OilfieldServices

Oilfield services companies paid the highest price of a historic Q2 downturn, according to results from the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas quarterly survey. Respondents also indicated that they don’t expect the oilpatch downturn to be a short one. In fact, one out of six predicted US drilling and completions activity will never return to where it was before the coronavirus pandemic. The business activity index for oilfield services firms plunged to -73.5 in Q2 from -46.3 in Q1. The...

Covia filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization on June 29, the latest of several dark days for the depressed proppant sector. Hi-Crush Inc., an early mover into mining West Texas for frac sand, expects to enter bankruptcy after defaulting on its asset-based loan facility. Another frac sand provider, Vista Proppants and Logistics, entered Chapter 11 in early June (PG.9). Covia, which is based in Independence, Ohio, said it has reached a prepackaged deal that will reduce debt and...

ProPetro is looking to put its accounting mess behind it, issuing final earnings reports for 2Q19, 3Q19 and FY19 after completing an audit that led to the recent exit of its CEO. Despite all the turmoil, the Midland-based fracker managed to post its first year with $2 billion revenue and remained in the black in 2019. ProPetro also said that it saw no reason to restate 2018 or 1Q19 results. The audit committee review, which lasted about a year, found that ProPetro’s management at the...

Schlumberger expects efforts to trim down its organization and headcount will cost $1.2-1.4 billion. While noting that Q2 decline was steeper than expected, CEO Olivier Le Peuch said the reorganization is an act of looking beyond the downturn. The core of the reorganization was announced to employees in May. Schlumberger’s current system of “GeoMarkets and sub-GeoMarkets teams” will be replaced with five “basins” groups: Americas land; offshore Atlantic; Middle East and North Africa;...

Dril-Quip will rely upon Proserv Group to develop and manufacture its subsea control systems under a new supply agreement. Houston-based Dril-Quip decided earlier to consolidate the supply and development of its control systems with a dedicated subsea controls provider. Aberdeen, Scotland-based Proserv established the focused division Proserv Controls last year as part of a corporate restructuring. Dril-Quip will continue to support its existing subsea controls customers with the...

Altera Infrastructure, BW Offshore and SBM Offshore have been selected by BHP to deliver a pre-FEED study for a floating storage and offloading unit for the Trion field in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico off Mexico. Financial terms were not disclosed. “By engaging with the selected contractors now, we’re better enabled to optimize the design, and contracting and execution strategies for the FSO delivery,” BHP petroleum operations president Geraldine Slattery said. The studies were awarded...

TechnipFMC received two contracts and an LOI for pipelaying and subsea installation from Equinor for three projects in the Norwegian North Sea. The total value of the three assignments, including the option, is about NOK 1.8 billion ($190 million). The contracts cover the Breidablikk discovery and the gas import system for the Snorre expansion project. The LOI covers Askeladd Vest, a gas project in Snøhvit field. The Breidablikk contract has subsea installation as an option. The...

A quarter no one in the services sector will forget—no matter how much they want to—has come to an end. What’s left is the cleanup—brutal earnings reports, bankruptcies, depressed activity and day rates. A significant number of executives think this downturn will never be entirely over. The Dallas Fed’s quarterly energy survey found 16% believe US drilling and completions activity will never fully rebound to pre-coronavirus levels. Another 39% said it will happen in 2022 or later...

McDermott International completed the Pan Malaysia transportation and installation projects located off Miri, Malaysia, for Sarawak Shell Berhad and SapuraOMV. Awarded in November 2018, the projects included the transport and installation of jackets, topsides and pipelines for the Gorek, Larak and Bakong gas fields. McDermott’s vessel, the Derrick Barge 30, was used to install the structures and pipelines, including the longest corrosion-resistant alloy pipeline in Malaysia....

Allseas’ heavy lift vessel Pioneering Spirit completed its first decommissioning job of this summer, the single-lift removal of Shell’s Brent Alpha platform from the North Sea. Several years of planning and 15 months of offshore preparation culminated in the nine-second “fast lift” of the 17,000-tonne topsides on June 21. Pioneering Spirit will deliver the 44-year old structure to Able UK Ltd.’s Teesside decommissioning yard in England for dismantling and recycling. This summer, Pioneering...