Companies in the news
JULY
The Department of the Interior’s Minerals Management Service (MMS) has recognized several offshore operators for achievements in offshore safety, environmental protection and pollution prevention. The Safety Award For Excellence (SAFE) was presented at the 2009 Offshore Technology Conference. The award recognizes four categories of outstanding safety and pollution prevention—drilling contractor, production contractor, high-activity operator and moderate-activity operator—based on inspection and incident data from MMS district and regional offices. The 2009 SAFE Award winners are: drilling contractor—Noble Drilling Corp.; production contractor—Danos & Curole Marine Contractors, Inc.; high-activity operator—Devon Energy Production Co.; and moderate-activity operator—Noble Energy, Inc.
Wellbore Energy Solutions, Inc., has acquired Jackal Services, LLC. Wellbore is a provider of proprietary downhole cleanout tools in the Gulf of Mexico region. At the time of the acquisition, Jackal Services changed its name to Environmental Drilling Solutions, LLC (EDS) to reflect the company’s zero-discharge rig containment systems. As part of the acquisition, Wellbore partnered with existing investor NGP Energy Technology Partners.
Wood Group Production Facilities and SPT Inc. have signed an agreement to market combined services to the floating LNG industry, including floating LNG liquefaction and regasification, and Compressed Natural Gas (CNG). The agreement formalizes a cooperation between the two companies, and capitalizes on the experience of each. Wood Group operates offshore floating production facilities worldwide and currently provides operations and maintenance personnel services for LNG facilities in West Africa and South America. SPT operates high-pressure gas terminals and is currently supporting the development and commissioning of an LNG terminal in Kuwait. Together, the companies provide services for the world’s first offshore buoy-based LNG importation terminal, located offshore Louisiana.
Freudenberg has united its sealing activities into a new sales and service company, named OACIS. It will focus on the entire value stream, from the drill bit to the pump, including development and production, transportation and storage, and refining. OACIS brings together the products and services of several companies that provide sealing solutions to the oil and gas industry: Vestpak, based in Sandnes, Norway; TBS, based in Aberdeen, Scotland; Imperial Rubber, based in Nisku, Alberta, Canada; Petroleum Elastomers and Tetralene, based in Houston; and Simrit Oil & Gas, based in Plymouth, Michigan.
Aker Solutions has opened an expanded service and maintenance base at Aagotnes, outside Bergen, Norway. A new workshop for subsea equipment maintenance and a new office block has been set up on the existing base, adding 2,400 sq m of building space. The base provides life-of-field support for subsea equipment; onshore maintenance, refurbishment and upgrades of subsea trees, control systems and intervention work-over systems; and maintenance, repairs and recertification of tools. The base employs about 400 people.
MAPS Technology Ltd. received the Arthur Lubinski Award from the American Society of Mechanical Engineers at the 2009 OTC. Each year, ASME honors the best petroleum mechanical engineering paper presented at the conference. The award recognized the advances in flexible riser integrity management offered by the MAPS-FR technology, as described in the paper “Non invasive magnetic inspection of flexible risers” by John McCarthy and David Buttle.
Directional drilling service company Multi-Shot LLC has expanded their operations and renamed their primary businesses, to distinguish between the directional drilling and surveying services, and the downhole drilling motor product offering. Both businesses will be headquartered in Conroe, Texas. The company’s directional services business will be called MS Energy Services. It will consist of the following divisions: MS Directional, providing directional drilling services; MS Guidance, providing complete Measurement While Drilling (MWD), surface monitoring and steering tool equipment and services; MS Survey for directional drilling measurement, orientation and control; and MS Wireline, operating a fleet of wireline units. Multi-Shot’s drilling motor product line will be offered under a new, standalone division called Mpact Downhole Motors.
Weatherford International Ltd. has agreed to acquire TNK-BP’s Oil Field Services (OFS) enterprises in exchange for 24.3 million shares of Weatherford common stock and other consideration. The transaction remains subject to approval from Russia’s Federal Anti-monopoly Service. TNK-BP’s OFS business provides drilling, sidetracking, well intervention and workover, cementation and required support services in Russia. It comprises six operating companies owning and operating more than 75 drilling rigs, 180 workover units, 150 cementation and pumping units and more than 10 operating bases in various reservoir plays, including two central bases in Western Siberia and the Volga-Urals region.
Gulf Technical and Safety Training Centre (GTSC) announced the launch of its fully operational training well, the first to be constructed in the Middle East, at a cost of $1.5 million. Some 40 delegates from a range of organizations have signed up for courses at the company’s Mussaffah, Abu Dhabi, base. Delegates can use the 1,700-ft well to participate in industry-recognized training programs for drilling, completion, coiled tubing and slickline services. The 19-m derrick, 16-m working platform and 30-ton hoisting device ensure that conditions closely mirror the experience of working on a live drilling rig. This well is equipped with 7,000-gal water tanks, pre-filling and high-pressure pumps and a 2-in. flowline and slickline unit. The facility also includes a classroom and a workshop with a slickline unit control console.
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