Asset Guardian Solutions Ltd (AGSL), which specializes in protecting companies’ process control software assets, announced that it has landed another contract to support an oil and gas supermajor in Perth, Western Australia.

The contract is the second to be awarded by this operator in Australia to AGSL in the last 12 months.

Once again, AGSL will provide the Asset Guardian toolset, which provides a secure repository to store back-up software files and associated data, allowing them to be easily accessed in the event of a software-related production system failure. Asset Guardian will also manage all process software configuration changes.

Maintaining communications in “cyclone country”

Because the LNG project is located in “cyclone country”, communications between its onshore facilities and offshore project teams are often disrupted. To ensure that the integrity of all software and data files managed by Asset Guardian is maintained when communications break down, AGSL is also supplying its AGSync software.

AGSync synchronizes software and data files across multiple locations and continues to operate during periods of disrupted communication, allowing all files between locations to synchronize as soon as communication links are restored.

Australian oil and gas market looks to Asset Guardian

For AGSL, the Australian oil and gas market has really taken off. The recent contract is the fourth Australian contract to be awarded to AGSL during the last three years, beginning with an order from Woodside Energy. Shortly thereafter, INPEX followed suit, adopting Asset Guardian for the Ichthys LNG Project.

“This recent award demonstrates the confidence that Australia-based oil and gas operators have in Asset Guardian’s ability to manage their process software, reliably and effectively,” said Sam Mackay, chief executive of AGSL. “The rapid rate at which the Australian market has embraced Asset Guardian has encouraged us to consider expanding our presence in the region in 2016.”

Leading international energy logistics provider Peterson has secured a significant, long term logistics contract with leading oil and gas operator Maersk Oil. The five year deal enables greater focus on delivering sustainable cost saving concepts and systems.

Peterson will work closely with the operator to deliver a comprehensive logistics approach including warehousing, inventory control, transport, fuel and quayside logistics, crew changes and walk to work supporting Maersk Oil’s UK North Sea assets.

Murdo MacIver, director, Peterson said: “To have been awarded such a ground-breaking contract with Maersk Oil is a huge achievement for Peterson and demonstrates complete confidence in the longevity of the services we provide.

The strong partnership and understanding we have built with this key client positions us well to support them and provide innovative solutions to optimise efficiency, safety and service across these assets at this challenging time for the sector.”

The contract continues the existing relationship between Maersk Oil and Peterson. Peterson also provides fourth party logistics (4PL) support in the Persian Gulf.

Both companies will continue to develop smart solutions utilising Peterson’s proprietary suite of digital applications such as eCargo and VOR which enable real time, data driven decisions to improve performance and will keep both companies at the forefront of technological logistics.

Hyperdynamics Corporation (OTCQX:HDYN) announces an impasse in plans to resume petroleum operations and move forward with drilling an exploratory well under the Joint Operating Agreement governing the oil and gas exploration rights offshore Guinea ("JOA"). The impasse reflects a refusal by the participants in the Guinea project, Tullow Guinea Ltd., ("Tullow") a wholly owned subsidiary of Tullow Oil, PLC and Dana Petroleum (E&P) Limited, ("Dana") a wholly owned subsidiary of the Korean National Oil Company, to meet their obligations under the JOA and the Production Sharing Contract with the Government of Guinea ("PSC").

In August 2015, Tullow as operator under the JOA presented to Dana and Hyperdynamics, through its subsidiary, SCS Corporation Ltd. ("SCS"), a work program and budget to complete drilling of a well before the September 2016 deadline established by the PSC. Tullow and SCS voted in favor of the work program and budget, and it was deemed passed by this vote. On September 23, 2015, Tullow submitted this work program and budget to the Guinea Minister of Mines and Geology. Pursuant to Article 9.4 of the PSC, the annual work program and budget is deemed approved 30 days after submission, and that period has passed. Tullow also submitted a contracting strategy to the Guinea Government and initiated well preparation procedures that included visits to Guinea and meetings with Guinea government officials, all of which indicated that Tullow was on course to resume petroleum operations.

However, in an Operating Committee Meeting on November 18, 2015, in contrast to its prior actions, Tullow stated that it would not restart petroleum operations unless Dana agreed to fund its portion of well costs, which Dana declined to do.

Following Tullow's now withdrawn declaration of force majeure, both Dana and Tullow had raised concerns in 2014 that the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act investigations into Hyperdynamics could cause the Guinea government to question titles provided by the PSC. Notwithstanding the conclusion of those investigations, Dana maintained its position that it would not agree to fund well costs absent further assurances from the Guinea government that the Guinea government would not challenge ownership rights under the PSC. Since that November 18, 2015 meeting, Hyperdynamics has engaged in discussions with Tullow and Dana relating to these positions.

At a Petroleum Operations Management Committee in Guinea on December 16, 2015, Tullow and Hyperdynamics met with representatives of the Guinea Minister of Mines and Geology. Dana declined to attend the meeting. At the conclusion of those meetings on December 17th, the Guinea government agreed to the exact title assurances proposed by Dana, and agreed to by Tullow in previous communications, as an amendment to the PSC. At the meeting, Hyperdynamics executed the amendment and Tullow and the Ministry of Mines and Geology of Guinea initialed the document. Tullow committed to moving the amendment through the necessary approval processes at Tullow.

As of this date, neither Tullow nor Dana has signed the PSC amendment, and both have stated that they will not sign unless the other party signs first. Both have repeatedly refused to sign first, declined Hyperdynamics' suggestion that they sign simultaneously, and have refused to agree to restart petroleum operations.

Hyperdynamics believes that neither Tullow nor Dana has the ability under the JOA to block resumption of petroleum operations regardless of whether a PSC amendment was negotiated. In any event, the fact that the Guinea government agreed to the PSC amendment has removed any title concerns Tullow and Dana had about moving forward with the resumption of petroleum operations.

Ray Leonard, President and CEO, commented, "We are extremely disappointed in the actions of both Tullow and Dana. Dana stated that the only impediment to moving forward with petroleum operations was additional title assurances, but will not sign a document providing the exact assurances it sought. And, even though Tullow is the operator, it is refusing to take the required steps to move this project forward, including promptly signing a document it has already initialed. In sum, neither company has honored the commitments made to us and to the Government of Guinea to proceed with drilling. We will continue with our efforts to get this well drilled, and we are considering all of our options to accomplish this key objective."

Pursuant to the agreement between Tullow and a subsidiary of Hyperdynamics in 2013 in connection with the sale to Tullow of a portion of Hyperdynamics' interest in the Concession, Tullow agreed to drill an exploratory well and to pay all of the costs of Hyperdynamics' participating share of expenditures associated with joint operations up to a gross exploration cap of $100 million. The participating interests are owned 40% by Tullow, 37% by Hyperdynamics and 23% by Dana.

Marred by corruption and market turmoil, Petrobras, the operator of key pre-salt projects for Brazil’s oil production over the next five years, is one of many Brazilian oil and gas companies facing a difficult financial future in the short term, according to an analyst with research and consulting firm GlobalData.

Adrian Lara, GlobalData’s Senior Upstream Analyst covering the Americas, says that production from pre-salt fields will contribute an estimated 65% of Brazil’s oil production by 2020, while there are 11.6 billion barrels of recoverable reserves from planned pre-salt projects.

This production depends on timely deployment of Floating Production Storage and Offloadings (FPSOs), pace and number of wells drilled, and productivity of the pre-salt wells. However, the fact that Petrobras is more than $100 billion in debt makes growth prospects very slim.

Lara elaborates: “Petrobras has seen its capital investment and production forecast negatively impacted by the carwash corruption scandal, one of the largest cases of fraud in the history of oil and gas. Consequently, it has been forced to delay its development plans and has proposed budget cuts for the next two years.”

The analyst adds that Petrobras’ recent revisions to its production plans, forecasting 2.8 million barrels per day (mmbd) by 2020, 1.4 mmbd less than 2014, will be adjusted further. This is due to more recent Petrobras CEO statements indicating less capital expenditure and a larger divestment strategy. One key change in the investment plan for pre-salt production has been a significant reduction in the number of FPSOs brought online by 2019.

Lara continues: “Developing pre-salt assets remains vital in providing much-needed cash flow for Petrobras. However, most of these require significant additional investment, which will be hard to find considering the company’s current position.”

Although Petrobras rejected the idea of partnering with other operators in developing pre-salt resources, recent debates and announcements in the media, congress and statements from the ministry of finance and Petrobras’ CEO indicate that a discussion about changing these conditions might be feasible.

Lara concludes: “Diminishing the local industry role and Petrobras’ leadership in the development of the pre-salt resources in favor of foreign oil and gas companies would certainly face opposition from workers' unions and require substantial negotiation between key political parties. However, this might be the necessary trade-off to create the potential production growth from pre-salt areas.”

The American Petroleum Institute's Global Industry Services department (API Global) has established a new and comprehensive Auditor Certification Program, which is the first to be developed by industry experts.

"API is committed to safety as a core value, and we are pleased to offer this new auditor certification program to help improve the safety and performance of oil and natural gas operations worldwide," said Lisa Salley, vice president of API Global. "API standards and certifications are the industry gold standard. The program is designed specifically for and by oil and natural gas quality management professionals and draws upon API's deep industry knowledge and expertise."

Company personnel and self-employed individuals can register to be trained, tested, and certified to audit various quality management programs according to API's globally-recognized standards. The certification of credentialed auditing professionals will play a key role in advancing quality programs, efficiency, and safety within the industry.

Certification candidates are required to provide proof of appropriate education, qualifications, training, and audit logs as part of the application and pre-qualification process. They must also sit for and pass a 150-question exam, administered worldwide at Prometric computer testing centers. The first exams will be offered March 1-15, 2016, and the registration deadline is February 5. API plans to hold three auditor certification exam periods per year.

Each of the three levels of certification can be obtained with a focus on either API Spec Q1 (Specification for Quality Management System Requirements for Manufacturing Organizations) or API Spec Q2 (Specification for Quality Management System Requirements for Service Supply Organizations).

For more information about the Auditor Certification Program, please click here.

API Global is responsible for certification, standards, statistics, training, events, and safety programs for the international oil and natural gas industry.

API is the only national trade association representing all facets of the oil and natural gas industry, which supports 9.8 million U.S. jobs and 8 percent of the U.S. economy. API's 650 members include large integrated companies, as well as exploration and production, refining, marketing, pipeline, and marine businesses, and service and supply firms. They provide most of the nation's energy and are backed by a growing grassroots movement of more than 30 million Americans.

Statoil has awarded the contract for Johan Castberg Subsea – Integration Pre-FEED and FEED Project with Options to IKM Ocean Design.

The contract includes Pre-FEED and FEED of pipelines, risers, cables, tie-ins and related structures on the Johan Castberg field. Furthermore, detail design and follow-on engineering are included as options along with EPC of pipeline related structures.

CEO of IKM Ocean Design, Peder Hoås says; "We are extremely proud that Statoil has chosen IKM for this prestigious task and we look forward to further develop the field in cooperation with the Statoil team in order to make the project technically and commercially robust. The contract secures work for our engineers on a long term basis, and is one of the largest engineering contracts since the company was established.”

Contract signing (Fornebu – Oslo) - Peder Hoås and Geir Paulsen (Statoil)

The contract has a duration of two years for the completion of Pre-FEED and FEED design, covering the SURF part of the development. Including options, the total contract period and value could extend to 7 years and 200 mNOK, respectively. The engineering work starts immediately and will be run out of IKM’s Lysaker office.

IKM Ocean Design is a part of IKM Gruppen and is established with offices in Stavanger, Trondheim and Oslo. IKM Ocean Design employs 70 engineers within the areas of subsea field development, subsea pipelines and cables, subsea structures and topside engineering.

The Johan Castberg field is located in the Barents Sea, approximately 240 km north-west of Hammerfest in northern Norway. The field development comprises the Skrugard, Havis and Drivis fields, all within Production License 532.

Fugro has been awarded a contract by Esso Exploration and Production Guyana Limited, an ExxonMobil affiliate, for survey services at a deepwater field development offshore Guyana. The contract provides for autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) geophysical survey and an environmental baseline survey, along with shallow geohazard and geotechnical coring.

The discovery of more than 295 feet of high quality, oil-bearing sandstone reservoirs in the Stabroek Block of the Liza Field represents a significant deepwater production find in the Guyana-Suriname basin.

Fugro Americas will perform the work

Fugro will acquire, process and analyse high quality AUV multibeam bathymetry, side scan sonar and sub-bottom profiler data, as well as environmental and geological/geotechnical samples, providing seabed and shallow sub-seabed information to support the initial development of offshore structures in the field. The survey will cover an area of approximately 640 square kilometres in depths reaching 2,800 metres.

Patrick Lee, P.E., CPE. Aust., Arctic Geotechnical Engineer at ExxonMobil said, “The ability to provide all relevant expertise and skilled personnel to undertake this complex project highlights Fugro as the right company for this job.”

Melissa Jeansonne, Vice President, Fugro added, “Fugro has executed numerous high profile, large scale, and remarkably successful geophysical and geotechnical programmes throughout the globe, including many of the largest surveys in the oil and gas industry, and we look forward to continuing this model of excellence in the Guyana-Suriname basin.”

Statoil and COSL have received confirmed information from the police that one person has died as a result of the breaking wave that hit the drilling rig COSL Innovator on Wednesday, December 30, 2015.

Two other people were injured and are receiving medical treatment ashore. The rig is now heading to shore under its own power, while evacuation takes place.

COSL and Statoil were notified at 5 pm on Wednesday 30 December that three people had been injured when a breaking wave hit COSL Innovator. Statoil and COSL have mobilized their emergency response organizations.

COSL Innovator (photo) is under contract to Statoil at the Troll field in the North Sea, west of Bergen. The rig had been taken off the well as a result of the bad weather before the incident occurred. The breaking wave also caused some damage to the rig's accommodation module.

The injured persons have been flown to shore by Sea King helicopter from the Joint Rescue Coordination Centre and by one of Statoil’s own rescue helicopters.

Statoil is assisting COSL with evacuation of the rig down to the safety crew. Evacuees are being flown ashore.

A phone number has been established for the next of kin in connection with this incident.

For COSL: +47 952 69 495 (new number)

Statoil ASA (OSE: STL, NYSE: STO) has acquired 37,101, 561 shares in Lundin Petroleum AB (publ.), corresponding to 11.93 percent of the shares and votes, at a total purchase price of approximately SEK 4.6 billion.

The investment in Lundin Petroleum will increase Statoil’s indirect exposure to core assets on the Norwegian Continental Shelf (“NCS”).

“We consider this a long term shareholding. The Norwegian Continental Shelf is the backbone of Statoil’s business, and this transaction indirectly strengthens our total share of the value creation from core, high value assets on the NCS, ” says Eldar Sætre, president and CEO of Statoil ASA.

Statoil is continuously looking to enhance value creation. In recent years Statoil has farmed down in certain mature assets on the NCS to realize value for new investments.

Through the acquisition of shares in Lundin Petroleum, Statoil increases its exposure to core field development projects and growth assets on NCS, including Johan Sverdrup and Edvard Grieg at attractive values. The investment underpins Statoil’s long term interest and commitment to the future of the NCS.

Lundin Petroleum has over the last decade successfully built a strong portfolio on the NCS, and internationally in Malaysia, and France. The company had 187.5 million barrels of oil equivalent of reserves at the end of 2014. From 2002 to 2014 it increased its reserves base four fold, and produced 24,900 barrels of oil equivalent per day in 2014. In 2015 it has booked net 2P reserves of 515 million barrels of oil equivalent for the full field development of Johan Sverdrup, based on its 22.60 percent working interest.

Statoil is supportive of Lundin Petroleum’s management, its board of directors and the strategy. There is no plan to increase Statoil’s shareholding in the company.

Greene’s Energy Group, LLC (GEG), a diversified oil service company and leading provider of integrated testing, rentals and specialty services, has been awarded a United States patent for its Closed Loop Separator, a step change in safety and solids handling for the oil and gas industry.

This third generation system increases safety by preventing the release of gas on location during well completion and intervention operations. Gas separation is optimized significantly with the addition of a 10-inch diameter internal gas buster tube (more surface area for gas breakout) and an 8-inch diameter vertical vent (minimizes velocity spillover and reduces mist carryover).

With the gas buster enclosed in the tank, the system can be completely sealed, is self-pressurized, safely contains all gas, and is able to securely transmit gas to the vent or flare. Further safety features of the system include level safety low/high shutdown controllers on the primary separator and a secondary level safety high shutdown controller on the gas buster (both are key safety differentiators on flowback operations).

Greene’s Closed Loop Separator is specifically designed for high solids applications through reduced fluids velocity. This is accomplished by large diameter chambers for phase separation and quiet zone baffling.

As a new standard for safe and efficient fluid handling, the Closed Loop Separator provides a four-phase hydraulic or atmospheric separation for gas, oil, water and solids and can be used in many onshore and offshore applications, including well stimulation and flowback operations; well intervention projects – including coiled tubing, wireline and pumping – including subsea wellhead to surface operations including flowlines, risers and umbilicals; and commissioning and decommissioning operations – including pipeline flushing, cleaning and testing. The separator can also be used to replace in-line platform production equipment for routine maintenance or equipment replacement periods.

With an 85 barrel tank and a 40 psi operating pressure, the Closed Loop Separator features include:

H2S Certified

BSSE Compliant

Site glass level indicators conveniently placed for monitoring all phases (bbls in/out)

Oil Bucket with 3 adjustable weirs High flow rate capacity, 6-8 bbls/min with 24 bbls/minute surge capacity Internal gun lines

High solids capacity w/ real time evacuation of solids under pressure

Can be integrated with production flow process to control produced water flow (self-throttling)

“This new technology is a game changer in production and completion fluid separation – for operations and the environment,” said co-inventor Elwin Faulk, Vice President / General Manager Water Treatment Services. “The internal gas buster not only optimizes separation by slowing velocity and breaking down the fluids and solids faster, but when followed by additional filtration, ensures clean water is safely deposited back into the offshore environment.”

Prosafe and Statoil (U.K.) Ltd (“Statoil”) have agreed to re-phase the Mariner Project in the UK Continental Shelf of the North Sea from 2016 into 2017, and extend the firm hire duration from 8 months to 13 months.

Operations at the Statoil Mariner platform will commence within Q3 2017 and will be performed by either the Safe Zephyrus or Safe Boreas accommodation support vessel. In addition to the revised extended firm hire duration, Prosafe has granted Statoil six additional one-month options linked to the Mariner project.

The Mariner Field is located on the East Shetland Platform of the UK North Sea approximately 150km east of the Shetland Isles. Image courtesy: Statoil

Total value of the re-phased and extended firm hire duration for the Mariner Project has increased from USD 76.3 million to approximately USD 131.8 million, including a re-phasing charge payable in 2016.

Prosafe is the world's leading owner and operator of semi-submersible accommodation vessels. Operating profit reached USD 248.3 million in 2014 and net profit was USD 178.8 million. The company operates globally, employs 800 people and is headquartered in Larnaca, Cyprus. Prosafe is listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange with ticker code PRS.

For more information, please refer to www.prosafe.com

Statoil has awarded maintenance and modification agreements worth NOK 24 billion for the company’s installations on the Norwegian continental shelf (NCS) and for the onshore plants at Sture, Kollsnes, Kårstø and Melkøya.

Competition agreements for more complex modification services have also been awarded.

Maintenance and modifications are essential for safe and efficient operation of Statoil’s offshore and onshore installations. New compensation formats have been prepared to encourage continuous improvement and higher productivity.

Maintenance work on the Norne FPSO. (Photo: Rune Solheim)

“These awards will strengthen the NCS competitiveness and stimulate long-term activity and value creation. We look forward to cooperating with the suppliers, and jointly achieve lasting and sustainable improvements with regard to efficient production, safe operation and high integrity at our plants,” says senior vice president for operations technology of Development and Production Norway (DPN), Kjetil Hove.

This time the company decided to split the whole portfolio in two: main contractor agreements and competition agreements. The key supplier agreements portfolio has an estimated total value (including options) of NOK 24 billion. The contract period is six years plus a four-year extension option, and starts in the first quarter of 2016. Remaining options of existing maintenance & modifications agreements will not be exercised.

The main contractor agreements have been awarded to the following companies:

The competition agreements portfolio covers a period of 10 years that starts in the first quarter of 2016. The agreements form the basis for individual project competitions where one, two or more suppliers are invited to participate.

The competition agreements have been awarded to the following companies:

The awards reveal that the company is continuing its important improvement effort together with familiar maintenance & modification suppliers, but they also present a new element as a new player is included in the agreement portfolio.

“The procurement we have made is part of the effort of creating a more competitive industry. The importance of making continuous improvements and changing our working methods has run as a thread through the whole process. In the time ahead we will work closely with the suppliers to ensure that this work is pursued when the agreements enter into force,” says senior vice president for procurements in Statoil, Jon Arnt Jacobsen. A comprehensive procurement process has been carried out, where Statoil has worked closely with the bidders to find the best solutions based on evaluations of health, safety and environment (HSE), technical and commercial criteria.

The agreements signed form the basis for potential new EPC contracts (engineering, procurement and construction) for subsea equipment in the medium term future. An EPC option agreement for subsea production system (SPS) has also been signed with OneSubsea, including framework agreements for subsea operations services and subsea add-ons.

Last year Statoil also signed a Master Service Agreement and an EPC contract including options for EPC project with FMC Kongsberg Subsea AS for Johan Sverdrup.

Torger Rød, vice president for projects in Statoil. (Photo: Øyvind Hagen)

“In light of the current challenges the industry is facing the suppliers have demonstrated commitment and drive to break the cost curve and enhance competitiveness. Statoil has cooperated closely with the suppliers on technology qualification, concept development and pre-engineering studies, and jointly we have delivered successful subsea projects,” says Torger Rød, vice president for projects in Statoil.

The agreements signed form a good basis for future collaboration with three leading subsea suppliers, thereby simplifying collaboration in the time ahead.

In today’s oil price environment, sustained focus on costs and efficiency will ultimately be the key to develop several currently marginal prospects and discoveries.

“We look forward to continuing the good collaboration going forward. The agreements constitute a framework upon which the suppliers can continue with optimization and cost reducing measures. Future awards will go to the supplier who are willing to and capable of continuing the drive for sustained quality, standardization, higher efficiency and lower costs,” says Rød.

With recoverable oil reserve estimates of approximately 750 and 600 million barrels (mmbbl) in Uganda and Kenya respectively, and with government share of the reserves expected to be about 30–50%, the potential impact on economic development in these countries could be great. However, new infrastructure, including an export pipeline, is required to enable commercialization of these discoveries, says an analyst with research and consulting firm GlobalData.

Overall oil production in Uganda is forecast to peak at about 200,000 barrels per day (bd) by 2023, while Kenya’s production is estimated to reach approximately 85,000 bd by 2027, provided the export pipeline is in place.

According to Jonathan Markham, GlobalData's Upstream Oil & Gas Analyst, while a range of possible pipeline routes to ports in Lamu, Mombasa or Tanga have been proposed, upstream development in the region has stalled due to a lack of progress in developing an export route for these inland discoveries.

Markham explains: “Operators have been lobbying for an export pipeline since the discoveries were made to enable development of the area. Tullow Oil and Africa Oil have cautiously welcomed progress made in agreeing a pipeline route from Uganda through northern Kenya to Lamu, but Total prefers routes further south, citing security concerns in northern Kenya.”

The analyst adds that the development of an export pipeline would also be a driver for upstream exploration in the region. Some blocks have already been licensed by governments in central and eastern Africa, but the remote locations have dampened interest from major oil companies.

Markham continues: “Current license holders view new basin exploration as an area with high growth potential, with South Sudan, Ethiopia, Tanzania, Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo all possible beneficiaries of new pipeline routes.

“Discoveries in Kenya and Uganda have favorable subsurface characteristics and relatively low exploration and appraisal costs compared with the deepwater dominated exploration in West Africa. Estimated full-cycle capital expenditure per barrel for these upstream developments is about US$8–12, which is increasingly enticing, as the oil and gas industry cuts back on costs. However, without an economical export route, the inland discoveries will remain commercially unviable at current oil prices.”

Forum Energy Technologies, Inc. (NYSE: FET) has announced that its AMC Engineering product line has been awarded multi-million dollars worth of significant new orders within just one month.

The multiple orders are for the manufacture and supply of its industry-leading fully rotational torque (RT) bucking unit with the first delivery scheduled for Q1, 2016. They have been purchased by three of the largest multi-national oil service companies and will enable improved and increased tool make up capabilities at locations in the Middle East, South America and Caspian regions.

The RT bucking machine (RT) is a self-contained, free-standing hydraulically powered unit designed for fast and accurate make up and break out of premium and regular threaded connections for tubular equipment up to a maximum torque of 200,000 foot-pounds (ft lbs).

Plant manager at Forum AMC Engineering, Darren Bragg, said: “To win a series of orders from a number of leading international companies is a major endorsement of our products and our Aberdeen-based manufacturing and export capabilities, particularly in the current challenging market conditions.

Forum AMC wins multi-million dollars worth of new orders for its industry-leading rotational torque unit.

“It also demonstrates the strong relationships we have built with our customers as well as introducing a new customer to our equipment. To continue to win these large capital investments is great recognition for our team effort and reinforces a strong and encouraging start for 2016.

“We understand more than ever that budget is hard to come by and that, as part of this, understanding our customers’ requirements and delivering solutions on time, on budget is paramount. Choosing Forum’s equipment at a time when every budget item is being especially scrutinized by companies is a testament to the confidence in the reliability of our equipment.”

Forum also announced that from January, 2016, the manufacture of the company’s PQuip Mud Bucket product will be transferred to the Forum AMC facility. This joins the Tautwire product line that was moved to the Aberdeen location earlier in 2015. This further reinforces the continued recognition of the skills and experience that the team at Forum’s AMC facility provides.

Forum Energy Technologies is a global oilfield products company, serving the subsea, drilling, completion, production and infrastructure sectors of the oil and natural gas industry. The company’s products include highly engineered capital equipment as well as products that are consumed in the drilling, well construction, production and transportation of oil and natural gas. Forum is headquartered in Houston, TX with manufacturing and distribution facilities strategically located around the globe.

Forum AMC is an internationally recognized manufacturer of torque equipment (bucking machines). Its market-leading equipment is in operation around the world with most of the major oil and gas service companies in Africa, North and South America, Canada, Europe, Far East, Middle East and Russia.

Forum AMC has been delivering torque solutions to the market for over 25 years with every unit being designed and manufactured to meet and exceed our customers’ requirements. The business’s technical engineers are available anywhere in the world for installation, servicing, training and calibration while Forum AMC also carries out and supplies service, calibration, repairs and modification on non-AMC equipment.

Deepwater mooring specialist, First Subsea Ltd, has completed the installation of subsea mooring connectors for Anadarko Petroleum Corp's Heidelberg truss spar platform moored in 5,310ft (1,620 m) of water in field development in the Gulf of Mexico.

The 23,000-ton spar has been moored by nine Series III Ballgrab ball and taper mooring connectors attached to polyester mooring lines. The connector's male mandrels are manufactured in compliance with American Bureau of Shipping (ABS) 2009 Approval for specialist subsea mooring connectors.

Ball and taper subsea mooring connectors (SMCs) offer a two-part mooring. A connector receptacle is preinstalled, attached by ground chain to a mooring pile. When the spar arrives on-station the ball and taper mooring connector is simply attached to the mooring line and lowered into the receptacle to complete the mooring line connection.

“Spar mooring is something of a specialty for Ballgrad SMCs,” says John Shaw, managing director, First Subsea. “The connectors offer a quick mooring line installation with significant time savings for the overall mooring installation.”

The Heidelberg spar will have a capacity of more than 80,000 barrels of oil and 2.3 million cubic meters of natural gas per day.

First Subsea is the first manufacturer of offshore mooring connectors to achieve ABS type approval for the design and manufacture of large-scale forgings over 500mm in diameter.