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Vol. 226 No. 11 |
RockBit International has announced a major rebranding campaign under the new name Ulterra Drilling Technologies, represented with a new logo. Ulterra remains one of the few companies that operates rollercone, polycrystalline diamond compact (PDC) and measurement while drilling (MWD) business lines. With its onsite heat-treatment facilities, the company purpose-designs and manufactures custom drill bits in a shorter turnaround time. Based in Fort Worth, Texas, Ulterra was originally founded in 1927 as Globe Oil Tools.
Gas Technology Institute (GTI) and NExT (The Network of Excellence in Training) have formed an alliance to market and deliver comprehensive energy industry training to the natural gas sector in the areas of finding, developing, producing, processing and distributing natural gas and LNG. The alliance combines NExT’s experience in training on upstream topics and GTI’s downstream courses and certification programs.
T.D.Williamson, Inc., announced the acquisition of Plugging Specialists International, ASA (PSI), a remote-controlled, tetherless, pipeline isolation services company headquartered in Stavanger, Norway. PSI was originally spun off from Industrikonsult AS in 1998.
 Gas exports from Statoil’s Visund platform in the North Sea began Oct. 7, following conversion of this installation to deliver up to 5 Bcm per year. The Visund gas project was delivered on time and at a cost of NOK 1.75 billion, about NOK 500 million below the estimate for development and operation. Some 3 Bcm of gas per year are due to be exported from the field up to 2011.
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Enterra Energy Trust announced that High Point Resources Inc. has become a wholly-owned subsidiary. High Point has about 11.5 million boe in proved and probable reserves, consisting of 54.5 Bcf of natural gas and 2.4 million bbl of oil and NGLs. The acquisition more than doubles Enterra’s existing reserves.
Occidental Petroleum Corp. agreed to acquire Vintage Petroleum, Inc., for about $3.8 billion in cash and stock. Vintage has proved reserves of 437 million boe, 50% of which is located in Argentina and 32% in the US. In addition, the company has about 421 million boe of probable and possible reserves. Vintage’s total production averages about 76,000 boe per day, with Argentina and California contributing 37,000 and 11,000 boe per day, respectively.
IFP and RIPED, the E&P research center of Chinese company PETROCHINA, have signed a long-term agreement for development of upstream oil technology. This will principally involve reservoir characterization and improved recovery using gas injection and polymer techniques. The first R&D projects have been identified and will start up in 2006.
Landmark, a brand of Halliburton Digital and Consulting Solutions Div., and Bengal Development, a division of Epoch Well Services, Inc. (a wholly owned subsidiary of Nabors Industries), have signed an agreement naming Landmark the principal sales channel for Bengal Development’s AFE Management System and Rig Scheduler products. The agreement establishes the basis for deploying the applications on Landmark’s Engineers Data Model Infrastructure.
Technip and Subsea 7 are forming a jointly operated company for subsea offshore activities in the Asia Pacific region (excluding India and Middle East). The companies will bid for and carry out all engineering, procurement, construction, installation, commissioning and/or maintenance contracts for the subsea production and transportation of oil and gas within the Asia Pacific region, including the supply of flexible pipe via the Technip/ Subsea 7 joint venture. The head office of this newly formed company will be located in Perth, Western Australia.
BJ Completion Assembly Services (BJ CAS) opened its first operations base in the US. The new facility in Lafayette, Louisiana, features extensive operations, training and research facilities, and room to accommodate new staff and equipment. A comprehensive range of BJ CAS equipment is housed in Lafayette, including a test facility, non-marking torquing equipment and several STATS units, BJ’s torque monitoring, control and analysis system.
TGS-NOPEC Geophysical Company ASA (TGS) will acquire all shares of Aceca Geologica for $10.0 million in cash plus $2.5 million in TGS shares. Aceca was formed in 1998. The company creates and sells multi-client interpretation studies in northern Europe utilizing well log, seismic, and other forms of geoscientific data. TGS is a provider of multi-client geoscientific data, associated products and services to the oil and gas industry, and specializes in the creation of non-exclusive seismic surveys worldwide.
Ikon Science, a privately owned geoscience technology company, purchased UK-based EarthModels Ltd in a $2.6-million cash and share deal. EarthModels is the developer of ChronoSeis, a 3-D and 4-D seismic reservoir characterization tool focused on rapid analysis of multiple seismic datasets.
Oceaneering International has acquired three work vehicles and four observation-class vehicles from MTQ Corporation Ltd. All three of the acquired work-class vehicles are currently operating in Southeast Asia. Oceaneering is an advanced applied technology company that provides engineered services and hardware to customers who operate in harsh environments.
Aberdeen-based Monitor Oil Production, which acquired the Hutton TLP from Kerr-McGee in 2002, has agreed to acquire the rights to a series of innovative minimum facilities platforms (MFP) and autonomous offshore control buoys from Ocean Resource Ltd. Monitor will acquire intellectual property rights for the technologies, and key Ocean Resource personnel will transfer to Monitor, including the founder and designer of the technologies, David Bone.
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