People, Companies & Products
Edward ‘Coots’ Matthews dies at 86: ‘His imprint on this industry will live forever’
Edward O “Coots” Matthews, co-founder of Boots & Coots passed away 31 March. He was 86 years old.
“Boots & Coots recently celebrated its 30th anniversary, and we owe a tremendous debt to Mr Matthews for the vision he and Asger ‘Boots’ Hansen shared when they formed this company and the culture they developed that helped the company endure the hard times as well as the good,” said Jerry Winchester, president and chief executive officer of Boots & Coots. “We send our condolences to Mr Matthews’ family and our respect to a truly remarkable individual. His imprint on this industry will live forever.”
Mr Matthews and Mr Hansen founded Boots & Coots in 1978 after 20 years of working for Red Adair. Both were involved with the industry’s most notorious blowouts, such as the “Devil’s Cigarette Lighter” in Gassi Touil, Algeria, in 1961; Lake Maracaibo in 1991; and Kuwait oil fires in 1991. He retired in 1994.
Harding named GL Noble Denton exec VP of Americas
Chris Harding is the new executive vice president for the Americas region at GL Noble Denton. He has over 30 years of experience in the oil and gas industry and in a variety of international, engineering, project management and business development roles.
As of 1 April, Mr Harding is directing all business activities of GL Noble Denton in the US, Canada, Brazil, Mexico and Trinidad and Tobago.
Dave Coutts joins Delmar North Sea as business development manager
Dave Coutts will join Delmar North Sea in Aberdeen, Scotland, as business development manager. Mr Coutts has 20 years of experience working in sales and operations of the offshore mooring and subsea industries in the United Kingdom and Norway. He recently served as base manager for EMM – Stavanger, Norway. He is an Aberdeen native with experience in wire rope, rigging and mooring.
ENSCO becomes Ensco plc
ENSCO reported that the company underwent a name change to “Ensco plc” effective 31 March. The company will continue to conduct the same business operations. Its new headquarters will be located in London.
Baker Hughes opens new facility in Saudi Arabia
Baker Hughes opened a new operations center in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, on 5 April.
The facility covers 100,000 sq m, with laboratories, offices, repair and maintenance operations and a remote collaboration center. This operation center is just one piece of Baker Hughes’ expansion plans in Saudi Arabia.
Vallourec & Mannesmann Tubes plans $650-million rolling mill
Vallourec & Mannesman Tubes announced plans to construct a state-of-the-art rolling mill in Youngstown, Ohio, including heat treatment and threading facilities. The mill will open in 2011.
Halliburton to buy Boots & Coots, form new group; Boots & Coots, OSU set up fire safety center
Halliburton and Boots & Coots reported that Halliburton has entered into a merger agreement to acquire all of the outstanding stock of Boots & Coots in a stock and cash transaction.
Following completion of the transaction, a new product service line within Halliburton will be created to include the company’s existing coiled tubing and hydraulic workover operations and Boots & Coots intervention services and pressure control business. Boots & Coots management will be retained to lead the new service line.
In other news, Boots & Coots is collaborating with Oklahoma State University to establish the Boots & Coots Center for Fire Safety & Pressure Control within OSU’s Fire Protection and Safety Technology Department in Stillwater.
The new center aims to advance petroleum risk management and fire protection through education, innovation, training and research.
Al-Mansoori, Key Energy Services in new JV
Al-Mansoori Petroleum Services has signed a joint venture with offshore energy production services company Key Energy Services. The joint venture will bring new services to Al-Mansoori’s capabilities in coil tubing, workover rigs, pumping/cementing, fracturing and acidizing. Further, the JV will provide Houston-based Key Energy with its first base in the Middle East.
Weatherford, Silixa ink deal on in-well fiber optics
Weatherford International has signed a mutually exclusive supply and technical agreement with Silixa for sales, distribution and installation of permanent in-well monitoring systems using Silixa’s fiber optics-based iDAS technology.
GE Oil & Gas signs MOU with PetroVietnam
GE Oil & Gas has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with PetroVietnam that outlines the principles and basis of long-term collaboration between the two companies regarding the supply of advanced oil and gas equipment, services and spare parts to optimize the total life-cycle value of key oil and gas projects.
The MOU also creates a framework to improve future transactions based on standardized terms, conditions and manufacturing slot reservations and provides for potential future cooperation on new technologies, technical support and advanced skills development and training.
The MOU was signed by Nguyen Quoc Thap, vice president of PetroVietnam, and Marco Caccavale, North America region, general manager of GE Oil & Gas, in the presence of Nguyen Tan Dung, prime minister of Vietnam, during his visit to Washington, DC, on 12 April.
PRODUCTS
Baker Hughes introduces multiphase flow meter
Baker Hughes has developed a multiphase flow meter that combines downhole sensor technology with neural network capabilities to provide real-time flow rate estimates from wells produced with electrical submersible pumping systems.
When properly calibrated and maintained, the Neuraflow flow meter delivers flow rate estimates with a greater than 90% accuracy compared with actual flow rate measurements. “This is an important addition to our existing production measurement portfolio. Neuraflow meets a long-held customer need for accurate, affordable flow measurements,” noted Neil Harrop, president of Baker Hughes’ completions and production business segment. “This complements our expanding digital oilfield capability with real-time measurements that can make a significant difference in optimizing production.”
Strongarm develops workstation for Xtreme Coil Drilling rig
Stongarm has developed a workstation interface for drilling contractor Xtreme Coil Drilling, developer of the Coil Over Top Drive drilling rig. Major considerations with the new rig included clear visibility of the work area and easy access to interface displays.
Strongarm’s Mini-Station features the industry-standard Vertica adjustable pendant arm. The ceiling-mounted adjustable arm allows the operator to position the display exactly where needed and can be adjusted vertically.
Sherborne Sensors debuts A640 solid state accelerometers
Sherborne Sensors has debuted its series of single-axis solid state accelerometers, which offer precision measurement capabilities within a variety of applications.
The series features an advanced solid-state MEMS sensor incorporating integral air damping. Unlike fluid-damped devices, air damping is essentially independent of temperature, which enables the accelerometer to reliably perform over a wide temperature range (-40° to +100°C), with zero temperature coefficient of damping ratio.
The Sherborne Sensors A640 series range is designed to operate from an unregulated DC power source and offers a high usable frequency response.
Typical applications include data acquisition systems, crash recorders, fatigue-life monitoring and prediction, road bed analysis, mass transit system monitoring and deceleration control.
BJ Services’ TeleCoil system successfully applied in North Sea, Liverpool Bay
BJ Services announced the commercialization of its TeleCoil downhole communication system, which has been successful in gathering accurate depth, temperature and pressure information for operators in the North Sea.
The TeleCoil system conductor is installed inside the CT and is impervious to aggressive fluids such as acids, cement slurries and sand-laden fluids used for abrasive perforating. At surface, the conductor connects to a data acquisition system that processes and charts downhole conditions.
One of the first applications of this system was for Talisman Energy in the North Sea. The operation involved depths up to 18,000 ft. Challenges encountered stemmed from temperature and mechanical issues. In addition to the Talisman project, BJ Services recently used TeleCoil technology in a successful CT-conveyed perforating operation in Liverpool Bay, England. Variations and geographic expansion of the system are under way.
Baker Hughes introduces WellLink data system
Baker Hughes announced the integration of its WellLink Desktop Data Delivery System on 23 March.
WellLink Desktop accurately delivers well data to operators to optimize production. The system eliminates the need to search through large amounts of data and provides security through an encrypted data transfer scheme.
