Companies in the news

Baker Hughes, a GE company, has been awarded, by Equinor ASA and Aker Solutions, a contract to provide turbomachinery equipment for the topside structure on the Johan Castberg FPSO. BHGE will provide two gas turbine generators with LM2500+ G4 dry low-emission and dual-fuel capability, direct-coupled with two-pole electric generators, each unit having a waste heat recovery unit with extended scope that includes balance of plant. Photo: BHGE.

deka has been awarded a multi-million-dollar contract to deliver autonomous inflow control device (AICD) screens for an operator in sub-Sahara Africa (SSA). Tendeka will supply its specialist FloSure Elite sand screens with its FloSure AICDs and zonal isolation products for two developments in the country. The award, which is the company’s first in SSA, covers multiple oil producers and water source wells. The work will commence later in 2018. 

The Abu Dhabi National Oil Company has signed an agreement appointing JODCO Lower Zakum Limited, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Japan’s INPEX Corporation, as the asset leader for Abu Dhabi’s Lower Zakum concession area. JODCO will lead the development plans to achieve the concession objectives, including building up and sustaining production targets, achieving agreed recovery rates and cost optimization targets. Lower Zakum is one of three new separate concession areas that make up the former ADMA offshore concession, namely Lower Zakum, Umm Shaif and Nasr and Satah Al Razboot and Umm Lulu. 

Maersk Drilling and Maersk Supply Services established a 50:50 joint venture to provide decommissioning services to oil and gas operators. The bundled solutions will provide project management, cover work scopes such as plugging and abandonment of well, towage of floating units, and removal of subsea infrastructure. In the longer term, the joint venture plans to provide the full end-to-end process of decommissioning.

Gardner Denver Petroleum & Industrial Pumps has opened two new facilities. The addition of a location in Odessa, Texas, expands the organization’s presence in the Permian basin. This new site will be fully stocked with aftermarket drilling supplies, including consumables and modules, 24/7 field service and customer support.  In addition, Gardner opened Gardner Denver Sudamerica, SRL, an 8,000-ft² facility in Neuquen, Argentina. This new location will support frac, drilling, well service and water jetting customers throughout the Vaca Muerta shale basin and South America.

Offshore Technical Compliance (OTC), headquartered in Covington, La., has opened a new office and training facility in Houston, Texas, to support future company growth. The 6,300-ft² space includes the OTC Solutions operations office and training center, and regional and international sales operations.

The ExVeritas Group of companies opened a new office in Dallas, Texas. This addition enhances their existing global footprint, including offices in the UK, Singapore, Ireland and Denmark. ExVeritas is an ATEX Notified Body and IECEx Certification Body, providing internationally recognized product certification for global markets, including Quality System Certification, ISO9001:2015 and API Q1/Q2. 

Providence Resources, the Irish-based oil and gas exploration company, provided a license update regarding Licensing Option (LO) 16/27 in the southern Porcupine basin. LO 16/27 is operated by Total E&P Ireland B.V. (50%) on behalf of its partners, Providence Resources P.l.c. (40%) and Sosina Exploration Limited (10%), collectively referred to as the “JV Partners.” LO 16/27 contains the undrilled Paleocene “Avalon” exploration prospect. Providence can confirm that the JV Partners have elected to apply to the Minister of State at the Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment to convert LO 16/27 into a Frontier Exploration License.

Global drilling and engineering contractor KCA Deutag announced that its Norwegian operation, KCA Deutag Drilling Norge AS, has been granted an extension to its current drilling contract on the Ringhorne platform by operator Point Resources AS. The contract extension is for the provision of drilling operations and maintenance services. It has an initial term of four years, with an option to extend by two further, two-year periods. In addition, KCA has been awarded a new drilling contract on five of Equinor’s platforms, operating in Oseberg and Kvitebjørn.

Frontera Resources Corporation announced the successful completion of drilling operations at the Dino-2 well, the second well of the three-well drilling campaign at the company’s Taribani complex, situated within the Block 12 license in Georgia. Drilling and wireline logging data confirmed the presence of 78.8 m of combined pay interval of target Zones 9, 14 and 15. Rig down started immediately and the drilling rig will be moved to the T-39 well location to commence the well sidetracking/drilling operations. Once the drilling rig is released from the Dino-2 well location, wireline and pressure pumping equipment will be mobilized to the site for perforation and mechanical stimulation of the target zones with further well testing.

Flowserve AlMansoori Services opened its new workshop facility in the Musaffah Industrial area of Abu Dhabi, UAE. The joint venture consists of three partners, Abdullah Nasser & Associates LLC, AlMansoori Specialized Engineering Company LLC and Flowserve International Inc. This new site is 3,500 m² and expands the joint venture’s capacity to provide engineering services, hydraulic, mechanical and material upgrades, maintenance and services of pumps, motors and seals. Photo: Flowserve.

SOCAR and BP signed a new production sharing agreement (PSA) for the joint exploration and development of Block D230 in the North Absheron basin, in the Azerbaijan sector of the Caspian Sea. Block D230 lies some 135 km (84 mi) north-east of Baku. It covers an area of some 3,200 km² and has not previously been explored. It has water depths of 400-600 m and anticipated reservoir depths of about 3,500 m. Under the PSA, which is for 25 years, BP will be the operator during the exploration phase holding a 50% interest while SOCAR will hold the remaining 50% interest.

Hess Corporation has announced that its subsidiary, Hess Guyana (Block B) Exploration Limited, had reached agreement with Esso Exploration and Production Guyana Limited (ExxonMobil) to acquire a 15% participating interest in the Kaieteur Block, offshore Guyana. The Kaieteur Block is located approximately 155 mi (approximately 250 km) offshore the coast of Guyana, adjacent to the Stabroek Block. The Kaieteur Block is approximately 3.3 million acres (approximately 13,535 km²), which is equivalent in size to more than 580 deepwater blocks in the Gulf of Mexico.

SOCAR and BP signed a new production sharing agreement (PSA) for the joint exploration and development of Block D230 in the North Absheron basin, in the Azerbaijan sector of the Caspian Sea. Block D230 lies some 135 km (84 mi) north-east of Baku. It covers an area of some 3,200 km2 and has not previously been explored. It has water depths of 400-600 m and anticipated reservoir depths of about 3,500 m. Under the PSA, which is for 25 years, BP will be the operator during the exploration phase holding a 50% interest while SOCAR will hold the remaining 50% interest.