News

Vallourec has reached an agreement to acquire Saudi Seamless Pipes Factory Co. Ltd (Zamil Pipes), the first processing company of seamless OCTG in Saudi Arabia.

Saudi Aramco has made four new appointments. Mohammed A. Al-Omair has been appointed vice president of Refining and NGL Fractionation; Mohammed Y. Al-Qahtani is the new vice president of Engineering and Development; Samir A. Al-Tubayyeb was appointed vice president of Employee Relations & Training; and Nabeel A. Al-Mansour will take on the position of associate general consul. Al-Omair began his 31 year career with the company in 1980 as a co-op student while completing bachelor's degree in civil engineering from King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals (KFUPM).

Sandvik’s wire production facility in Sandviken, Sweden has begun its first production runs after a major fire attacked the facility. The fire took place on 14 April and continued on into 15 April 2011, destroying equipment and damaging parts. The pickling plant within the wire production facility was completely destroyed and some of the wire drawing machines were damaged. No one was injured.  After a complete assessment of the damage, work began immediately on decontaminating, cleaning, repairing and, where applicable, replacing the plant.

Kobe Steel Limited (Kobe Steel) has acquired a 44.3% equity share in Wuxi Compressor Co Limited (Wuxi), after reaching an agreement with parent company Wuxi Victor Group Co Limited. The investment will allow Kobe Steel to meet the increasing demand for process gas compressors in China. The acquisition of the Wuxi shares was made through Kobelco (China) Holdings Co Limited, Kobe Steel's China headquarters.

Queensland Gas Co. (QGC) announced on 13 May 2011 that its parent, BG Group, has secured a contract to supply Japan with liquefied natural gas (LNG) for 21 years. The BG Group has signed a sales and purchase agreement with Chubu Electric Power for the long-term supply of LNG. Under the agreement, Chubu Electric will buy up to 122 cargoes over 21 years, starting in 2014. The LNG will be supplied from BG Group's global LNG portfolio, including the Queensland Curtis LNG (QCLNG) Project under development by BG Group's wholly owned Australian subsidiary, QGC

As part of its Klöckner & Co 2020 strategy, Klöckner & Co has begun its planned entry into emerging markets by acquiring a 70% share of the Frefer Group, the third-largest independent steel and metal distributor in Brazil. This acquisition will allow the company to create its first foothold in the emerging markets of South America. The acquisition is taking place at a cost that is 6.5 times the projected average EBITDA over a five-year planning horizon.

Siemens Energy has been awarded several contracts for the supply of topside solutions including power generation, water injection and power distribution packages for a Brazilian FPSO (Floating, Production, Storage and Offloading) project. Purchaser for the power generators and power distribution systems is Singapore-based Jurong Shipyard Pte Ltd. and Wasco through its subsidiary Gas Services International Pte Ltd for the water injection package. The FPSO is scheduled to start operation in early summer 2012 Jurong Shipyard has been contracted by the Norwegian company Teekay Petrojarl Production AS

GL Noble Denton has published a new Guideline for the certification of blow-out preventers (BOPs). The Guideline defines the steps to be taken by independent third party certification bodies in certifying the integrity of the asset, which monitors and controls the flow of oil and gas wells. Since the Macondo incident, the oil and gas sector has placed much more emphasis on the inspection and testing of BOPs to ensure compliance with industry standards.

Siemens Industry, Inc. has completed the world's largest onshore liquefied natural gas (LNG) compressor "mega-train" for Qatargas. The last of the 72 Siemens ROBICON Perfect Harmony Variable Frequency Drives (VFD) has been installed and brought online. As Qatar holds the world's third largest gas reserves, these new LNG projects have allowed the country to raise its overall LNG production capacity to 77 million tns/yr, meeting the demands of global LNG buyers.