Oceaneering Appoints Senior VP Of Business Development

Oceaneering International Inc. has named Stephen P. Barrett as senior vice president of business development, according to a news release.

In this role, Barrett will oversee Oceaneering’s global business development efforts.

With more than 35 years of experience in the oil and gas industry, Barrett joined Oceaneering in 2015 as senior vice president of subsea products. Prior to joining Oceaneering, Barrett was with FMC Technologies Inc., where he held various leadership positions including global subsea services director, the release said.

Barrett earned a Bachelor of Science degree in mechanical engineering from Texas A&M University and a Masters of Business degree in finance and entrepreneurship from Rice University.

Knut Eriksen, who joined Oceaneering in 2010, currently holds this position and will support Barrett during the transition period while continuing to build customer relationships at the executive level, the release said.

North Sea Gets $200 Million Investment Boost

Private-equity player Energy Ventures has earmarked a budget of $200 million to help “boost North Sea businesses during challenging times.”

Energy Ventures plans to invest in companies that need finance for stabilization or continued growth.

“Energy Ventures is one of the few oil and gas private-equity funds investing at this time. In the past 20 months we have made three platform investments in the North Sea and a total of 11 investments including add-ons in the same period,” said Tomas Hvamb, Energy Ventures’ Aberdeen-based investment director. “The additional funding of $200 million, which we have set aside, is testament to the commitment we have to the area.

“We believe in the North Sea and the opportunities it continues to offer for domestic and international growth. We look to partner with talented management teams in service and technology companies with high growth potential and seek to invest between $10 million and $40 million in each company. With them, we can help them move forward positively, while investing in their future.”

Greg Herrera, one of the company’s partners, said, “The additional funding that we are currently making available is there to help businesses in the North Sea who may be finding trading conditions particularly challenging just now due to the low oil price. We are keen to partner with them to help them through this period and beyond.”

Weir Lands $12 Million Wellhead Contract In Middle East

Weir Oil & Gas Dubai has been selected to provide Kuwait Oil Co. (KOC) 295 seaboard wellheads valued at about $12 million, according to a news release.

The agreement was reached through Khuff Trading and Contracting.

As part of the deal, Weir will provide KOC with 11 different wellhead configurations ranging from 3,000 psi to 10,000 psi, the release said. The products include conventional wellheads along with HH-cladded trees and solid block dual completion trees. Equipment designs will accommodate casing and tubing sizes ranging from 24 in. to 3½ in. in the various wellhead configurations supplied to KOC.

Dril-Quip Completes TIW Acquisition

Dril-Quip Inc. has completed its previously announced acquisition of TIW Corp., according to a news release.

Houston-based TIW is a global provider of liner hanger systems and related equipment and services.

Dril-Quip, also based in Houston, announced on Oct. 17 that it would acquire the company for $143 million. The deal marks the first acquisition in Drip-Quip’s history.

“In addition to expanding our offshore and onshore market opportunities, this transaction allows us to significantly expand our product offerings to our customers,” Dril-Quip CEO Blake DeBerry said in the release.

Sonardyne Gets New Marine Robotic Systems Global Business Manager

Subsea technology company Sonardyne International Ltd. UK appointed Ioseba (Joe) Tena as its new global business manager for marine robotic systems, effective immediately.

Tena has worked for more than 20 years with marine robotic systems, most recently at SeeByte, Sonardyne said Nov. 15.

Tena worked with marine robots as a research associate at Heriot-Watt University early in his career and completed a Ph.D. in 2001. He was an original founder of SeeByte, and in 2008 he became sales manager there, also leading recruitment and management of SeeByte’s sales and marketing team.

Weatherford CEO Bernard Duroc-Danner Leaves

Weatherford International Plc said on Nov. 9 that CEO Bernard Duroc-Danner has left the company. The oilfield services company named CFO Krishna Shivram its interim CEO.

The company’s shares, which were halted for news pending, surged 33.2% in late trading and closed up at $5.06.

Shivram will continue as CFO until that position is filled, Weatherford said.

Weatherford’s unit, Weatherford International LLC, agreed in September to pay a $140 million penalty to settle charges that it inflated earnings between 2007 and 2012 by using deceptive income tax accounting.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission said in October that Ernst & Young will pay $11.8 million to settle charges over “failed audits” of Weatherford International Plc.

Frank’s International Names New President, CEO

Douglas Stephens will become president and CEO of Frank’s International NV, effective Nov. 15, the company said.

Stephens will succeed Gary Luquette, who has been president and CEO since January 2015.

Luquette will remain at Frank’s to assist with the transition until Dec. 31 and will continue as a supervisory director until the May 2017 annual meeting of shareholders, at which time Stephens will be recommended for election to the supervisory board.

Most recently, Stephens was president of global pressure pumping at Baker Hughes Inc. Prior to working at Baker Hughes, he worked for Schlumberger Ltd. for more than 20 years, working in the U.S., the U.K., Oman, Italy and Egypt.

OMV Sells UK Business In Retreat From Costly Exploration

OMV is selling its U.K. business to Siccar Point Energy for up to $1 billion, putting an end to the Austrian oil and gas group’s exploration activities in Britain as it seeks to escape high costs in areas such as the North Sea.

The firm’s CEO Rainer Seele is unwinding a strategy set by his predecessor, who bought North Sea assets in 2013 for $2.65 billion, by shifting OMV’s focus from output growth to cutting costs and cash generation.

The Nov. 8 deal is expected to close in first-quarter 2017 but would be effective from Jan. 1, 2016.

The transaction, which is pending regulatory approval, would at current exchange rates shave 350 million euros (US$386 million) off OMV’s overall earnings before interest and tax to reflect lost revenues in 2016, OMV said.

OMV was due to report third-quarter results on Wednesday, Nov. 9, but it was unclear when the impairment would be booked.

Under the terms of the deal, Britain’s Siccar will pay OMV $750 million in cash and a further $125 million once a long-awaited final investment decision is made on the Chevron-operated Rosebank Field.

It will also get a further $125 million for investments it already has paid for in Britain this year if the deal goes through.

As part of Seele’s strategy shift, OMV is placing its bets on swapping a stake in its Norwegian unit with Russia’s Gazprom for a stake in a low-cost Siberian gas field, although the deal is taking longer than expected. ($1 = 0.9073 euros)

Nilsson Takes On Statoil’s Executive VP, COO Role

Jannicke Nilsson was appointed as executive vice president and COO of Statoil, replacing Anders Opedal, who will lead operations in Brazil as the new country manager, the company said Nov. 4.

Nilsson’s new role becomes effective Dec. 1, while Opedal will assume his responsibilities Jan. 15, 2017.

Nilsson, who will be based in Stavanger, Norway, will report to President and CEO Eldar Sætre.

Pal Eitrheim, the current Brazil country manager, was appointed as the new chief procurement officer, and he also will be based in Stavanger.

Nilsson has been the senior vice president for COO operational performance projects since Aug. 1, and she originally joined Statoil in 1999. Since that time, she has worked in engineering, research, operations and leadership.

Nilsson started initially as a project engineer, then project leader, production engineer, production supervisor and platform manager at Oseberg South.

She has managed Oseberg C and has been vice president for modification and project portfolio Bergen in DPN as well as senior vice president for operations-North Sea and for operations North Sea-West in DPN.

She was appointed as program leader for Statoil’s technical efficiency program in August 2013.

Nilsson earned a bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree from the University of Stavanger.

Opedal has been executive vice president and COO since April 1, 2015. He joined the company in 1997 as a petroleum engineer on the Statfjord operations, and prior to joining Statoil, worked for Schlumberger and Baker Hughes Inc.

—Staff & Reuters Reports