SERVICES | SUPPLIERS

Paris-based pure-play geophysical company, said Tim Brooks rejoined the company as vice-president of North American operations for the land division in Houston.

He returned to the firm after 4 years in senior operational management positions, most recently with Tidelands Geophysical. Brooks has an extensive background in crew and operations management and was general manager for Veritas DGC for more than 10 years. Earlier he served as operations manager for Schlumberger Geco-Prakla and has more than 25 years of experience in the seismic industry.

WesternGeco,

a leading geophysical services firm and business segment of Schlumberger Ltd., has started the Bjørnøya Phase I "Ice Bear" 3D multiclient seismic survey to extend the company's datasets to the north and west of the highly prospective West Loppa area of the Barents Sea.

"The study area is located on the rim of the Bjørnøya Basin on the west flank of the Loppa High and includes a large downthrown terrace in the north together with other Jurassic faulted structures, all of which have potential," said Phil Davey, WesternGeco Europe & Africa GeoSolutions manager, "Other separate but still promising features are seen in the southwestern part of the survey area."

Building on previous 2D datasets, the Ice Bear survey will acquire 2,500 sq km of 3D seismic data using 10 X 7 km streamers. Advanced acquisition techniques coupled with demultiple processing will provide high-quality 3D data, officials said.

Fast-track data will be available in November for nominations for the 22nd Norwegian licensing round. The final processed data will be available for licensing in March 2012 in advance of the applications for the 22nd Norwegian offshore licensing round.

Dril-Quip Inc.

reported its orders backlog continued building to $727 million in the second quarter from $665 million at the end of March. New orders of $187 million jumped 26% sequentially.

In their evaluation of Dril-Quip, Barclays Capital analysts said, "We expect orders to remain elevated for the balance of the second half and to accelerate into 2012. The order strength during first half of 2011 confirms our view that the international offshore up-cycle is taking hold, particularly in light of continued weakness for the Gulf of Mexico market."

Dril-Quip will benefit from the ongoing new deepwater rig delivery cycle and the growth in the subsea business "that we expect to continue for at least the next decade," they said.

Alderley PLC

Appointed Chris McGeehan as chief executive officer effective immediately, raising the total of company board members to six.

McGeehan joined Alderley in January 2010 as managing director of Alderley Systems Group, overseeing the regional operating companies of Alderley Systems Ltd, Alderley FZE, Alderley Dammam, and Alderley Neftegas.

Tony Shepherd, Alderley chairman and former CEO, said the appointment "is part of our strategy for continued global development of the Alderley Group." He credited McGeehan as instrumental in driving the company's regional operations in the UK, Middle East, and Russia.

Prior to joining Alderley, McGeehan was chief operating officer of the fabrication division of Sovereign Oilfield Services (Sovereign Fabrication Services).

Baker Hughes Inc.,

Houston, has introduced the next generation of its Reservoir Characterization eXplorer™ (RCX™) and In-situ Fluids eXplorer™ (IFX™) formation testing services.

The services are used jointly to characterize fluid properties in real time. Combined with other formation evaluation techniques, they provide critical information about a reservoir's commercial viability.

The RCX service is designed for enhanced reliability in challenging high-pressure, high-temperature wells. Its high-capacity pumps also improve operations in highly overbalanced wells. The services can be combined into one run to reduce risk and time on the rig.

Designed primarily for deepwater and high-temperature wells, the IFX service characterizes downhole fluid compositions in real time to allow robust fluid identification, to optimize sample collection and to provide input to the petrophysical evaluations for early assessments of a reservoir's value. It has a unique tuning fork sensor and separate sound speed transducer that provide high-resolution density and viscosity and sound speed information.

"The next generation of RCX and IFX are part of our flagship wireline suite of measurements. They push the pressure and temperature boundaries to provide our customers with critical information for decision-making in the well construction process," says Scott Schmidt, president of drilling and evaluation for Baker Hughes.

Baker Hughes

also commercialized its MaxCOR™ sidewall coring service, a large-diameter rotary sidewall coring tool that recovers 1.5-in diameter cores in extreme environments, including high-pressure and high-temperature formations.

The MaxCOR service acquires core with more than three times the volume in essentially the same amount of rig time it takes to deploy standard 1-in. rotary sidewall coring tools, said company officials. The larger cores provide more accurate measurements of important reservoir attributes such as porosity, permeability and geomechanical properties. Greater sample volume per trip also enables operators to more accurately evaluate reservoirs and maximize hydrocarbon recovery with the least amount of rig time. It can retrieve 60 samples in a single run and operates as high as 25,000 psi and up to 400°F (204°C)—"the highest temperature and pressure ratings in the industry," the company said.

Flexlife Ltd,

Aberdeen, a specialist in subsea project and integrity management, appointed Stephen Burgdorf as vice-president of North American business development in Houston as part of the company's continuing global growth strategy.

With 20 years' experience of working in business development and project management within the industry, Burgdorf joins with Flexlife's Brazil team to focus on growth in both North and South America. His career includes most recently Construction Technical Services Inc. and Germanisher Lloyd.

Flexlife is an industry leader in delivering subsea integrity management and subsea project management. It was named Scotland's fastest growing young company in 2010, reporting an increase in turnover of more than 50% for year ending 2010-11, with a rise from £4.8million to £7.5million. A further rise to £17.8million is predicted for 2011-12.

The company also operates in Africa, the Far East, and Mediterranean, and staff numbers globally are expected to reach 120 by the end of this year.

Austin GeoModeling Inc.,

Austin, Tex., was recently issued a US patent for its next-generation 3D geological interpretation and modeling technology.

"This patent describes our integrated 3D geological interpretation software, designed to enable geoscientists to work more efficiently, which improves the accuracy of their oil & gas subsurface reservoir interpretations," said Chief Executive Robin Dommisse.

The patent covers creation of recursively conformable stratigraphic frameworks within 3D structural fault-block definitions, while using stratigraphic termination rules. Within this 3D structural framework, geoscientists can generate zones containing attributes such as average porosity, net-to-gross, and facies values. The 3D horizons, faults, and zone averages are automatically updated as new data is added, resulting in faster interpretation cycle-times.

Geotrace,

Houston, promoted Deborah Walker and Greg McCracken to vice-president positions within its accounting department, effective immediately.

Walker is promoted to vice-president of accounting and will oversee the company's global accounting issues and maintenance of standards to meet compliance requirements and taxation of the company.

McCracken is promoted to vice-president of finance and operations analysis. He will continue to work on banking relationships and operational plans, forecasts, and projections. He also will take on the role of helping establish operational metrics to better guide production improvements, strategy, and visibility.

GL Noble Denton,

London-based independent technical advisor, appointed Peter Russell-Smith to its management team as executive vice-president and general manger for business development.

A qualified engineer and certified management accountant, Russell-Smith will play a lead role in developing the company's product and service offerings, business development activity, and management systems during a period of growth.

He joins GL Noble Denton from global engineering software provider Intergraph, where he was senior vice-president for the Asia Pacific region. He has also held international leadership positions at Hewlett Packard and PricewaterhouseCoopers, where he fostered successful business expansion in the divisions for which he was responsible.

Schlumberger Business Consulting (SBC),

Paris-based Schlumberger's management consultancy arm, expanded its senior leadership team with appointment of six vice-presidents. The additions coincide with the launch of a new office in Moscow; the growth of offices in Beijing, the United Arab Emirates, Singapore, and London; as well as the expansion of the Rio de Janeiro office, which will now cover clients in Southern Cone countries.

Appointees include:

Tamas Seregi (Moscow), previously partner and managing director at Boston Consulting Group's Moscow office where he led the energy practice in the CIS. He has also worked as a country representative in Romania for the Hungarian oil and gas corporation, MOL, where he focused on expansion into the Romanian market including several acquisition projects. He holds a petroleum engineering degree in petrochemical technology from the University of Veszprem in Hungary, an economics degree from the University of International Trade & Commerce in Budapest, and an MBA from the Marshall School of Business, University of Southern California in the US.

David Williams (London): Prior to joining SBC, Williams spent 2 years at Deloitte Consulting as global leader for national oil companies and was based in the Middle East. Prior to that, he led Deloitte's management consulting services for the energy, infrastructure, and utilities industries in the UK. He holds a physics degree from Oxford University and an MBA from the University of Bath.

Friedrich Portner (Abu Dhabi), who previously spent 7 years in management consultancy roles, including as principal at Roland Berger Strategy Consultants in the Middle East, where he focused on the oil and gas, chemicals, steel, construction and materials industries implementing projects in strategy, organizational optimization as well as corporate transformation and development. He was also a Senior Associate for Booz & Co. in their Middle Eastern energy practice. Friedrich's industrial experience stems from various management positions held at ABB Utility GmbH and ABB Reaktor GmbH in Europe and the Middle East-North Africa region. He holds a Masters degree in electrical and power engineering from the University of Hanover and an MBA from INSEAD.

David Rabley (Singapore), formerly director at Accunomics and co-leader of the Singapore office. Before that, he was associate principal at McKinsey & Co. where he led the procurement and supplier management practice in southeast Asia, and was a leader in the global energy and basic materials practice. He has over 11 years of management consulting experience. He holds an economics degree from the University of Cambridge and an MBA from INSEAD.

Alan Trench (Rio de Janeiro), previously associate principal at McKinsey & Co. where he led a range of studies primarily focused on oil & gas, energy, and basic materials (steel, cement) across several international settings which include South America, Europe, Central Asia, and the Far East. Before that he worked at TOTAL SA in several upstream and downstream roles where he led strategic and transformational initiatives across the commercial, accounting, and business development divisions. He holds an MBA degree from The Red McCombs School of Business at The University of Texas and a B.S. in business administration from the Pontificia Universidad Católica Argentina.

Min Cao (Beijing) spent 10 years in management consultancy roles, including manager at Bain & Co., associate director at PriceWaterhourseCoopers, and senior associate at the Boston Consulting Group. She has extensive experience in project management & execution and strategy/private equity in the Greater China area across various sectors. She has a business degree from ESSEC Business School, a B.A. in international law and foreign affairs from China Foreign Affairs University, and a B.A. in economics from Beijing International Studies University.

Logan Oil Tools,

Houston subsidiary of Logan International Inc. and a leader in manufacture and sale of downhole tools and products, opened a sales office and stocking facility in Edmonton, Alberta. It's the firm's second investment in the region.

Momentive Specialty Chemicals Inc.'s

Oilfield Technology Group (OTG) announced startup of a new manufacturing production line at its Brady, Tex., facility to provide additional resin-coated proppants to fracturing service companies and operators in the oil and gas industry.

"Demand continues to grow as more operators come to realize the correlation between curable resin-coated proppants and enhanced post-frac well production," said Jerry Borges, OTG vice-president.

The Brady plant expansion is the third addition to the OTG manufacturing grid this year. The new production line manufactures Momentive's field-proven curable resin-coated proppants in large grain sizes. Its geographic location and products serve the nearby Eagle Ford and Permian Basin development markets, officials said.

"By leveraging Momentive's technology from other industries, combined with our own internal resin manufacturing facilities, we will continue to bring innovative proppant technology to our customers," Borges said.

Momentive's introduction of enhanced materials expanded use of resin-coated proppants into unconventional reservoirs that feature complex and challenging geological formations.

UTEC Survey Australia Pty Ltd.,

Perth, mobilized the 24-m. geophysical survey catamaran, MV Calypso Star, to support long term geophysical survey operations in North and Northwest Australia.

Its current multi-customer operations in the Timor Sea are expected to be completed this month.

The vessel is equipped with an array of geophysical survey equipment, including a high resolution R2Sonics multibeam echo sounder coupled with a DMS3-05 motion sensor, Edgetech 4200 Digital Side scan sonar, reflection seismic and onboard processing capabilities. It will be available in early September for regional geophysical surveys.

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