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Vol. 233 No. 1
FMC Technologies has signed a global alliance agreement with Anadarko Petroleum to provide subsea systems and life-of-field services for their worldwide subsea development projects. In 1999, FMC supplied equipment for Anadarko’s first subsea project, North Garnet, in the Gulf of Mexico. Since then, the companies have collaborated on other projects, including Independence Hub, the largest natural gas processing facility in the Gulf. FMC has also supplied Anadarko with the industry’s first subsea wellhead, qualified at a pressure rating of 20,000 psi.
Reservoir Group acquired Mudlogging Services Inc. (MSI), the US-based developer and supplier of the MLogger series of gas detection systems. The sixth acquisition by Reservoir Group this year, MSI is experiencing increasing demand for its product and service range, and is actively seeking to expand its existing personnel base of 15 to address market opportunities. MSI will also continue to invest in growing its rental equipment fleet while evolving the technology.
VAM USA plans to develop a new finishing plant in Youngstown, Ohio. The project will renovate a 200,000-sq-ft building in the V&M STAR complex, which is located within the Cooperative Agreement Zone formed by Youngstown and the City of Girard, Ohio, in October 2009. V&M STAR LP and VAM USA are both affiliate companies of the Vallourec Group. Once fully operational, VAM USA’s Youngstown finishing plant will employ an estimated 100 full-time workers. Production is scheduled to begin in phases, starting in mid-2012 and ramping up to full production by the end of 2013.
Technip has completed its acquisition of Global Industries, adding Global’s two newly-built S-Lay vessels and know–how in the heavy lift business, as well as strong positions in the Gulf of Mexico (US and Mexican waters), Asia-Pacific and the Middle East to Technip’s subsea offerings. The merger was completed ahead of schedule.
SSP Offshore Inc. has entered into a Memorandum of Understanding with Odebrecht Oil and Gas, in which the companies have agreed to jointly pursue commercialization of SSP’s proprietary circular hull design for hub/terminal applications in Brazilian territorial projects through a joint venture structure. Under the MOU, the parties will work toward finalization of the definitive joint venture framework documents within 90 days.
BP ‘s Russian joint venture, TNK-BP Ltd., has bid for assets owned by ConocoPhillips in Vietnam, but has yet to decide whether it will participate in an upcoming tender round for new blocks in the country. ConocoPhillips is selling its stakes in three oil and gas projects offshore Vietnam as part of a restructuring plan. The assets include a 23.3% stake in a group of five fields in Block 15-1, where oil production started in 2003; a 36% stake in Rang Dong field in Block 15-2 in the Cuu Long basin; and a 16.3% stake in the Nam Con Son gas pipeline project, PV Oil.
Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria has assigned its 30% interest in two oil mining leases and related facilities in the Niger Delta for $488 million. Oil Mining Lease 26 was assigned to the Nigerian company, FHN26 Limited, for about $98 million. Oil Mining Lease 26 covers an area of some 480 sq km and produces around 6,000 bopd from two fields. Oil Mining Lease 42, which covers 814 sq km and includes the Batan, Egwa, Odidi and Jones Creek fields, was assigned to Neconde Energy Limited for $390 million.
Indian oilfield equipment manufacturer SARA SAE Private Limited has bought back 76% of its equity that had been held by US oilfield equipment multinational major National Oilwell Varco (NOV) since August 2007. The company has also purchased a Houston-based manufacturing facility, Consolidated Pressure Control, through STS Products Inc., one of its group companies in Houston.
Dockwise Ltd reached agreement with Offshore Oil Engineering Co. Ltd. (COOEC) to act as manager of COOEC’s newbuild type 1 marine transportation vessel for all third-party projects. The new vessel, a semi-submersible, currently under construction at China Merchants Yard in Shenzhen, is due for delivery by the end of March 2012. At 222 m in length and a deadweight of 53,500 tonnes, the vessel will be capable of carrying loads of up to 50,000 tonnes.
Hunt Global Resources plans to build a frac-sand mining and processing facility on a 350-acre site in Conroe, Texas, which has about 21 million tons of available sand that can be used for hydraulic fracturing. Once the new facility is complete, it will be able to process one million tons of fracing sand per year.
CNOOC Limited has completed its acquisition of OPTI Canada Inc. for a total value of about $2.1 billion. The transaction expands CNOOC’s presence in oil sands markets. Through a partnership with Nexen, the company expects to fully exploit the growth potential of the Long Lake project, as well as three other jointly owned oil sands leases.
Dutch shipbuilder Damen Shipyards Group has agreed with Norwegian shipowner World Wide Supply to build four platform supply vessels of the design “Damen PSV 3300 CD”. The vessels will be delivered from Damen’s shipyard in Romania from June to December 2013 and have a contract value of €95 million. The vessels will be operated by the Norwegian shipping company Remøy Management.
Russia’s Rosneft has been granted five blocks on the Sea of Okhotsk shelf for geological surveying, exploration and development. The five blocks are Magadan-1, 2 and 3, Lisyansky and Kashevarovsky. According to Rosneft estimates, total recoverable resources at these deposits stand at over 1.1 billion tonnes of liquid hydrocarbons and 2 Tcm of gas, including 850 million tonnes of oil and 1.789 Tcm of gas at the Magadan-1, 2 and 3 blocks.
Technip was awarded a lump-sum contract by Anadarko Petroleum Corp. for the engineering, construction and transport of a 23,000-ton truss Spar hull for their Lucius project in 7,100 ft of water in the US Gulf of Mexico, with first oil being scheduled in 2014. Lucius will be the seventh Spar Technip has delivered to Anadarko. The Lucius truss Spar floating production facility will have a nameplate capacity of 80,000 bopd and 450 MMcfd of natural gas.
Independent oilfield services company TAM International opened a new office in Shenzhen, China, where a majority of the drilling offshore operations in the South China Sea will take place. The office will support the demand in deep well cement integrity and shale fracing. The products and services that TAM provides are designed for drilling and completions applications where a customer needs to enhance the isolation of any zone.
Spain’s oil firm Repsol YPF SA said it has signed a joint venture agreement with Russian-Kazakh (Alliance Oil Co.), following months of negotiations. The new joint venture, with $840 million worth of capital, will focus on oil and gas exploration and production in the Russian Federation. Alliance will have 51% of the joint venture and Repsol will control 49%.
Baker Hughes Inc. has secured a contract worth up to $640 million to drill 60 wells at Iraq’s southern Zubair oil field from the Iraqi government and a consortium led by Italy’s Eni. The 20-year Zubair service contract was awarded at an Iraqi licensing auction held in 2009 to the Eni-led group, which also includes U.S. Occidental Petroleum Corp. and Korea Gas Corp. Earlier this year, Baker Hughes won a deal from OAO Lukoil Holdings to drill 23 wells in Iraq’s super-giant West Qurna phase two oil field in southern Iraq.
Statoil has acquired a 30% participating interest in block 47 offshore Suriname from Tullow Oil. Tullow Oil operates the block 47 licence offshore Suriname with 100% working interest. Tullow will retain the operatorship and 70% working interest. Block 47 lies in a frontier area in the Guyana basin. The license is located some 270 km north of mainland Suriname, with a water depth of between 1,300 and 3,000 m.
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