|
Vol. 233 No. 6
GE Energy is investing $10 million in the development of a new Oil & Gas Training Facility, to support and advance training and development for its customers and employees. Training at the facility will focus on customer, technical and leadership skills aimed to meet changing market needs and growing global demand for drilling technologies. Scheduled to open in fourth-quarter 2012, the 50,000-sq-ft facility will be GE’s premier oil and gas training facility in the U.S. The company also is creating approximately 100 new technical jobs in Houston to support the growth of GE’s Drilling Systems business, which is headquartered at the same location.
Aker Solutions is investing $87 million in its subsea business to double the capacity of its manufacturing plants in Tranby, Norway, and Port Klang, Malaysia. In addition, a new service base will also be established in Malaysia, which will support projects in the Asia-Pacific region.
Offshore Solutions BV, the joint venture between AMEC and Cofely Nederland NV, has achieved more than 40,000 safe personnel transfers from a vessel to offshore platforms on its heave-compensated Offshore Access System (OAS), currently working. The company has also recently secured two new contracts with major operators in Qatar for the safe transfer of personnel to and from offshore platforms, bringing the total of OAS units in the Middle East to three.
The Malaysia External Trade Development Corporation (MATRADE), in participation with Malaysia Petroleum Resources Corporation (MPRC), recently celebrated the inaugural opening of the OTC Malaysia Pavilion. MATRADE, the national trade promotion agency of Malaysia, aims to raise the profile of Malaysian exporters in foreign markets, and disseminate timely information and market intelligence to help Malaysian companies gain a competitive edge in international markets.
The Underwater Centre in Fort William, Angola, has recently finished training the first-ever group of Angolans as saturation divers. The HSE Closed Bell course teaches experienced divers the procedures and competencies required to dive, using a saturation system. Saturation divers live in a chamber, for up to 28 days, which is pressurized to the same sea pressure as that of the depth that they will be working.
Teledyne Oil & Gas announced the grand opening of its new 10,000-sq-ft Asia Regional Support Center in Johor Bahru, Malaysia for electrical jumper final assembly; test; repair and rework of assemblies; sensor integration and test; and will become the Asia Field Service Center for all Teledyne Oil and Gas products. Additional expansions are being planned for 2013, to include a new hyperbaric test capability, along with support for all optical and feedthrough systems.
Wood Group Mustang has been awarded the topsides detailed engineering and procurement support for the semisubmersible central processing facility (CPF) in the Ichthys field development. The contract was awarded by Samsung Heavy Industries, the EPC contractor for the CPF. The project, offshore the northwestern coast of Australia, in 250 m (820 ft) of water, will be operated by INPEX.
CARBO Ceramics Inc. will begin construction on a new ceramic manufacturing plant in Millen, Georgia. Having received its air quality permit from the state of Georgia, CARBO should commence construction on the first production line by the end of 2012, and operations could begin near the end of 2013. Initial staffing for the plant should create 70 new jobs in Jenkins County.
Cairn Energy has received all required approvals and completed the acquisition of Agora Oil & Gas. Agora is a Norwegian company with non-operated exploration, appraisal and development assets in the UK and Norwegian North Sea. Agora’s portfolio is made up of interests in 11 licenses in the North Sea basin, with an active drilling program in 2012. The total consideration is approximately $453 million.
Rolls-Royce has won a $30-million order from Shell to supply two industrial RB211 gas turbines, to boost gas output from the Malampaya deepwater natural gas project offshore the Philippines. The additional two RB211 units will enhance production output and efficiency, helping assure a stable supply of energy and a cleaner source of power for the Philippines.
Knight Oil Tools has acquired Cool Group Ltd., headquartered in Aberdeen, Scotland. Cool Group Ltd. is the holding company that owns Global Rentals, a provider of downhole drilling tools, such as the Megaton drilling jars, fishing jars, energizers, shock tools, bumper subs, drilling safety joints and under-reamers. It also owns Pedem, the tool design and manufacturing unit for the company’s products.
Cactus Wellhead has opened a new sales and service center in DuBois, Pennsylvania. The 20,000-sq-ft building was specifically built for the storage, assembly and testing of wellhead equipment, including the safe handling of large-bore frac stacks that are considered the norm for multi-stage hydraulic fracturing operations.
Technip was awarded a front end engineering design (FEED) contract by BP Exploration & Production Inc. This contract covers the design of a spar hull and mooring systems for the Mad Dog Phase 2 project, near Green Canyon Block 825 in the Gulf of Mexico. This first award comes under the framework of the 10-year spar platform master services agreement, signed in 2011.
Following its debut at OTC earlier this year, Huawei has showcased its digital energy solution, including converged ICT solutions, comprehensive IP network, unified communications and collaboration, security and data center. Huawei has also introduced its new digital energy solution, which consists of multiple sub-solutions, including digital oil field, intelligent pipeline, integrated office communications, offshore oil field converged communications and undersea fiber network, which can help customers build network communications infrastructure, remote production monitoring systems, data centers and production management and office application systems with high production security and enhanced efficiency. The company also provides comprehensive broadband offerings, which provide both data and voice services, with end-to-end encryption, to oil and gas installations.
Dalian Shipyard has delivered the Sea Splendor, the last of four very-large crude carriers (VLCCs), to cargo carrier company Clipper. The vessel is expected to travel between the Arabian Gulf and the Far East, transporting crude oil. Dalian manufactures a variety of vessels, including jackup rigs, semisubmersibles, FPSOs and multi-purpose ships. The company has nine rigs under construction.
|
