Brown Root News

Pieridae Energy moved closer to building a liquefied natural gas (LNG) export terminal on Canada's East Coast after taking ownership of fields from Royal Dutch Shell which will feed gas into the plant, the company said.The Goldboro LNG terminal would be the first on Canada's East Coast and compete with the growing number of plants on the U.S. Gulf Coast, hoping its shorter distance to Europe and further west will help sell its LNG by cutting shipping costs.Pieridae said in a statement late on Thursday it had closed a C$190 million ($145 million) acquisition of Shell's gas assets in Alberta's Foothills region, giving it most of the gas…

Canadian energy company has negotiated extensions of the key deadlines under its 20-year agreement with German energy trader Uniper.These include expected commercial deliveries of  LNG gas to Uniper to start between November 30, 2024 and May 31, 2025, and the extension of the deadline to make a positive financial investment decision (FID) for the company’s proposed Goldboro LNG facility to September 30, 2020.The 20-year agreement with Uniper is for half the liquefied natural gas produced at Goldboro or 5 mmtpa (million tonnes per annum).“These extensions allow us to complete the work needed to make a final investment decision for the Goldboro Project,” said Pieridae CEO Alfred Sorensen.

1806  - Spring pole cable drilling developed in US. 1844  - Fluid circulating rotary well drilling patented in England. 1845  - Circulated fluid used to remove drill cuttings for first time. 1860  - Fluid circulation rotary diamond coring drill developed in France. 1869 – T homas Fitch Rowland  patents  a “submarine drilling apparatus,” a fixed, working platform for drilling offshore to a depth of almost 50 feet. The anchored tower had telescoping legs, similar to modern offshore platforms. 1878  - First bulk oil tanker begins operation in the Caspian Sea. 1891  - First ocean-going tanker launched. 1897  - Wells drilled off piers in Summerland, Calif. 1905 – Oil discovered in the Caddo Pine Island field in Lousiana. 1911  -  Gulf Refining Co.

Offshore exploration is a history of man v. Prospecting for oil is a dynamic art. From a lake in Ohio, to piers off the California coast in the early 1900s, to the salt marshes of Louisiana in the 1930s, to the first “out-of-sight- of-land” tower in 1947 in the Gulf of Mexico, the modern offshore petroleum industry has inched its way over the last roughly 75 years from 100 ft. of water ever farther into the briny deep, where the biggest platform today, Shell’s Perdido spar, sits in 8,000 ft. of water. As a planet, we have two unquenchable thirsts – for water and for oil.

MTN Communications (MTN) announces Santos Venegas has joined the company as general manager for its Oil and Gas Division. This appointment further solidifies MTN’s position in the market as a pioneer in communications technology spanning across various market segments. A 35-year industry veteran and respected consultant, Santos most recently served as managing director for Latin America at Harris CapRock. Prior to that role, he was director of Corporate Development. Serving the company for 28 years…

Industries Co., Ltd. For many years now, contracts for ships and floating units to operate in an offshore environment have been much-prized value-added goals at Samsung. These include not only shuttle but drill ships, floating storage and offloading units (FSOs), with their derivative production types (FPSOs), crane ships, and various types of floating and fixed platforms. Some of the more interesting ships that have been created here have included a trio of deepwater drill ships for Reading & Bates capable of working in water depths down to 3000m, the 312,500 dwt FPSO Bonga for operating off Nigeria, and the Saibos FDS, a pipelayer/crane vessel with a jib capacity of 600tonnes.

In working on what is claimed to be the largest and most complex offshore conversion project undertaken to date in Brazil, the conversion of the FPSO P-48 (formerly the VLCC Stena Concordia), FELS Setal SA, the Brazilian subsidiary of Singapore’s Keppel Offshore & Marine, has achieved five million work hours without a Lost time Incident. US-based Kellogg Brown & Root’s subsidiary Halliburton Produtos Ltda awarded FELS Setal the contract for the marine conversion of the FPSO in February 2001. When completed P-48 will have an oil processing capacity of 150,000 bbl per day, and will be deployed with Petrobras in the Caratinga filed in the Campos Basin, offshore Brazil.

What About Cuba? Political allegiance notwithstanding, continuing unrest and war in the energy critical Middle East continues to wreak havoc with world oil prices, with consumers around the world struggling to keep up with fast escalating gasoline prices. While (at press time) the benchmark prices for a barrel of crude have settled just under $40, the situation has spurred new exploration and production ventures, one such speculation in the Gulf of Mexico off of Cuba. According to a recent report in The Economist (June 5, 2004 edition, page 48), Spain's Repsol has moved into position a Deep Water drilling rig off of the country's northwest coast with the intention of drilling two wildcat wells in what could amount to a successful attempt to energize a failing economy.

Keppel FELS Limited (KFELS), the offshore arm of the Keppel Group, through its subsidiary in Brazil, FELS Setal SA, has signed two contracts worth a total of $104 million. These jobs bring FELS Setal’s total contracts secured to $250 million since its incorporation 18 months ago. The first job clinched is the $90 million contract for three Anchor Handling Tugs / Supply vessels (AHTS) for Delba Maritima, a Brazilian offshore vessel operator. This follows the Letter of Intent recently announced on October 30, 2001. In February 2001, Halliburton awarded FELS Setal a $75 million contract for the marine conversion of VLCC Stena Concordia to an FPSO to be renamed P-48.For the building of the AHTS…

Halliburton Company's board of directors, elected David J. Lesar, 47, to the board of directors and named him the company's chairman of the board, president and chief executive officer. Lesar replaces Dick Cheney, who resigned to be George W. Bush's Republican Party vice presidential running mate. Lesar, currently the company's president and chief operating officer, joined Halliburton in 1993 as executive vice president and chief financial officer of the Halliburton Energy Services business unit. Subsequently, he served the company in a variety of senior management positions including executive vice president and chief financial officer of Halliburton Company and president and chief executive officer of Brown & Root, Inc.

Friede Goldman Halter has appointed Anil Raj as its COO, effective immediately. Raj, who served previously as the company's senior vice president, Government Projects, joined Halter Marine in 1987 as director of Engineering. Raj has also held positions at Brown & Root, and Gulf Fleet Marine Corp. He holds a BSE degree in naval architecture and marine engineering from the University of Michigan.

The newly converted FPSO P-43 has been delivered by Brazil’s Maua Jurong Shipyard to state-owned oil company Petrobras for operation in the Campos Basin. The Halliburton subsidiary Kellogg Brown & Root was responsible for the conversion of this former VLCC. The Maua Jurong Shipyard is currently in the middle of converting another VLCC into an FPSO for Petrobras - P-50 arrived from Singapore’s Jurong Shipyard last month and is undergoing topsides integration and commissioning work in Brasil before entering service in the Albacora Leste field in the Campos Basin in 2006. The same yard is also converting the 272,631dwt tanker Barao de Maua into the FPSO P-54 for Petrobras.

A Rolls-Royce and Kellogg Brown & Root (KBR) team has signed a contract with the Australian Department of Defense worth more than $39m. The contract covers four Royal Australian Navy amphibious and afloat support ships for seven years with options for a further five. The Rolls-Royce and KBR team will reduce DoD ship costs through improved logistics management, total ship maintenance, faster response to day-to-day engineering issues and managing equipment obsolescence. Pat Marolda, Rolls-Royce President – Naval, said: “The Rolls-Royce and KBR team look forward to creating an effective partnership with the Department of Defence. Rolls-Royce is committed to providing long-term support to navies worldwide…

As ship and boatyards in the Gulf of Mexico eagerly await 'Offshore Boom 2001,' it might behoove them to look at activities transpiring outside of their own backyard, as the business of building offshore rigs and vessels has truly become a global bonanza. For example, down south, way down south in Brazil, FELS Setal SA has become that country's preferred shipyard for offshore and marine services on account of its quality workmanship and on-time deliveries, after just one year of its formation. The 60/40 joint venture company between Keppel FELS Energy & Infrastructure Ltd. (Keppel FELS) of Singapore and the PEM Setal Group of Brazil has won a total of $120 million worth of contracts in this short time.

SembCorp Marine Ltd. said its wholly-owned subsidiary Jurong Shipyard Pte Ltd. won a project worth about $80 million from U.S.-based Kellog Brown & Root Inc. to convert a crude oil tanker into an oil platform. The project, which involves the conversion of a 270,000 dwt crude carrier to a floating production, storage and offloading platform to be stationed offshore from Brazil. After the project's completion in the third quarter of 2002, the platform will have the capacity to produce 150,000 barrels a day of oil as well as gas compression capacity. Jurong Shipyard is also investing $8.8 million for a 70 percent stake in a Brazilian joint venture for conversion and construction of floating production and drilling units for deep water oil and gas exploration and production.

SembCorp Marine Ltd. said its wholly-owned subsidiary Jurong Shipyard Pte Ltd. won a project worth about $80 million from U.S.-based Kellog Brown & Root Inc. to convert a crude oil tanker into an oil platform. The project, which involves the conversion of a 270,000 dwt crude carrier to a floating production, storage and offloading platform to be stationed offshore from Brazil. After the project's completion in the third quarter of 2002, the platform will have the capacity to produce 150,000 barrels a day of oil as well as gas compression capacity. Jurong Shipyard is also investing $8.8 million for a 70 percent stake in a Brazilian joint venture for conversion and construction of floating production and drilling units for deep water oil and gas exploration and production.

As a division of Brown & Root Energy International, Services (BRES), SubSea International, Inc. has been awarded a contract to provide remotely operated vehicle (ROV) services to support Burlington Resources, Inc.'s drilling program in the Gulf of Mexico. Brown & Root Energy Services is a business unit of Halliburton Company. Operating from onboard semi-submersible Borgny Dolphin, SubSea International's ROV systems. include a custom-built heavy launch and recovery system, a four-point guide wire cursor system and a Pioneer work-class ROV.

SembCorp Marine Ltd.'s Brazilian joint venture had secured its first contract, worth $149 million, for the fabrication of topside production modules in offshore Brazil. The firm said the contract for Maua Jurong SA, the Brazilian joint-ventue of Jurong Shipyard Pte Ltd, was to build topside fabrication modules for the Barracuda and Caratinga fields in offshore Brazil. It said the contract was awarded by Halliburton Productos Ltda, the Brazilian affiliate of Kellog Brown & Root Inc., with fabrication work expected to start in mid-June 2001 and completion scheduled in late 2002. Last month SembCorp Marine said Jurong Shipyard had won a project worth about $80 million from Kellog Brown & Root to convert a crude oil tanker into an oil platform.

The Offshore Pioneers Gala, sponsored by the Offshore Energy Center (OEC) Society, showcased the 1999 class of offshore petroleum industry pioneers inducted into the OEC Hall of Fame. Robert F. Bauer, former president of Global Marine, for his developments in the technology of offshore drilling from floating drilling rigs. Herman Brown and George R. Brown, founders of Brown & Root in 1919, created a premier design and construction company, producing offshore platforms and pipelines. Ralph Thomas McDermott began J. Ray McDermott & Co. when he took a contract to build 50 wooden derricks in Luling, Texas. Lad Handelman and D. Michael Hughes co-founded Oceaneering International, Inc., in 1969. Together, they oversaw several major innovations in underwater technology.