Page 76: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (September 1998)

OFFSHORE UPDATES

Shell Forms Global Technology Commercialization Venture

Shell has established a new orga- nization, Shell Technology

Ventures (STV) to spearhead rapid development and deployment of

Shell's exploration and production technologies. STV marks the first globally coordinated effort by the

Royal Dutch Shell/Group of

Companies to directly participate with service industry partners in the development and marketing of

Shell's proprietary technologies.

STVs mission is to create equity investment opportunities for Shell in the form of joint ventures and new subsidiaries. Bill Dirks is president of STV.

An example of this new approach is the recent agreement to form a joint venture with Halliburton to market Shell's Expandable

Tubular technology.

This effort involves novel approaches to drilling practices that are designed to significantly reduce drilling costs and enhance access to oil and natural gas reser- voirs.

Offshore Africa Heats Up With

Demand For Gabon Data

Some 16 oil companies reportedly bought seismic information relating to 13 ultra- deep blocs off Gabon in a recent govern- ment offer. The data were compiled in a study conducted by Schlumberger Geco-

Prakla and have been made available by the government in an attempt to stimulate interest in its ultra-deep deposits. Gabon is expecting to produce 18.3 million tons of crude oil in 1998, and is looking to the deep offshore deposits to keep the oil flowing well into the next century.

Mobil To Increase Equatorial Guinea

Production

Mobil Corp. plans to increase production from the company's operations in Block B offshore

Equatorial Guinea. The announcement coin- cides with the start of the 1998 exploration drilling program in Block B with four wildcat wells expected to be drilled before the end of the year. An additional drilling rig, the Percy Johns, has recently arrived. Planned facilities include a fixed drilling and production platform installed in the Zafiro area and the addition of gas lift and water injection facilities to the exist- ing Zafiro Producer FPSO.

Offshore industry is tough business.

Rough seas, deep water and howling winds flavour the operating environment.

Definitely not a place for experimental activities.

Designed and built with a long experience of successful offshore operations, our advanced anchor handling and towing winches let you concentrate on the essential. Your mission.

Peace of mind wherever you operate.

Rauma

WINCHES

KAMEWA FINLAND LTD., P.O. Box 220,

FIN-26101 Rauma, Finland

Phone: +358 2 83791, Fax: +358 2 8378 4913. kGroup

EXCELLENCE IN PROPULSION www.kamewagroup.com

Part of the Propulsion Technology Division of Vickers PLC

Circle 261 on Reader Service Card 58

HYPACK for WINDOWS

HYPACK HydrograpMc Software gives you the hydrographic power to lay out survey lines, create plotting sheets, and design cross sectional profiles in a flash. Graphically review your survey data and create new planned lines. Customize your screen sizes. Input up to nine devices, simultaneously.

Have single and multibeam data collection capably at your fingertips. Display and edit trackiines, sounding profiles and text data. Apply tide, draft, heave-pitch-roll and sound velocity corrections.

Plus: Full DXF/DGN Support. Plotting, including smooth sheets. The abffitv to create cross section profiles of multibeam ana longitudinal data. And a complete look at your Volumes, including average end area, prismoidal. contour and TIN models.

HYPACK's TIN Modeling Program

HYPACK'S Survey Program

A New Approach

To Scale Removal

COASTAL OCEANOGRAPHICS, INC. 11-G Old Indian Trail Phone:(860)349-3800 Middlefield, CT 06455 BH| Fax:(860)349-1982 http://www.coastalo.com

Schlumberger Dowell introduced the Scale Blaster service, touted as a true breakthrough in downhoie scale removal technology. The new service offers a clear solution to a previously unsolvable problem. The scale removal system, coiled tub- ing conveyed, uses fluid jetting and abrasive jetting technology, offer- ing several advantages over mechanical removal methods, including cleaning of tubing jewelry (gas lift mandrels, sub sea safety valves, etc.), through-tubing clean- ing of liners and casing, and clean- ing of high-temperature deposits.

The jetting system removes soft organic wellbore deposits by jetting with water or chemicals, soluble scales by jetting with acid, and hard inert scales by jetting with abra- sives.

The Scale Blaster service removes even the hardest scale, such as barium, strontium and iron sulfate, so that there is no need to kill the well and pull the tubing. A rotating nozzle provides 100 per- cent coverage, cleaning nipple pro- files and completion hardware, as well as the tubing wall. This elimi- nates the risk of damage to the tub- ing and downhoie jewelry.

Circle 223 on Reader Service Card

The HYPACK series of advanced design programs continues to build on the Coastal Oceanographies reputation for reliability, accuracy, ana fast, world-wide service.

Circle 23 on

Reader Service Card

Maritime Reporter/Engineering News