JPT

 

Vol. 58 No. 5

May 2006

Company News

EMERGING TECHNOLOGY

  • Shell and Statoil have signed an agreement to work toward developing the world’s largest project using carbon dioxide (CO2) for enhanced oil recovery offshore. The project consists of a gas-fired power plant and methanol production facility at Tjeldbergodden in Norway, providing CO2 to the Draugen and Heidrun offshore oil and gas fields. Power from the plant will be provided to the offshore fields, enabling near-zero CO2 and nitrogen oxide emissions from these installations.

  • Norwegian oil company Hydro will launch a new venture fund called Hydro Technology Ventures Fund II that will invest in operations that develop innovative technology in energy. The company plans to invest in three or four promising companies annually for the next 4 years. The fund will focus on technology used in the upstream and renewable-energy industries.

  • DNV will assist Chevron in developing guidelines for qualifying new technology. The guidelines will be a structured risk-based process that will give Chevron’s project managers a tool to assist them in managing the risks associated with introducing new technology or moving a proven technology into a more complex operating environment.

  • Weatherford Intl. announced that its Completion and Production Systems Div. completed the longest installation of 5½-in. expandable sand screen on Canadian Natural Resources’ Baobab field offshore Côte d’Ivoire in west Africa. The successful installation and expansion of 4,274 ft of 5½-in. expandable sand screen is nearly 500 ft longer than the previous record for a successful 5½-in. expansion.

CORPORATE MOVES

  • Shell completed a review of its global liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) marketing and distribution business and decided to retain the business within its downstream portfolio. Shell announced in September 2004 that following an unsolicited offer from a potential buyer, it would review its options regarding its LPG business. The company has sold some of its LPG business enterprises in Portugal, the Caribbean, Brazil, Paraguay, and Italy.

  • OMV will open an office in Norway to evaluate E&P opportunities in that country. OMV was informed by the Norwegian Ministry of Petroleum and Energy in February that it had prequalified as an operator on the Norwegian Continental Shelf.

  • Cal Dive Intl. Inc. changed its name to Helix Energy Solutions Group Inc. The Cal Dive name has been used since the 1960s. The company has grown from a diving services provider to a hybrid oil and gas company with a focus on production and the provision of energy services such as shelf and deepwater construction, robotics, floating production facilities, rigless well intervention, reservoir engineering, and well technology.

MERGERS & ACQUISITIONS

  • Mustang Engineering acquired Global Performance Holdings Inc., an international provider of project management, construction management, and engineering and design services.

  • Superior Oil and Gas Co. entered into an agreement to acquire Williams Equipment Co. of Oklahoma City, one of the largest independent oil- and gas-field equipment suppliers in the southwest United States, in exchange for common stock of Superior.

  • Tetra Technologies acquired Beacon Resources L.L.C., an onshore production testing company with headquarters in Denton, Texas, and service centers in Benbrook and Odessa, Texas, and Hobbs, New Mexico. The purchase price was U.S. $15 million in cash plus a potential earn-out payment.

  • Arcapita Bank B.S.C., an investment firm headquartered in Bahrain, completed the acquisition of a 100% interest in Roxar, a provider of technology services and equipment. The transaction value was U.S. $200 million.

  • Halliburton subsidiary KBR plans to sell its Production Services Group, part of the company’s Energy and Chemicals Div., in a deal that should close in the second quarter of 2006. Based in Aberdeen, the Production Services Group delivers a range of support services to oil and gas E&P customers and has been in operation for more than 25 years. Services include asset management and optimization, brownfield projects, engineering, commissioning and startup, and maintenance.

  • The boards of Paris-based international industrial and services group Suez and French gas company Gaz de France approved a friendly merger between the two. The transaction is scheduled to be completed in the second half of 2006.

CONTRACTS, TENDERS

  • Vetco Gray won a tender from The Petroleum Oil and Gas Corp. of South Africa Ltd. for the supply of a long offset subsea control system for the South Coast Gas Development offshore South Africa. The contract covers the supply and maintenance of subsea control modules, a master control station, hydraulic power unit, electrical power and control unit, and corrosion monitoring sensors.

  • A lease sale for blocks in the central U.S. Gulf of Mexico attracted high bids from 82 companies. In the sale, 4,040 blocks comprising approximately 21.3 million acres offshore Alabama, Louisiana, and Mississippi were offered. Companies submitting the most high bids included BP, BHP Billiton Petroleum, Hunt Oil, Dominion Exploration & Production, and Hydro.

  • ExxonMobil signed a joint-operating agreement with P.T. Pertamina for the Cepu Contract Area in East and Central Java, Indonesia. This agreement follows the execution of the Cepu Cooperation Contract in September 2005. It enables the parties to begin activities and make the investments required to develop discovered resources and do further exploration during the 30-year contract period.

  • Chevron Corp. acquired five heavy oil leases in the Athabasca region of northern Alberta that include more than 180,000 acres with an estimated 7.5 billion bbl of oil in place. The new leases are approximately 76 miles west of Fort Mackay in northern Alberta.

  • Shell paid U.S. $400 million to buy oil-sand properties in northern Alberta. The company successfully bid for 10 oil-sands leases in an auction by Alberta’s provincial government. The company has created a new firm, SURE Northern Energy Ltd., to evaluate reserves on the acquired properties.

  • Chevron Corp. awarded Transocean three contracts worth about U.S. $1.7 billion over 10 years. The awards include a deepwater drilling contract that will prompt the construction of a new drillship by Transocean that will be dedicated exclusively to Chevron for 5 years.