SERVICES | SUPPLIERS

Shreveport, La., added John L. Brock and Matthew B. Shirley to its sales and marketing teams. Brock has 20 years of oil and gas sales and marketing experience and another 14 years in a variety of other markets. Shirley is responsible for development of the company's artificial lift business in Oklahoma and Louisiana. He has more than 12 years of sales and financial experience in the medium- and heavy-duty truck business and in the construction equipment business. He also has extensive export experience with Russia, South Africa, Vietnam, Guatemala, and areas of South America.

JJ Tech is a worldwide supplier of artificial lift systems to the oil and gas industry. It has eight international and US distributors, three new pending international distributors, and some 200 hydraulic jet pumps placed throughout the world.

Technip SA,

Paris, was awarded a services contract for the Ichthys floating production, storage, and offloading unit to be located in the Browse Basin off Western Australia in 250 m of water. The contract covers detailed engineering and procurement assistance for the topsides facilities of the FPSO, which will have 1.2 million bbl storage capacity. Technip will provide these services to Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering through Technip's operating center in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

The Ichthys LNG project is a joint venture between Tokyo-based INPEX (operator) and Total. Gas from the field will undergo preliminary processing offshore to remove water and extract condensate. The condensate will be pumped to the FPSO for transfer to tankers. The gas will then be exported to onshore processing facilities in Darwin via an 889 km subsea pipeline. The Ichthys project is expected to produce 8.4 million tonnes of LNG and 1.6 million tonnes of LPG annually, along with 100,000 b/d of condensate at peak.

Expro International Group Ltd.,

Reading, England, contracted to provide equipment and services in support of Xcite Energy Ltd.'s 90-day extended well test in the Bentley Field, Block 9/3b, 160 km east of the Shetlands. The contract is valued at $12 million. The field is estimated to contain 116 million bbl of proven and probable reserves. Expro is to provide heavy oil well testing and data management services through Applied Drilling Technology International (ADTI) on the Rowan Norway jack up rig. Expro has provided extended well testing services in the North Sea and internationally since 1983.

Expro also opened its new operations base in Paradise, Newfoundland. In recent years, Expro has secured multi-million dollar contracts to supply offshore well test equipment and services in Newfoundland. Currently, well test equipment and services are being provided on two offshore rigs for three major operating companies in eastern Canada. "Canada has experienced strong growth during the past few years and Expro Canada has successfully secured contract wins to support the development," said Carl Cooper, Frontier Division manager for Expro. "Eastern Canadian offshore is a critical part of our success, and this new facility allows us to continue to deliver the highest standards for our customers."

The new facility supports delivery of well testing, subsea, and downhole video services for the region. Expro made a $3.4 million investment to create the base for its team in Newfoundland. Located in the new Octagon Industrial Park, the facility accommodates 30 workers, the majority of whom are local employees. The base covers a two-acre lot and includes a four-bay workshop with 8,400 sq ft of warehouse area and an office annex with 6,000 sq ft of space on two levels.

Elsewhere, Expro will provide full well services to what it described only as "a large operator in Australia" under a contract estimated at $20 million. Expro will provide well test, wireline, surface sampling, drill stem testing, and downhole memory gauges in a large scope of work encompassing several high rate gas development projects and including multiple exploration and appraisal wells in the North West shelf of Australia. The primary elements of the contract include a 6 3/8-in. simplified subsea landing string and a 7 3/8-in. subsea test tree to be deployed on three developments. A high-rate well testing package will be supplied to clean up these wells before handover to production. Work is due to commence shortly on the contract that will continue through December 2014, and will involve services on both an ongoing and specific call-out basis as required.

Meanwhile, Expro obtained a subsea services contract in the Gulf of Mexico from Chevron USA Inc. Expro is to provide two auxiliary strings complete with direct hydraulic umbilicals and reelers for tubing hanger operations for two projects in the deepwater gulf. The contract will run for an estimated 3 years with the possibility of extension. Expro said its market-leading subsea safety systems provide reliable and efficient in-riser landing strings for well interventions and completions. Expro is well established in the deepwater regions of the world, including Africa, Gulf of Mexico, Asia, and Brazil, with its technology and expertise in greater demand as development progresses in the world's deepwater provinces.

Aker Solutions ASA,

Oslo, said its subsidiary Aker Oilfield Services received a contract from Total E&P Angola to provide subsea intervention services from its purpose-built vessel Skandi Aker. Company officials said the agreement marks a breakthrough for vessel-based intervention services in deep and ultradeep waters. The contract is for 2 years with options for three extensions of 1 year each. The firm 2-year part of the contract has an aggregated value of $250 million. Start-up of operations off Angola is planned for the first quarter of 2013.

Skandi Aker is the first vessel of its kind capable of riser-based subsea well intervention in deep and ultradeep waters, officials said. Traditionally subsea well intervention was performed from drilling rigs, but high day rates have made it more expensive and rig availability is limited. The increasing water depths made it necessary to develop alternative technology and more cost-effective systems to access deepwater wells.

Aker Solutions also signed a contract with Hyundai Heavy Industries to supply a complete drilling equipment topside package for a semisubmersible drilling rig the South Korean yard is building for Seadrill Ltd. The contract includes an option to supply one more drilling equipment package. Aker Solutions will handle all major aspects of the topside equipment delivery, from engineering support and procurement to installation and commissioning. The work will be executed in Aker Solutions' facilities in Kristiansand, Horten, and Asker, Norway and in Erkelenz, Germany. Most of the equipment will be delivered in 2013, with the rig scheduled for completion in the fourth quarter of 2014.

In addition, Aker Offshore Partner Ltd. secured a 3-year contract extension worth £18 million to provide onshore and offshore operations and maintenance services to Perenco UK. The agreement includes provision of operations, maintenance, and technical support personnel for Perenco at its onshore and offshore assets in the southern North Sea.