Halliburton, DSND to merge subsea operations in joint venture
By the OGJ Online Staff
HOUSTON, Oct. 18 -- Halliburton Co., Dallas, and subsea contractor DSND Subsea ASA, Grimstad, Norway, agreed to form a joint venture that will combine their subsea interests in the upstream oil and gas industry.
The proposed deal is subject to board and regulatory approvals. The joint venture, owned 50:50 by the two companies, will start operations from Aberdeen headquarters Jan. 1. The parent companies did not announce a name for the company.
The venture will combine assets, people, ongoing contracts, and intellectual property of the two firms. It will have about 4,000 staff. It will have regional bases in Norway, Singapore, Brazil, and the US.
It will control 23 modern, high specification dynamically positioned ships capable of deepwater reeled and flexible pipelay, deepwater subsea construction, and saturation diving and survey. Also, it will have a fleet of more than 100 remotely operated vehicles and three pipeline construction yards.
Halliburton and DSND said that although half the world's 1,900 subsea wells are in the North Sea, they expect future growth in the subsea market to occur in the deepwater provinces of the Gulf of Mexico, West Africa, Brazil, and the Asia-Pacific region.
"The structure allows Halliburton to contribute assets, contracts and personnel without investing additional capital," said Dave Lesar, chairman, president, and CEO of Halliburton. "There is an excellent strategic fit both technically and geographically between the parties, and the new company will be well placed to service both the traditional and deepwater growth markets."
