NMS Girl Of The Day #25 – Liezel Volschenk

Right, it’s that time again where I’m tasked with writing one of this incredibly witty and cutting edge blurbs for our NMS Girl Of The Day. It’s becoming increasingly difficult as our readers wise up to my tricks and start pointing out that I’m using the words ‘stunning’ more than a cougar from Sea Point at the latest Ed Hardy sale.

As a result I’ve decided for today to not simply point out the obvious.  A normal picture is worth a thousand words and we’ve got two pictures here that are well out of the ordinary.

It seems you, dear reader, agree as our social media feeds have been clogged up with calls for the inclusion of Liezel Volschenk as the NMS Girl Of The Day.

Remember, now, that NMS Girl Of The Day is just a stepping stone to fame and fortune.  If you want to ensure that Liezel makes it into the final 15 (and therefore stand a 1/15 chance of making the Sports Illustrated Swimwear shoot) you need to… drumroll… VOTE FOR LIEZEL NOW!

March 7, 2012

NMS Girl Of The Day #25 – Liezel VolschenkSports Illustrated.

WellEz Updates Wellbore Schematic Software for Drilling & Completion Reporting

WellEz (http://www.wellez.com) released a significant upgrade to their wellbore diagram feature, allowing users to see both vertical and horizontal wellbore diagrams, including casing info and downhole equipment

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Wellbore Schematic for Completions Operations

Instead of creating wellbore diagrams manually in spreadsheet programs or by-hand, our system creates the entire diagram automatically

Houston, Texas (PRWEB) February 15, 2012

WellEz released a significant upgrade to the wellbore schematic component on January 24, 2012. The new wellbore schematic allows users to see both vertical and horizontal wellbore diagrams, and is automatically populated throughout the entire well lifecycle (from drilling through completion).

“Our clients will see a major benefit in time-savings” said Fernando Salazar, Technical Coordinator at WellEz Information Management. “Instead of creating wellbore diagrams manually in spreadsheet programs, or by-hand, our system creates the entire diagram automatically.”

The updated wellbore diagram component requires no input from the operator. The entire wellbore schematic is created based on drill bits, casing, and bottom hole assembly information already entered by field personnel.

Updates to the system will allow the wellbore schematic to show deviation based on survey entries, and will automatically populate diagram information from one job in the well to the next (ex. Drilling to Completion).

WellEz is also offering an expanded library of component icons. When filling out bottom hole assembly items for the drilling morning report, or entering the tubing string in a completion job, users will be able to select from a wide-variety of pre-configured icons. Additionally, packers and perforations will be displayed in the diagram during the completions phase of the well.

About WellEz

Founded in 2000, WellEz Information Management is a privately held, international oilfield service company located in Houston, Texas. The leading provider of field reporting tools for drilling, completions, and other operations, WellEz is staffed by experienced oil and gas professionals and a team of highly qualified software developers. The company’s web‐based field software for well lifecycle reporting is the comprehensive solution to limitations, user difficulties, and support issues that are often encountered with traditional reporting software. For more information, visit our website.

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Baker Hughes Rig Counts: International Offshore Rigs Up by 11 (USA)

Baker Hughes Incorporated announced today that the international rig count for February 2012 was 1,204, up 33 from the 1,171 counted in January 2012, and up 15 from the 1,189 counted in February 2011.

The international offshore rig count for February 2012 was 320, up 13 from the 307 counted in January 2012 and up 11 from the 309 counted in February 2011.

The US rig count for February 2012 was 1,981, down 27 from the 2,008 counted in January 2012 and up 282 from the 1,699 counted in February 2011. The Canadian rig count for February 2012 was 701, down 19 from the 682 counted in January 2012 and up 78 from the 623 counted in February 2011.

The worldwide rig count for February 2012 was 3,886 up 25 from the 3,861 counted in January 2012 and up 375 from the 3,511 counted in February 2011.

The Baker Hughes Rotary Rig Counts are counts of the number of drilling rigs actively exploring for or developing oil or natural gas in the United States, Canada and international markets. Baker Hughes has issued the rotary rig counts as a service to the petroleum industry since 1944, when Hughes Tool Company began weekly counts of US and Canadian drilling activity. Baker Hughes initiated the monthly international rig count in 1975.

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UK: Wellbore Clean Up Specialist Eyes Turnover Increase

Aberdeen-based oilfield services firm Coretrax Technology Limited has secured over £1.2million of contracts since the start of the year and expanded its team to 12 people.

Coretrax specialises in innovative oilfield services to the completion, cementing, abandonment and wellbore clean up sectors both in the North Sea and globally. The contract wins are for projects in the North Sea utilising Coretrax’s innovative wellbore clean up tools and chemicals.

The team in Aberdeen has also expanded with the appointment of a new business development manager and offshore supervisor both bringing many years of oil industry experience to the company. Coretrax plans to recruit a further 6-8 new staff in 2012 including a second graduate in design engineering.

Kenny Murray, director and founder of Coretrax, said: “We have had a really promising start to the year and I’m delighted with the new members who have joined the Coretrax team. Our focus this year is continual R&D to expand our range of products and services to provide solutions to operators with our team of engineers globally.

“Our innovative approach to wellbore clean up has also led to successful projects globally and we are completing successful contracts in Africa, Middle East and Asia. We will continue to expand both internationally and in the North Sea with on-going recruitment and new premises this year.”

Formed in 2008, Coretrax is a finalist in the ‘new idea’ category of SPE’s Offshore Achievement Awards taking place in Aberdeen this month. The company forecasts a turnover of £3million this year.

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UK: Red Spider Reduces Risk

Red Spider, the Remote Open Close Technology specialist delivering multi-million pound savings and reduced risk to the oil & gas industry, has completed its biggest-ever deal with work valued at £1.5million to supply new products for well completion operations.

The agreement involves Red Spider supplying eRED-FB products, with deployment scheduled for this Summer in the UK North Sea.

The eRED-FBs will be used for a series of subsea dual ESP (Electric Submersible Pump) wells and will allow the removal of all wireline runs from the completions operations.

Red Spider’s UK sales manager Andy Skinner said: “We are very excited about the technology and believe it takes our ROCT products to the next level, offering unparalleled savings and risk reduction.’’

eRED, Red Spider’s first tool to use its patented ROCT for remotely operating downhole valves, has been used by more than 20 operators resulting in significant risk reduction and maximising production time by removing wireline runs from operations. The technology is on its way to becoming the industry standard solution for various downhole applications.

The valve has allowed major operators to save more than £300,000 during a single subsea completion operation, typically reducing slickline runs from 8 to 1. In deepwater workover operations, savings of up to 36 hours and £500,000 have also been recorded in a single job, as well as major reductions in risk.

It quickly became apparent from the eRED’s continuing success that there were other potential applications for ROCT in the completion of wells. Further customer requests led to nearly £2million of investment and over two years of extensive research and development work, which has resulted in products including the eRED-FB.

eRED-FB valves provide a downhole barrier that can be opened and closed by remote command, allowing the tubing integrity to be tested without using conventional plug and prong equipment. This eliminates the need to deploy traditional wireline methods which results in the following benefits:

• removing the requirement for rigging-up and rigging-down wireline units

• speeding up operations

• reducing risk to personnel and equipment

• reducing the risk of exposure to bad weather

• delivering savings of between 32 to 38 hours (£400,000 to £500,000)

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This Enormous Mass Of Floating Antarctic Algae Can Be Seen From Space

Stephanie Pappas, LiveScience | Mar. 7, 2012, 8:48 PM

An enormous algae bloom off the coast of Antarctica is so huge and colorful that it can easily be seen from space.

A stunning photo of the monster algae bloom was released March 4 by the Australian Antarctic Division.

The bloom hugs the coast of eastern Antarctica and has been present since mid-February. Marine glaciologist Jan Lieser of the Antarctic Climate & Ecosystems Cooperative Research Center (ACE) in Australia said in a statement that the event is remarkable.

“We know that algal blooms are a natural occurrence down south —it’s just a part of the Southern Ocean,” Lieser told Australian website The Conversation. “But I’ve never seen one on this scale before. It’s been going on for about 15 days now, so it’s maybe about two-thirds or three-fourths of the way through the cycle.”

The bloom stretches about 124 miles (200 kilometers) east to west and 62 miles (100 km) north to south. The image of this gigantic bloom was taken by the MODIS (Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer) instrument aboard NASA’s Earth-orbiting Terra satellite; together with the Aqua satellite, Terra views Earth’s entire surface every one to two days, acquiring data in several wavelengths of light.

On Feb. 27, MODIS spotted another Antarctic phytoplankton bloom, this one off the coast of the Princess Astrid Coast.

Algae blooms like these are triggered when a combination of sunlight and nutrients create fertile conditions. In the Southern Ocean, iron is the limiting nutrient, according to ACE. When iron concentrations are high enough, algae blooms follow.

This particular bloom is thought to be made up of phaeocystis, a single-celled algae well-known in polar areas. Algae also live on land in the Antarctic, sometimes in concentrations high enough to color snow banks red, green and orange. Australian research vessel Aurora Australis is venturing near the Antarctic bloom so scientists can collect samples of the algae.

Algae is the base of the ocean food chain, and in the Southern Ocean, as is the case elsewhere, they take up the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide as they photosynthesize and grow. But massive blooms occasionally cause trouble. Some species of algae produce neurotoxins that are deadly. Humans who eat shellfish that have fed on Alexandrium catanella, the algae responsible for “red tides,” can die of paralytic shellfish poisoning.

Some researchers even suspect that algae poisoning contributed to all five of Earth’s great mass extinctions, which killed off between half and 90 percent of all animal species when they occurred. According to this controversial theory, there were increased levels of algae in at least four of the five mass extinctions in Earth’s history. A cataclysmic event such as a volcanic eruption or asteroid impact could have stressed the algae, causing them to release more toxins and further harm the ecosystem.

You can follow LiveScience senior writer Stephanie Pappas on Twitter @sipappas. Follow LiveScience for the latest in science news and discoveries on Twitter @livescience and on Facebook.

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USA: FMC Technologies Wins Two Spotlight on New Technology Awards at OTC

FMC Technologies, Inc. announced that it has been named the recipient of two Spotlight on New Technology awards by the Offshore Technology Conference (OTC). The awards, which honor innovative technologies that significantly impact offshore exploration and production, recognize FMC’s subsea processing systems designed for Total’s Pazflor field and Petrobras’ Marlim field.

“We are honored to be recognized by OTC for a third consecutive year with these prestigious awards,” said John T. Gremp, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer of FMC Technologies. “This is a significant accomplishment for our employees and for our industry-leading subsea processing systems.”

The Pazflor field is the world’s first use of subsea separation and boosting in a new subsea field that will produce two grades of oil (light and heavy). This technology enables economic development of the reservoir where the use of a conventional subsea production system was not feasible. Pazflor is located offshore Angola, and began production in August of 2011 at water depths up to approximately 4,000 feet (1,200 meters).

The equipment for the Marlim field is a step-change in the evolution of subsea processing. It is the industry’s first use of oil and water separation technologies in deep water, and it is the first subsea system to separate heavy oil and water. The Marlim equipment is also the first to reinject separated water back into a subsea reservoir to boost production. The Marlim system was installed offshore Brazil in November of 2011 in water depths of approximately 2,950 feet (900 meters). It is designed to extend the life of this mature oil field, which began production over 30 years ago and was once the largest subsea development in the region.

FMC will receive both awards during a ceremony and press conference at 4:00 p.m. CDT on Monday, April 30, in the Rotunda area of the Reliant Center in Houston, Texas.

FMC Technologies, Inc. is a leading global provider of technology solutions for the energy industry. Named by FORTUNE® Magazine as the World’s Most Admired Oil and Gas Equipment, Service Company in 2010, the Company has approximately 14,200 employees and operates 27 production facilities in 16 countries. FMC Technologies designs, manufactures and services technologically sophisticated systems and products such as subsea production and processing systems, surface wellhead systems, high pressure fluid control equipment, measurement solutions, and marine loading systems for the oil and gas industry.

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RXT to Conduct OBC Survey in Middle East

The multi-component seismic company Reservoir Exploration Technology ASA (RXT) has received a letter of award from an oil company for an ocean bottom cable survey in the Middle East.

Formal agreement will be entered into. The survey is scheduled to commence during 2012 and is estimated to take 13 months.

The estimated contract value is USD 104.5 mill.

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