Downhole News

Dutch marine survey services firm Fugro is back on the water for Atlantic Shores Offshore Wind off the U.S. east coast, conducting a third year of integrated site characterisation services for the New Jersey-based offshore wind farm developer.Geophysical, metocean, and environmental scopes of work are currently underway, while geotechnical services will startlater this month, using a newly commissioned Fugro C30 mobile rig.Working from a third-party vessel, the Fugro C30 mobile rig will deliver Atlantic Shores heave‑compensated drilling capabilities and downhole sampling…

As offshore market activity recovers and continues to increase through the next decade, as we expect it to, oilfield service (OFS) capacity is expected to tighten.As offshore market activity recovers and continues to increase through the next decade, as NorthStone Advisors expect it to, oilfield service (OFS) capacity is expected to tighten. In NorthStone Advisors’ view, this will create a period of increased scarcity and cost inflation, presenting significant cost and schedule risk to decommissioning programs.Many eyes are on the UK…

Marine minerals are coming under sharp focus offshore Norway. Analysts suggest it could be a $20 billion annual revenue industry by 2050, which is why many are taking an interest and developing the technology to make it happen. Marine mineral mining has been something of a slow burner in the wider marine world. It has some clear challenges, not least location and depth of these potential resources, but also concerns around its environmental impact.Yet it now appears to be coming into a distinctly sharp focus…

Gilmore, a U.S.-based flow control solutions provider for the oil and gas industry, has appointed David Nemetz as its new Chief Executive Officer (CEO).The company is a subsidiary of Aberdeen-headquartered Proserv and provides flow control products and equipment for the drilling, downhole, production, and wider industrial sectors.Gilmore said that under Nemetz, who has 25 years' experience in the energy industry, it would actively pursue appropriate business acquisitions that…

Tenaris has pushed the limits of its high pressure/high temperature (HP/HT) technology, and through precision in execution in testing, delivery, running and expert services, generated outstanding results for its work on Total’s Culzean project.According to the supplier of tubes and related services for the world's energy industry and certain other industrial applications the Culzean gas field is located in the challenging waters of the North Sea, about 145 miles off the coast of Aberdeen.The field began production in June and is anticipated, at peak, to provide five percent of the United Kingdom’s gas demand.Tenaris supplied TenarisHydril Blue Max and TenarisHydril Blue Heavy Wall connections…

Demand for sand to be used by the oil and gas industry in hydraulic fracturing operations in the US is set to grow by 10% in 2019 and 17% in 2020, said a report.According to Rystad Energy, frac sand supply, on the other hand, is forecast to increase by 10% in 2019 and then decrease by 2% in 2020 as more Northern White Sand will come off the market.The Eagle Ford Basin in South Texas could play a pivotal role for sand price developments going forward, said the energy research and business intelligence company.Contracted prices of high-quality Northern White Sand will likely fluctuate between $20 and $25 per ton at the minegate in the medium to long-term…

Downhole sensing technology specialist, Well-SENSE, has launched a miniature optical pressure-temperature gauge, as part of its FiberLine Intervention (FLI) system.The Well-SENSE optical gauge widens the well surveillance application envelope for FLI, both on and offshore, and offers operators a low-cost and disposable alternative to both permanent downhole sensors and more traditional electronic logging devices.Combined with FLI’s other features and benefits, including a simple deployment mechanism and distributed sensing, it can deliver savings in the region of 50-90% compared to conventional logging methods.The fiber Bragg grating based device is a robust optical gauge with no electronics, batteries, external connections or power supply required.

The proper lining of ballast tanks is essential and critical to ship safety. Not too many decades ago, ships traveling the North Atlantic routes were experiencing terrible losses from outright sinking in the turbulent seas. It was eventually discovered that the primary culprit was hull failure from ballast tanks rupturing from the inside out due to simple, plain old-fashioned rusting and galvanic corrosion. The U.S. Navy led the way and came up with a recommended formula, or recipe, for a ballast tank coating that paint manufactures could copy in bidding for Navy business.

Forum Energy Technologies, Inc. said it has designed, manufactured, tested and delivered its 350th rotational torque (RT) torque machine to TAM International, a globally recognized downhole inflatable packer leader. The torque machine, or bucking unit as it is commonly referred, was manufactured at the Forum AMC facility in Aberdeen, U.K. This represents the sixth unit that TAM has purchased from Forum in three years, and is a testament to TAM’s growth plans, as well as their trust in Forum’s equipment and global support network.

Fugro has been awarded the contract by Vineyard Wind, formerly named OffshoreMW, to perform a marine geotechnical site investigation within its wind development lease, offshore Massachusetts. Fugro’s state-of-the-art, 105-meter drilling vessel M/V Fugro Synergy will perform the study, which will include numerous seabed CPTs and exploration boreholes, along with sampling and downhole CPTs. Following the fieldwork, a program of laboratory testing and reporting will be performed by Fugro’s offices in Houston TX and Norfolk VA. The site investigation will be used to verify geologic ground models that Vineyard Wind is developing based on previous geophysical data collected from the 166,866-acre lease area.

Leading specialist in well diagnosis, EV, has announced the acquisition of Aberdeenshire-based well integrity software supplier, Epidote Limited, to enable a world-class well diagnosis service. The acquisition results in EV taking full ownership of the company and its five employees. Epidote was established in 1999, its MIPS software providing multi-finger calliper data processing, interpretation and 3D visualisation. When combined with EV’s cameras, data can be streamed in real time and played back on log data, eliminating the uncertainty of well diagnostics. Additionally, data can be sought in one run as opposed to multiple, resulting in faster, better quality decisions and reduced downtime.

With most offshore wells in Brazil located between 30 and 300 km from the coast, communication with offshore assets has not always been straightforward or reliable. Some operators and service providers still use traditional maritime VSAT services for coverage offshore Brazil, yet the introduction of Microwave radio has led to a much better level of quality and reliability in high-bandwidth voice and data communications. Claudio Paschoa, Maritime Reporter’s correspondent in Brazil had an interesting conversation with Arild Fotland, head of Ceragon’s Oil and Gas Division, about the advantages of Microwave radio communications for offshore operations in Brazil. Fotland joined Ceragon in 1978 and has been stationed all over the world.

A team of scientists will set sail from Southampton to drill through the Earth’s mantle in the center of the Atlantic Ocean. They leave on board the Royal Research Ship James Cook on October 26, 2015 to explore the Atlantis Massif, a 4000 meter high underwater mountain. This is the first time a UK research ship will be used for this branch of science. The expedition is conducted by the European Consortium for Ocean Research Drilling (ECORD) as part of the International Ocean Discovery Program (IODP).

A company of the Rosneft Group and a subsidiary of Trican Well Service Ltd. signed a framework agreement and ancillary documents, pursuant to which a Rosneft subsidiary agreed to acquire a 100% shareholding in Trican Well Service LLC, which provides high-quality pressure pumping services focused on enhancement of production within the conventional oil and gas industry in Russia. The purchaser has already obtained the necessary approval of the Federal Antimonopoly Service of the Russian Federation. The parties plan to close the transaction on August 20, 2015. The implementation of the signed agreements will allow Rosneft to increase economical and production efficiency in the area oil recovery increase, downhole operations and wells’ cementing.

The CFO of Houston-based National Oilwell Varco Inc. (NOV) is stepping down to become CEO of Transocean Ltd. (RIG), one of NOV’s largest customers. Effective April 22, Jeremy Thigpen will become CEO of Switzerland-based Transocean, which has its main U.S. office in Houston. Thigpen succeeds Ian Strachan, who had been serving as interim CEO since Steven Newman stepped down in February. Strachan, who is also the company's Chairman of the Board of Directors, will retire from the Board at the end of his term at the 2015 Annual General Meeting following approximately 16 years of service. Prior to joining Transocean, Thigpen spent his career in various roles at  NOV and has served since 2012 as NOV's Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer.

Dynamic positioning system failures on offshore supply vessels engage in oil and gas operations in the U.S. The U.S. Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) has issued a Joint Safety Alert addressing a dynamic positioning (DP) incident involving an offshore supply vessel (OSV) which resulted in a loss of position while conducting a critical Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) activity. The OSV was attached to a wellhead, lost position and severed the wellhead tree causing a lubricant release on the platform deck and to the environment. Immediately prior to the position loss, the OSV had multiple DP system alarms and failures, including loss of bow thruster and engine control. No attempt was made to identify or correct the causes of these failures and the operations continued.

Global technology engineering group Sandvik will present corrosion resistant alloys, including its new Sandvik SAF 3207 (UNS S33207) hyper-duplex stainless steel at NACE CORROSION 2015, the company announced today. NACE CORROSION 2015, the world's largest corrosion conference and exhibition, will take place in  Dallas, Texas, between March 15-19, at the Kay Bailey Hutchinson Convention Center. Sandvik will exhibit its full range of advanced corrosion resistant alloys, including duplex and super-duplex grades…

Market volatility for the petroleum sector provides a backdrop to an evolving Merger & Acquisitions environment for the Offshore Sector. In the 3Q edition of Maritime Professional, this series of articles examined the overall evolution of maritime and offshore M&A activity since 2010, tracing the flow of deals in the post-financial crisis era. In this edition, we take a closer look at relevant U.S. offshore energy industry deal flow and market movements as they relate to oil prices over time, and highlight some recent middle market transactions.

International oilfield services company, Expro, has deployed its new design ExACT (Expro Annulus-Operated Circulating and Test Tool) in its first live offshore well. The successful operation, a tubing conveyed perforating ‘shoot and pull’, took place on the Vermillion field offshore in the Gulf of Mexico following trial work onshore in Brazil last year. The tool, one of the most advanced of its kind, combines downhole shut-in and circulating functionality. Rated at 15,000 psi and temperatures of up to 400˚F…

Schlumberger today launched the Quanta Geo* photorealistic reservoir geology service at the Offshore Northern Seas Annual Conference and Exhibition. The new service includes the industry’s first microresistivity imager that produces oriented, photorealistic, core-like images of the formation in wells drilled with oil-base mud (OBM). Interpretation of the images identifies geological features and predicts reservoir trends in 3D with a high degree of certainty. “Geological imaging in wells drilled with OBM has long been recognized by operators as a major technical challenge, particularly in deepwater,” said Hinda Gharbi, president, Wireline, Schlumberger.

Schlumberger Ltd, the world's largest oilfield services company, is exploring the sale of its oilfield tools rental unit Thomas Tools, which could be valued at more than $600 million, according to people familiar with the matter. An auction is already underway for Thomas Tools, which has annual earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization of around $80 million, the people said this week. Private equity firms keen to buy the unloved divisions of big conglomerates are among those that have shown interest in Thomas Tools, the people said. Boutique investment firm PPHB is advising Schlumberger on the sale process, one of the people added. The sources asked not to be identified because the process is confidential.

Maven Capital Partners (Maven) announced a £3.5 million Scottish Loan Fund (SLF) investment in energy services business Coretrax Technology Limited (Coretrax). Set up in 2011 by the Scottish Investment Bank, the investment arm of Scottish Enterprise, and managed by Maven, the £113 million SLF provides loans of up to £5 million to ambitious Scottish businesses. Since launch the SLF has committed over £30 million in support of growth-focused companies. Coretrax was established in 2008 and offers a wide range of downhole tools and services with applications across the well life cycle…

Hicks Equity Partners (HEP), a private equity firm led by the Thomas O. Hicks family, announced that its portfolio company, Directional Rentals, Inc., has acquired Reamco, Inc., a company based in Lafayette, La., that manufactures, rents and refurbishes downhole drilling tools and related products used in the drilling industry. Directional Rentals, Inc., an oilfield services company, has also been renamed Drilling Tools International (DTI) to more accurately reflect the company's mission of renting…