Services/Suppliers

JohnstonHouston, has appointed Charles R. (Chuck) Johnston as an advanced process control specialist in its automation and control business unit. He will be responsible for extending Mustang’s offering and expertise in advanced process control applications in refining and other industries. He has more than 25 years experience in all facets of the advanced process control specialty, including business development, project management, product development, project implementation, and training. Johnston was a co-developer of the dynamic matrix control technology, widely recognized and applied in the refining and petrochemicals industries.

Mustang, part of the UK-based Wood Group, specializes in design, engineering, procurement, project management, and construction management to the upstream oil and gas, midstream, pipeline, automation and control, refining and petrochemicals, and process and industrial sectors.

Stora Enso Oyj,

Helsinki, and Neste Oil have inaugurated a biomass-to-liquids demonstration plant using forestry residues at Varkaus, Finland. Their 50-50 joint venture NSE Biofuels Oy was established to develop and commercialize technology to produce biocrude for renewable diesel fuel. The plant’s process units will handle drying of biomass, gasification, gas cleanup, and testing of Fischer-Tropsch catalysts. Finnish government agencies provided funding for the technology development and financing for the demonstration plant.

Stora Enso is a leading global paper, packaging, and forestry products company.

Neste Oil is an oil refiner-marketer with a controlling interest held by Finland’s government.

SNF Group,

Andrezieux, France, has announced its decision to build a new water-soluble polymers manufacturing plant in Iberville Parish, La. The plant will have capacity to produce 250,000 tons/year of polyacrylamides, mainly for use as thickeners in the growing enhanced oil recovery market. Start-up is slated for mid-2011. SNF is pursuing numerous EOR projects over the world and has developed a unique set of technologies, including patented surface equipment and proprietary polymer protection packages and control methods, to help improve the performance of polymer injections.

SNF is the leading producer of polyacrylamides used as thickeners and flocculents.

Boots & Coots Inc.,

Houston, has joined the broad-market Russell 3000 Index, moving up from the Russell Microcap. The index each year captures the 4,000 largest US indexes as of the end of May, ranking them by total market capitalization. The ranking gives Boots & Coots greater exposure to a broader set of investors.

Boots & Coots provides a suite of integrated pressure control services to onshore and offshore oil and gas exploration companies around the world.