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Vol. 228 No. 02 |
A syndicate composed of Candover, 3i and JPMorgan Partners announced the sale of Vetco Gray to GE’s Oil & Gas division for $1.9 billion on a debt-free, cash-free basis. The syndicate acquired the business in July 2004 from ABB Oil & Gas. Vetco Gray, headquartered in Houston, employs 5,000 people worldwide in more than 30 countries, and generated over $1.6 billion of sales in 2006. Candover, 3i and JPMorgan Partners will remain as shareholders in the other operating subsidiary company, Vetco Aibel, which will be renamed Aibel.
Mountwest Services Ltd of Aberdeen, Scotland, has acquired Fastlink-Wellserv, an engineering company based in Montrose. Mountwest manufactures drilling tools of carbon steel and non-magnetic steel for bottomhole assemblies at its bases in Aberdeen, Houston and Dubai. Mountwest intends to expand the Wellserv facility, which manufactures non-magnetic equipment for the bottomhole assembly.
Geodynamic Solutions Inc. (GSI), a wholly owned subsidiary of LandWorks Inc., acquired Geospatial Training Services LLC, a provider of geographic information system training courses for geotechnology professionals. The entire catalog of Geospatial Training Services classes will be offered through GSI.
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Mexico�s Port of Altamira, in the state of Tamaulipas, will be the site of J. Ray McDermott�s new construction facility. The company signed a 30-year partial concession agreement with the port authority of Altamira, which is developing as one of the Gulf of Mexico�s major harbors. Container terminals, petrochemical plants, bulk liquid terminals and other import/export facilities are already operating at the site. The port has an open channel to the Gulf with adequate width and water depth to accommodate large fixed and floating offshore structures and semi-submersibles.
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The board of directors of the International Coiled Tubing Association (ICoTA) has voted to change the name of the organization to Intervention & Coiled Tubing Association while retaining the brand “ICoTA.” This change recognizes that the association has broadened its mission to include all well-intervention techniques.
Primavera Systems, Inc., has acquired two companies: ProSight, Inc., a portfolio analysis solutions company based in Portland, Oregon, and Pertmaster, Ltd., a risk analysis and mitigation solutions company with offices in the UK and Houston, Texas. ProSight’s products, which help customers analyze and plan project and portfolio investments, will be marketed as Primavera ProSight. Primavera will retain all of ProSight’s offices, including its headquarters in Oregon, its federal office in Crystal City, Virginia, and its development office in Jerusalem. Pertmaster’s risk analysis and mitigation solutions will be marketed as Primavera Pertmaster. Primavera will retain all of Pertmaster’s offices in the UK and US.
Smith Services and Smith Technologies announced the combination of wellbore enlargement and drillstring modeling solutions into a new operating group, Smith Borehole Enlargement. The group, based in Houston, is led by Mark Burtonwood, who previously headed Smith Technologies’ operations in the Russia/CIS region. The Smith Borehole Enlargement group will operate through Smith Services and Smith Technologies locations worldwide.
Independent drill-bit company Varel International announced the opening of its new office in Lafayette, Louisiana. The office will provide all sales and service functions for customers operating in Louisiana and the state’s intercoastal waters along the Gulf of Mexico.
Anadarko Petroleum Corp. agreed to sell its Vernon and Ansley fields, in Jackson Parish, Louisiana, to EXCO Resources, Inc., for $1.6 billion. As of November 2006, the fields were producing 192 MMcfgd equivalent (net), from about 350 wells within Anadarko’s 66,000 net acres. Six drilling rigs and four workover rigs are active.
Ability Group ASA (AGR), the Norway-based oil technology and services group, will acquire SeaVation Ltd, the UK-based provider of subsea excavation and pipeline trenching services. SeaVation, headquartered in Aberdeen, specializes in the design, manufacture and operation of underwater soils engineering systems. AGR has also acquired a 51% interest in Houston-based Horton Technologies Inc., a technology development company. AGR and Horton will design and develop a drilling and production unit suitable for deepwater, high-pressure high-temperature fields.
Power and automation group ABB will supply an integrated central control system for a new natural gas LNG import terminal in the People’s Republic of China. The Fujian LNG Terminal & Trunkline Project will be owned and operated by CNOOC Fujian LNG Co.Ltd., a co-investment of China National Offshore Oil Corp. (CNOOC) and Fujian Investment and Development Corp. In Xiuyu, Fujian province, in southeast China, the terminal will have an initial capacity of 2.6 million metric tons of LNG/year in Phase I.
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