People, Companies & Products

NOV Elmar expands Middle East operations, staff

NOV Elmar has opened a new facility in Dubai, expanding its premises in the region to almost 40,000 sq ft and increasing staff to over 50. The facility, located in Jebel Ali, enables the firm to manufacture wireline units and trucks on site in Dubai, as well as expand its original operations associated with the service and rental of wireline and coiled tubing equipment.

As part of the expansion, NOV Elmar Middle East has launched a service and repair centre and appointed Pete Davis to head up the new division. A first for the Middle East, the new division will allow the firm to carry out annual and major service work on coiled tubing equipment.

Alistair Ellis, general manager, NOV Elmar Middle East, said, “Over the past five years, NOV Elmar Middle East has grown considerably, and we now have the resources in place to meet the increasing demand for our products from customers in the Middle East and Far East.

“Our Well Head Equipment Team has recently completed the manufacture of a wireline winch for the Elmar Far East Fleet, which is the first of its kind to be manufactured in Dubai. By manufacturing our products as close to their final destination as possible, we are able to improve delivery times and provide an increasingly efficient service to our customers.”

National Drilling & Services Co of Oman names new CEO

National Drilling & Services Co (NDSC) of Oman, a subsidiary of United Gulf Energy Resources (UGER), has named Ashwani Sethi as its new CEO. This announcement comes as the company prepares for an expansion of its onshore rig fleet. NDSC presently operates four land rigs in Oman.

Mr Sethi previously worked with NDSC during the Lekhwair Turnkey, a “Drilling in the ’90s” project for Petroleum Development Oman. Pat O’Shaughnessy, formerly group general manager, remains with the company in a new position as consultant to the Board of NDSC.

VP international sales & business development joins BJ Services

BJ Services announced that Juan Carlos (JC) Mondelli has been appointed vice president of international sales & business development. He has more than 37 years of management experience in operations, marketing and sales.

Separately, BJ Services has formalized its global Shale Technology team. The group will focus on the research, development and delivery of shale technology solutions to customers operating in shale oil and gas reservoirs.

Chevron awards support vessel contract to Remedial Offshore

Remedial Offshore was awarded a multi-year contract from Chevron Offshore (Thailand) to provide an elevating support vessel (ESV). The vessel will support implementation of various brownfield optimization initiatives. The two-year contract will commence next year between 31 March and 31 May. Remedial has two ESV units under construction at shipyards in China.

Pride appoints Randy Stilley CEO for mat-supported jackups

Pride International announced that Randall D (Randy) Stilley has been appointed to the position of CEO of Pride’s mat-supported jackup rig business and will join the company immediately. Mr Stilley is a 32-year veteran of the oilfield services industry. He previously served as president and CEO of Hercules Offshore, leading the company through an initial public offering and the acquisition of TODCO. Before Hercules, Mr Stilley served as president and CEO of Seitel and held management positions with Weatherford International and Halliburton.

Cudd hires well control engineer

Alex Korzenewski has joined Cudd Well Control, a division of Cudd Pressure Control, as senior well control engineer. He has over 31 years of drilling and completions experience. He previously was at Weatherford International, where he held several positions, including project manager and senior underbalanced drilling engineer. He is a registered professional engineer in the state of Texas.

Mautz, Fontenot named InterMoor QHSE director, QA/QC manager

InterMoor has named Randy Mautz as quality, health, safety and environment director and Chuck Fontenot as quality assurance and quality control manager. Mr Mautz has over 20 years of experience in quality management. He will be responsible for the coordination of all of InterMoor’s quality, health, safety and environmental issues worldwide. Mr Fontenot has 13 years of experience and will be responsible for the oversight of the day-to-day functioning of the company’s US quality program.

MB Century lauded for safety campaign

MB Century has won the National Safety Council of Australia award of excellence for the best communication of a safety message. The award recognized the company’s Safety at Work & Home campaign, which aimed to communicate a message of safety not just at work but also to employees’ families at home. Details about this campaign were featured in the Sept/Oct 2008 issue of Drilling Contractor.

Boots & Coots signs Africa deal

Boots & Coots International Well Control has signed a new Safeguard contract worth $45 million for a term of up to 36 months in North Africa. This significantly expands the company’s risk management and prevention services in the country.

WesternGeco wins major GAZPROM contract

WesternGeco has been awarded a major land contract by Gazprom Libya for the acquisition and processing of 3,400 sq km of 3D seismic data over the Ghadames Basin. Gazprom selected the Q-Land high-channel-count, integrated point-receiver acquisition and processing system to acquire the data. Q-Land enables the WesternGeco single sensor technology, resulting in effective noise attenuation and improved data quality.

Also selected is the Maximum Displacement Sweep (MD Sweep), a complementary methodology that enables a seismic vibrator to produce more energetic low frequencies than a traditional sweep design approach, to both increase seismic bandwidth and image deeper targets.

New formation evaluation tool available from APS Technology

APS Technology has introduced WPR, a compensated geometry, dual-frequency (400 kHz and 2 MHz), dual spacing formation evaluation tool for LWD and measurements-after-drilling (MAD) services in all well types.

WPR operates in all mud types, including oil-base and salt-saturated, and provides real-time resistivity with flexible transmission formats. High-resolution data is stored in downhole memory, which can be retrieved and processed during trips. Downhole storage in the WPR is 32 MB, with an additional 32 MB in the MWD tool. Memory fill-rate of downhole WPR + Gamma data is 8 MB or less in 120 hours, which can be downloaded in about 10 minutes during a trip.

Applications include geosteering, correlation, pore pressure trend analysis, casing point selection, wireline replacement, logging while tripping and logging with and without the flow switch enabled (for air and foam-drilled wells). Remote access capabilities include diagnostics, real-time and post-survey transfer of data via WISML and remote geosteering.

WPR interfaces with APS’ SureShot Directional plus Gamma (DG) MWD system, and uses industry-standard antenna spacings and dielectric corrections. The tool also offers industry-standard depths of investigation and vertical resolution. The complete SureShot plus WPR system operates to 175°C and is powered by batteries or batteries plus turbine alternator.

Varel launches High Energy series roller cone insert bits

Varel International announced the commercial launch of the High Energy series roller cone insert bits. This series was engineered as a solution to increasing demands on drill bits that require greater weight on bit and higher rotations per minute for faster drilling. The series features seal enhancements, improved seal/bearing system, and precision hydraulics and cleaning efficiencies. According to the company, initial field tests show a performance improvement of 25% in KRevs over previous technology.

LeTourneau offers build-it-yourself jackup kit

In response to high market demand for completed jackup rigs – often requiring more than a two-year lead time – LeTourneau Technologies Offshore Products now offers rig kit and license packages. This component packaging concept allows customers to build a LeTourneau jackup rig at a shipyard of their choice. The rig kits include such components as the company’s leg and guide components, jacking system, cantilever system, pedestal king post cranes, optional anchor winches, as well as detailed design drawings. Additionally, LeTourneau’s engineering support team will be available to guide customers through construction and to provide service through the life of the rig.

New WCS stuck pipe training available online

Well Control School has announced an online Stuck Pipe Prevention Training Program for derrick men, drillers, tool pushers and company representatives to aid in developing, implementing and utilizing a Stuck Pipe Program.

WellDynamics introduces HS internal control valve

WellDynamics, a Halliburton company, announced the availability of its HS interval control valve (HS-ICV), which is debris-tolerant and designed for high-pressure, deepwater environments characterized as severe operating conditions. The valve’s unique features include a proprietary metal-to-metal seal, allowing for the highest unloading capacity in the industry; a customizable flow trim; and optional position sensors to provide real-time confirmation of remotely actuated valve movements.

Handrails now standard on Liebherr crawler cranes for US

Liebherr Nenzing Crane Co is now fitting handrails as standard on top of crawler cranes delivered to US customers to reduce the risk of workers falling while climbing over the crane. Handrails were previously an option on Liebherr cranes, but with leading contractors increasingly demanding fall protection measures on their machinery, Liebherr opted to make handrails standard on all future orders from US customers.

L&M Radiator tests BOSS

L&M Radiator has released field and laboratory test results on its BOSS engine radiator (Brass Off Shore Service). The radiator was designed for offshore use and features brass finning brazed to brass tubes in a stainless steel framework. The radiator features a design common to all MESABI heat exchangers: individual cooling tubes held in headers with flexible rubber seals. The seals absorb shock and vibration, which can crack rigid soldered seams, and allow tubes that might be damaged to be replaced in the field and, often without removing the radiator from the equipment in which it is installed.

According to the L&M test report, the first BOSS radiator was put into service in June 2004 on an ocean-going nitro vaporizer used to cool a DC 60 Series engine. A month later, a second BOSS radiator was installed on an offshore rig with a Cat 3412C engine. Since those installations, 145 engine radiators, along with a few oil-to-air coolers, have been installed as of May 2008.

Most installations were on offshore rigs, and, according to L&M service and warranty records, to date, all have performed without failure attributable to galvanic action. In addition to those radiators installed, 18 units have been shipped to Singapore for use on ocean-going cementers. As of March 2008, four had been installed.

Formal lab tests on the BOSS from conceptual designs to development of a prototype took place from early 2003 to January 2004. Much of the testing tested the materials of a BOSS against the standard MESABI radiator tube, which uses a solder (lead-tin) composition to hold copper tube finning to both sides of flattened copper tubes.

When exposed to an accelerated salt air environment, the solder joint failed within a week as a result of galvanic action. An attempt to coat the copper finning and tubes with a variety of protective materials was not successful. Only brass finning brazed to brass tubes defeated galvanic action, which can be attributed to the similarity of materials used in the finning and tube components. Production BOSS cooling tubes have been tested for more than two years in a hot water, high-salt concentration bath with no evidence of deterioration of metal properties.

Oilfield calculations on Drillers.com

For drilling staff, calculations are part of their daily work. The average driller or toolpusher probably has available three choices when it comes to rig maths:

1. Calculator, together with formulae to use.
2. Generic software like Excel.
3. Specialist software, usually commercial.

There is now another way. With Internet access and a web browser, standard drilling calculations can be done using web-enabled Mathcad worksheets, which document all of the formulae and intermediate calculations. They are also optimised for small screens, such as the iPhone or other web-enabled PDA.

On www.drillers.com, you can see the Tonmiles worksheet, Audit version (Drilling Tools, Online Calcs).

In the figure at left, notice that the first data entry box is a pick list, which allows choices for the operation being calculated for. These include round or short trips, one-way trips, drilling with or without reaming, running casing or tubing. This applies a factor to the round-trip tonmile calculation.

The remaining data entries comprise boxes for entering numbers, but each box has to its right a pick list so that the unit entered can be chosen. Mudweight can be entered in one of six units, such as PPG, SG, kPa/m, psi/ft. Each data entry has a choice of units.

There are three main versions of the Tonmiles worksheet, all identical mathematically but formatted differently. The Work version hides all intermediate calculations, but the Audit version allows you to follow what’s going on.

Mathcad does internal calculations using metric figures. It also can work with units and enforce those units, so if a quantity of kilograms is entered and the user tries to subtract a quantity of metres, Mathcad doesn’t allow it. The results in each worksheet are always given in both Metric and Oilfield units.

As these worksheets reside on a web server, only the latest version can be seen, avoiding potential confusion with outdated versions.

Steve Devereux is CEO of Drillers.com and author of the Mathcad worksheets on the site.