SERVICES | SUPPLIERS

Dec. 6, 2010
Global Geophysical Services Inc.,
Houston, has appointed Russell Roundtree vice-president, technology, for Global Microseismic Services Inc. His 25-year career started in surface seismic processing technology, progressed into petrophysics, hydraulic fracturing, and reservoir characterization and, most recently, microseismic monitoring. Prior to joining Halliburton's Pinnacle organization in 2006, as fracture diagnostics manager, where he designed and managed technologies for integrated reservoir monitoring and fracture mapping, Roundtree worked for Landmark Graphics in Denver, Houston, and Caracas. He has BS and MS degrees in geophysics from the Colorado School of Mines, where he is currently completing his doctorate in petroleum engineering.

Global Geophysical also named Christopher P. Graham senior vice-president and general counsel. Previously, Graham was a partner with the firm of Chamberlain, Hrdlicka, White, Williams & Martin PC. He graduated from the University of Houston Law Center and has substantial experience representing a broad spectrum of clients in the energy, exploration and production, oil field services, technology, and maritime sectors.

Global Geophysical provides an integrated suite of seismic data solutions to the global oil and gas industry, including high-resolution RG-3D seismic data acquisition, microseismic monitoring, seismic data processing and interpretation services, and multiclient data products.

Technip,

Paris, has entered into a collaboration agreement with Alter NRG, Calgary, under which Technip USA Inc. will market the Westinghouse plasma technology owned by Alter NRG and provide industry-standard design, engineering, and procurement services, as well as overall performance guarantees, in conjunction with Alter NRG, to support project financing for plasma facilities. Under the terms of the agreement, Technip will act as the preferred engineering, procurement, and construction management contractor for the complete balance of the plant, with the gasification island to be designed and provided by Alter NRG. Technip will actively market and perform joint proposals with Alter NRG to their customer base for waste-to-energy and fuel replacement projects in North America, Europe, and the Middle East. Technip will also provide industry-standard performance guarantees, case by case, on the balance of plant for projects in which they are involved. The Westinghouse plasma technology uses electrical energy and the high temperatures created by electrical arc torches to break down waste primarily to syngas.

Technip provides project management, engineering, and construction services for the oil and gas industry.

Alter NRG is pursuing alternative energy solutions to meet the growing demand for environmentally responsible energy in world markets.

T.D. Williamson Inc.,

Tulsa, has opened a new engineering and manufacturing center in Savli, near Vadodara, India, as part of its continuing commitment to the Indian pipeline and petroleum processing market. The 7,500 sq m facility will enable local manufacturing of pipeline pig launchers and receivers, quick-opening closures, pig passage indicators, hot tapping and plugging fittings, and repair clamps. The new plant will significantly expand the company's ability to handle large projects, reducing delivery time while adhering to strict health, safety, and environmental standards. The Savli plant is the third major engineering and manufacturing facility that TDW has opened, in addition to bases in Tulsa and Nivelles, Belgium. TDW has maintained a service facility in India since 1992. TDW India contends that the new facility will help the firm cater to the domestic market while providing significant cost advantages to its customers in a region extending from India to the Middle East and down to Australia.

In addition to the manufacturing capacity, the new facility will also house a hot tapping and plugging service center and inline inspection group, as well as an expanded engineering staff to support growth initiatives in the region. The facility will also act as an engineering and IT hub for TDW globally, as IT professionals hired in India will also support work at existing centers in Belgium and the US.

T.D. Williamson provides pipeline equipment and services, including hot tapping and plugging, pipeline cleaning, geometry and magnetic flux leakage inspection, pigging and nontethered plugging pig technology for any pressurized piping system.

Alimak Hek Group,
Stockholm, has appointed Pepe Olguin managing director for Alimak Hek Brazil, which will open a new regional sales office in Brazil Jan. 1, 2011. Olguin, currently global offshore/LNG manager within the group, has worked many years in developing sales in all areas of the company's business. Alimak Hek in Brazil will initially focus on the development of new unit sales in both industrial and construction markets. This will cover sales to companies, contractors, and rental fleet operators in construction and sales to major industrial customers in petrochemical, power, and other industries. The office will be staffed with engineers to support new unit sales efforts as they gradually develop after-sales capabilities during 2011. The operation will provide support for the entire Latin American region from its base in Brazil.

The Alimak Hek Group supplies mast climbing equipment and added-value services for both temporary and permanent installations for cost-efficient, reliable, and flexible vertical access solutions for people and materials in the construction and general industry. The Alimak Hek Group is owned by Triton, an independent European private equity investor focused on investing in companies with leading market positions in attractive industry niches. Triton has offices in Sweden, Germany, and the UK.

Aker Solutions ASA,

Oslo, has agreed to transfer ownership in its subsidiary Aker Marine Contractors (AMC) to Ezra Holdings Ltd., Singapore, in exchange for equity instruments in Ezra and cash. In addition, 50% of Aker Solutions' ownership in the newbuild Aker Connector installation vessel will be transferred to Ezra. The new partnership is a step towards developing a world class SURF (subsea umbilicals, risers, and flowlines) and floater installation company with various assets covering all water depths and regions of the world. In addition, Ezra will access Aker Solutions' wide range of subsea and other products to create a leading combined engineering, procurement, construction, and installation capability. In the transaction, to be completed in first quarter 2011, AMC is valued at $250 million. The Aker Connector—to be renamed AMC Connector—will be completed in early 2012. Currently, AMC operates two vessels, the Boa Deep C and Boa Sub C. Ezra and AMC will initially operate a fleet of five construction and SURF installation vessels, growing rapidly to 10 vessels from 2013. Ezra also operates 30 anchor handling tug, anchor handling tug supply, and diving support vessels and 2 accommodation barges through its offshore support division.

Ezra, which operates in the offshore market under the EMAS brand, is an integrated offshore support solutions provider for the oil and gas industry.

Aker is a leading global provider of engineering and construction services, technology products, and integrated solutions serving the oil and gas, refining, chemicals, power generation, and mining and metals industries.

Petris Technology Inc.,

Houston, has launched its redesigned website (http://www.Petris.com). The new site presents Petris's extensive portfolio of data and information management solutions and reinforces Petris's corporate objective to help exploration and production companies extract the most from their existing infrastructure investment.

Petris is a leading supplier of practical data management solutions and geosciences applications to the global oil and gas industry.

RigNet Inc.,

Houston, has named Jesus H. Jimenez to the position of global VSAT manager. Based in Houston, Jimenez will be focused on negotiating long-term satellite bandwidth agreements and enhancing RigNet's global standard regarding all products and services related to satellite communications. He has more than 20 years of experience that includes director of engineering at Eagle Broadband, CTO at ERF Wireless, and senior wireless engineer at CenterPoint Energy. He holds a BS in information systems technology from the University of Houston and a multiclaim patent for an indoor Iridium satellite repeater.

Meanwhile, RigNet has extended its contract with SandRidge Energy Inc., Oklahoma City, to provide fully managed remote communications services to SandRidge's fleet of more than 20 land drilling rigs operating in the continental US. RigNet's connectivity services, delivered over broadband VSAT, include an IP-based voice, fax, and enterprise network and broadband Internet access. RigNet's US onshore business segment provides service in nearly all of the major continental US land drilling markets.

RigNet is a leading global provider of managed communications, networks, and collaborative applications dedicated to the oil and gas industry.

IDS,

Kuala Lumpur, has slated the launch of its latest product, StockNet, to the Middle East. StockNet is a complete, web-based logistical planning solution devised to streamline the often complex logistics that govern traffic to and from and on a rig. One of the DataNet2 suite of tools from IDS, StockNet has already been successfully deployed across Europe, Asia, and Australia.

IDS provides web-delivered reporting and analysis services to the upstream oil and gas industry through its DataNet2 service.

IMV Projects,
Calgary, has appointed Kevin O'Brien, president, effective Jan. 1, 2011. Ivan Velev, founding president of IMV Projects, will continue to serve the company as chairman of the board. O'Brien has more than 15 years of experience in Alberta's oil and gas sector and previously served as COO. He has been instrumental in driving IMV Projects' emergence as an engineering, procurement, and construction management leader in thermal heavy oil facilities and pipelines. O'Brien holds a BS in engineering from Queen's University in Kingston, Ont.

IMV Projects, a Wood Group company, is a project execution company for the energy industry that delivers project management, engineering, procurement, and construction management services.

Wood Group provides a range of engineering, production support, maintenance management, and industrial gas turbine overhaul and repair services to the oil and gas and power generation industries worldwide.

CGGVeritas,

Paris, has been awarded a 3-year contract by Maersk Oil & Gas AS to perform high-end seismic data processing and imaging services at a dedicated center inaugurated Sept. 29 at Maersk's Copenhagen office. The dedicated processing center (DPC) gives Maersk Oil experts the flexibility to work in a close collaborative environment with an onsite team of CGGVeritas geophysicists specializing in time, depth, 4D, and ocean-bottom cable seismic processing and imaging. Maersk Oil will have access to the latest CGGVeritas seismic technologies and be able to provide input to R&D projects. The Copenhagen facility is CGGVeritas's 14th DPC.

CGGVeritas is a leading international pure-play geophysical company delivering a wide range of technologies, services, and equipment (through Sercel) to the global oil and gas industry.

Seismic Micro-Technology (SMT),

Houston, has joined the NetApp Alliance Partner Program as an Advantage Alliance Partner. This partnership comes at a time when organizations in the oil and gas industry have increasingly higher demands for computing performance. The new alliance will focus on helping customers satisfy their computing needs by harnessing the advantages of 64-bit processing. The two organizations recently collaborated with a major US independent producer to develop test cases documenting improvements that can be seen using SMT's KINGDOM software with NetApp storage and data management in a 64-bit computing environment. These findings indicate real benefits for geoscientists. For example, executing 3D time slices on the fly improved by nearly 60%; read/writes to the Oracle database improved, on average, 25%. Material gains were also seen in data loading speeds.

SMT provides software that enables intuitive interpretation, 3D modeling, analysis, and data management in one integrated executable.

The NetApp Alliance Partner Program provides qualified infrastructure and application providers with access to NetApp solutions, software development kits, technical support, training, certification, product information, marketing, and sales assistance.

Swire Oilfield Services,
Aberdeen, has named Steve Hardwick president, North America. He will manage all aspects of Swire's operations in the US, Canada, and Mexico. Hardwick has 30 years experience in the oil and gas industry, mostly with Tetra Technologies. He held several management roles at Tetra, most recently vice-president and general manager, US Gulf of Mexico, and global vice-president of business development. Hardwick earned a bachelor's degree through Texas A&M University and Liberty University.

Swire Oilfield Services, part of the London-based Swire Group, is the world's largest supplier of specialty offshore cargo carrying units to the global energy industry and is a leading specialist in pressurized units, helicopter fuel systems, and chemical handling services. The company recently acquired Circulation Tools and Gator Tank Rentals, both based in southern Louisiana.

GE Energy Services

has agreed to acquire an equity share of Istanbul-based Artesis Teknologi Sistemleri, a predictive-maintenance technology manufacturer. Under this agreement, Artesis will manufacture a range of GE's intelligent condition monitoring products designed to detect anomalies on various motor types, sizes, and loads. Artesis will introduce a new motor anomaly detection solution from GE's Bently Nevada product line known as AnomAlert. The AnomAlert products are used for monitoring and anomaly detection across multiple industries, including the oil and gas, chemical and petrochemical, power generation, maritime, and other sectors.

The measurement and control solutions business within GE Energy Services provides sensor-based measurement, nondestructive testing, inspection, and condition monitoring solutions. The businesses that comprise GE Energy—GE Power & Water, GE Energy Services, and GE Oil & Gas—work together to provide integrated product and service solutions in all areas of the energy industry, including coal, oil, natural gas, nuclear, hydro, wind, solar, biogas, and other alternative fuels.

Artesis provides predictive-maintenance technology that uses model-based condition monitoring for electric motors, motor driven machinery, and generators.

More Oil & Gas Journal Current Issue Articles
More Oil & Gas Journal Archives Issue Articles
View Oil and Gas Articles on PennEnergy.com