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Houston, named Richard Williams as US regional president, overseeing land and Gulf of Mexico geomarkets. He previously was president of the company's gulf region. Williams was in positions of increasing responsibility in his 37 years with Baker Hughes, including executive positions in the company's completions, drilling, and drilling fluids lines, gaining a broad base of global experience across the hydrocarbon asset life cycle. He has an undergraduate degree in business administration from the University of Phoenix and an associate's degree in petroleum technology from Lincoln College. He is on the board of directors of The Center for Offshore Safety, the National Ocean Industries Association, and is a member of the Society of Petroleum Engineers, Independent Petroleum Association of America, and Petroleum Equipment Suppliers Association.

Atlas,

Aberdeen, specialist provider of interactive learning solutions for the energy industry, appointed Kevin Short as director of sales, a new position to increase customer support and service in the company's expanding business. Short has 24 years of senior sales leadership and management roles in financial and information technology services in New York, London, and Ireland with Pitney Bowes, DX Group, and Chase Manhattan Bank. He is a member of the Institute of Mathematics and Applications and has a degree in production and operations management.

Atlas also announced the launch of three new translations of its international minimum industry safety training program, now available in nine languages.

Seadrill Ltd.,

Hamilton, Bermuda, agreed to buy the ultra-deepwater semisubmersible rig Songa Eclipse from Songa Offshore SE, Oslo, for $590 million, with delivery scheduled in December. The rig was built by the Jurong Shipyard in Singapore in 2011 at a cost of $660 million, according to ODS-Petrodata Inc. It is working for Total SA off Angola on a fixed contract ending in December 2013. Total has three 1-year options to extend that contract.

Songa Eclipse is of the same Friede & Goldman design as four of Seadrill's other rigs: West Sirius, West Taurus, West Orion, and West Capricorn. It is 6th generation with dynamical positioning and is equipped with Aker Solutions drilling equipment. The semi has drilling capacity to 37,500 ft and can operate in 10,000 ft of water. Its subsea well control system includes a six-ram 15,000 psi BOP stack.

The purchase is part of Seadrill's strategy to build its fleet through selective acquisitions, recognizing the ultra-deepwater market "is in a strong cycle." Given the distressed nature of the sale with Songa Offshore undertaking a strategic review, analysts in the Houston office of Raymond James & Associates Inc. said Seadrill got a bargain at $590 million.

Cameron International Corp.,

Houston, and Schlumberger Ltd. formed a 60/40 joint venture partnership, OneSubsea, for manufacturing and developing subsea products and services worldwide. Cameron will contribute its existing subsea division and receive $600 million from Schlumberger, which also will contribute its Framo Engineering, Surveillance Services, Flow Assurance, and power and controls businesses. The partnership will combine Schlumberger's expertise in subsea processing and platform integration and Cameron's position in subsea pressure control. The JV "should benefit customers by combining the subsea capabilities of two of the industry's most well-regarded names industry in a segment that needs to see both performance and standards rise," said EnergyPoint Research Inc. analysts. "We also believe the move to some extent represents evidence of Schlumberger and Cameron taking steps to provide greater focus in their respective core businesses, continued evidence of a reversing out the several-year trend toward bundling that our data have shown to be ineffective for customers." It also exerts "greater competitive pressure" to raise subsea suppliers' standards and performance, they said.

Barclays Capital equity research analysts said the combined technologies of OneSubsea could "pave the way for development of a full suite equipment and service package that reaches beyond the scope of any subsea product currently in the market."

Senergy Group Ltd.,

Aberdeen, made three senior management appointments: Rhys Medler, Dick Hall, and Tony Morton.

Medler was appointed to the newly created role of vice president of health, safety, security, environment, and compliance. His early career was in offshore survey operations before joining the Floyd & Associates management team, which later became part of the Senergy group. In 2010, after 3 years as operations director for survey and geoengineering, Medler became head of Senergy's office of Quality Health, Safety, Security, and Environment.

Hall was named global coordinator of alternative energy and power engineering. He has 30 years' experience providing technical, managerial, and regulatory compliance support. As project manager, Hall has been involved in the delivery of several high profile wind turbine developments, both onshore and offshore, in addition to marine power projects.

Morton is global technical head of Senergy's power systems operations. He is to develop technical standards and workflows around the globe, provide peer review expertise, and ensure quality of work. Before joining Econnect in 2005, Morton was a postdoctoral fellow at Monash University, having previously received his doctorate in electrical engineering from Melbourne University. He was named senior engineer in 2007 and became a principal in 2010 when Econnect was part of Senergy. Medler will be based in Aberdeen, while Hall and Morton will work from the US and Australia, respectively.

Over the past 12 months, Senergy has appointed 50 staff members to new roles across the business and expects to recruit 100 additional employees in the coming year. The company's rapid expansion included new offices in Aberdeen, Bath, Dubai, and Edinburgh this year. Established in 2005, Senergy employs more than 700 professionals worldwide in the UK, Scandinavia, the Middle East, Australia, Southeast Asia, and the Americas.

TAM International Inc.,

Houston, an independent oil field services company providing inflatable and swellable packers, opened an office in Dickinson, N.D., to serve the Bakken shale play. Company officials said the new office is in response to increased demand in business activity and customer growth in the region, as well as to help strengthen customer relationships and leverage the growth of TAM's business. The 10,000 sq ft building on two acres of land will handle a variety of TAM products . The company expects to employ 15 people in the office under the direction of Michael Dion, regional manager.

The Specialist Services Group,

Dubai, an engineering and manufacturing company that is one of the largest producers of living quarters, office, and technical modular buildings for the oil and gas industry for both onshore and offshore applications, said it has become the first company ever to receive the IECEx certification for purged and pressurized buildings. Such modules are specifically manufactured to meet exacting international or industrial codes and standards, creating a safe working environment in a potentially explosive or hazardous atmosphere. IECEx is the globally recognized certification scheme of the International Electrotechnical Commission.

The company said IECEx certificates typically are issued for components, and this is the first time that an integrated product—a purged and pressurized building containing 35 IECEx components—has been issued a certificate of conformity. Its first IECEx compliant module is already in production and will be deployed to the Gulf of Mexico before the end of the year.

Schahin Petróleo e Gás SA,

São Paulo, and Modec Inc., Tokyo, signed a letter of intent with Petróleo Brasileiro SA (Petrobras), operator, and partners BG E&P do Brasil Ltd. and Petrogal Brasil SA for the charter of a floating production, storage, and offloading vessel for development of the Iracema Norte project in block BM-S-11 in the pre-salt of Santos Basin. The project includes the interconnection of 16 wells to the FPSO—8 production and 8 injection wells. Production is expected to start in December 2015. The FPSO will be deployed 300 km off Brazil at a water depth of 2,234 m. The platform will have a processing capacity of 150,000 b/d of oil and 8 MMcmd of natural gas. The FPSO is chartered to the consortium for 20 years. The schedule of the project determines the delivery of the FPSO 35 months following signature of the Letter of Intent. The BM-S-11 consortium includes Petrobras (65%), in partnership with BG Group (25%) and Petrogal Brasil (10%).

Advanced Fabric Technologies LLC (AFT),

Houston, was awarded an initial contract from Total Safety US to provide 15,000 ft of blast curtain fabric to a major integrated oil and gas company for operations in the Gulf of Mexico. The lightweight enhanced safety system is designed to protect personnel and equipment from high pressure failures, fire, and shrapnel. The blast curtains utilize AFT's exclusive Xtegra auxetic fabric that when stretched becomes thicker perpendicular to the applied force. That fabric is integrated with fireproof basalt fibers in an innovative high strength, lightweight blast resistant fabric panel. The Xtegra fabric has been successfully shown to withstand a 100 kg equivalent TNT blast at 35 m and survive an 11 psi peak pressure with reflected impulse pressure of 51 psi-msec, "far exceeding" the US General Services Administration standard, company officials said. They had close technical collaboration with clients to engineer a blast curtain safety system adapted to the operating environment and customers' specific needs.

WFS Technologies Ltd.,

Edinburgh, tested its Seatooth S100 mobile wireless subsea modem for digital communication at The Underwater Centre testing and training facility at Fort William, Scotland. Company officials said the modem can operate in 100-4,000 m as a communication link or logging device with a 5 m range "even in challenging deep water conditions." It is equipped with standard data communication interfaces suitable for sensor and underwater vehicle applications and can be swiftly deployed on temporary or permanent installations.

The Underwater Centre's 1.5 million litre indoor seawater tank allowed the WFS team to both observe and monitor equipment in one location without tidal drift. WFS Technologies is one of several companies in recent months that have used centre's diverse range of facilities for optimum testing of new industry equipment. Steve Ham, general manager at The Underwater Centre said, "Our seawater facilities, onshore tank, and support infrastructure offer companies the confidence and reassurance that the results they receive here during trials are what they will experience in practice, therefore saving them time and added expense." It is located on the shore of a seawater loch and sheltered by surrounding mountains, enabling it to provide year-round training and testing in an open-water environment with access to depths of more than 100 m.

AlMansoori Specialized Engineering,

Abu Dhabi, a leading oil and gas service company, has added more than 400 workers to its labor force of 1,700 employees in recent months in anticipation of increased exploration and production activity in the Middle East in 2013, particularly in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and Qatar. Testing and surveying have long been at the heart of the AlMansoori offering, with bottomhole pressure and temperature surveys, pipe management systems, technical auditing, and magnetic particle inspection all key components. The firm also invested in technologies that will allow it to add drill stem testing and open hole logging to its list of capabilities.

Webb Institute,

Glen Cove, NY, a renowned school of naval architecture and marine engineering, named as its new president R. Keith Michel, chairman of the Herbert Engineering Group of Companies. Michel succeeds Robert C. Olsen Jr., USCG (Ret.), who served in that office for 8 years. To accept the new position, Michel stepped down from his previous position as chairman of the institute's board of directors and was succeeded by Dr. George Campbell Jr.

Webb Institute is a top-ranked undergraduate engineering institution, offering one academic option, a double major in naval architecture and marine engineering. All accepted students are awarded 4-year full-tuition scholarships. The school was founded in 1889 by William H. Webb, a preeminent shipbuilder, entrepreneur, and philanthropist.

Petrofac Training Services (PTS),

London, has enlarged its Houston safety-training facility and plans to double its workforce within 18-24 months in response to the growing number of new employees of oil and gas companies operating in the Gulf of Mexico.

The National Ocean Industries Association reported the oil and gas industry has added 100,000 jobs in the Gulf of Mexico in the past 2 years and is expected to add another 80,000 jobs by the end of 2013 for a total of 430,000 workers. Without proper safety training, the addition of more wells, pipelines, rigs, and people potentially could result in more accidents. PTS, part of the IES division of Petrofac Group, provides competence consultancy, training, and assurance services to the industry. It has expanded its Houston training center to 7,000 sq ft from 4,000 sq ft and has an option for an adjacent building during the first quarter of 2013. The new center has the capacity to conduct five major emergency management (MEM) training courses simultaneously. In addition to replicating the sights, sounds and stresses experienced during an emergency. Its cutting edge information echnology and audio-video capabilities link MEM simulation suites, enabling multiple teams to interact while practicing scenario-based exercises. The result is a high quality simulated environment that provides "reality without the risk," said company officials.

AnTech Ltd.,

Exeter, England, a directional drilling and design engineering services company, kicked off expansion plans to become a full service coiled tubing drilling (CTD) company by bolstering its CTD capabilities, starting with the addition of five new employees—including three experienced engineers—and a major expansion of its global headquarters. Toni Miszewski, managing director, reported the success of a critical CTD campaign in the shallow reserves of the Niobrara formation, during which the company's trademarked Polaris bottomhole assembly "performed extremely well." To better serve its growing CTD customer base, AnTech has expanded and refurbished its headquarters to improve operations, manufacturing, and equipment warehouse facilities. Founded in 1992, AnTech is known for its range of award-winning products.

The American Bureau of Shipping,

Houston, leading provider of classification services to the global marine and offshore industries, signed a strategic cooperation agreement to support CSBC Corp., Taiwan, in construction of vessels and offshore facilities. The agreement "creates an opportunity" to form joint development projects in such areas as design optimization, energy efficiency management, and design and fabrication of offshore support vessels, bulk carriers, oil tankers, ice-classed vessels, and floating production units, said ABS officials. It also positions ABS as the preferred classification society for CSBC.

The two organizations will work together to develop a systematic training program for professionals involved in design, construction, and operation of ships based on ABS training courses. An exchange program will be developed for ABS and CSBC engineers to improve communication between the organizations and foster better understanding of individual business models. Founded in 1973, CSBC has two shipyards in Keelung and Kaohsiung.