February 2018, Vol. 245, No. 2

Company & Association News

Companies in the News

McDermott International and CB&I will create a vertically integrated onshore-offshore company, with a broad engineering, procurement, construction and installation (EPCI) service. David Dickson, current president and CEO of McDermott will assume those postions for the combined company. The transaction is expected to close in the second quarter of 2018.

ExxonMobil Development Africa B.V. acquired 25% indirect interest in Mozambique’s gas-rich Area 4 Block from Eni and assumed responsibility for midstream operations. ExxonMobil will lead the construction and operation of all future natural gas liquefaction and related facilities, while Eni will continue to lead the Coral floating LNG project and all upstream operations. The deepwater Area 4 Block contains an estimated 85 Tcf of natural gas.

In a move that went into effect Jan. 1, Exxon Mobil combined its refining and marketing operations into a single company, ExxonMobil Fuels & Lubricants Company. Bryan Milton, currently president of ExxonMobil specialties and marketing has been appointed president of the combined division by ExxonMobil’s board of directors.

Independent global completions service company Tendeka has been awarded funding from the Oil & Gas Technology Centre for further field testing of its wireless intelligent completions technology, PulseEight. The funding will help Tendeka install a downhole device and a newly developed PulseEight surface system with OMV Group in Austria. Tendeka’s PulseEight system was launched earlier this year and uses pressure pulse telemetry to channel wireless communication between a well’s downhole monitoring and control system and the wellhead.

Aberdeen and Houston-based ROVOP Limited, an independent operator of underwater remotely operated vehicles (ROVs), is increasing its fleet by 50% to meet customer demand following a funding boost of $75 million (£56 million).

Battelle’s pipeline integrity management software, PipeAssess PI has won a 2017 R&D 100 award. The honor revolutionary ideas in science and technology. PipeAssess PI allows users to evaluate the remaining life of pipelines with pre-existing axial crack-like flaws, predict the growth of axial cracks and model fracture risk under various operating conditions and make informed, evidence-based decisions for repair, replacement and maintenance of aging infrastructure.

Optum Energy Solutions entered the pipeline drag reducer market as a major manufacturer and full service supplier. The technology, first used for the Trans-Alaska Pipeline, will be produced at the company’s 60-acre complex in Chickasha, OK.

American Midstream Partners began making deliveries on the Cayenne Pipeline joint venture between the company and Targa Resources. The pipeline will initially contain 40,000 bpd of Y-grade NGL transport capacity, with the capability to expand to more than 50,000 bpd. The pipeline originates from the Targa-operated Venice gas processing plant and delivers for fractionation in southern Louisiana. It is supported by a 15-year dedication for all NGL production from Targa’s 750 MMcf/d Venice plant.

Milestone: More than 400 million square feet of American Steel Pipe have been coated since L.B. Foster and American began their partnership in Birmingham, AL, 25 years ago. This single location for pipe production and coating continues to provide customers with convenience and cost savings.

Milestone: Danos’ materials management service line supporting Royal Dutch Shell’s (Shell) onshore and offshore production operations in the United States achieved an important safety goal recently – 1 million man-hours without an Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA)-recordable incident. “This impressive record is the result of our team’s total commitment to operating safely every day,” said Eric Danos, executive vice president for Danos.

SoCalGas Installing Fiber-Optic Leak Detection

SoCalGas broke ground on a fiber-optic cable installation that will allow the company to monitor the condition of its high-pressure transmission pipelines in real-time.

The technology is being installed along a new, 7-mile section of natural gas pipeline in Bakersfield, CA, and will serve as an early warning system to detect unauthorized construction work that could damage the pipeline and changes in pressure in the line that could indicate a leak.

The technology uses fiber-optic cables that run along a pipeline and that transmit data across long distances. The system operates on the principle that light signals vary when a fiber-optic cable is exposed to vibration, stress, or abnormal changes in temperature – all indicators of a possible natural gas leak or an impact to a natural gas line. The fiber optic system can pinpoint within 20 feet where a potential problem may be developing. P&GJ