Marathon Oil is spinning off its downstream business to create the upstream Marathon Oil Corporation, to be based in Houston, and the downstream Marathon Petroleum Corporation, based in Ohio. Marathon Oil will operate and report through three segments: exploration & production, oil sands mining and integrated gas. Clarence P Cazalot Jr will remain as Marathon Oil’s president and CEO.
Russia’s Rosneft and BP last month agreed to form a strategic global alliance that will include a JV to explore and develop three blocks (EPNZ 1, 2, 3) on the Arctic continental shelf and a share swap of approximately $7.8bn worth of shares. BP will issue 5% more new shares, which will be owned by Rosneft, whereas Rosneft will transfer 9.5% of its treasury stock to BP. The share swap was expected to be completed within a few weeks and will be subject to mutual lock-up restrictions for a period of two years. The companies have also agreed to establish an Arctic technology centre in Russia.
The newly expanded Subsea 7 (see ‘Analysis’) has launched an offshore renewables division based in Aberdeen and led by VP renewables Bob Dunsmore. The new division also signed a memorandumn of understanding with Scottish & Southern Energy (SSE) under which Subsea 7 will form a renewables sector alliance with Atkins, Burntisland Fabrications, Siemens Transmission & Distribution and SSE. The alliance members are looking to ‘secure substantial reduction in the cost of delivered power from offshore wind farms’ through a collaborative arrangement.
The Abu Dhabi National Energy Company (Taqa) confirmed recently that it has secured a US$3 billion revolving credit facility. The facility will be used for general corporate purposes and will replace its existing US$3.15 billion revolving credit facility, signed in August 2008.
With pre-salt developments expected to boost demand for flexible pipe, both for flowline and riser applications, Technip has unveiled plans to expand its flexpipe manufacturing footprint in Brazil. The company is building a new facility at its strategically located Angra dos Reis site – where the logistics for last year’s Tupi gas export project were handled – to cater for additional volume and focus on high-end products such as integrated production bundles.
Following the award of its first major subsea project in China, Cameron is to build a new facility in the country to provide Camserv aftermarket services for this and future developments in the region. The new order, for an unspecified deepwater offshore gas processing and pipeline project in the South China Sea, involves the supply of subsea production systems and additional services across the life of the field. ‘At water depths of 5000ft, this represents the deepest prospect to date in the Asia-Pacific region,’ said Cameron president and CEO Jack Moore, adding that it ‘represents a significant market opportunity’.
Pampa, Texas, headquartered Titan Specialties has signed an agreement with Castell Obras y Servicios Integrales to distribute Titan’s perforating guns, shaped charges, TCP systems, detonators and addressable and select fire perforating switches to oil & gas customers in Mexico.
InterMoor has opened a new 24 acre fabrication facility in Morgan City, Louisiana. The site includes two fabrication buildings, both with capabilities to design and produce comprehensive offshore mooring systems, subsea foundations and equipment. The company says this facility has more than double the capacity of its former Amelia, Louisiana, yard and also boasts some 1300ft of waterfront access.
Lerwick Port Authority in Shetland is going ahead with £4.6 million worth of improvements to its Greenhead Base that include creating a seventh berth – which will provide additional frontage extending to over 100m – and deepening two existing berths. This will extend the base’s continuous berthing with 9m of water to 345m.
Norway’s BW Ventures and Investinor have agreed to acquire ballast water management system provider OceanSaver, which has a current order book value of NKr400 million and is looking to fund expansion.
Mechanical engineering group EnerMech has acquired Aberdeen Valve Supplies (AVS) and its LG Ball Valves and Valve Paint Shop subsidiaries in a deal reported to be worth around £1.5 million. AVS owners Gordon Whyte and Sylvia Aitken and more than 20 staff will join EnerMech as part of the deal. OE
Issue: February 2011
DART DATE: KCA Deutag has established a strategic alliance with Robert Gordon University to provide drilling and rig training from the new Energy Centre expected to open at the university’s Garthdee campus in Aberdeen in 2013. To that end, the drilling and engineering contractor will relocate its proprietary DAR T (Drilling and Advanced Rig Training) simulator from its offices to a new, bespoke and state-ofthe- art complex within the Energy Centre. Meanwhile, Turbo Alpha, which owns KCA Deutag, launched a review of strategic alternatives last month in order to strengthen its capital structure and position the company for long-term growth, having earlier executed an agreement with its senior lenders to defer covenant tests from 14 November 2010 to 31 March 2011. The review will involve the possibility of a sale of the business or the provision of new long-term capital in connection with a refinancing or renegotiation of the existing debt.
MOORINGS ON THE MOVE: Through an exclusive international agency agreement signed with Seaweld Engineering of Ghana, giving it access to the Viking Moorings portfolio of mooring equipment, Viking says it now has a strategic, operational presence along the entire coast of West Africa from Senegal to Congo, with a particular focus on offshore mooring operations in the Gulf of Guinea. The two companies first worked together in 2008 supporting Tullow Oil’s deepwater Ghana exploration programme. Seaweld Viking Global Link has also been established as a separate trading entity in Nigeria.
December saw the first offshore mooring operation under the new agreement, with Viking providing equipment and supervising the installation of a single taut leg pre-laid mooring system on behalf of Kosmos Energy for the drilling unit Atwood Hunter at the Teak prospect, offshore Ghana. The mooring system, designed to allow the rig to skid 400m, was mobilised from Seaweld’s Takoradi base which now boasts 400t of mooring equipment. Viking’s UK country manager Duncan Cuthill (left) is pictured with Seaweld CE O Alfred Fafali Adagbedu.
SEISMIC SIGNING: CGGVeritas and BG Group have signed a technology co-operation agreement that focuses on the development and deployment of advanced seismic solutions across the E&P workflow. Under the terms of the agreement, the partners will collaborate on a number of high-end technology projects within BG’s global portfolio such as broadband acquisition and processing, complex sub-salt imaging, deep targets as well as unconventional gas. Pictured signing the agreement are CGGVeritas CE O Jean-Georges Malcor (right) and James Faroppa, BG Group’s chief technical officer.