Offshore articles from December 2003

Offshore archives from December 2003

Coming in January.
December 1, 2003... 50th ANNIVERSARY: Offshore launches its 50th year of publication with a celebration of the past--the events, technology, and people that shaped the offshore industry over the years. In January, Offshore brings you a look at the history of the...

Telling the people what they want.(Comment)(Column)
December 1, 2003... There is always a lot of talk in the US about market-driven pricing. Americans pride themselves on taking an unflinching approach to capitalism. What is a cup of coffee worth? How much should one pay for a 24-pack of light beer? Let the market...

Africa.(Global E & P)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... ChevronTexaco Corp. affiliate Star Ultra Deep Petroleum Ltd. had a significant oil discovery on its deepwater license OPL 249 offshore Nigeria. The wildcat Nsiko-1 well, drilled to a total depth of 13,968 ft, discovered hydrocarbon pay in...

Americas.(Global E & P)
December 1, 2003... Greg Noval, president and CEO of independent Canadian Superior, told participants at the Canadian Offshore Resources Exhibition and conference in Halifax in October that his company sees tremendous potential off Nova Scotia. "We're very upbeat...

Middle East.(Global E & P)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... Qatar Petroleum and Qatar Shell GTL Ltd. signed a heads of agreement for the construction of the world's largest gas-to-liquids (GTL) plant in Ras Laffan, Qatar. The agreement was signed by His Excellency Abdullah Bin Hamad Al-Attiyah,...

Mediterranean.(Global E & P)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... Centurion's Gelgel field in the company's South Manzala development lease in Egypt's Nile Delta began production on Oct. 20. The Gelgel field has brought total production from the South Manzala area to 33 MMcf/d and has raised company-wide...

Europe.(Global E & P)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... Melrose Resources has floated the Galata platform out of the shipyard in Varna, Bulgaria, and is installing it on the Galata gas field 19 km from shore. The 80-bcf field is expected to produce for seven years, with first production scheduled...

Central Asia.(Global E & P)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... Lukoil is energetically pursuing all of its current Kazakhstan projects, and the list of Lukoil initiatives in Kazakhstan will grow in the near future. Oil production of programs with Lukoil involvement increased by 30% year-on-year in the...

Asia-Pacific.(Global E & P)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... In early 3Q, China National Offshore Oil Corp. Ltd. signed an agreement with the Gorgon Venture participants on one of the biggest LNG deals in the industry's history. The agreement calls for the parties to set aside a significant volume...

Global E & P.
December 1, 2003... Australia's Bounty Oil & Gas NL and its co-venturers have farmed out a 25% interest in PEP 38215 in New Zealand's Great South basin. UK-based Electro Silica Plc. has agreed to fund the acquisition of 2,000 km of 2D seismic in the permit to...

New trunklines lined up, following accord.(Offshore Europe)
December 1, 2003... Two of the North Sea's most prized pipelay contracts in years have gone to Allseas Marine Contractors and Stolt Offshore. Both relate to Ormen Lange, Europe's largest offshore gas field, with reserves estimated at 390 bcm. A recent accord...

Vigdis upgraded.(Offshore Europe)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... Recoverable oil from the Vigdis extension development in the North Sea has been revised upwards to 60 MMbbl by operator Statoil. This follows completion of the first two production wells last month. The NKr 2.6-billion project came onstream in...

New UK intake drops out.(Offshore Europe)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... In the UK sector, small independents come and go. London-based Consort Resources, at one point seen as a possible savior of the UK southern gas basin, recently sold itself and operated holdings in undeveloped fields on the Dutch/UK median line...

Ukooa warns of pitfalls ahead.(Offshore Europe)
December 1, 2003... Britain's government should step up its efforts to foster commercial and political relationships with more gas exporting countries, according to the UK Offshore Operators Association in a new paper. More needs to be done, Ukooa says, to...

Supermajors gear up for LNG.(Gulf Of Mexico)
December 1, 2003... Shell and ChevronTexaco have both made steps forward in their quest for LNG receiving terminals in the Gulf of Mexico. Shell has proposed a new import terminal, expected to be operational in 2008 or 2009, in the Gulf of Mexico operated by its...

Shuttle tanker role may expand.(Gulf Of Mexico)
December 1, 2003... Shuttle tanker designs have evolved to allow offloading from vessels other than FPSOs. "That service can be done with any type of platform," said Peter Lovie of American Shuttle Tankers following the Society of Petroleum Engineers'...

Trio of discoveries wraps up year.(Gulf Of Mexico)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... ChevronTexaco was in on back-to-back-to-back finds at its Sturgis, Saint Malo, and Tubular Bells prospects in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico. The ChevronTexaco-operated Sturgis No. 1 well on Atwater Valley block 183 in 3,700 ft of water found...

AMEC completes Bonga FPSO.(New Vessels, Rigs, Upgrades)
December 1, 2003... In late October, the Bonga FPSO left AMEC's integration facility at Wallsend, Tyne and Wear, in the UK. The sail-out followed 10 months of engineering work to fabricate and install 22,500 metric tons of topsides processing equipment. AMEC...

Seabulk adds new AHTS.(New Vessels, Rigs, Upgrades)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... The Seabulk Offshore group of companies, part of Seabulk International Inc., has added a new UT-710 anchor-handling tug supply (AHTS) vessel to its fleet. The 226-ft Seabulk South Atlantic is the fifth newbuild vessel in Seabulk's 2003 fleet...

FELS completes Ocean Titan.(New Vessels, Rigs, Upgrades)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... The American FELS shipyard in Brownsville, Texas, has completed the upgrade on Diamond Offshore's Ocean Titan. The Ocean Titan is the last of six jackups Diamond has upgraded this year at a combined cost of $100 million. The enhancement...

Modec to supply FPSO.(New Vessels, Rigs, Upgrades)
December 1, 2003... Modec received a letter of commencement from Santos Ltd. of Australia for an FPSO to be used in the Mutineer-Exeter field development. The field is 150 km north of Dampier, Western Australia, in WA-191-P. The development plan calls for a turret...

Smaller, shallow tieback market grows.(Subsea/Surface Systems)
December 1, 2003... It's not just the majors and deepwater players relying on subsea tiebacks these days. What has become a cornerstone of the deepwater hub-and-spoke concept is also an attractive solution for smaller independents in conventional water depths....

Subsea power pack for up to 5,000 m.(Subsea/Surface Systems)
December 1, 2003... A submersible, modular power pack designed for use at 5,000-m water depth has been tested in a pressure chamber at the Center for Marine Environmental Sciences of the University of Bremen, Germany. In the test, the power pack was exposed to a...

Global to install Pemex 24-in. line.(Subsea/Surface Systems)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... Global Industries subsidiary Global Offshore Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V. received a letter of intent from Pemex E&P to install 29 km of 24-in. pipeline from Enlace to Uech A in the Gulf of Mexico's Bay of Campeche. The project calls for the...

Custom connection make-up.(Subsea/Surface Systems)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... BJ Tubular Services completed a custom connection make-up operation for Applied Drilling Technology International on Tuscan Energy's Ardmore field in the North Sea. BJ carried out services from the Rowan Gorilla VII rig on ADTI's first turnkey...

Expandable open hole liner.(Drilling & Production)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... Statoil ASA has completed the application of solid expandable tubular (SET) technology in a high-angle well in the Gullfaks field. Statoil used Enventure Global Technology's 11 3/4 by 13 3/8 in. open hole liner (OHL) system to isolate a...

Chemical water shut-off.(Drilling & Production)(Thermatek)
December 1, 2003... A new materials technology, developed specifically for the oil and gas industry, was used in what is thought to be the world's first chemical water shut-off in a horizontal annular well section. Shell UK, BP, and Talisman Energy (UK) Ltd. have...

Monitoring and optimization.(Drilling & Production)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... The rapidly growing oilfield interest for remote data acquisition, real-time data integration, and production monitoring and optimization has led to the joining of vMonitor Inc. and Baker Hughes Inc. This union will enable the business units,...

Dopeless connection.(Drilling & Production)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... The successful running of the 5 1/2-in., 32 ppf, Q125 TenarisBlue Dopeless connection at the ConocoPhillips' Ekofisk X50 well in Norway has been achieved. This is the first time a dopeless connection has been run at an offshore location. The...

Vibration suppression.(Drilling & Production)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... The installation of vortex-induced vibration (VIV) suppression fairings for the Modec-built TLP is soon to be completed in the Gulf of Mexico by Shell Global Solutions (US) Inc. At 4,300 ft and located at Green Canyon block 608, the Marco Polo...

SEG discusses technology, changes.(Geosciences)(Society of Exploration Geophysicists)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... The Society of Exploration Geophysicists explored new technology and advances in practice, along with the future of the profession, at it annual meeting in Dallas. A demographic change that crosses all professional boundaries is approaching the...

Societies examine growth potential.(Geosciences)(International Association of Geophysical Contractors )(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... In a move to improve communication, the International Association of Geophysical Contractors held its first forum at the annual SEG convention in Dallas. The IAGC sees access to acreage as the key issue facing the geophysical contract services...

GCAGS sees GoM challenges.(Geosciences)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... The Gulf of Mexico continues to challenge the conceptual thinking of geologists as the industry moves into deeper water, deeper sediments on the shelf, and into new areas off Mexico. Some results of that new thinking were on display at the...

Inwell seismic.(Technology)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... Weatherford has launched a permanent in-well multi-component optical seismic sensing system called Clarion. The system links seismic investigation and production optimization through a sensor system that can be installed either within...

3D notebook.(Technology)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... Sharp Systems of America has released the Sharp Actius RD3D, a notebook computer that incorporates Sharp's TFT 3D liquid crystal display (LCD) technology, which allows viewing of 3D images with the naked eye. Using a parallax barrier, light...

North Sea continues to hold promising future.(Global Forecasts 2004)
December 1, 2003... The pattern of corporate activity in the North Sea has changed in recent years, reflecting the growing maturity of this province. The trend began in the UK and is now evident in Norway as companies specializing in older and marginal fields...

New pipeline offers greater flexibility, lower cost.(Pipeline Technology)
December 1, 2003... A new high-pressure (X 200 rated) pipeline technology lowers manufacturing costs and enhances corrosion resistance. Scalable to large diameters, the pipe can be applied to a wide range of onshore or offshore applications. Even though the...

Subsea processing slow to take off despite advantages, maturing technology.(Subsea Technology)
December 1, 2003... The technology is in place. The economics of deepwater are screaming for it. So what's holding subsea separation back? It is often said that the oil industry doesn't drill for oil, it drills for water because most of what existing wells produce...

Well recompletion with ESP triples production for deepwater well: limited only by the platform handling capabilities.(Artificial Lift)
December 1, 2003... Production from a selected deepwater well in the Pompano field of the Gulf of Mexico initially doubled and after six months reached three times the original rate as a result of an electrical submersible pump (ESP). Most wells in the Gulf...

Visualization technology speeds field development: faster 'targeting' reduces cycle time and hole problems.(Emerging Technologies)
December 1, 2003... The physical properties of today's complex reservoirs have a significant impact on wellbore placement, and ultimately on field production. These complexities can also lead to delays in designing directional plans for individual well paths and...

Access and maintenance lifts.(Sweden technology profiles)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... Alimak specializes in rack and pinion-driven lifts for industrial locations and has more than 25 years' experience in offshore applications. The modular-built lifts are adaptable in size and capacity and do not need a machine room or lift...

Stainless steel pipes.(Sweden technology profiles)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... AST-Storfors belongs to the AvestaPolarit Stainless Tube group, a large pipe and tube producer in Europe. The oil and gas business--heavy wall pipe --has been devolved to Storfors. The company has the flexibility to offer customized pipe...

Water purification.(Sweden technology profiles)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... BenRad Marine Technology, a sister company to Wallenius Lines, specializes in water treatment for the marine and offshore industries. The company provides advanced oxidation technology to treat water contaminated by microorganisms, including...

Clean air for turbo-machinery.(Sweden technology profiles)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... Reliability of gas turbines, compressors, and engines depends on clean filtered air to perform efficiently. With 25 years of experience in supplying air intake and acoustic systems for turbo-machinery, Camfil Farr--which has offices in Sweden,...

Actuators, brakes, acoustics, process vessels, piping.(Sweden technology profiles)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... The DalaOffshore group of Swedish companies provides a range of equipment and services to the offshore sector. Depending on the size of the project, members work as independent suppliers or in partnership. Remote Control Sweden makes and...

Steel fabrication.(Sweden technology profiles)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... Deform is a fabricator of industrial products, pressure vessel heads, cones, and tubes in most common steel grades, as well as special products made from quenched and tempered steels. These include formed heavy plate details in Weldox and...

Drinking water treatment.(Sweden technology profiles)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... E.C.T. Offshore Service offers comprehensive services for treating drinking water offshore. Its systems operate on over 250 rigs and platforms, many of which have annual service contracts with E.C.T. Due to the company's close cooperation with...

On/off-line turbine cleaning.(Sweden technology profiles)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... Gas Turbine Efficiency develops, makes, and markets systems for gas turbine cleaning with high efficiency, while minimizing impact on the environment through keeping C[O.sub.2] and N[O.sub.x] levels as low as possible. The GTE concept provides...

Riser/moorings analysis.(Sweden technology profiles)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... Glisco Optekon provides cost-effective design software called OECD to optimize design of the riser/floater/mooring system interaction for FPSOs. This allows the user, for instance, to design a fatigue-optimized floating system with steel...

Semisubmersible design.(Sweden technology profiles)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... GVA Consultants is one of the world's leading designers of semisubmersible platforms. GVAC has designed more than half of the purpose-built floating production units around the work, in addition to a large number of drilling and accommodation...

Winch performance.(Sweden technology profiles)
December 1, 2003... Hagglunds has been working with manufacturers and operators of winches to optimize applications for 40 years. The Hagglunds name is known for performance and reliability, particularly with mooring and lifting applications. Typical features of...

Hot isostatic processing.(Sweden technology profiles)
December 1, 2003... Metso Powdermet has won several major contracts from the offshore industry in recent years. HIPed PM Near Net Shape products are supplied from the world's largest hot isostatic processing (HIP) facility, in Surahammar, Sweden. Main applications...

High density concrete.(Sweden technology profiles)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... Minelco uses the unique properties of magnetite to produce MagnaDense, a high grade, natural aggregate with high density. MagnaDense is used as loose ballast or aggregate to produce high-density concrete. Due to its high specific gravity, the...

Accommodation modules.(Sweden technology profiles)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... Pharmadule Emtunga is a leading supplier of offshore accommodation. Between 2002 and 2004, the company will deliver more than 10 offshore quarters modules to areas such as the North Sea, Caspian Sea, Gulf of Mexico, and the Far East. The...

Pocket-size 15-ton jack.(Sweden technology profiles)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... Simson's smallest jack weighs a mere 3.7 kg, but it can still lift 15 metric tons. This heavy-lift capability extends to the company's entire range of jacks--up to 150-ton capacity--used by repair technicians and construction specialists...

Airborne sea/spill surveillance.(Sweden technology profiles)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... Swedish Space Corp. has developed a new generation of its airborne surveillance system. The MSS 6000 could be a useful tool for offshore operators as well as for traditional coast guard users. In this new system, not only radar and infra-red...

Diesel engines.(Sweden technology profiles)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... The marine commercial range from Volvo Penta has grown substantially in recent years, with engines both for propulsion and marine generating sets from 70 to 1,700 KW, including Zone 2 versions. This is one of the widest selections available to...

Spill-free handling.(Sweden technology profiles)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... Todo has been manufacturing and supplying couplings and valves for the oil and chemical industries for over 30 years. The company's most notable product is the Todo-Matic Dry Break coupling, designed for spill-free connection and disconnection...

Oil & Gas Journal.(People)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... Oil & Gas Journal has appointed Tim Tobeck vice president and group publisher.

Torch Offshore Inc.(People)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... Torch Offshore Inc. has appointed Richard J. (Jere) Shopf as a member of the company's board of directors effective immediately. John Reynolds has resigned from the board of directors. Patrice Chemin has joined the company's management team as...

Superior Field Services.(People)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... Superior Field Services, a new business unit of Superior Energy Services, has named Pat Bernard vice president and general manager.

BJ Process and Pipeline Services.(People)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... BJ Process and Pipeline Services has appointed Martyn Bates to the position of regional business unit manager for USA, Mexico, and Latin America.

Statoil.(People)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... Statoil appointed Inge K. Hansen chief executive after Olav Fjell's resignation. The company also elected Jannik Lindbaek as the new chair of the company's board of directors. Eldar Saetre will serve as acting chief financial officer, executive...

Dolphin Well Services.(People)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... Following the acquisition of Dolphin Well Services by PSL Group, Ole Grimsmo, Dolphin's former head of operations, has been named wells services operations manager. Tim Eley, formerly with Halliburton, has also joined the company as business...

Petrofac Facilities Management.(People)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... Training/documentation systems provider Chrysalis Learning (Jersey, UK), recently acquired by Petrofac Facilities Management, has appointed Louise Ferguson as business development director.

BUE Viking.(People)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... Standby vessel operator BUE Viking has appointed Graham Philip as CEO.

Cambridge Energy Research Associates.(People)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... Cambridge Energy Research Associates has named Emily Nagle Green CEO.

IHS Energy.(People)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... Bob Lockwood, formerly a partner in PA Consulting, has been appointed managing director for IHS Energy's consulting division. Nick Kamen has been appointed marketing director of the consulting division. Kamen moved from Cap Gemini Ernst &...

Enventure Global Technology.(People)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... Enventure Global Technology has announced Daud Chandra of P.T. Dataco Citra Indonesia, based in Jakarta, will represent Enventure as director of sales and marketing in Indonesia.

ConocoPhillips'.(People)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... ConocoPhillips' board of directors has named Carin Knickel vice president of human resources and member of the company's management committee. Knickel is currently president of the company's specialty business. Tom Knudson, senior vice...

Parker Drilling.(People)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... Parker Drilling has appointed John R. Gass vice president of operations. Gass replaces Thomas L. Wingerter, who recently resigned. Gass has served the company as vice president of corporate business development since April 2000.

Geotrace Technologies Inc.(People)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... Geotrace Technologies Inc. has hired Dr. Rajendra "Raj" K. Shrestha as director of reservoir description services. Raj has over 15 years of experience as an application geophysicist and exploration/ development geophysicist with multinational...

ChevronTexaco Technology Ventures.(People)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... ChevronTexaco Technology Ventures, a unit of ChevronTexaco Corp., has appointed Rick Zalesky vice president of its hydrogen business unit. Zalesky will report to Greg Vesey, president of ChevronTexaco Technology Ventures. Other appointments in...

PTT Exploration and Production Public Co. Ltd.(People)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... The board of directors of PTT Exploration and Production Public Co. Ltd. has elected Maroot Mrigadat as the company's new president, succeeding Dr. Chitrapongse Kwangsukstith, who will become senior executive vice president, gas business group...

QuanTX Wellbore Instrumentation.(People)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... QuanTX Wellbore Instrumentation, a joint venture combining Expro International's permanent monitoring business with Baker Hughes' In-Form product line, has hired James Walker as president and managing director. Walker was formerly group...

Bollinger Shipyards Inc.(People)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... Bollinger Shipyards Inc. in Lockport, Louisiana, has named Scott Theriot to the newly developed position of vice president for business development.

Forest Oil Corp.(Companies)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... Forest Oil Corp. has closed the purchase of the majority of the properties included in its Gulf Coast property acquisition from Unocal.

Kerr-McGee Corp.(Companies)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... Kerr-McGee Corp. plans to generate $45 million in savings by reducing its US non-bargaining workforce by 7% to 9%, or 200 to 250 employees, which is expected to save $30 million annually in salaries and benefits.

Oceanor AS has sold its thermography operations to Aker Inspection and Consulting AS.(Companies)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... Oceanor AS has sold its thermography operations to Aker Inspection and Consulting AS. Oceanor personnel providing this service will be transferred to AIC, which will also take over the equipment and technology from Oceanor.

Apache North Sea Ltd. has joined the UK Offshore Operators' Association.(Companies)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... Apache North Sea Ltd. has joined the UK Offshore Operators' Association, the representative body for exploration and production companies on the UK continental shelf.

J. Ray McDermott, S.A., a subsidiary of McDermott International Inc., has completed the sale of Menck GmbH to the UWG Group.(Companies)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... J. Ray McDermott, S.A., a subsidiary of McDermott International Inc., has completed the sale of Menck GmbH to the UWG Group. The divestiture of Menck has increased J. Ray's liquidity position by $8 million. Menck is an anchoring and foundation...

Robertson Research International Ltd., a member of the Fugro Group.(Companies)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... Robertson Research International Ltd., a member of the Fugro Group, has acquired SeiScan GeoData, previously the trading division of Petroscan Ltd.

Almost 1,700 people attended PennWell's Deep Offshore Technology conference in Marseille, France, last month.(Business briefs)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... Almost 1,700 people attended PennWell's Deep Offshore Technology conference in Marseille, France, last month. More than 20 countries were represented and over 100 papers presented. Chris Barton, vice president and group publisher, PennWell,...

Virtual consolidation--adapting in real time.(Beyond The Horizon)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2003... The war cry of companies governed by Moore's Law is "Less is More." This indeed is a well-lit path down which consumers of high technology information systems encounter surprisingly improved capabilities and ever-declining costs. But these...