SERVICES | SUPPLIERS

Bekaert Corp.,

Marietta, Ga., sold its third ultra-low emission trademarked Clean Enclosed Burner (CEB) system to Warren E&P Inc. to dispose of excess associated gas produced beyond current requirements within the South Coast Air Quality Management District in Wilmington, Calif. Warren E&P in Casper, Wyo., is a subsidiary of Warren Resources Inc. Last year Bekaert sold four such systems to oil exploration and production companies in southern California.

Castrol Offshore Ltd.,

Swindon, UK, is now offering regionally managed branded products, expertise, and specialized resources through distributor Rahimafrooz Distribution Ltd. in Dhaka, Bangladesh. That country is augmenting its current power generation capacity to meet double digit growth in demand, said company officials.

Castrol Offshore is a specialist arm within the lubricants business of BP PLC.

Baker Hughes Inc.,

Houston, named Lynn L. Elsenhans to the company's board of directors, serving on the audit, ethics, and governance committees. Elsenhans was executive chairman of Sunoco Inc. from January 2009 until this May and was Sunoco's chief executive officer and president from August 2008 until this March. She also served as chairman of Sunoco Logistics Partners LP from October 2008 until May and as chief executive officer from July 2010 until March. She worked for Royal Dutch Shell in various capacities for more than 28 years. Elsenhans graduated from Rice University with an undergraduate degree in mathematical science in 1978 and earned a master's of business administration from Harvard Business School in 1980. She is a member of the board of directors of GlaxoSmithKline PLC effective in July, a member of the board of trustees at Rice University, a member of the council of overseers at the Jones School of Business at Rice, and a member of the board of the Texas Medical Center.

Baker Hughes also named Trey Clark vice-president of investor relations, succeeding Adam B. Anderson who became president of the company's Latin America operations. Prior to his investor relations role, Anderson held a variety of marketing and operations management roles for Baker Hughes in the US, Gulf of Mexico, the Middle East, and the company's product development center. He began his career with PES Inc.–WellDynamics Inc. and served in a variety of engineering and sales positions. Anderson earned his undergraduate degree in petroleum engineering from Colorado School of Mines and his MBA from Fuqua School of Business at Duke University. Clark joined Baker Hughes 15 years ago as a field engineer and held a number of management roles, including leading the implementation and accreditation of the firm's competence management program. He worked most recently as a director internationally and domestically in both technical and training functions. He spent 4 years in Europe in a variety of roles, including regional director for marketing and district manager for the UK and continental Europe. Clark also has worked in operations and quality assurance. He received his undergraduate degree in industrial distribution from Texas A&M.

SGS SA,

Geneva, signed a service agreement to provide comprehensive inspection and expediting services for various land and offshore projects under direction of Saipem SPA, Milan, a turnkey contractor in the oil and gas industry. Details of the agreement, which extends through 2014, were not provided. SGS inspects equipment and materials for mechanical defects or regulatory deficits at the manufacturing plant and on site and coordinates supply scheduling by evaluating and modifying proposed vendor timetables as well as anticipating, analyzing, and preventing potential delays.

Aker Solutions ASA,

Oslo, agreed to acquire Dubai-based NPS Energy from Kuwaiti-owned National Petroleum Services in a $460 million deal to expand its oil and gas services in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). The price includes $350 million equity and $110 million of assumed debt. NPS Energy has a strong MENA presence. "After the divestment of our non-oil and gas related business in 2010 and the demerger from the EPC contractor Kvaerner in 2011, this is our next major step in the transformation of Aker Solutions into a leading and global oilfield products, systems, and services company," said Øyvind Eriksen, executive chairman. "We have established a new operating structure, which more transparently shows our broad range of technologies and customer offerings, and we have introduced regional management in North America and Brazil, which provides our customers with a single point of contact. We are now ready to take this successful formula into . . . the most prolific oil and gas region of the world." NPS Energy has 900 employees. Its core offerings are well intervention—coil tubing, wireline services, cementing, pressure pumping, well logging, and testing—and land drilling services. It also provides perforation equipment. It is headed by Adnan Ghabris who will serve as regional president for Aker Solutions following the acquisition.

Paradigm,

Amsterdam, entered into a strategic access agreement to provide Calgary-based Divestco Inc. with its seismic processing, imaging, and characterization suite. Divestco will use the Paradigm solutions as its primary integration platform to incorporate the company's broader technology portfolio.

Bulk Handling USA Inc.,

Houston, a wholly owned subsidiary of Oiltanking Holding Americas Inc. , entered into a definitive agreement to acquire 100% of US United Bulk Terminal LLC (UBT), a wholly owned subsidiary of United Maritime Group LLC. Located on the Mississippi River, UBT is the largest dry bulk export terminal on the Gulf Coast and is a critical logistic link in coal and petroleum coke international supply chains, with ample land for further expansion and development. The facility offers a full suite of ground-based service capabilities including storage, blending, and sampling and has a major dry bulk barge fleet as well as the ability to accommodate multiple vessels simultaneously. Oiltanking Holding Americas is a wholly owned subsidiary of Oiltanking GmbH, which in turn is a subsidiary of Marquard & Bahls AG, Germany, a privately owned petroleum company. Oiltanking is the second largest independent tank storage provider for petroleum products, chemicals, and gases worldwide. It owns and operates 72 terminals in 22 countries within Europe, North and South America, the Middle East, India, and Asia.

Electromagnetic Geoservices ASA,

Trondheim, Norway, named David Hicks as president of the EMGS North and South America business unit in Houston. Hicks is a graduate of the University of Southern California and has an extensive background in the oil and gas industry. He worked as a senior exploration geologist for Exxon developing prospects in the US. He then worked in the geological and geophysical software interpretation segment, ultimately as senior vice-president for product development at Landmark Graphics, a Halliburton company. Most recently, Hicks worked for TGS Inc., initially as the company's chief technology officer and then as senior vice-president for the Africa, Middle East, and Asia-Pacific division. He led the acquisition of all multi-client data acquisition services including seismic, well, remote sensing, and interpretive surveys and has a strong background working with both customers and government agencies throughout the world. Dave Ridyard was acting president of EMGS North and South America pending Hicks assuming office. Ridyard then became executive vice-president of strategic business development for the company.

EMGS was awarded a contract for more than $4 million by what it described only as "a new customer" to acquire and process 3D electromagnetic data off Papua New Guinea. Data acquisition will be performed by the vessel EM Leader in the current quarter. "The strong pipeline of contract opportunities for the second half of 2012 and for 2013, along with the flexibility we have in the time charter agreement for the EM Leader, puts us in a good position to develop the Asia-Pacific market profitably," said EMGS Chief Executive Officer Roar Bekker.

NiSource Gas Transmission & Storage,

Houston, a unit of NiSource Inc., announced the addition of Georgia Carter as senior vice-president of rates and regulatory affairs for Columbia Gas Transmission, Columbia Gulf Transmission, and Crossroads Pipeline, effective June 4. She recently was deputy general counsel for gas transmission and distribution for Dominion Resources Services Inc. Before that, Carter held a variety of leadership roles in the law department and marketing group of Consolidated Natural Gas Co. and Dominion Resources. Carter earned an undergraduate degree in economics and philosophy from the College of William and Mary, as well as a law degree from the Marshall Wythe School of Law.

Day & Zimmermann,

Philadelphia, said Ken Jobe joined its engineering, construction, and maintenance unit in the new position of vice-president of the firm's process and industrial markets. Jobe previously was owner and principal of Polaris Global Solutions, a specialty consulting practice focused on aligning business objectives within the power and petrochemical industries. He earlier held senior operations management positions for industry-leading companies in the power and petrochemical sector and is experienced in overseeing operations in both domestic and international markets. Jobe spent 20 years with Shell Oil Co. and was part of the management team for the ninth largest US refinery. He holds an undergraduate degree in mechanical engineering from the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University.

Summit ESP LLC,

Tulsa, recently opened a service center in Odessa, Tex., to provide electric submersible pumping systems for artificial lift to operators in the Permian Basin. The company's products range from surface controls to downhole sensors for a wide variety of production applications and harsh environments. "Summit is a small ESP company with large ESP solutions," said Chief Executive Officer John Kenner. The company also has service centers in Powell, Wyo., and Tulsa.

UOP LLC,

Des Plaines, Ill., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Honeywell International Inc., opened a manufacturing and operations center in Penang, Malaysia, that will produce membrane elements for the natural gas market. "The new manufacturing and operations center in Malaysia will strengthen UOP's position to meet demand as natural gas becomes a larger part of the world's energy equation," said Rajeev Gautam, president and CEO of Honeywell's UOP. The trademarked Separex membrane systems are delivered as modular, skid-mounted units allowing easier installation on offshore applications such as floating, processing, storage, and offloading (FPSO) vessels and at remote locations. Honeywell's UOP has membrane system and other gas processing technology design centers in Des Plaines and Antwerp and manufactures membranes in Anaheim, Calif., and Littleton, Colo.

Oceaneering International Inc.,

Houston, named Roderick A. Larson as senior vice-president and chief operating officer for all of the company's oil field business operations. Larson has more than 20 years of oil field service experience with Baker Hughes Inc., initially as a field engineer for Baker Atlas. Since January 2011, he served as president of Baker Hughes' Latin America region. Prior to that, he was vice-president of operations in the Gulf of Mexico. Larson has an undergraduate degree in engineering and a master's degree in business administration.

Oceaneering International recently secured a contract from Petroleo Brasileiro SA (Petrobras) to supply 125 miles of thermoplastic production control umbilicals for development projects in the Lula and Sapinhoá fields in the Santos Basin off Brazil. It is the largest umbilical order in the company's history, officials said, and adds more than $120 million to its subsea products backlog that totaled $402 million at the end of the first quarter. It also is Petrobras' first large pre-salt umbilical contract. The umbilicals will be manufactured in Oceaneering International's Niteroi plant in Brazil beginning in the third quarter and are to be completed by the third quarter of 2015.

TMK IPSCO,

Downers Grove, Ill., the North American division of global pipe manufacturer TMK, appointed Dave Mitch to the newly created position of senior vice-president and chief operating officer responsible for all manufacturing, supply chain, and quality functions. Mitch has held several key leadership positions within the tubular industry, including executive vice-president of Copperweld Tubular Products as well as vice-president and general manager of Lone Star Steel Co. Most recently he served as general manager at US Steel Tubular. He holds a bachelor's degree in metallurgical engineering from the University of Cincinnati and a master's degree in organizational leadership from Geneva College.

FMC Technologies Inc.,

Houston, signed two 5-year contracts with Island Offshore Management AS to supply light well intervention (LWI) services for Statoil ASA in the North Sea, contingent on approval from Statoil's partners. Each contract contains options for two 2-year extensions. The new contracts will commence when existing LWI contracts between the companies expire in 2015. The work includes intervention and maintenance operations on existing subsea wells and will be conducted from two Island Offshore vessels, the Island Frontier and the Island Wellserver. "While no financial metrics were given, this demonstrates FMC's expertise and ability to develop relationships with major partners," said analysts in the Houston office of Raymond James & Associates Inc.

PRENG & ASSOCIATES,