June 16, 2009

Hibernia South Gets The Green Light

The province of Newfoundland and Labrador will pay $30-million for a 10-per-cent stake in the Hibernia South extension as part of the deal to proceed with the development of the long-stalled project, Premier Danny Williams announced Tuesday.
Mr. Williams – who has launched the province's own oil and gas company – announced the deal with the Hibernia consortium, led ExxonMobil Corp., in a speech to the province's offshore oil industry association.

He said the development of Hibernia South will ensure the country's first offshore oil field will continue to produce robust volumes of oil into the future.  “Our government is pleased to join to co-venturers in taking our first oil field to the next level,” Mr. Williams said in a statement. “I want to thank them for their commitment to our industry and our province.”

The province expects to reap some $10-billion in revenues from the Hibernia project in direct and indirect taxes. That's on top of the additional $13-billion in revenues it expects to receive from the main Hibernia project.

Hibernia has so far produced 670 million barrels of oil and is estimated to have contained roughly 1.2 billion barrels. The south field is estimated to contain an added 220 million barrels.

In January, 2007, Mr. Williams' government rejected a development plan that had been approved by the federal-provincial regulatory board in 2006. The government wanted a more robust development, and was planning a whole new approach to offshore oil development in which the province would take a direct equity stake.

Last August, Newfoundland and Labrador finalized a deal to spend $110-million for a 4.9-per-cent stake in the Exxon-led Hebron project, which is estimated to contain 700 million barrels of oil.

The partners in Hibernia are Exxon (33 per cent), Chevron Corp (27 per cent), Petro-Canada (20 per cent), the federal government (8.5 per cent), Murphy Oil (6.5 per cent), and StatoilHydro (5 per cent.) Paul Barnes, St. John's-based vice-president of the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers, said the province is humming with activity, despite a slump in oil prices over the past year.

He said the Hebron engineering team has launched its work, while there has been some promising exploration activity in the offshore, including a significant find by StatoilHydro.

© The Globe and Mail
 

May 25,2009

FLUOR Awarded Engineering, Procurement, and Construction Management Contract

FLUOR has been awarded the EPCM Contract and is responsible for all execution phase engineering, project management, procurement and construction management services required to successfully construct the Vale Inco Long Harbour Processing Plant.

Source: Vale Inco

May 14, 2009

SNC Lavalin Acquires Spectrol Energy Services

SNC-LAVALIN ACQUIRES SPECTROL ENERGY SERVICES INC.

SNC-Lavalin is pleased to announce that it has acquired the engineering and technical services firm Spectrol Energy Services Inc. of St. John’s Newfoundland and Labrador.

Spectrol has approximately 75 employees with expertise that includes inspection, quality, asset integrity, maintenance and reliability engineering for the oil and gas industry and other natural resource sectors.

“We are pleased to welcome Spectrol to the SNC-Lavalin team,” said Jean Beaudoin, Executive Vice-President, SNC-Lavalin Group Inc. in charge of its global chemicals and petroleum operations. “This acquisition complements and enhances our existing resources in St John’s. SNC-Lavalin now has over 200 engineering staff permanently there, and hence we are well positioned locally to execute significant portions of engineering, procurement, construction (EPC) projects.”

“This is a great day for Spectrol and its employees,” said Bill Fanning, President and COO. “Being part of the SNC-Lavalin team will enable Spectrol to continue to grow and deliver value-added services to its clients in Newfoundland and Labrador, regionally, nationally and internationally.”

SNC-Lavalin (TSX:SNC) is one of the leading engineering and construction groups in the world and a major player in the ownership of infrastructure, and in the provision of operations and maintenance services. SNC-Lavalin has offices across Canada and in over 35 other countries around the world, and is currently working in some 100 countries.

Source: SNC-Lavalin