Sulphco Inc.,
Houston, has appointed Fred S. Zeidman to its board. Zeidman has held leadership positions in a number of energy-related companies. He is the former chairman of the board of Houston-based Seitel Inc., a leading provider of seismic data and related geophysical expertise to the petroleum industry. He also served as chairman of the board of Unibar Corp., the largest US independent drilling fluids company until its sale in 1991 to Anchor Drilling Fluids. He currently serves as interim president for Nova Biosource Fuels Inc., a refiner and marketer of renewable biodiesel fuel products. Zeidman is also a senior director for governmental affairs at Greenberg, Traurig’s Washington, DC, law office. He is a graduate of Washington University and received an MBA from New York University.
Sulphco has developed a patented process employing ultrasound technology to desulfurize and hydrogenate crude oil and other oil-related products. The company’s technology is designed to upgrade sour heavy crude oils into sweeter, lighter crude oils, producing usable oil per barrel.
Anton Oilfield Services Group,
Hong Kong, has agreed to acquire the oil field services business of Qingdao Precede Technology Co. Ltd. The deal includes Qingdao’s associated company Shengli Oilfield Liwei Petroleum Technology Co. Ltd. The business and related assets of Qingdao will be injected into a new company, and Anton will acquire 75% of the new company for 160 million renminbi in stock and 50 million renminbi in cash. Anton has an option to purchase the remaining 25% within 1 year from Jan. 1, 2011.
Qingdao Precede provides sand control and production enhancement services in Shengli, Jidong, and Nanyang oil fields in China.
Anton provides drilling, completion, and production-related services.
Det Norsk Veritas,
Oslo, through its commercial software unit DNV Software has acquired Jardine Technology Ltd., Glasgow. This acquisition follows DNV’s acquisition and integration of the Jardine & Associates Ltd. consultancy in 2005, completing DNV’s offering of software and services in the market for reliability, availability, and maintainability simulations. The acquired software products include MAROS for the upstream oil and gas industry; TARO for the refining, petrochemical, and chemicals industries; and TRAIL for the rail industry. These new products complement DNV’s Safeti software for quantitative risk assessment, consequence modeling, and management systems assessment.
DNV is an independent risk management consultancy with the objective of safeguarding life, property, and the environment. DNV Software serves the maritime, offshore, and process industries.
Jardine was established in March 1998 to focus on developing software solutions to asset performance and risk problems in the oil and gas, chemical, power, and railway industries.
J-W Wireline Co.,
Dallas, acquired the business, assets, and personnel of Meeks Wireline Services Inc., Dunbar, WV, for an undisclosed cash sum. Meeks Wireline Services is an independent cased-hole wireline company serving the Appalachian basin from bases in Weston, WV, and Jager Hill, Ky. Plans call for providing wireline services covering all of the Appalachian basin, including from a new base of operations.
J-W Wireline is a wholly owned subsidiary of J-W Operating Co. that specializes in providing cased-hole logging services in Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Arkansas, Colorado, Wyoming, New Mexico, Utah, Kentucky, and West Virginia.
Remora ASA,
Stavanger, and Stena Drilling Ltd., Aberdeen, have signed an engineering, procurement, and construction contract for phased development of an innovative mooring system to be used on the first drillship to be designed for operation in polar seas. The Drillmax Ice drillship will be built at the Samsung shipyard in South Korea. The mooring system is based on Remora’s patented HiLoad technology and will allow the advanced dynamically positioned (DP) drillship to operate with the highest possible regularity in shallow (60–300 m) and icy waters. The system will be based on a DP-assisted mooring configuration.
Remora provides the international market with innovative solutions for offshore loading of oil.
Stena Drilling, a wholly owned subsidiary of Stena AB, Gothenburg, Sweden, is one of the world’s foremost independent drilling contractors.
Wellbore Energy Solutions,
Lafayette, La., has appointed Jason Foreman quality, health, safety, and environment (QHSE) manager. As QHSE manager, he will support existing QHSE policies and procedures and implement initiatives to continue to foster a company-wide commitment to safety and quality assurance. Prior to joining WES, Foreman spent 12 years with Baker Oil Tools, serving in various capacities, including applications advisor in the Fluid Pumping District and quality analyst within the Baker Oil Tools Super Center. He has a bachelor’s degree in industrial technology from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette’s College of Engineering.
WES is an oil field service company specializing in the rental of wellbore cleanup equipment throughout the Gulf Coast region and international markets.
Bentley Systems Inc.,
Exton, Pa., has acquired Struc-Soft Inc., Montreal. Terms were not disclosed. Struc-Soft is a reseller and developer of 2-D and 3-D engineering, construction, and fabrication products for analysis, design, and drawing of production plant facilities in the oil and gas, chemical, mining and metals, and other industries in eastern Canada. Struc-Soft has been the exclusive North American reseller of Bentley’s ProSteel 3-D structural steel detailing and fabrication software since 2000 and also offers custom-developed ProSteel add-ons for specialized applications such as offshore platforms and jackets, pressure vessels, and towers. Bentley named Struc-Soft cofounder and former Pres. George Ajami director, global structure professional services. Struc-Soft co-founder and former Vice-Pres. Diane Hansen also is joining Bentley.
Bentley provides comprehensive software solutions for sustaining infrastructure.
Expro,
Reading, UK, will soon start work on a new 60 million kroner (Nor.) base in Norway supporting its Matre sensor products The company will spend an additional 10 million kroner in tooling and outfitting the base. Expro’s Matre sensors are deployed in its high-integrity subsea power and data connection systems. Zurhaar & Rubb AS will build the base in the Ternetangen industrial area in the Bomlo area of Hordaland. Planning permission has been approved, and building contracts are expected to be signed within the next month with an expected 12-month construction program. The Norwegian Technology Institute has been contracted during the design phase to consult on lean manufacturing and layout.
Expro is a market leader in providing services and products that measure, improve, control, and process flow from high-value oil and gas wells. It markets in the areas of well testing and commissioning, production systems, wireline intervention, connectors and measurements, and drilling choke systems.
Petrofac,
Aberdeen and Sharjah, has opened a new state-of-the-art training center in Dubai. The Dubai Petroleum Training Center is the result of a joint agreement between Dubai state company Dubai Petroleum Establishment and Petrofac Training to invest in and develop a safety and technical training center in the UAE. The facility is equipped to meet the safety and technical training needs of the energy industries throughout the Middle East. With a practical training area of about 1,500 sq m, the center boasts cutting-edge training equipment, including a mobile helicopter underwater escape training unit, a mobile confined space training unit, a rigging and lifting frame, and a scaffolding area. The center also has four fully equipped classrooms, and as a result can deliver a mix of practical and theoretical learning onsite to both external clients and DPE.
Petrofac Training, a division of Petrofac, is a leading provider of training and consultancy solutions to the global oil and gas industry. Petrofac is a leading international provider of facilities solutions to the oil and gas production and processing industry.
DPE assumed full control of Dubai’s offshore petroleum assets in April 2007.
