Transocean Strengthens Management with New Appointments

- Transocean Strengthens Management with New Appointments

Monday, August 22, 2011
Transocean Ltd.

Terry B. Bonno has been promoted to Senior Vice President, Marketing, for Transocean Ltd. She previously served as Vice President, Marketing.

Ms. Bonno has approximately 30 years of industry experience, including 17 years with Global Marine Inc. and Applied Drilling Technology Inc., two subsidiaries of GlobalSantaFe Corporation assumed in a 2007 merger. Her prior service also includes management positions in marketing, accounting and corporate planning functions.

A Certified Public Accountant, Ms. Bonno earned a Bachelor's degree in Business Administration, Accounting, from Stephen F. Austin State University.

In addition, Mark Monroe has been promoted to Vice President, Account Management, for Transocean. Based in Houston, he is responsible for overseeing our relationships with the key U.S. based customers.

Before being named to his new position, Mr. Monroeserved since 2010 as Managing Director, Marketing, responsible for customer relationships with major Customers such as BP, Exxon and Chevron as well as overseeing the development of the company's Customer Focus workshops. He joined a predecessor company Global Marine in 1983 as Manager, London Sales and Contracts and held numerous Marketing positions with Global Marine and GlobalSantaFe. In 2000, he was promoted to Vice President, Sales and Contracts with responsibility for the sales, contracts and marketing of the GlobalSantaFe fleet in North and South America, Southeast Asia and West Africa.

Mr. Monroe serves on the Board of Directors of the Offshore Energy Center, the Advisory Board of Spindletop International and is a member of the IADC (International Association of Drilling Contractors) and SPE (Society of Petroleum Engineers). He earned a Bachelor of Arts, Business Administration, degree from Texas Christian University in Fort Worth in 1976.

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Wireless Seismic Strengthens Seismic Team

- Wireless Seismic Strengthens Seismic Team

Thursday, August 18, 2011
Wireless Seismic

Wireless Seismic announced the hiring of Travis Bird and Scott Williams to the newly-created positions of Chief Financial Officer and Sales Director/Americas respectively and the relocation of its corporate headquarters to Sugar Land, Texas, located just outside of Houston - the Energy Capital of the World. Wireless Seismic is the developer of an innovative wireless seismic data acquisition system with real-time data return.

"We are delighted to add Travis and Scott to our team," said Roy Kligfield, Wireless Seismic's President and Chief Executive Officer. "They bring the perfect combination of financial acumen, business strategy and industry knowledge that will be an invaluable addition to our company as we ramp-up the commercial launch of RT 1000 - our revolutionary seismic data acquisition system."

Prior to joining Wireless Seismic, Travis Bird served as Director, Corporate Development, at Novatek, Inc., a company that develops technologies for the oil and gas, construction and mining industries. In this role, Bird drove business strategy through the successful realization of multiple mergers and acquisition transactions. Bird has held executive financial roles with several emerging growth organizations. Before Novatek, he served as CFO of NovaDrill, Inc., a technology company that develops drilling tools for the oil and gas exploration and procurement industry. Bird drove financial strategies for NovaDrill through to its successful acquisition. He also worked at the global business services firm Ernst & Young, LLC in Los Angeles where he led engagement teams in providing corporate audit services to public and private businesses across multiple industries. Bird is a licensed CPA.

Scott Williams served as Vice President Sales for Guralp, a United Kingdom-based equipment manufacturer, prior to joining Wireless Seismic. Williams previously held positions as Regional Manager, United States and Latin America Sales, for INOVA Geophysical as well as Global Business Development Manager and Technical Sales Manager, Land Imaging Division, for ION Geophysical. Williams began his career as a surveyor and seismic observer before working his way up through the ranks to a regional field service manager. Scott also gained experience in managing electronic manufacturing operations.

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Seadrill Strengthens Mid East Presence with KJO Deal

- Seadrill Strengthens Mid East Presence with KJO Deal

Tuesday, August 09, 2011
Seadrill Ltd.

Seadrill has been awarded two new contracts by KJO (AL-Khafji Joint Operations) in the joint development zone between the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and Kuwait for the jackup rigs West Triton and Offshore Resolute. The assignments which will commence in direct continuation of their current contracts in Southeast Asia are each for a firm period of 3 years plus the time required to mobilize to the Arabian Gulf. Each contract also includes an option for KJO to extend the term for a further 1 year.

Alf C. Thorkildsen, Chief Executive Officer in Seadrill Management AS said, "These new contracts will strengthen the relationship with KJO, one of the key customers in the Arabian Gulf. In addition, relocating two rigs for term work and at attractive market rates serves our strategic desire to increase our long term presence in this active oil and gas region."

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Commodity Corner: Oil Falls as Dollar Strengthens

- Commodity Corner: Oil Falls as Dollar Strengthens

Monday, July 18, 2011
Rigzone Staff
by Matthew V. Veazey

The price of light sweet crude oil declined $1.31 Monday to settle at $95.93 a barrel. The Brent benchmark also ended the day lower at $116.05 a barrel, or down $1.21 from Friday's settlement.

A stronger dollar against the euro prompted Monday's selloff as investors focused on Europe's ongoing debt woes and concerns about slackening oil demand. A stronger greenback makes dollar-denominated crude oil a less attractive buy for investors using other currencies.

The euro lost value after the European Banking Authority on Friday issued the results of its latest stress test of banks in the Eurozone. Nearly 27 percent of the 90 banks examined fared poorly in the exercise, which predicted how well they could withstand deteriorating economic conditions. Eight of the institutions examined failed the stress test outright while another 16 barely passed.

The WTI benchmark fluctuated from $94.69 to $97.69 during Monday's session while the Brent contract traded within a range from $114.76 to $116.95.

Despite a heat wave that has boosted natural gas futures recently, the front-month contract price remained unchanged at $4.55 per thousand cubic feet Monday. Natural gas peaked at $4.61 and bottomed out at $4.48.

The price of a gallon of gasoline ended the day at $3.10, a three-cent decline from Friday. The intraday range for gasoline spanned from $3.05 to $3.15.

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Farstad Strengthens Brazil Position with Acquisition

- Farstad Strengthens Brazil Position with Acquisition

Monday, July 18, 2011
Farstad Shipping

Farstad Shipping ASA has reached an agreement with Petroserv S.A. in Brazil, on certain conditions, to buy Petroserv's 50% share in BOS Navegação S.A. Farstad Shipping will after the purchase have 100% ownership of BOS. The net purchase price for the 50% share is USD 56.5 million. The acquisition is expected to be consolidated in Farstad Shipping's accounts as from 1 July 2011.

BOS was established in June 1999 as a joint venture between Farstad Shipping and Petroserv. Today the company owns 3 AHTS on contracts with Petrobras. In addition BOS operates 10 Farstad vessels in Brazil. BOS' offices in Rio de Janeiro and Macaé employ 35 people onshore and 325 people offshore.

To Farstad Shipping this agreement represents a strengthening of our position in Brazil, a market of considerable growth.

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Gulmar Offshore Group Strengthens Management

- Gulmar Offshore Group Strengthens Management

Wednesday, July 06, 2011
Gulmar Offshore Ltd.

The Gulmar Offshore Group is in the process of strengthening its management team with a series of new recruitments. As part of this process, Steve Davey, who has been in the industry for more than 30 years in various Senior Management positions with Comex, Stena, CTC and Saipem, has now joined the new Management Team as VP Commercial. Steve will have the task to further develop Gulmar's strategy in line with the ambitious expansion plan set by Oaktree Capital Management, Gulmar main shareholder since August 2010.

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Spectrum Creates New CFO, COO Positions, Strengthens Management

- Spectrum Creates New CFO, COO Positions, Strengthens Management

Friday, June 24, 2011
Spectrum Geo Inc.

As part of the company's ongoing strategic growth plan Spectrum has announced considerable strengthening of the Executive Management Team with the appointment of a new Chief Financial Officer (CFO) and the creation of a Chief Operating Officer (COO) position.

Henning Olset has been appointed as the new CFO of Spectrum ASA with effect from May 1, 2011. Based in Oslo, Henning possesses more than 10 years of executive financial management experience. In his previous assignment Henning joined Staples in 2006 with the acquisition of Andvord Tybring-Gjedde ASA, where he was CFO. He was instrumental in the process of restructuring the company and in his period as head of finance, the Nordic business became one of the most profitable parts of the Staples organization.

Jan Schoolmeesters has been appointed COO of Spectrum. Jan possesses substantial experience in the seismic industry with both a technical, operational and commercial background. His latest position was with PGS as President of Asia Pacific. Jan will be based in Oslo and will start in his new position as soon as possible.

The current CFO, Rhys Edwards will from the same date take the position as Group Commercial Director. Rhys will be based in Woking, UK. In this new role Rhys will be responsible for ensuring a consistent and commercial strategy for the group, supporting the Divisional EVP's on commercial matters and undertaking additional strategic projects.

"We are pleased to welcome two well-regarded individuals to Spectrum's executive management team. They bring a wealth of relevant experience and a deep understanding of the inherent challenges to a rapidly growing organisation," said Rune Eng, Spectrum's Chief Executive Officer. "I would also like to use this opportunity to express both my and the Board of Directors' appreciation to Rhys for his service as our Chief Financial Officer over the last 3 years."

Besides these significant additions to the executive line-up, Spectrum has also expanded its UK Multi-Client team with the recruitment of two well-known names in the seismic industry. Jim Martin and Alan Tidey have both joined the company from senior positions at CGGVeritas. They take on the roles of Vice President of Business Development and Sales Manager respectively. Jim and Alan bring with them over 50 years of relevant industry experience.

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Expro Strengthens Position with New Investment Program

- Expro Strengthens Position with New Investment Program

Tuesday, June 21, 2011
Expro International Group

Expro has announced a major new investment program that will reinforce the company's leading position as a supplier of innovative technology and specialist services to the upstream oil and gas sector.

The program includes expanding Expro's established fleet of subsea safety systems and well test packages, as well as globalization of the group's strong drill stem testing (DST) heritage and emerging, innovative telemetry capability.

Investments are also being made to fuel specific customer growth initiatives in the wireline and production systems product lines as well as new product developments in production surveillance (multi-phase metering) and fluid analysis.

The funds for the program are being provided by a $250MM equity injection from the company's shareholders. Additional flexibility and the opportunity to accelerate growth have also been provided by increased covenant headroom under the Mezzanine Facility and the expansion of the group's Revolving Credit Facility from $100MM to $160MM.

Commenting upon the investment program, Charles Woodburn CEO said, "This is excellent news for Expro and our customers and demonstrates the shareholders continued confidence in Expro. We are now even better positioned to deliver our market-leading technology and uniquely personalized customer service to the highest standards of safety and quality.

"Last year they backed the acquisition of PTI entirely from new equity, this year they are backing our organic growth plans in the same way. This puts us in a strong position to invest in our business to take full advantage of the upturn in the market."

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Chevron Strengthens Portfolio Offshore AU with Arrival of Semisub Osprey

- Chevron Strengthens Portfolio Offshore AU with Arrival of Semisub Osprey

Friday, June 03, 2011
Chevron Corp.

The Atwood Osprey, Chevron's newly contracted ultra-deepwater semisubmersible drilling rig, has arrived in the waters off northwest Australia. Constructed in the Jurong Shipyard in Singapore, the rig will commence operations drilling and complete a queue of development wells as part of the Gorgon Project. The development drilling program scheduled for 2011 and 2012 represents the most significant investments Chevron has made in development drilling offshore Western Australia.

Chevron Australia managing director Roy Krzywosinski said Western Australia is pivotal to the company's strategy of building an internationally competitive gas business in the Asia-Pacific region. He said the company expects the Atwood Osprey to play a key role in strengthening Chevron's growing exploration, appraisal and development portfolio for at least the next three years.

"Chevron continues to make significant investments in developing Australia's natural gas resources," Krzywosinski said. "The arrival of this newly contracted rig represents our ongoing long-term commitment to grow our natural gas business in Western Australia."
Safety First

To ensure a safe startup and a strong safety culture is in place, the Australasia business unit's (ABU) drilling and completions team held three engagements with the Atwood Osprey crew to ensure Atwood's safety management system and those of our business partners were fully aligned with Chevron's expectations for operational excellence.

ABU Drilling and Completions manager Kent Springer said that through these engagements he was confident that Atwood Oceanics and its crew would achieve their vision statement of "always exceeding your expectations" and continue their commitment to safety, personal health, environmental stewardship, efficiency and reliability.

"Both Chevron and Atwood have systems in place to make the rigs as safe as possible. However, these systems are ineffective without the commitment of all our personnel, both rig- and office-based, adhering to them," Springer said. "Therefore, having members of the ABU management team—including Roy Krzywosinski—come along and tell the crew that they have their personal backing to use stop-work authority if they see an unsafe risk or behavior is a powerful message."

The Atwood Osprey can accommodate as many as 200 people, is 426 feet (130 m) tall and 377 feet (115 m) long. When moored, it will be capable of drilling as far as 31,988 feet (9,753 m). With its own mooring equipment, it can operate in water as deep as 5,905 feet (1,800 m), or 8,202 feet (2,500 m) with pre-laid mooring.

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ProSep Strengthens Services with Leading International Team

- ProSep Strengthens Services with Leading International Team

Thursday, June 02, 2011
ProSep Inc.

ProSep announced the assembly of its leading international process engineering and business development teams, and the nomination of Gary Blizzard, M.B.A., as Executive Vice President of Process Engineering and Product Development.

During the last 6 months, ProSep hired a large number of internationally recognized process engineers, scientists, and business development managers. With a broader offering, access to additional customer relationships, agents, and business partners, ProSep is now one of the industry's top technology-focused provider.

"The addition of these leading experts to the ProSep team marks an important milestone in our growth plan. Collectively, these additional professional engineers played a key role in the success of our industry's most renowned process equipment supplier," said Jacques L. Drouin. "By doubling the size of our engineering capacity and business development team, we are reaching critical mass and this should allow us to significantly increase projected revenues and reach profitability."

"To lead our new process engineering team and ensure we unlock significant value residing in our proprietary technologies, we nominated Gary Blizzard, who brings an impeccable track record in international business development and a strong background in the field of innovative process engineering," said Jacques L. Drouin, President and CEO.

Gary Blizzard brings over 25 years of diverse experience within multiple segments of the energy industry in the areas of international business development, marketing, engineering, and project management. Prior to joining ProSep, Gary was Business Development Director at Alcoa Oil & Gas and previously Vice President Marketing & Business Development at NATCO Group where he provided leadership for growing the specialized gas treating technology business. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering from Texas A&M University and a Master of Business Administration from The University of Texas at Austin.

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Tullow Strengthens Portfolio with North Sea Buy

- Tullow Strengthens Portfolio with North Sea Buy

Tuesday, May 24, 2011
Tullow Oil plc

Tullow has entered into an agreement to acquire Nuon Exploration and Production (Nuon E&P) for a cash consideration of €300 million ($421.5 million) from the Vattenfall Group.

The acquisition of Nuon E&P will significantly enhance Tullow's North Sea business adding a portfolio of 25 licenses that include over 30 producing fields, numerous development and exploration opportunities and ownership of key infrastructure. This portfolio will increase the Group's North Sea gas production by 9,000 boepd to approximately 23,000 boepd and add reserves and resources of 28 mmboe.

The Nuon E&P assets are very complementary to the Group's existing Dutch assets and will provide a stronger platform for growth in an area that the Group considers has significant potential. The portfolio includes a number of near term development and exploration opportunities with the potential to sustain and grow production in the short term. The ownership and access to key infrastructure is an excellent strategic fit with Tullow's existing exploration acreage in the area.

The Nuon E&P transaction has an effective date of January 1, 2011 and is expected to complete by July 2011.

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Tullow Strengthens North Sea Portfolio with Nuon E&P Acquisition

- Tullow Strengthens North Sea Portfolio with Nuon E&P Acquisition

Tuesday, May 24, 2011
Tullow Oil plc

Tullow has entered into an agreement to acquire Nuon Exploration and Production (Nuon E&P) for a cash consideration of €300 million ($421.5 million) from the Vattenfall Group.

The acquisition of Nuon E&P will significantly enhance Tullow's North Sea business adding a portfolio of 25 licenses that include over 30 producing fields, numerous development and exploration opportunities and ownership of key infrastructure. This portfolio will increase the Group's North Sea gas production by 9,000 boepd to approximately 23,000 boepd and add reserves and resources of 28 mmboe.

The Nuon E&P assets are very complementary to the Group's existing Dutch assets and will provide a stronger platform for growth in an area that the Group considers has significant potential. The portfolio includes a number of near term development and exploration opportunities with the potential to sustain and grow production in the short term. The ownership and access to key infrastructure is an excellent strategic fit with Tullow's existing exploration acreage in the area.

The Nuon E&P transaction has an effective date of 1 January 2011 and is expected to complete by July 2011.

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TGS Strengthens PMS Position with Stingray Acquisition

TGS Strengthens PMS Position with Stingray Acquisition

Monday, April 11, 2011
TGS-NOPEC Geophysical Co. ASA

TGS has entered into an agreement to acquire 100% of the shares of Stingray Geophysical Limited (Stingray). The transaction will provide TGS with a strong position in the rapidly growing market for Permanent Reservoir Monitoring (PRM) solutions. The acquisition will substantially increase TGS' addressable market through access to production seismic spending from large international oil companies as well as national oil companies (NOCs), while maintaining its successful asset light model.

Robert Hobbs, CEO of TGS said, "The age of "easy to find" oil is over, forcing oil companies to increase investment in their existing fields to extend production and increase recovery factors. The acquisition of Stingray allows TGS to access a larger portion of the reservoir optimization market. The combination of TGS and Stingray will leverage both companies' strengths to create a powerful PRM offering to the industry."

Martin Bett, Managing Director of Stingray added, "TGS brings complementary capabilities, a global organization, established seismic project management skills and financial strength to Stingray. As a part of TGS, Stingray is now well positioned to deliver innovative PRM solutions that will assist our clients to increase production and reserves whilst decreasing risk and costs of their Enhanced Oil Recovery programs."

The 4D seismic market, of which PRM is an integral and increasing part, was estimated to be over USD 1 billion in 2010 with the majority of data being acquired by towed streamers (source: ODS PetroData). Expectations are for the 4D market to exceed USD 2.5 billion within the next four years (source: Stingray estimate). New PRM installations are expected to trend towards optical versus electrical solutions due to the expected increase in reliability and flexibility that this technology offers, especially in deep water.

The transferred assets include 11 employees and an extensive portfolio of intellectual property. All management team members and employees of Stingray will continue as employees of TGS.

The consideration for 100% of the shares is based on an initial payment of USD 45 million and incremental payments of up to USD 35 million based on the success in commercializing the technology.

The transaction is expected to complete in April 2011.

Maersk Oil Strengthens North Sea Portfolio with Norway Acquisition

Maersk Oil Strengthens North Sea Portfolio with Norway Acquisition

Monday, April 04, 2011

Maersk Oil

Maersk Oil has acquired shares in three production licenses in Norway from Marathon Petroleum Norge A/S, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Marathon Oil, in exchange for Maersk Oil's financial contribution to the Earb South exploration well.

Marathon Petroleum Norge A/S is currently drilling the well on the Earb South Prospect in the South Viking Graben. Drilling is expected to be completed in May.

As a result of the deal, Maersk Oil will have a 15 percent share in Production Licenses PL505 and PL505BS, where Marathon Petroleum Norge A/S remains the operator (35%) with Lundin Petroleum (30%) and VNG (20%) as partners.

Maersk Oil will also have a 10% share in Production Licence PL570, operated by VNG (40%) with Marathon Petroleum Norge A/S (20%) and Lundin Petroleum (30%).

"This is quality acreage which helps our goal of building a strong portfolio in this part of the North Sea," said Maersk Oil Managing Director in Norway, Morten Jeppesen.

"We believe Maersk Oil's experience in similar plays in both Norway and across the border in the UK could be extremely useful in appraising this acreage, which we believe has a significant potential," Jeppesen said.

The transaction is subject to the necessary authority approvals.

Maersk Oil will now have a total of ten production licenses, three operated, in Norway.