Schlumberger Ltd.,
Paris, acquired GeoKnowledge AS, a Norwegian software company specializing in exploration decision and support solutions for the oil and gas industry, including the GeoX software suite for exploration prospect risk, resource, and value assessment used by more than 100 oil and gas companies worldwide. Details of the acquisition were not revealed. "The combination of GeoX software with the [Schlumberger's trademarked] Petrel E&P software platform will enable us to provide our customers with fully integrated solutions for assessment of exploration risk and probabilistic resource evaluations," said Tony Bowman, president of Schlumberger Information Solutions. Development of GeoKnowledge's core software product will continue in Oslo where most of its 30 employees are based. The company also has offices in Houston and Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Schlumberger recently added the Litho Scanner high-definition spectroscopy service to its rock and fluid characterization operations. The new service measures an enhanced suite of elements, including carbon, magnesium, and aluminum, in real time to provide detailed descriptions of complex reservoirs such as unconventional shaly sand and carbonate. In addition, this latest wireline service provides a stand-alone quantitative determination of total organic carbon, critical for evaluation of shale reservoirs. The Litho Scanner service was run successfully on more than 80 wells in all the major shale plays in North America and South America and in conventional reservoirs.
In Canada, it helped interpret mineralogy in a lithologically complex shale gas reservoir with multiple clay types in addition to quartz, feldspar, calcite, dolomite, ankerite, and pyrite, permitting both an accurate quantification of total porosity and a quantitative assessment of reservoir quality.
Schlumberger also introduced its Saturn 3D radial probe as the newest module for the MDT modular formation dynamics tester, enabling customers to obtain pressure measurements and fluid samples previously not possible because of reservoir conditions. The Saturn probe is comprised of four elliptical suction probes mounted at 90-degree intervals around the tool, providing the largest surface flow area of any probe in the industry—more than 500 times that of a standard probe, said company officials.
The probe was run in South America, Africa, and the Middle East in environments ranging from onshore to deep water. In Mexico, the Saturn probe successfully sampled fluids as low as 7 API gravity from unconsolidated formations with unconfined compressive strength as low as 300 psi, which would have been difficult using conventional probes, said Schlumberger officials.
PetroSkills,
Katy, Tex., purchased the training and consulting businesses of John M. Campbell & Co. (JMC) of Norman, Okla. PetroSkills and JMC are both members of the PetroSkills Alliance formed in 2001 by BP Plc, Royal Dutch Shell Plc, and Oil & Gas Consultants International Inc. (OGCI ) to provide high-quality, competency-based training for member companies. It has since evolved into an industry-driven, industry-approved program that spans the value chain and has 25 industry members.
JMC was formed in 1968 and was asked in 2003 to manage facilities training within the PetroSkills Alliance. It was exclusive provider of PetroSkills facilities training and one of the most distinguished providers of facilities training in the oil and gas industry. It also provided oil and gas engineering consulting with customized teaching materials and course development and sale of books and software.
Integration of PetroSkills and JMC operations will "offer the petroleum industry unmatched breadth and depth of technical expertise," said company officials. The two had worked closely in the past. Details of the acquisition were not disclosed.
CH2M Hill,
Denver, announced Rob Berra joined the company as president of its Energy & Chemicals Business Group in the firm's Houston office. The group provides project and operations services that span the entire energy value chain, including upstream and midstream oil and gas, refining, chemicals and petrochemicals, gasification, biofuels, pipelines, terminals, and mining. Berra will be responsible for overall operations, project delivery, and profitability.
Berra's experience includes engineering, construction, program management, business development, operations, and executive management spanning the full scope of possible services from concept development through installation and operations.
Most recently, Berra was executive vice-president at Willbros Group Inc., responsible for all sales and marketing. Before that, he was senior vice-president of commercial operations at Foster Wheeler USA Corp., responsible for the company's heavy oil technology portfolio and chemicals business line. Prior to joining Foster Wheeler, Berra held senior leadership responsibilities for capital project development at ConocoPhillips. During his tenure, he was portfolio manager for major pipeline projects and global manager of EPC contracting. Berra has previous executive management experience with The Shaw Group and KBR Inc.
CH2M Hill officials foresee opportunities for the firm with substantial growth of energy and chemical markets over the next 2-3 years.
Aker Solutions ASA,
Oslo, won a contract to supply a complete drilling equipment package for a deepwater drillship being built by Jurong Shipyard for the Brazilian market. The contract value was not disclosed.
The drilling unit will be the second of seven vessels to be delivered by Jurong. The contract includes project management, engineering, topside equipment, subsea package including Aker Solutions' Clip riser, and commissioning of the rigs at Jurong's yard in Brazil.
In late August, Aker Solutions landed a contract to supply six drilling equipment packages to Jurong Shipyard. That included an option for an additional drilling package, which the customer now has exercised. The contract includes complete topside and subsea equipment (drilling riser and blow-out preventer).
The equipment will be delivered from Aker Solutions facilities in Norway, Germany, and Brazil. Between 20-50% of the deliveries will be sourced and produced in Brazil. Aker Solutions is building a new $100 million service and manufacturing facility in Macaé, Brazil's offshore capital, to meet expected growth of that market. The company said more than 35 drilling units now operating in Brazilian waters feature drilling equipment from Aker Solutions.
Aker Solutions also signed a 500 million NOK contract with a subsidiary of McDermott International Inc. for delivery of subsea tie-in connectors to the Ichthys LNG Project in the Browse Basin off Western Australia. It includes delivery of 6-18 in. horizontal and vertical diverless tie-in connectors along with McDermott umbilicals, risers, and flowlines.
McDermott is lead contractor for the Ichthys LNG SURF field development project.
Earlier this year, Aker Solutions was awarded the contract for engineering, procurement, fabrication, and supply of static and dynamic umbilicals, totaling 63 km for the Ichthys LNG Project. The company also has a contract to supply a mono ethylene glycol reclamation plant for this project. The tie-in connector project will be executed by Aker Solutions' headquarters at Fornebu, Norway. Expected delivery date is from 2013-2014.
In other news, Aker Solutions said Statoil ASA exercised a 2-year contract option for provision of mechanical wireline services on Statoil-operated fields and mobile drilling units on the Norwegian continental shelf. The initial 3-year contract started in 2009. Statoil has now exercised the first of two potential 2-year extensions of that contract. Aker Solutions estimates that extension will generate revenues of 700-800 million NOK, employing some 400 workers with 60% supporting Statoil offshore. Aker Solutions will manage the agreement from its well service hub at Forus, Stavanger, Norway.
The contract comprises mechanical wireline services on the following Statoil operated fields: Heidrun; Njord A; Brage; Grane; Gullfaks A, B and C; Heimdal; Huldra; Kvitebjørn; Oseberg B, C, East and West; Troll A; Veslefrikk; Visund A; and Volve fields. It also covers mechanical wireline work on the majority of the mobile drilling units Statoil will utilize at its subsea fields in the North Sea, including Gullfaks satellites, Heidrun satellites, Hyme, Kristin, Mikkel, Norne, Oseberg, Tune, Snorre UPA, Snøhvit, Statfjord satellites, Tordis, Troll, Vega, Vigdis, Visund, Yttergryta, and Åsgard. Additionally, Aker Solutions will deliver onshore operational support to Statoil's field centers at Stavanger, Bergen, Stjørdal, and Harstad. Aker Solutions' contract party is Stavanger-based Aker Well Service AS.
Battelle Memorial Institute,
Columbus, Ohio, recently won multiple awards totaling $6 million from the US Department of Energy and the World Bank to address carbon management and oil field produced waters.
Under the Research Partnership to Secure Energy for America (RPSEA), a program funded by DOE and managed by the National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL), Battelle will address the growing demand for subsurface brine disposal from oil and gas production in the Northern Appalachian Basin (in Ohio and neighboring states) during the next 2 years. The work includes compiling geological and reservoir data, developing geologic models from well logs and seismic data, and carrying out advanced reservoir and geomechanical simulations to better understand the geologic setting, reservoir dynamics, geomechanical issues, and subsurface effects of brine disposal.
DOE's NETL also selected Battelle for two projects dealing with carbon dioxide utilization and storage. The projects are co-funded by the Development Services Agency's Ohio Coal Development Office for promoting clean use of Ohio coals. Work is to include reviewing well records to determine categories of well integrity based upon well age, construction methods, and materials linked to field observations of well construction and pressures to understand and mitigate risk factors to help facilitate the use of CO2 in enhanced oil recovery and storage in geologic formations. Additional funding and collaborative support is being provided by the oil and gas industry.
Another NETL-funded project is to develop and validate simplified modeling tools for rapid feasibility and risk assessment of CO2 sequestration projects. Battelle is collaborating with Stanford University in this project.
Finally, Battelle has been selected by The World Bank Group to provide consulting services to assist China Power Infrastructure Co. (CPI) explore CO2 storage options from a coal-fired power plant in China's Sichuan Basin. Battelle is collaborating with the WorleyParsons Group and Chinese Geological Survey in this program.
Proserv,
Aberdeen, acquired Houston-based Total Instrumentation & Controls (TIC), which specializes in advanced process and control systems equipment and has a second manufacturing facility in Lafayette, La. All 300 TIC employees joined Proserv's workforce, raising it to more than 1,600 people. TIC specializes in offshore BOP stacking and installation, manufactures drilling and production control systems, and supplies ancillary subsea components such as remote terminal units and topside umbilical termination units. Details were not provided of the deal that expands Proserv's operations into the BOP subsea controls and services sector and increases its Gulf of Mexico market.
Holly Energy Partners LP,
Dallas, engaged URS Corp. to do preliminary engineering, routing, and cost estimates for two proposed pipelines including a 20-in. diameter intrastate crude oil pipeline extending 50 miles between Cushing, Okla., and the 125,000 b/d refinery complex in Tulsa owned by Holly Refining & Marketing-Tulsa LLC, a subsidiary of HollyFrontier Corp. A large portion of crude to be moved through that pipeline will be heavy Canadian and sour. Crude oil processed at HRM-Tulsa's facility is currently transported by pipelines owned by Sunoco Logistics and Magellan pipeline Co.
The second proposed pipeline would be a 100-mile long 8-in. diameter interstate petroleum products line between the 52,000 b/d Cheyenne, Wyo., refinery owned by Frontier Refining LLC—a HollyFrontier subsidiary—and Denver. With its ability to process up to 35,000 b/d of heavy Canadian crude and its close proximity to growing domestic production, the Frontier refinery is an important supplier of petroleum products to the Denver market. The project will also evaluate construction of a new petroleum products terminal in North Denver or, alternatively, the routing of the new pipeline to existing third-party product terminals in the Denver area. This infrastructure addition would ensure safe and reliable transport of petroleum products from Frontier Refining's location-advantaged refinery to its largest market, officials said. Those products currently are moved through the Rocky Mountain Pipeline's products line owned by Plains All-American.
Determination of the feasibility of these projects is expected to be completed in the second quarter of 2013.
Oil States International Inc.,
Houston, through its subsidiary Oil States Energy Services Inc. acquired Tempress Technologies Inc. of Kent, Wash., for $52.5 million, subject to customary post-closing adjustments and funded through Oil States' US revolving credit facility. Tempress designs, develops, and markets highly specialized hydraulically activated downhole completion tools and is expected to generate $8 million EBITDA this year. In Houston, analysts with Raymond James & Associates Inc. said, "The small, bolt-on transaction is not a needle mover for the stock given it represents less than 1% of our expected EBITDA for Oil States. Additionally, under our rig count forecast, the deal isn't likely to be near-term accretive, though the price paid appears to be reasonable."
Oil States International is a diversified oil field services company and a leading, integrated provider of remote site accommodations with prominent market positions in the Canadian oil sands and the Australian mining regions. It also is a leading manufacturer of products for deepwater production facilities and subsea pipelines as well as a provider of completion-related rental tools, oil country tubular goods distribution, and land drilling services.
Churchill Drilling Tools Ltd.,
Aberdeen, invested £2.5 million to expand its Crombie Road premises to a 1.65-acre site to be upgraded over the next 3-4 years. Refurbishments will include research and development facilities, increased capacity for new product assembly and service lines, and offices. Churchill has also taken 3,500 sq ft of office space along nearby Sinclair Road to provide administrative support. The offices were opened at the end of November. The company expects to increase its workforce in 2013 as it explores business opportunities in the UK and overseas. Churchill currently employs 30 people in Aberdeen and expects to add at least 10 more workers in the coming year. The firm sees growing demand for its patented technologies, used by more than 50 operators worldwide.
KBC Advanced Technologies Plc.,
London, signed a $100 million contract with EP Petroecuador, the state oil company of Ecuador, to supply a best practices plan for the technical and operating sector of the Esmeraldas Refinery in Ecuador. The comprehensive program includes the full range of KBC services to improve the overall performance of this 110,000 b/d designed capacity refinery, with a focus on margin improvement and the capability of its workforce. As part of the contract, EP Petroecuador will take a 5-year license for KBC's process and energy modeling software tools. KBC will work with Petroecuador directly and through a major subcontractor to improve the refinery's core work processes and its support systems as well as develop the technical capability of the workforce over a 4-year period.
Expro International Group Ltd.,
Reading, England, unveiled one of three new arctic enclosed mobile well test units during a launch event in Anchorage. These units provide an innovative solution for well flow management and are specifically designed for harsh arctic operating conditions. The units are fully portable and capable of well-test and clean-up operations. They process and measure well effluent, as well as remove water and solids prior to flowing to a production facility. With all of the equipment combined within one mobile unit, logistical efficiency is enhanced and rig-up time and transportation costs are reduced, said Expro officials. Expro has an office in Anchorage and a full-service operations base in Kenai, Alas., and expects to launch a recruitment drive soon to increase its well test operational crew to meet demand for its services in Alaska.
Fluid Delivery Solutions LLC,
Fort Worth-based environmental oil field service company specializing in water transfer for completions and location containment liners, opened its 5-acre yard in Alva, Okla., to service drilling and completions of wells in the Mississippi Lime plays in Kansas and Oklahoma. The new facility will be led by an experienced team and will bring new jobs to Alva's local economy, officials said. "With our rapid growth and new Alva location, we are now providing services in the Mississippi Lime, Marcellus, Utica, Eagle Ford, Eaglebine, Permian, and Delaware Basins," said Lance Lammons, FDS president.
