People, Companies & Products

Diamond Offshore appoints Woll as Senior VP, Chief Commercial Officer

Diamond Offshore has appointed Ronald Woll as Senior VP and Chief Commercial Officer, effective immediately. Based in Houston, Mr Woll will have oversight of the company’s marketing and contract acquisition activities.

“Ron brings with him a successful track record where he has brought value to both service company and operator alike in a win-win manner,” said Marc Edwards, President and CEO of Diamond Offshore.

Occidental names California Resources Corp management

Occidental Petroleum Corp has announced the leadership team for its subsidiary, California Resources Corp (CRC). Todd A. Stevens was named as President and CEO, and William E. Albrecht was named Executive Chairman of the Board. CRC will be an independent oil and natural gas exploration and production company focused on conventional and unconventional assets in California.

Halliburton promotes Jeff Miller to President

Halliburton has promoted Jeff Miller to President and has appointed him to the Halliburton Board of Directors. Mr Miller was previously Executive VP and COO. In his new role, Mr Miller will complement the leadership of Dave Lesar, Halliburton Chairman and CEO.

Mr Miller has served as Halliburton’s Executive VP and COO since 2012, working with the company’s senior management team in developing and executing operational strategies and ensuring that the company’s short- and long-term focus is aligned with its strategies. He began his career at Halliburton in 1997 and has held senior management roles in the company’s global operations and business development.

Noble approves spinoff of Paragon Offshore

Noble Corp has approved the spinoff of Paragon Offshore through a pro-rata distribution of an aggregate of 84,753,393 Paragon ordinary shares to the holders of Noble ordinary shares.

“Noble will exit this process with a top-tier fleet, a substantial contract backlog and a sharp focus on the high-specification drilling market, elements that, when joined with our exceptional crews, position Noble as a leader,” said David Williams, Chairman, President and CEO of Noble. Mr Williams also chairs the IADC Executive Committee. “Paragon is positioned to excel in the standard-specification drilling sector, with well-maintained and efficient rigs, highly competent crews, a strong customer base and a talented management team.”

Centrica appoints Iain Conn as CEO; Laidlaw to retire

Centrica has appointed Iain Conn as CEO, effective 1 January 2015, at which point he will join the Centrica Board. Mr Conn will succeed Sam Laidlaw, who will retire from the board on 31 December 2014.

“It has been a privilege to lead Centrica at a time of huge change in global energy markets, with all the challenges we face in terms of affordability, security of supply and the need to reduce carbon emissions,” Mr Laidlaw said.

Mr Conn will join Centrica from BP, where he serves as CEO of Downstream, BP’s refining and marketing division.

ValvTechnologies names Tom Singh as VP, Supply Chain

ValvTechnologies has named Tom Singh as VP, Supply Chain Operations. Based in Houston, Mr Singh will be responsible for the company’s global sourcing, purchasing, planning, materials management, project management and logistics groups. His appointment serves to integrate the value stream between the sales and the factory to better serve customers.

Mr Singh has set up operations in India, China, Southeast Asia, and North and South America. Most recently he served as VP, Global Supply Chain with JB Poindexter & Co in Houston.

Opus Offshore selects DTI motion compensation sets 

Drilling Technological Innovations (DTI) has been awarded a contract to provide motion compensation packages for the Tiger III and Tiger IV drillships. DTI provided the complete motion compensation packages for Opus Offshore’s Tiger I and Tiger II drillships, which mark the first drillships built in China, according to DTI.

The scope of supply includes sets of 200k wireline tensioners and 800k crown-mounted compensators (CMCs), as well as the DTI proprietary riser recoil valve systems. The riser recoil valves feature a streamlined design to provide the safest, most responsive and reliable option in the industry. All systems will be designed and built from DTI’s headquarters and manufacturing facility in Houston.

Aberdeen Drilling opens training center in Malaysia 

Aberdeen Drilling International has launched its Malaysian Well Control Training Centre in Kuala Lumpur. The facility will deliver its Well Control, Well Intervention Pressure Control and Drilling Industry Awareness courses in association with Universiti Teknologi Malaysia in central Kuala Lumpur.

J2 Subsea opens new US facility to serve GOM

J2 Subsea, an Acteon company, has opened a new facility in New Iberia, La., to make its range of remotely operated vehicle (ROV) tools more readily available for subsea operations in the Gulf of Mexico.

This facility, which includes a new hydraulic workshop for tool preparation, servicing and support, will provide torque tools, analysers, Webtool cutters, intensifiers, grinders, work packs, jetters and cleaners to ROV and diving companies in North America.

Pulse Structural Monitoring, another Acteon company, also has opened a new facility in Katy, Texas, to provide modern office, production and testing facilities to support its integrity monitoring projects. 

Variable Bore Rams opens distribution center in Texas

Variable Bore Rams (VBR) has expanded with a new distribution center in Midland, Texas.

The new facility will improve response time in New Mexico, Oklahoma and West Texas by up to seven hours and make inventory rotation into and out of VBR’s headquarters easier. Available inventory will include approximately 100 sets of various dressed rams and 200 sets of spare elastomers.

VBR has identified at least 300 rigs in West Texas that would benefit from the new distribution center’s ram inventory and improved response time.

Bluhull Group achieves ISO 9001:2008

Bluhull Group has completed the final stage of ISO 9001:2008 certification for its Business Assurance Management System. Comprehensive system audits by DNV-UKAS covered every aspect of operations at Bluhull Group in Malta, along with Bluhull Projects and Bluhull Resources.

All the three companies are included in the certification sanctioned by DNV.

Alliance to optimize efficiency of subsea well intervention

OneSubsea, Helix Energy Solutions Group and Schlumberger have entered into a letter of intent to form an alliance to develop technologies and deliver services to optimize the cost and efficiency of subsea well intervention systems.

The alliance will leverage the capabilities of the companies to provide a fully integrated offering, combining marine support with well access and control technologies. The alliance will focus on several objectives aimed at increasing the operating envelope of subsea intervention technology. These objectives include the expansion of applications enabled by subsea well-access technology and specific solutions for deep and ultra-deepwater basins and higher well pressure environments.

An important consideration is the evolution in the capabilities of Helix’s vessels to provide well intervention and support services, such as well commissioning, artificial lift support and abandonment.

Shell appoints Brekelmans as Projects & Tech Director

Shell has appointed Harry Brekelmans as Projects & Technology Director, effective 1 October 2014. In his new role, Mr Brekelmans will become a member of the executive committee and will take over from Matthias Bichsel, who will be leaving the company after 34 years.

Products

Ergonomic interface addresses line of sight

Strongarm Designs has developed an HMI (human-machine interface) solution to address line of sight for drill cabin operators. The MiniStation features Strongarm’s Vertica adjustable pendant arm and can be ceiling-mounted to allow for quick repositioning. The counterbalanced arm allows the operator to position the display exactly where needed and can be adjusted vertically to suit the operator’s personal preference.

Xtreme Coil Drilling recently installed the MiniStation on its rigs. “We required a robust overhead mounting system, complete with display, that provided adequate adjustment flexibility for operator use and servicing control panels locations. We needed to allow the operators to move their monitors in order to improve visibility, unlike our pre-existing monitor equipment that was fixed-mounted,” Gary Werner, Project Engineer with Xtreme, said.

Formation evaluation software optimizes drilling economics

Paradigm has released the latest version of its Geolog formation evaluation and petrophysics analysis solution suite. The release includes a plug-in that enables direct data transfer from Geolog to Schlumberger’s Petrel.

The release includes a module for log-based pore pressure and fracture pressure prediction to optimize drilling safety and economics of the drilling program.Shale gas analysis and geomechanic technologies developed by Saudi Aramco enhance content for the unconventionals.