Fluor, COOEC team up
Fluor and China Offshore Oil Engineering Corporation (COOEC), a subsidiary of CNOOC, have agreed to jointly pursue large offshore projects in the Asia-Pacific region. The alliance will focus on both shallow and deep water as well as fixed and floating facilities with a view to expanding globally.
DOUBLE-TAKE:
Fugro has been on the acquisition trail lately, with UK and Australian companies among its latest
purchases.
Simulation and visualization software specialist General Robotics has now been renamed Fugro GRL and will operate as part of Fugro Subsea Services, keeping the same management and staff headed
by Dr Jason Tisdall. Tisdall is pictured (left) with Fugro’s global ROV manager Jim Mann (centre) and Jeff Coutts, managing director Fugro GEOS.
Meanwhile, in Australia, Fugro recently agreed to acquire Submec, a small subsea engineering and ROV tooling services company based in Perth.
OSD strengthens network
Dutch naval architecture and marine engineering design firm Offshore Ship Designers (OSD) has strengthened its global network with the opening of an office in Singapore.
OSD Singapore will liaise with clients building ships in Asia and provide a local solution for companies based in the island republic. The company, which also has a design office in Shanghai, China, says it is currently overseeing ten offshore vessels being built to its designs in Asia.
Cabins for Singapore
Aberdeen-based Offshore Container Holdings (OCH) has expanded its operations into Asia with the establishment of Singapore subsidiary OEG Asia Pacific to supply the offshore oil and gas industry with specialist, pressurised engineering cabins and a range of containers and baskets.
Over $1.5 million has been invested in a new rental fleet build programme for Singapore, with A60 fire rated, DNV 271 Zone rated engineering cabins available for rent immediately and the facility expected to be in full operation early 1Q 2010.
The opening of the Singapore base is the first phase of OCH’s three-year plan to expand its presence in the Asia Pacific region, to eventually cover Malaysia, Thailand, Australia, Vietnam, Brunei, Indonesia and China.
ITS cashed up for expansion
ITS Group, a specialist provider of oilfield equipment and services, has received a $55 million equity investment as it gears up to become a major global player in the oilfield drilling sector.
Energy-focused private firm Lime Rock Partners provided the funds for this deal in return for a minority stake in the company.
The ITS portfolio includes drilling and pressure control equipment, fishing, casing running and machine shop services. The company was formed in 1986 in Aberdeen by Bob Kidd and now has 25 operational facilities worldwide that include the UAE, Saudi Arabia, India, Pakistan, Singapore and China.
Schlumberger sets up Saudi centre . . .
Schlumberger has opened a new reservoir completions manufacturing centre in Dammam, Saudi Arabia to cater to the needs of the Kingdom and the Middle East.
Located in Dammam Industrial City, the centre represents an investment of some $25 million in stateof- the-art manufacturing equipment, facility lease and inventory and houses a team of design and manufacturing engineers specialised in the production of customised downhole reservoir completions equipment.
. . . and renews Technip pact
Schlumberger and Technip have concluded a global cooperation agreement to jointly develop subsea integrity and surveillance solutions for flexible pipes used in deep offshore oil and gas production, extending collaboration between the companies that began in 1998.
EA assets sought
Barclays Natural Resource Investments, part of Barclays Bank, has created Nio Petroleum in partnership with Richard Hall, Nio CEO, and Rory Edwards, Nio COO, to focus on undeveloped discoveries and marginal fields in Southeast Asia, particularly in Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia and Australia.
Nio Petroleum is seeking to acquire dormant or mature late-life assets to add value through the use of existing and new technologies and in-house expertise.
JV targets SEA deeps
UMW Oil & Gas and SWG Offshore International have formed a joint venture to target subsea and deepwater installation projects in Southeast Asia.
The new JV, called UMW Deepnautic and incorporated in Singapore and Malaysia, is expected to leverage the strengths and capabilities of both partners in pursuing these markets, allowing them to jointly expand their businesses into the region’s high-growth subsea and deepwater installation sector.
In a statement issued early December, the partners said UMW Deepnautic will continue to offer the technically competent services and project execution track record of SWG Offshore, whilst accessing the extensive network and capabilities of UMW Oil & Gas. This includes UMW’s substantial offshore fabrication capacity in Singapore, Malaysia and Vietnam.
SWG Offshore International will complete all existing works contracted to it, with all new contracts being entered into by the new JV.
SWG Offshore’s wholly owned subsidiary in Perth, Western Australia, is unaffected by this move.
Rod guides in Roma
R&M Energy Systems has opened a rod guide operation in Roma, Queensland, Australia, providing wear protection solutions for both reciprocating and progressing cavity pump applications that include such brand names as New Era Rod Guides, RODEC Tubing Rotators, and Hercules Rod Rotators.
Bouyancy boost
Matrix Composites & Engineering is constructing a state-of-the art facility in the Australian Marine Complex Subsea Cluster at Henderson, south of Perth.When completed 2Q 2010 the facility will house a syntactic foam buoyancy plant that will more than double the company’s production capacity. Matrix says the plant will be capable of manufacturing and testing riser and production equipment buoyancy of virtually any size to water depths of 16,500ft.
Emerson bolsters Viet presence
Emerson Process Management (Vietnam) has been established as a new sales, engineering, and service office in Ho Chi Minh City to serve local industry with engineering and service support.
SAT SYSTEM:
Bisso Marine of Houston has acquired a 12-man portable saturation diving (SAT) system capable of working at depths of 1000ft that features a dual-lock, six-man deck decompression chamber, a 12-man launchable flyaway hyperbaric rescue chamber, a duallock, six-man come-out chamber and a three-man diving bell.
The Bisso Marine fleet provides marine construction, pipe laying, salvage, heavy lift and diving services with offices and alliances in the Americas, Europe and Asia.
BRIEFLY
- Dril-Quip Asia Pacific’s new $34 million offshore drilling equipment manufacturing plant, being constructed on an 11.2 acre greenfield site in Singapore, is expected to be completed 1Q 2011. The facility will support sales, service, engineering, manufacturing, assembly, and warehousing.
- The John Wood Group has acquired Baker Energy, the energy services business of Michael Baker Corporation, for $38 million in cash. Baker Energy, which provides onshore and offshore operations and maintenance services internationally and has an Asia Pacific presence, now operates within the Wood Group E&P facilities division.
- Technip and SaudConsult have signed a MoU to set up a 50:50 joint venture to develop an engineering centre of excellence in Al Khobar, Saudi Arabia, focusing on front end engineering design, detailed engineering, procurement and construction management services for the Kingdom’s energy sector.
- Tendeka has acquired Bahrain-based Flotech, a provider of sand face completion technologies, including a full suite of inflow control devices and isolation packers, and FloQuest, a supplier of wellbore flow modelling and in-well data management.
- German ship management group Hellespont has inaugurated Hellespont Singapore to work with offshore charterers, source crews for the Hellespontmanaged platform supply vessel fleet and become an operator of offshore vessels in Singapore.
Issue: November/December 2009