People, Companies & Products
Carey Lowe named Ensco Executive VP
Carey Lowe has been promoted to Executive Vice President of Ensco, reporting to CEO and President Carl Trowell.
Mr Lowe will be responsible for overseeing investor relations, public relations, employee communications and branding. Mr Lowe was most recently Senior Vice President – Eastern Hemisphere, a role in which he led operations for Europe, Africa, Middle East and the Asia Pacific. Mr Lowe joined Ensco in 2008 as Senior Vice President and has led capital projects, engineering, strategic planning, the deepwater fleet, and safety, health and environmental management.
Steve Brady will succeed Mr Lowe as Senior Vice President – Eastern Hemisphere and will relocate to London. Mr Brady was previously Senior Vice President – Western Hemisphere based in Houston. In addition, Gilles Luca has been appointed Senior Vice President – Western Hemisphere. Mr Luca’s prior roles include Vice President – Strategy, Vice President – Brazil and Vice President – Europe and Mediterranean. Mr Brady and Mr Luca will continue to report to Executive Vice President and COO Mark Burns.
Maersk training to train Transocean’s offshore crews
Maersk Training has entered a global training agreement with Transocean. Under this agreement, Maersk will manage the administration and delivery of certain training for Transocean’s offshore crews for at least five years, starting in 2015.
With this agreement, Maersk Training now has operational centers in 10 maritime and offshore production hubs, including in Denmark, Norway, Singapore, Brazil, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom and the United States, as well as facilities in West Africa.
AFGlobal, advanced insulation ink agreement
Advanced Insulation Systems will become the exclusive applicator for AFGlobal’s Cuming insulation products. The agreement applies to all subsea insulation structures and jumpers.
Halliburton, Baker Hughes reach $34.6 billion deal
On 17 November, Halliburton and Baker Hughes agreed to a stock and cash transaction under which Halliburton will acquire all outstanding Baker Hughes shares. The transaction is valued at $78.62 per Baker Hughes share, representing an equity value of $34.6 billion and enterprise value of $38 billion. Upon completion, Baker Hughes stockholders will own approximately 36% of the combined company.
Helix, OneSubsea, Schlumberger collaborate on subsea well intervention
Helix Energy, OneSubsea and Schlumberger announced on 6 January an agreement to work together to optimize the value chain of subsea well intervention systems. The alliance combines the expertise and capabilities of the three companies to integrate marine support with well-access equipment and control technologies.
Moomjian joins Ensign Energy board of directors
Cary Moomjian has joined Ensign Energy’s Board of Directors.
Mr Moomjian spent 35 years in commercial and legal executive positions in the drilling industry and was VP General Counsel of both Santa Fe Drilling and Ensco.
A longstanding IADC member, Mr Moomjian served three terms on the IADC Executive Committee, chaired the Contracts Committee for a decade and was named IADC Contractor of the Year in 1996. He is currently President of CAM OilServ Advisors.
Vallourec awarded ultra-deep Kaombo contract in Angola
Vallourec has been awarded a contract to supply premium tubes and connections for the ultra-deep offshore Kaombo project in Angola, operated by TOTAL E&P Angola. Vallourec will supply 27,000 tons of tubular goods for wells drilled within 1,400-2,000 m water depths and reaching up to 5,000-m drilling depth. The Kaombo project includes 59 wells, a third of which will target subsalt reservoirs. Vallourec will supply its most advanced premium tubular solutions for this project.
Boyarski joins Rangeland as vp of sales, marketing
Bob Boyarski joined Rangeland Drilling as VP of Sales and Marketing in October 2014. He is a certified Engineering Technologist with more than 16 years of oilfield experience.
Apollo Global acquires Express Energy Services
Houston-based Express Energy Services has agreed to be acquired through funds managed by affiliates of Apollo Global Management and participating management.
Logan buys fishing tools line from Smith International
Logan International recently purchased the rights to manufacture and sell Houston Engineers’ fishing tools from Smith International.
Sioux names Hanssen as sales/marketing manager
Sioux has appointed Jesse Hanssen as Sales and Marketing Manager. Mr Hanssen has more than seven years of experience as Application Engineer and Product Manager in the equipment manufacturing industry.
New operating procedure issued for Duraband NC
Hardbanding Solutions has released a new standard operating procedure for the application of Duraband NC hardbanding on completion tubing connections.
The upset connections of 2 7/8– and
2 3/8-in. tubing are experiencing excessive wear in many drilling environments, especially horizontal drilling.
This excessive wear on equipment is not allowing the normal amount of recuts, effectively causing the tubing to be scrapped before reaching 100% of its useful life.
The new procedure, which has been shown to significantly increase service life, calls for the application of Duraband NC hardbanding to both pin and box near the taper, allowing for multiple re-cuts as necessary. This procedure applies for both new and re-applications.
GE starts subsea wellhead fabrication in Nigeria
GE Oil & Gas has added the capability to fabricate subsea wellheads in Nigeria. This milestone required nearly four years of planning and the investment of more than $4.5 million in facilities, recruitment and training. The wellhead production capabilities were added to GE’s existing Onne facility in River State, which has been operating since 2002.
Products
Claxton system saves rig time during conductor cementing
Claxton Engineering has developed a new conductor cementing support system (CCSS) that has saved 12-18 hours of rig time per conductor while waiting for cement to cure. The CCSS secures the conductor with a hydraulic jack-and-clamp mechanism that holds the weight of the conductor while the cement cures. This means that the rig no longer has to hold each conductor and can move to the next slot and begin running another conductor.
“The CCSS has a holding capacity of 135-160 tons and is suitable for conductor diameters of 24-30 in.,” Dannie Claxton, Technical Director, said. “However, we can scale the design to any conductor size on request and tailor the footprint and weight handling capacity to specific slot or jacket configurations. The new system has a compact design and can be repositioned easily without a crane.”
Blackhawk launches wireless top drive cement head
Blackhawk Specialty Tools has developed a wireless top drive cement head called the Hawkeye that operates on a fully wireless automation system, eliminating the need for a hydraulic umbilical line and operating console. Its Quik-Lock connections allow for fast plug, dart and ball reloads.
The Hawkeye has a maximum hookload of 2.25 million lb, a maximum pump rate of 35 bpm through the top drive and a maximum operating distance of 650 ft.
TAM unveils custom 22-in. cement integrity system
Following on the recent design and qualification of the 22-in. Port Collar, TAM International has unveiled its 22-in. casing annulus packer, LongCAP. The 22-in. LongCAP is ISO 14310 V6 qualified. Testing involved multiple cycles of differential pressure reversals from above and below the LongCAP packer set inside a 33-in. test fixture. The LongCAP element met or exceeded all test requirements. The 22-in. system was designed for an international operator’s offshore project.
DSL launches rig inspection e-learning course
DSL has introduced an e-learning training course aimed at eliminating a competency gap in the industry associated with the inspection and maintenance of drilling structures, both onshore and offshore. This course is designed to arm drill crews with the skills and knowledge to accurately identify and report the more common faults and issues that can develop between periodical Cat III & IV inspections. The course will be available in various languages.
