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Vol. 59 No. 4

April 2007

Company News

EMERGING TECHNOLOGY

  • Saudi Aramco and WellDynamics plan to jointly develop new technologies and solutions for multizone, multilateral intelligent completions. The project consists of the development of a telemetry system coupled to a subsurface control module that will control flow and transmit data from each “smart” lateral to the main bore, and ultimately to the surface.
  • Ivanhoe Energy Inc. received a Notice of Allowance from the U.S. Patent Office for the first in a series of heavy-oil-upgrading patent applications. Since Ivanhoe Energy acquired heavy-oil-upgrading technology through its merger with Ensyn Group Inc., it has been working to expand patent coverage to protect innovations to the technology.
  • Technip completed the first open-sea catamaran floatover topside installation on the deepwater Kikeh spar on behalf of Murphy Sabah Oil Co. Ltd. and its partner Petronas Carigali Sdn. Bhd., for the Kikeh field development offshore Malaysia. Installation of the spar topside as a single integrated deck by the floatover method allows a high proportion of the hookup and precommissioning work to be completed onshore before load-out, reducing the time and cost of the offshore commissioning phase.
  • The Norwegian Petroleum Directorate awarded its 2006 Improved Oil Recovery Prize to Baker Hughes and Halliburton for progressive development and application of advanced drilling and well solutions on the Norwegian Shelf.

MERGERS AND ACQUISITIONS

  • Tenaris S.A. will acquire Hydril for U.S. $97 per share of Hydril’s common stock and per share of Class B common stock. The offered share price represents a premium of 17% to Hydril’s share price immediately before the announcement. Tenaris will finance the acquisition through cash and debt.
  • Lone Star Fasteners completed the acquisition of LWD Precision Engineering Co. Ltd. for U.S. $6 million. LWD manufactures precision-machined components for valves, actuators, and related applications.
  • India’s Oil and Natural Gas Corp. and Rosneft signed an energy cooperation pact under which they will cooperate in projects in India and Russia. The companies will establish two groups to identify exploration, production, and marketing projects. The first group will identify upstream activities, while the second will identify downstream projects.
  • Anadarko Petroleum Corp. agreed to sell its interests in the Williston basin of eastern Montana and western North Dakota to Encore Acquisition Co. for U.S. $410 million. Approximately 93% of the properties are operated by Anadarko, and oil accounted for 90% of 2006 production.
  • Fugro completed the acquisition of Aperio Ltd. U.K. and also acquired Geco Umwelttechnik GmbH in Austria. The price for these acquisitions amounts to EUR 4.2 million. Aperio will be renamed Fugro Aperio Ltd. and will be incorporated into Fugro’s Geotechnical Div. Geco will form part of the same division under the name Fugro Austria.
  • Halliburton’s Drilling and Formation Evaluation Div. entered into a definitive agreement to acquire all intellectual property, current assets, and existing business associated with Ultraline Services Corp., a division of Savanna Energy Services Corp. Under the agreement, Halliburton will pay U.S. $177 million, subject to adjustment for working capital purposes.

CORPORATE MOVES

  • Devon Energy plans to divest all of its assets in West Africa. The assets include estimated proved reserves of 90 million BOE, 4% of Devon’s total proved reserves. The properties are expected to produce 11 million BOE in 2007.
  • ConocoPhillips reorganized its technology and projects organization into separate groups: technology and project development. The technology group will create strategies and find business development opportunities. This group also will provide technical support for the company’s global upstream and downstream businesses. The project development group will retain oversight of the engineering, construction, and procurement activities related to upstream and downstream global projects.

CONTRACTS AND TENDERS

  • BJ Tubular Services has been awarded a contract by Enventure Global Technology to provide casing-makeup services for Enventure’s solid expandable tubular liners for approximately 30 wells in India. The operation will be carried out in various wells and rigs in the Mumbai High field offshore India.
  • Intec Engineering won a deepwater subsea development contract in the Gulf of Mexico from the Shenzi joint venture. BHP Billiton is the operator of the Shenzi oil and gas field, and partners are Repsol YPF and Hess Corp. The Shenzi project is located in Green Canyon Blocks 609, 610, 653, and 654 in approximately 4,400 ft of water.
  • Halliburton has been awarded a multiservices contract by TNK-BP for work in the Tyumen region of Russia. Valued at U.S. $100 million over 3 years, with the option for three additional 1-year periods, the contract calls for the provision of drilling fluids, waste-management services, cementing, drill bits, directional drilling, and logging-while-drilling services for the Uvat development.
  • BP signed a production-sharing agreement that will give the company access to two Middle East fields it says could yield resources of up to 30 Tcf of natural gas. The agreement covers an area of 2800 sq km in central Oman, including the Khazzan and Makarem gas fields that have remained undeveloped because of the complexity of their low-permeability gas reservoirs. Early production is expected to begin around 2010. 
  • Shell signed an upstream services agreement with Iran LNG for a U.S. $4.3 billion liquefied-natural-gas project in southern Iran. The project, which is being developed with Repsol, is currently at the feasibility stage, with a final decision to go ahead expected in a year.