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Vol. 231 No. 11 |
World Oil has launched a new offshore database named RigStar. Fully expanded from the World Oil Marine Drilling Rig Directory, RigStar provides timely intelligence for more than 750 worldwide mobile offshore rigs and their equipment. It is a dynamic and fully searchable online system. Constructed on WorldOil.com, RigStar allows users to search by categories such as operating status and day rates, manipulate data to fit specific needs, and keep track of hundreds of offshore rigs from the past, present and future. The accurate and hard-to-find data found on the database enables customers to research and trace specific offshore rigs while planning budgets and securing future contracts. RigStar’s advanced search functionality allows users to select from hundreds of technical data points, such as equipment manufacturer and model, when conducting a search. Users can also utilize time-saving tools such as the “Export-to-Excel” and “My Saved Searches” features to better track their specific needs and locations.
Shell and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have signed an agreement to invest $25 million in the research and development of high-value, sustainable technologies designed to drive innovation in energy delivery. The Shell/MIT Energy Initiative collaboration will fund a suite of projects at $5 million per year for the next five years, focusing on advanced modeling, earth science, biofuels, nanotechnology and carbon management. As part of its longer-term focus, Shell/MITEI will address future and emerging technologies that demonstrate the greatest potential for the energy industry, concentrating on a broad array of existing and new oil and gas technologies, including next-generation applications in nanotechnology, biochemistry, electronics and computer modeling. The partners also aim to develop novel sensors to detect physical and chemical properties under extreme and remote conditions.
RathGibson, a manufacturer of welded, welded and drawn, and seamless stainless steel, nickel and titanium tubing, has teamed with PT Indoniaga to supply 7 tons of titanium tubing to the Indonesian oil and gas industry. The requisition, from receiving the inquiry to shipping the finished tubing, was completed over the course of 27 months. Indonesian government-owned Pertamina is involved in the exploration, extraction and production of domestic oil, gas and geothermal energy, as well as processing, marketing, trading and shipping.
Baker Hughes has acquired Meyer & Associates, a petroleum industry software developer. Meyer & Associates’ MFrac software provides design and evaluation simulations for hydraulic fracturing, produced water and cuttings reinjection applications. Recently, the company added simulation of hydraulic fracturing in shale gas plays to its suite of software products. MFrac will be integrated with Baker Hughes’ existing geomechanical and geomodeling software. The acquisition will also allow the Baker Hughes RDS group to expand its consulting and training business in hydraulic fracturing design and evaluation.
TSC Offshore Group Ltd. has inaugurated a new, larger warehouse and office complex and a fully dedicated manufacturing facility in Houston. The new site, occupying a total area of 80,000 sq ft, comprising 64,000 sq ft (under roof) of warehouse space and 16,000 sq ft of office space, will serve the group’s maintenance, repair and operation (MRO) supply and service business, while the office will house the engineering and integration teams, marketing and sales for North America and corporate management.
M-I Swaco has acquired Idrabel Italia, an environmental technologies company based in Savona, Italy. The company specializes in production tank cleaning and petroleum sludge treatment as well as oil recovery and volatile organic compound control for the petroleum industries. In particular, the company focuses on hydrocarbon recovery from tank sludge while preventing toxic gas emissions. The Idrabel system allows for recovery of more than 95% of hydrocarbons present in the sludge while minimizing the volume of waste to be treated or disposed. The acquisition integrates with the M-I Swaco Environmental Solutions Technology offerings to the downstream petroleum industry.
Technip will implement its reelable, electrically trace-heated pipe-in-pipe (ETH-PIP) technology at Islay Field, in the North Sea, for Total E&P UK. This is the first time the technology has been deployed offshore. In a deal worth about €70 million ($97 million), Technip will deliver a full engineering, procurement, construction and installation (EPCI) project. Islay Field is located 440 km northeast of Aberdeen, in 120-m water depths. ETH-PIP aims to enhance production operability of subsea pipelines that are likely to become blocked by hydrates or wax. It is a pilot project for the use of this technology, which is designed for shallow and deepwater environments.
Swire Oilfield Services acquired Morgan City, Louisiana-based Gator Tank Rentals LLC, a specialist in tank, container, basket and mud skip rental. The acquisition complements that of Circulation Tools (CT), based in Houma, which joined the Swire Oilfield Services group in 2007. Swire Oilfield Services is part of the UK-based Swire Group, a supplier of specialty offshore cargo carrying units to the global energy industry.
Mustang, a Wood Group company, has been selected by Reliance Industries Ltd. (RIL) to perform concept, front-end design and detailed engineering for its gas compression system and associated facilities for the KG-D6 Block onshore terminal on the east coast of India. The facility will be designed for compressing natural gas produced from KG-D6 deepwater gas fields, which will require about 100,000 hp of compression. The facility will be one of the world’s largest in a single location.
Spectrum signed an agreement with the Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland to reprocess more than 7,800 km of 2D seismic data off the east coast of Greenland. This data will be processed through pre-stack time migration and licensed on a multiclient basis. It consists of three surveys known as the NAD project, which were acquired during the 1980s offshore east Greenland between 62° and 72° north. A 2007 US Geological Survey assessment of this province indicated undiscovered oil and gas reserves of 31.4 billion boe.
Multi-Chem, a provider of oilfield production chemicals, has opened a new warehouse and office facility in Stanley, North Dakota, to facilitate distribution of production and completion chemicals to the Williston Basin and Bakken Shale play. The facility includes a 3-acre yard and warehouse and will serve as a hub for local delivery, treatment and stimulation. It is the company’s first facility in the region. Multi-Chem has also opened a location in Antler, North Dakota, and plans to open another in Dickinson.
A new company, Surf Subsea Inc., has been formed to provide deepwater construction and service solutions to the worldwide oil and gas industry. Headquartered near Houston, Surf’s President and CEO is Wade Abadie, who has over 34 years of experience in the ROV and oilfield services industry. The company’s operations team has extensive experience in all forms of deepwater construction and inspection, maintenance and repair (IMR) operations, and has worked on some of the largest offshore developments in the US Gulf of Mexico, Mexico, Asia, Australia, India and the North Sea.
Fugro Airborne Surveys will perform acquisition and processing of airborne gravity gradiometer (AGG) and high-resolution airborne magnetic (HRAM) data for Beach Petroleum (Tanzania) Ltd., a subsidiary of Beach Energy Ltd., using the Falcon AGG system. The survey, consisting of 27,000 line km, commenced Sept. 9, and will take about three months. The survey will be flown over a 7,160-sq-km block covering the southern portion of Lake Tanganyika in Tanzania.
Petrobras reported that the drilling of the eighth well in the Tupi evaluation plan area confirmed the potential of light (29°API) oil in the ultradeep waters of the Santos Basin. Drilled by the FPSO Cidade de São Vicente, the new well, informally known as Iracema Norte, is located in water depths of 2,247 m, about 240 km off the coast of the state of Rio de Janeiro. This well, along with others already drilled in the area, reinforces estimates of 5–8 billion bbl of recoverable light oil and natural gas in the pre-salt reservoirs of the Tupi area.
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