Companies in the news

Equinor and its partners have started production from Aasta Hansteen gas field in the Norwegian Sea. Gas from the field is available to the market for the first time, and together with the Polarled pipeline, the field opens a new region for gas export to Europe. In addition, the company and its partners have received approval from the Ministry of Petroleum and Energy for the PDO of the Troll Phase 3 development. Capital expenditures of $925 million will help extend the field’s productive life beyond 2050. Also, the company has opened two IOC support centers to help reduce CO₂ emissions from NCS installations.

BP has approved a $1.3 billion Atlantis Phase 3 development, after determining an additional 400 MMbbl of oil. In addition, the company announced the Manuel discovery in Mississippi Canyon Block 520, and a stake in the Nearly Headless Nick discovery, which is in Mississippi Canyon Block 387.

Total has started up production from Egina field, in about 5,250 ft of water, 93 mi off the coast of Nigeria. At plateau, the field will produce 200,000 bopd, which represents about 10% of Nigeria’s production. The Egina FPSO used to develop the field is the largest vessel that Total has ever built. 

Aker BP has selected Optime Subsea as a provider of well access systems and services on the NCS for the next two years. The subsea services company is planning to use its Subsea Controls and Intervention Light System on Aker BP’s Jette, as part of their P&A operations, and Skogul for installation.

Qatar Petroleum has entered into an agreement with Eni to acquire a 35% participating interest in three offshore oil fields in Mexico. The agreement covers Amoca, Mizton and Tecoalli offshore oil fields, which lie in Area 1 of Mexico’s Campeche Bay. Production is expected to ramp up to 90,000 bopd by 2021.

CNOOC has signed strategic cooperation agreements with Chevron, ConocoPhillips, Equinor, Husky, KUFPEC, Roc Oil, Shell, SK Innovation and Total for areas in the Pearl River Mouth basin offshore China, including Areas A and B. Area A is approximately 5,907 mi², with a water depth of 262 ft to 394 ft. Area B is approximately 18,803 mi², with a water depth of 1,640 ft to 9,843 ft.

McDermott International, Inc., has signed a lease for its new corporate headquarters and will consolidate approximately 1,700 Houston-area employees into one site. The 16-year lease is for Energy Center Five, an 18-story, 524,000-ft² office tower at 915 North Eldridge Parkway. The company will be the sole tenant in the building.

Ikon Science Limited has wholly acquired Perigon Solutions to build a global business that develops scalable solutions for interpreting and understanding subsurface information. This serves a market that is looking for faster effective decision-making, using integrated subsurface data and solutions.

Aqualis Offshore has entered into an MSA with McDermott Asia Pacific Sdn Bhd to provide engineering reviews and marine warranty services for the company’s offshore operations in the Asia-Pacific region. The agreement is valid for five years and covers five countries, including Singapore, Vietnam, India, Myanmar and Australia. In addition, the company has opened an office in Perth, Western Australia.

Rowan Companies plc’s Ralph Coffman, a 240-C Class harsh-environment jackup rig, has been awarded a one-well contract from CGX Resources in Guyana for an estimated duration of 60 days. The contract is expected to commence in second-quarter 2019.

Lukoil’s cumulative production of oil in the Russian part of the Caspian Sea has exceeded 20 MMt, with Vladimir Filanovsky field accounting for the most significant gain. Thus, cumulative production of the field reached 11.3 MMt of oil since commercial production commenced in October 2016. Fourteen wells, five of which are bi-lateral, were drilled during phases one and two.

TWMA, has secured a seven-figure contract with Neptune Energy. The three-year contract, will include skip-and-ship and solids control to manage and process drill cuttings. The scope of work also will include the provision of cuttings containment, pit and tank cleaning, and offshore processing, using TCC RotoMill technology.

Emerson has acquired Advanced Engineering Valves to expand its portfolio of valves and critical isolation technologies serving the LNG industry. This acquisition supports the company’s Main Valve Partner initiative and complements its Vanessa triple-offset valve range. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Simmons Edeco has sold its European well integrity services division, Simmons Edeco Europe. This capital injection will be used to fuel the company’s drilling and workover initiatives in Mexico and Latin America. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

The sale of Premier’s interests in the Babbage Area to Verus Petroleum SNS Ltd has now been completed. The company has received $38.7 million since the effective date of Jan. 1, 2018. In addition, Verus will take on exploration commitments valued at $24 million. Production from Babbage has averaged 2,500 boed, year to date. The sale proceeds will be used to pay down the company’s existing debt.

RESMAN AS has agreed to acquire Restrack AS in a share purchase agreement. The combined company will have up to 100 employees and provide reservoir monitoring and intelligent chemical tracer systems, inter-well gas & water tracing, single-well tracer tests and partitioning inter-well tracer tests for improved well production and production optimization.

Rovco has been awarded further funding to develop AUV3D Phase 2, the next stage of its integrated, live 3D vision and AI survey technology. This brings the combined total in technology grants provided by Innovate UK to $1.9 million. 

THREE60 Energy has acquired Aberdeen-based North Sea Construction and Commissioning for an undisclosed sum. This is the fourth company added to the developing energy services firm, which now employs over 320 people.

Orbital Gas Systems has been awarded purchase orders for integration projects totaling $3.3 million from a large Texas-based EPC company during fourth-quarter 2018. The purchase orders comprise custom analytical integration systems for two new fractionation units.