People, Companies & Products
Ensign acquiring Rowan’s land division
Ensign Energy Services has agreed to acquire the land drilling division of Rowan Companies, which includes 30 electric land drilling rigs, all equipped with top drives. Ensign expects the acquisition to boost its presence in the southern United States, complementing existing US operations in the Rocky Mountain region and California.
More than half of Rowan’s land drilling rigs were constructed in the last five years, and many of them are equipped with automated pipe-handling capabilities. Upon completion of the transaction, Ensign’s global drilling rig fleet will increase to 340 marketed drilling rigs, with 115 drilling rigs located in the United States.
Bonno, Monroe awarded promotions at Transocean
Transocean has promoted Terry Bonno to senior vice president, marketing, and Mark Monroe to vice president, account management.
Ms Bonno previously served as vice president marketing and has approximately 30 years of industry experience, including 17 years with Global Marine and Applied Drilling Technology.
Based in Houston, Mr Monroe will be responsible for overseeing the company’s relationships with key US-based customers. Previously serving as managing director, marketing, he joined Global Marine in 1983 and held numerous marketing positions with Global Marine and GlobalSantaFe. In 2000, he was promoted to VP sales and contracts, with responsibility for the sales, contracts and marketing of the GlobalSantaFe fleet in North and South America, Southeast Asia and West Africa.
Pinheiro receives SPE regional HSE award
Angelo Pinheiro, project HES manager – upstream developments for Marathon Oil Corp, was awarded the 2011 SPE Regional Health, Safety, Security and Social Responsibility Award on 17 May at the SPE Gulf Coast Section annual awards banquet in Houston. Mr Pinheiro has more than 20 years of experience as a safety and environmental professional in oil and gas E&P. He earned his Bachelor of Technology degree at Canada’s Memorial University and M.S. in technology management at Texas A&M University-Commerce, and is pursuing a doctorate in emergency management at Oklahoma State University.
Keppel names Tong senior executive director of board
Tong Chong Heong, Keppel Offshore & Marine CEO, has been appointed senior executive director of Keppel Corp. He has served as executive director on the Keppel Board since 1 August 2009, after succeeding Choo Chiau Beng as CEO of Keppel O&M on 1 January 2009.
FMC, Shell sign equipment deal for Australia’s Prelude
FMC Technologies has signed an agreement with Shell Development to supply subsea production and associated topside systems for the Prelude field development. FMC also will perform installation and commissioning services. The Prelude field is located in the Browse Basin of Western Australia, in water depths of approximately 820 ft (250 meters). It will become Shell’s first field development to use a floating liquefied natural gas facility. FMC’s scope of supply includes seven large-bore subsea production trees, production manifolds, riser bases, subsea control systems and other related equipment.
Girlinghouse appointed VP well control engineering
Wild Well Control has named Kerry Girlinghouse vice president of well control engineering. Mr Girlinghouse has been with the company since 2004, most recently as a senior technical adviser within the engineering division. Based in Houston, he will lead the engineering division, increasing his role in global well control and prevention and response services.
Herring is Lee C Moore’s VP production/procurement
Melissa Herring has joined Lee C Moore, a Woolslayer company, as vice president – production and procurement. She previously served in procurement management roles and on the executive teams for Atwood Oceanics, Premier Drilling and Parker Drilling.
Heintzelman to succeed Santiago at GE Oil & Gas
Dan Heintzelman, CEO of GE Energy Services, has been named CEO of GE Oil & Gas. He will succeed Claudi Santiago, who has served as CEO of GE Oil & Gas for the last 12 years and is retiring in December. Steve Bolze, CEO of GE Power & Water, will now lead an expanded portfolio with the addition of Power Generation Services, formerly part of Energy Services, to the Power & Water business. Dan Janki, currently GE Energy’s chief financial officer, has been named CEO of GE Energy Management, a newly formed business within Energy. This business will consist of technology solutions for the delivery, management, conversion and optimization of electrical power for customers across multiple energy-intensive industries.
WCS awarded IACET Authorized Provider status
The International Association for Continuing Education and Training (IACET) has awarded Well Control School (WCS) with Authorized Provider status. IACET Authorized Providers are the only organizations approved to offer IACET Continuing Education Units. The recognition period lasts for five years and includes all programs offered or created during that time. “Our new partnership with IACET is a demonstration of our commitment to lifelong learning and high standards for all of our programs,” WCS president Ed Geissler said.
Peyton named Superior’s VP corporate HSE
Superior Energy Services has named Kerric Peyton VP of corporate health, safety & environmental. He will lead the execution of all technical, functional, auditing, compliance and training responsibilities related to the HSE function across the organization. Mr Peyton was previously a drilling superintendent and manager of worldwide HSE activities at an offshore drilling contractor. He holds a bachelor’s degree in human resource management from New School University and has completed post-graduate work in business administration from Regis University.
PRODUCTS
Vertical proppant storage system reduces pad size
Halliburton has introduced the SandCastle PS-2500 proppant silo. The unit offers a reduced footprint with no volume compromise compared with traditional horizontal proppant storage units. Space is saved by orienting the unit vertically once on location. The unit also is able to transition itself from the horizontal position to the operating (vertical) position under its own power provided through a solar power system housed within the PS-2500 silo.
The unit requires no external power source to operate. This capability eliminates the diesel engine normally required for each conventional proppant handling/storage container. The SandCastle PS-2500 unit has a total working volume of 2,500 sacks (250,000 lbs), divided into two separate bins. Proppant can be discharged from either bin at a rate of more than 200 sacks/min.
High-temperature ESP system targets wells up to 250°C
Schlumberger has released its third-generation REDA HotlineSA3 high-temperature electric submersible pump (ESP) system for steam-assisted recovery operations and geothermal applications. This latest release can reliably produce from wells with bottomhole temperatures of up to 250°C, enabling the installation of the ESP at the earliest stages of the development of the steam-assisted gravity drainage (SAGD) chamber.
The HotlineSA3 system incorporates an integrated design that extends the ESP operating envelope and run life. Integrated surveillance and control through reliable fluid pressure, temperature and internal motor temperature measurements help reduce sub-cool and steam oil ratio.
The system, which has passed extensive testing at max-rated temperatures, includes a multifunction integrated motor unit, thermally compensated pumps, downhole monitoring gauges for pressure and temperature, power cables and a surface controller.
Lugless BOP cap can be secured with wrench
R&M Energy Systems is offering the Hercules Lugless 150H BOP Cap, which allows operations to use a wrench rather than a hammer to secure the end caps. It can be operated with a standard 24-in. or 36-in. pipe wrench, a 36-in. adjustable wrench or a 3-in. wrench; no hammer is required. It can be installed on all older 150H BOP models that currently have wing caps.
New flexible riser monitoring system achieves full success rate in testing
A flexible riser integrity monitoring system has achieved a 100% success rate in a dynamic test process, according to Pulse Structural Monitoring. FlexASSURE uses non-invasive sensors to detect breaks in the tensile armor wires of a flexible riser, building a detailed picture of structural integrity and alerting the user to early signs of deterioration.
The technology was conceived as a reliable means of validating riser integrity in deepwater installations.
The system, comprising monitoring hardware, a real-time data acquisition system and data-processing interface, was developed, tested and qualified in Brazil, where flexible risers are responsible for transporting approximately 80% of offshore production amid increasingly challenging conditions.
FlexASSURE can be installed on a new riser to provide integrity assurance through its lifetime or retrofitted to an existing riser where there may be concerns over its remaining life.
The system was qualified over three years, undergoing laboratory and offshore testing before progressing to a full-scale dynamic test in which it was attached to a riser and subjected to loads representing 100% service life, accounting for a 10-time safety factor. This activity was monitored in a blind test, in which FlexASSURE detected 100% of the wire breaks, with no false alarms.
