers subsea umbilicals for offshore oil platforms, has opened a new manufacturing site at Vila Velha, on the Vittoria channel in Brazil’s Espirito Santo state. The plant can provide umbilicals to any part of the world, especially North America, the Gulf of Mexico and the West African coast. It occupies more than 20,000 sq m, and employs 110 people. Production capacity will be 200–400 km of umbilicals per year. The facility is capable of producing either reels up to 300 tons and 9 m in diameter, or a rotating platform capable of loading up to 8,000 tons directly to an installation vessel.
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For its 30th anniversary, NOIA (Newfoundland Ocean Industries Association) chose from among 40 nominations to honor four “Community Champions” for their outstanding charitable and volunteer contributions in Newfoundland and Labrador. Winners represented each of the corporate categories defined in NOIA’s membership structure (large, medium and small), as well as one petroleum company (an operator or oil and gas license-holder). North Atlantic Refining Ltd., operater of Newfoundland and Labrador’s only oil refinery, was honored for its donations of an average $250,000 a year to Newfoundland charities and its $65,000 annual scholarship program for the province’s youth. In the medium-sized company category, Spectrol Energy Services Inc. was cited for its charitable Christmas donations for needy families, and also for organizing and hosting a fundraising event for Special Olympics. Among small comapnies, BREN/KIR Industrial Supplies Ltd was recognized for its contributions to The Burin Peninsula Health Care Foundation (BPHCF). Finally, ExxonMobil Canada was honored for its support of youth programs, including Junior Achievement.
Allegiance Capital Corp. has sold CDI Energy Services of Tyler, Texas, to John Crane, a division of the Smiths Group in the UK. CDI provides pumping equipment for artificial lift applications. The transaction was valued at about $37 million.
Wood Mackenzie has acquired Hill & Associates, an Annapolis, Maryland-based provider of analysis and advisory services on coal and electricity markets. This acquisition is the first made by Wood Mackenzie since its refinancing in July 2005.
 Oilfield service company Expro announced a new brand identity and a unfied mission—well flow management. Following the acquisition of PowerWell Services in 2006, the company has an operational structure to deliver its services and products under a single brand.
Sasol Technology and Avantium Technologies announced a strategic research collaboration to convert coal and natural gas to liquid fuels. Scientists from both companies will work to develop new catalyst technologies to optimize Sasol’s production of fuels from coal and natural gas. Avantium specializes in experimental methodologies that enable scientists to conduct parallel experiments on a very small scale and at high speed, and compare a myriad of experimental conditions.
AGR Group, the Norway-based oil technology and services group, has acquired F.J. Brown & Associates, Inc., a Houston-based drilling engineering and well management firm. The deal involved a cash transaction of US$20 million (NOK 120 million). F. J. Brown provides drilling and completion engineering and project management services to offshore oil and gas operators in the Gulf of Mexico and internationally.
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