July 2009 Vol. 236 No. 7

Business Meetings & Events

July Company News, Mergers & Acquisitions: CECO, Holly Energy, Caterpillar and more

On June 5, 1964, from salesman Ernest Hotze’s desire to provide his customers with needed parts for a compressor on a gas pipeline, Compressor Engineering Corporation (CECO) was formed. From its early days in Hotze’s garage, CECO has grown into a family of companies, with locations across Texas and the South, becoming a leader in providing products and services to gas pipelines, gathering and processing companies, petrochemical, industrial and refrigeration plants worldwide.

Hotze died in 1995, but four sons — Bruce, Mark, David and Richard — are involved in daily operations, and Ernest’s widow Margaret and son Steven sit on the boards of the privately held companies. Bruce Hotze, CEO, said the key to CECO’s success is to follow his father’s entrepreneurial example and remember his slogan, “Find a need and fill it.”

Holly Energy Partners has acquired Holly Corporation’s newly constructed 16-inch pipeline connecting Holly’s refining facilities in Lovington, NM to Holly’s refining facilities in Artesia, NM. The purchase price was $34.2 million. Holly Energy also has invested $7.9 million for additional pipeline infrastructure improvements on the intermediate pipelines between Holly’s Lovington and Artesia refining facilities.

The first Cat® branded retail lifestyle store has opened in Dubai. The Caterpillar Inc. store represents the first of several Cat-branded lifestyle stores planned in test markets around the world in the next two years.

NATCO, a leading provider of process equipment, systems and services, including proprietary equipment and technologies, to the worldwide oil and gas industry, is being acquired by Cameron in an all-stock transaction valued at about $789 million.

Devon Energy plans to combine its International and Gulf Divisions into one division. The integration will provide greater focus and efficiency to these areas of operations which have similar scope, technical requirements and strategy. The newly formed Offshore Division will remain in Houston.

Tony D. Vaughn has been named senior vice president and will lead the Offshore Division.

Dresser-Rand Company, an affiliate of Dresser-Rand Group Inc., and Samsung Techwin Co., Ltd., an affiliate of Samsung Group in Korea, have agreed to cooperate in packaging and selling engineered centrifugal compressors and gas turbines. The agreement calls for exclusive packaging of Dresser-Rand DATUM centrifugal compressors and VECTRA power turbines for mechanical and generator-drive applications to supply Korean-based shipyards and engineering companies for oil and gas market applications, as well as to supply the local Korean market.

Nucor Steel Louisiana LLC has begun buying property in St. James Parish for a proposed multi-phase iron and steel facility. The company completed its first purchase of nearly 890 acres of land in St. James Parish for $16.3 million. If Nucor selects Louisiana and all phases are fully implemented, it would create more than 1,250 direct permanent jobs with an annual payroll of nearly $95 million and a total of approximately $4 billion in capital investment. Nucor will not make a final site-selection decision until its air quality permit is approved by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

The DNV Columbus office (formerly CC Technologies) has expanded its services in Houston. Now in addition to corrosion control services, the Houston office offers pipeline integrity assessment and management. Additional staff and resources have also been added.

In other news, Gray Sarmiento has joined DNV as a senior engineer. She will coordinate pipeline integrity projects from Dallas.

The Norwegian cartel authority, Konkurransetilsynet, has approved the merger of Noble Denton with Germanischer Lloyd (GL). The two companies had announced their merger on April 1. Together, they will form a global technical assurance and consulting company to serve the oil and gas sector. The purchase of Noble Denton is the largest corporate acquisition in the history of GL.

In other news, GL Industrial Services is now located at 5177 Richmond Ave., Suite 900, Houston, TX, 77056. Phone: (713) 586 7000. The new office combines GL and Houston branches of recently acquired companies.

TradeCapture has become Amphora, Inc. This new identity marks the ongoing evolution of the Houston-based company as it enters its second decade as a software provider for energy trading and risk management (ETRM) solutions in the global crude oil, refined products, and energy derivatives marketplace.

Energy Maintenance Services Group I, LLC has joined forces on a joint venture agreement with Turkish-based VASTAS Company. They will establish a material and service supply network.

T&T Bisso Salvage Asia Pte. Ltd. has opened an office in Singapore at 12A Jalan Samulun, Jurong. Headed by General Manager Richard van der Werf and Operations Manager Capt. Piet Sinke, the office features office and warehouse space on the waterfront with quayside dockage.

A consortium consisting of ABB and GE Oil & Gas has won two contracts collectively worth around $80 million from the Abu Dhabi Company for Onshore Oil Operations (ADCO.) ABB and GE will supply electrical systems and services, as well as compressors, and drive trains for new gas lift and gas injection facilities at the Asab and Sahil fields, to help the two fields to achieve their production targets. ADCO is targeting to increase its production to 1.8 MMbp/d. Commissioning is scheduled in the fourth quarter of 2012.

The HOERBIGER Group, Zug, Switzerland, has acquired the compressor business of Gala Precision Technology Private Ltd., Thane, India, as part of a share deal. HOERBIGER will continue to operate the compressor business and the production site of Gala in Thane, as an independent entity in the Strategic Business Unit Compression Technology under the direction of the Business Division Serial Compressors.