People, Companies & Products

H&P chairman Helmerich dies at 88

Walter H. Helmerich III, businessman, civic leader and philanthropist, passed away on 10 January. He was born on 12 January 1923, and his father, Walter H. Helmerich, was co-founder of Helmerich & Payne International Drilling Co(H&P).

Mr Helmerich received a BA from the University of Oklahoma and an MBA from Harvard University.

He joined H&P in 1950 and became president in 1960. He led the company until 1989, when his son, Hans Helmerich, was named CEO. He retained the role of chairman after that and served in the position for the last 22 years.

Mr Helmerich supported civic, cultural, health and educational organizations primarily in the Tulsa, Okla., area. His philosophy was simple: “If you are fortunate to be in a position where you can give, that’s a blessing.”

Helix wins multiservice Talisman contract

Talisman Energy has awarded a multiservice contract to Helix Well Ops UK. Helix will carry out a range of subsea work, including well maintenance, production enhancement operations and well abandonment.

The multiservice campaign is anticipated to last about two months and will be undertaken from Helix’s mono-hull saturation diving and well intervention vessel MSV Seawell.

FMC awarded subsea contract from Anadarko

Anadarko Petroleum has contracted FMC Technologies to provide subsea systems and life-of-field services for its Lucius project. The Lucius field is approximately 275 miles southeast of Galveston in Keathley Canyon Block 875, in water depths of approximately 7,100 ft (2,160 meters).

FMC will supply five subsea production trees and two manifolds from the company’s operations in Houston, and deliveries are expected to begin in Q4 2012.

Myers joins DOYLES as engineering director

DOYLES has hired Eric Myers as director of engineering. Mr Myers has manufacturing experience working with National Oilwell Varco/Shaffer and Cameron.

Drillmec hires representative for Australasia region

Drillmec has hired Matthew Drew as Drillmec Australia and New Zealand’s business development manager. Mr Drew has worked worldwide on deepwater rigs, land rigs and slant rigs and brings experience from his drilling services background with directional drilling and logging while drilling.

Former Ensco VP Moomjian forms consulting company

Cary Moomjian, former Ensco VP – general counsel, has formed CAM OilServ Advisors, which provides consulting, expert witness, dispute resolution, mediation and related services to the industry. He will also provide legal services.

Mr Moomjian can be contacted at cary@camoilserv.com, +1-972-905-2121 or via www.camoilserv.com.

Rosa leaves exec VP/CFO post at Transocean

Ricardo Rosa stepped down as Transocean’s executive vice president and chief financial officer and is expected to retire effective 30 April. His successor has not been announced.

Gregory L. Cauthen has returned to the company as interim chief financial officer. Prior to his retirement from Transocean in August 2009, Mr Cauthen was chief financial officer.

Martin Craighead assumes role as Baker Hughes CEO

Martin Craighead has assumed the role of Baker Hughes’ president and CEO. He will build on the seven-year tenure of Chad Deaton, who will remain chairman of the board of directors.

Mr Craighead, whose tenure with Baker Hughes began in 1986, will oversee operations in more than 80 countries and more than 53,000 employees.

Szekely, Tadic join Crosco management board

Peter Szekely and Tomislav Tadic were recently appointed to the management board at Crosco Integrated Drilling & Well Services Co. Mr Tadic has been appointed as chief financial officer. Mr Szekely has served as Crosco’s director of corporate services since July 2011 and retains that position.

AETI powers up seven Xtreme land drilling rigs

American Electric Technologies Inc (AETI) has secured a contract with Xtreme Drilling and Coil to supply seven M&I land drilling rig power systems. The units will enhance Xtreme’s operations in the Bakken and Niobrara regions. Deliveries began in Q4 2011 and will continue through Q2 2012.

DTI to supply first Chinese-built drillships

Drilling Technological Innovations (DTI) has been contracted to supply motion compensation packages for the first drillships to be built in China.

DTI will supply fully integrated drilling motion compensation systems for Opus Offshore’s Tiger 1 and Tiger 2 drillships, with an option for a second pair. The drillships are being constructed under a turnkey contract by Shanghai Shipyard.

The motion compensation package for the Tiger series includes DTI’s slim-design single-wireline tensioners with 200,000-lb capacity at mid-stroke, advanced riser recoil system, full tensioner system controls and crown-mounted compensator.

PRODUCTS

Partnership aims to recycle, reuse Marcellus Shale frac water

Casella-Altela Regional Environmental Services, a recent joint partnership between Casella Waste Systems and Altela, will recycle oilfield and natural gas wastewater from Marcellus shale drilling into clean distilled water that can be reused.

The partnership provides a solution to the environmental issues surrounding the treatment of mineral-laden brackish water. Altela will provide the technology to clean the water to exceed state and federal standards, while Casella will provide the working infrastructure and operational facilities for the treatment facility.

Environmental issues surrounding the treatment of wastewater from Marcellus Shale drilling has threatened to limit natural gas drilling in several northeastern states.

Ergodyne debuts ProFlex lighter-duty gloves

Ergodyne has expanded its dorsal impact-reducing glove series to include the ProFlex 924LD Light Dorsal Impact-Reducing Gloves. The lighter-duty glove provides back-of-hand impact protection with air-mesh construction for breathability and dexterity.

WellLink 3D visualization provides real-time imagery

Turning wellbore-related data into real-time imagery for enhanced well planning and optimization, directional drilling and reservoir navigation is now part of Baker Hughes through its WellLink 3D visualization service.

Powered by the CoViz platform from Dynamic Graphics, WellLink 3D provides a single, integrated 3D visualization and decision-support solution that leverages the industry-standard protocol, WITSML. The ability to connect directly to other WITSML data sources enables operators to visualize off-line and real-time data sets through a vendor-neutral, shared display.

Baker Hughes launches portable water treatment facilities

Baker Hughes has introduced two mobile services to provide water treatment and drilling waste recycling in unconventional shale formations.

The H2prO water treatment service removes suspended solids and heavy metals without chemicals, treating 100% of flowback and produced water for reuse.

The second service is the Eco-Centre CR, a mobile and portable onshore waste facility that can process a range of drilling fluids and solids. The unit, which can be deployed in proximity to shale formations, reduces the amount of water pulled into the waste stream and reduces the amount of fluids and drilling waste trucked to distant locations.

Wichita Clutch introduces water-cooled dual actuator

Wichita Clutch has developed a new dual-action head assembly for its line of AquaMaKKs water-cooled brakes. The brakes are optimized to provide accurate torque control for constant tensioning in heavy-duty continuous slip tension applications, such as drawworks and other hoisting systems.

DuraTech roller-cone bits built to withstand stress

Varel has launched its next generation of steel-tooth, roller-cone bits, the Varel DuraTech Series, which combines innovative manufacturing processes and quality materials.

The DuraTech series delivers high rates of penetration with reformulated hard-metal protection that provides life-enhancing durability in demanding environments.

The steel-tooth bits, available from 3 ^3/4 in. to 13 ^3/4 in., are built to withstand the added stress operators apply to bits when additional weight and greater revolutions/min are necessary.