People, Companies & Products

Nabors, Weatherford agree to form alliance to deliver integrated drilling solutions in US lower 48 states

Nabors Industries and Weatherford International have signed a non-binding memorandum of understanding (MOU) to form an alliance focused on delivering enhanced drilling solutions to the oil and gas land market in the US lower 48 states.

The MOU states that Weatherford will bring well construction expertise, managed pressure drilling (MPD) solutions, directional drilling capabilities and drilling hardware, as well as associated software applications and engineering personnel.

Nabors will bring its fleet of MPD-ready SmartRigs and land-optimized measurement-while-drilling (MWD) systems, together with its performance drilling software applications, automated rig equipment and proprietary control systems.

By leveraging the technical expertise and engineering capabilities of the two companies, the MOU will accelerate commercialization of a full portfolio of drilling technology tools and solutions.

The integrated technology offering will provide enhanced value to operators through improved operational performance, more accurate wellbore placement and lower drilling costs.

Exxonmobil licenses drilling advisory system to Pason

ExxonMobil has awarded to Pason Systems the first global license of its patented Drilling Advisory System, a key component of the company’s Fast Drill technology suite. The agreement accelerates the technology’s commercialization by combining Pason’s expertise in drilling data and ExxonMobil’s experience in drilling surveillance and optimization.

Fast Drill combines high-end modeling of drilling physics with structured well planning and design to identify limiters and maximize performance. According to ExxonMobil, the company’s drilling rate has improved by more than 80% since introducing Fast Drill more than a decade ago.

Predator Drilling expands operations into Permian

Predator Drilling, headquartered in Red Deer, Alberta, Canada, has expanded into the Permian Basin in West Texas. Predator will operate its Texas business through its new subsidiary company, Predator Drilling LLC, based out of Midland, Texas. The subsidiary recently completed its first well for a producer and is providing integrated pre-set drilling services.

Pacific Drilling awards contract for EM&I’s ODIN

Pacific Drilling has awarded EM&I a contract to deliver underwater in lieu of dry docking (UWILD) services using the ODIN methodology. This will start with an ROV survey on the Pacific Sharav, a DNV GL-classed drillship operating for Chevron in the Gulf of Mexico. This is the seventh ODIN project for Pacific Drilling in various parts of the globe.

Tesco consolidates two south Texas facilities

Tesco Corp has completed consolidating two of its South Texas facilities in Corpus Christi and Cotulla. The new facility, located in George West, Texas, has 6,800 sq ft of shop space.

The decision to consolidate the facilities was driven by the need to reduce overhead and centrally locate the Tesco Tubular Services team and equipment in the Eagle Ford to meet growing demand in the region.

Breidenthal joins Murchison Houston center

Murchison Drilling Schools has hired John Breidenthal as Manager of the Houston Training Center.

Mr Breidenthal has a petroleum engineering degree from the University of Kansas and has 37 years of experience in drilling. He has worked as a field drilling engineer on deepwater rigs and jackups, as drill-site manager, production supervisor and well control instructor for a major oil company. He is a certified IADC WellSharp well control instructor.

Maersk makes senior management team changes

Lars Ostergaard, currently acting as Asset Manager in Maersk Drilling, has been appointed new Chief Commercial Officer. Per mutual agreement, Ana Zambelli will leave Maersk Drilling to pursue new opportunities.

Brian Nygaard, currently the Head of Procurement in Maersk Drilling, has been appointed new Head of Strategy and Partnering.

Global Tubing opens center near Montney

Global Tubing has opened a new service center in Grand Prairie, Alberta, Canada. The new center is strategically located near the Montney, Duvernay and Cardium Shale basins.

It will provide a comprehensive range of services, such as spooling, welding and inspections. It will also provide increased storage space for customer equipment, as well as a 70-ton mobile gantry crane.

Halliburton, Shell sign drilling services contract

Halliburton announced it has signed a contract with Shell Iraq Petroleum Development to provide drilling services for sustained production at Shell’s Majnoon oil field in Southern Iraq.

Under the contract, Halliburton will mobilize three rigs to drill development wells and carry out workover activities over the next two years.

Harold Brannon joins Sun Drilling products as VP

Harold D. Brannon has joined Sun Drilling Products Corp as Vice President – Production Enhancement.

In this capacity, he will be responsible for all aspects of business development involving fracture stimulation, gravel packing and related business involving Sun’s nanocomposite materials.

Mr Brannon brings 36 years of experience in fracture stimulation, gravel packing and production enhancement to Sun. He previously served as Vice President of Pressure Pumping Technology for Baker Hughes and held various technical and managerial positions with BJ Services and Dowell Schlumberger.

Statoil awards OneSubsea contract for Utgard

OneSubsea, a Schlumberger company, has been awarded an engineering, procurement and construction contract by Statoil to supply the subsea production system for the Utgard gas and condensate discovery in the North Sea.

The scope of the contract includes a subsea template manifold system, two subsea wellheads and vertical monobore subsea trees, production control system, and associated intervention and workover tooling.

This follows the execution of a master service agreement with Statoil in January 2016.

Prosep awarded contract for Troll B ZMP Project

ProSep announced it will supply one ProDry unit to Statoil for the Troll B ZMP Project. ProSep’s project scope of supply – awarded through Aker Solutions – began in January 2017 and is expected to last approximately five months.

The ProDry technology to deploy on the Troll B platform, uses ProSep’s ECLIPSE mixer for triethylene glycol (TEG) injection.

Due to ProDry’s high mixing efficiency, Statoil will replace a standard countercurrent TEG tower with an in-line, co-current mixer and separator/knock-out drum.

The required TEG flow compared to a conventional tower will be reduced, allowing the project to utilize spare capacity in the existing TEG regeneration packages.

Products

Samoco Oil Tools launches new BOP testing tool

Samoco Oil Tools announced the launch of OneTrip, a BOP testing tool aimed at helping the industry to reduce the time and costs associated with mandatory BOP testing. The company collaborated with Shell Offshore Engineering to engineer, manufacture and test the new tool. Traditional methods perform three separately staged subtests of the BOP’s large RAM, small RAM and sheering capabilities, which require testing tools to run multiple trips along the BOP stack. OneTrip’s proprietary design enables the testing of all three during a single trip down the hole. Additional BOP testing capabilities include:

• A low torque, high-pressure seal design to ensure a resilient downhole seal that can withstand harsh subsea conditions;

• Ability to withstand 25,000-psi test and sustain a load up to 1.2 million lb; and

• Technology that holds OneTrip downhole until BOP test results are confirmed satisfactory.

TEAM Oil Tools introduces fully composite frac plug

TEAM Oil Tools has developed the TOMCAT Fully Composite Frac Plug. The plug utilizes high-strength composite components to provide a dependable, durable and cost-effective design for zonal isolation during multistage completions.

These frac plugs are constructed of machined composite material with composite upper and lower slips.

Archer Oiltools launches new SPARTAN plug family

Archer Oiltools has launched the SPARTAN plug family to help operators deliver safer wells, boost operational efficiency and reduce costs. The technology was developed to ensure well integrity during operations, secure well suspension and safe plug and abandonment. The SPARTAN plug delivers protection for short-, medium- or long-term suspensions and rapid deployment and retrieval.

Isotech combo tool to improve slurry placement

Isolation Technologies (IsoTech), a designer and manufacturer of zonal isolation equipment, has developed the IsoTech Combo Tool to improve slurry placement with a single tool. The tool combines an inflatable casing packer for zonal isolation with a stage-cementing tool.

The design enhances the stage cementing process by achieving more reliable operation and cement placement for reduced risk and remediation costs when running and cementing casing.

Mud analyzer offers quick analysis of drilling muds

Mudchecker, the latest hand-held technology from Salunda Ltd, offers rapid and consistent analysis of mud properties during drilling and completion of oil and gas wells.

A faster alternative to conventional retort and titration testing, the battery-powered drilling mud analyzer is the first electronic diagnostic device of its type for the fast, simple and accurate measurement of the oil, water, solid and salt content of drilling fluids.