ARCAN was created in 1994 as an engineering and construction joint venture by the former Nova Corporation of Canada and its specialized Argentinian engineering partners. The 2000 sale of most of the international assets of TransCanada Pipelines (the parent company of Nova) led to a management takeover of ARCAN by its Argentinian managers.

During its eight-year history, ARCAN has participated in many major oil and gas processing, transportation and distribution projects in South America. ARCAN's track record is one of highly professional performance on more than one hundred infrastructure projects for the natural gas, oil, petrochemical and mining industries, all of which were managed from their Buenos Aires headquarters and offices in Santiago, Chile and Santa Cruz, Bolivia.

ARCAN is a full service engineering and construction company with the ability to provide engineering, procurement and construction services; environmental impact studies; inspection services; SCADA design and implementation; and technical audits.

ARCAN's project management experience was proven by the successful completion of the renowned projects of GasAndes, a 472 km 24-inch Gas Pipeline crossing the Andes Mountains; Gasoducto del Pacifico, which consisted of a 637 km Gas Pipeline system with diameters from 10-inch to 24-inch; Chajan, a new compression station in the Province of Cordoba; and TGM, a 477 km 24-inch Gas Pipeline from Argentina to Brazil.

The companies will be integrated under the INTEC Engineering name and plan to expand their activities in South America with the new branch to be opened in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The combined operations of the companies will be relocated to the new Buenos Aires location in the near future. The total workforce of the regional operations will be 150 employees.

We would like to welcome all ARCAN employees to the INTEC family and look forward to moving into the future together.

Using Buenos Aires and Houston as resource bases, we are also strengthening our presence in Brazil, where several onshore and offshore pipeline projects are already being engineered by our staff. We anticipate that in the near future this will evolve into a more permanent establishment in that country, with its deepwater challenges and long distance pipeline transmission needs.

When talking about growth, we shouldn't forget our UK activities where we now have about 45 staff working on two projects in the Eastern Mediterranean and our Delft office, which also supports several construction projects of our owner, the Heerema Group. A joint venture has been concluded with Petrofac in the city of Woking, to jointly pursue projects for UK based Clients and we are actively preparing for the establishment of an INTEC office there in the near future. This will allow us to better serve our UK Clients and provide a home for our UK-based staff.

With a total of 450 employees (not counting a significant contingent of contract staff), we are now a force to be reckoned with in the international engineering world. While this is exactly what we have been striving for, we should keep in mind that what got us here is a culture of flexibility, rapid response to our Clients' needs, professionalism and hard work.

The terrible events of September 11 have shocked the world and the INTEC family all over the globe have expressed their sympathy with their American colleagues. The terrorist attacks not only affect the US, but the entire global system of trade and industry that is our raison d'etre. Their impacts may be felt for many years to come and how it affects our business remains to be seen. Outrage at these acts is universal, but as the necessary actions to eradicate terrorism get underway, countries may be affected in different ways and we may not see the same degree of solidarity in all places where INTEC operates, conducts projects, or from which our staff originate. As an international company with over 25 nationalities and many cultural backgrounds, it is important that we remain sensitive to the feelings and beliefs of others. I don't need to reiterate our policy against hateful or bigoted conduct on the basis of race or creed; intolerance will not be tolerated!

In regards to the outside world, we are continuing business as before. We will gladly put up with increased security at airports and public places (as we have before), keep a keen eye out for any real threats to the safety of our people, and act accordingly. But after having taken prudent precautions, we will go on with our lives rather than seeing danger everywhere and hiding in the basement. This note was written on a transatlantic flight and the view of southern Greenland is still spectacular!

W. J. Timmermans
President

London is proving to be a very interesting combination of something "old" and something "new." There are so many differences between London and Houston that it is difficult to summarize, but here are a few:

Transportation: London is a walking city. For the first time in 35 years, Beverly and I do not own an automobile. In the city, public transportation exists and it usually works (breakdowns and tube/train worker strikes excepted). The tube system provides most in-town transportation, with "foot power" or a bus providing transportation to the tube station. "Foot power" also provides transportation to local shops and restaurants. When you're all dressed up or when time is short, the ubiquitous cab system gets you where you want to go.

Spring: As we did all that walking, we got to experience a real and protracted Spring. In Houston, Spring seems to come all-at-once. In London, blossoms began popping out around the end of February and we have leaves and Spring flowers since then. For a person from Maine, who has been in Houston since 1980, having a "real" Spring was like rediscovering an old friend.

Cultural Arts: One of the things we have always liked about Houston is the diverse and extensive cultural arts that are available, but Houston has nothing on London! My wife and I have seen Chicago, Les Miserables, Stones in His Pockets, Noises Off, The Importance of Being Ernest, The Cherry Orchard, Henry IV (Parts 1 and 2) and Hamlet. It is much easier to run out of money than it is to see everything there is to see.

The Continent: London is close to the history and culture of Europe. Paris is only a three-hour train ride from London (we've done it twice, so far). We also took a weekend trip to Holland (Delft, Leiden and Amsterdam) and drove by the INTEC office, but as we were tracing the "American Pilgrim Fathers," we didn't have time to stop.

Life in London is not perfect. There's no getting around it; London is an expensive city to live in. Most things (meals, movies, other items) may cost 50% more than in Houston. Housing is even more expensive. Most homes and offices are not air conditioned, so when it gets warm, it gets warm! On top of that, we miss home, family and friends.

We look forward to returning home when this assignment comes to its end, but until then, we intend to explore merry old England (I'll have to work too, of course).

Currently, the group is working on a wide variety of projects from conceptual riser design for the Chevron Benguela-Belize-Tomboco Project to detailed engineering for the export SCRs on the BP Mardi Gras and Shell Bonga projects. The work involves consideration of a wide range of host vessel types including fixed jacket structures, compliant towers, TLPs, semi-submersibles, FPSOs, and SPARs in water depths up to 6000 feet. In addition, Metocean criteria ranges from North Sea to Gulf of Mexico to Offshore West Africa. As a consequence, the group has undertaken design work for a wide range of riser solutions including SCRs, Lazy-Wave SCRs,

Development work has been another area of considerable activity. During the last year INTEC has funded several developments with MCS International to update and enhance the Flexcom-SD and Modes-3D programs for advanced riser analysis and design. Major upgrades included enhanced specification of vessel first and second order motions, rainflow cycle counting for time domain-based fatigue assessments, non-linear seabed models, and improvements to VIV modal analysis procedures. The VIV development work is supported by INTEC's membership in the VIVARRAY JIP, which is anticipated to provide significantly improved data later this year for VIV response of risers at high Reynolds number conditions.

On the software front, the riser group also acquired the general purpose finite element program, ABAQUS, during the year and has subsequently gained extensive experience with a wide range of detailed riser design problems including modeling complex pipe-in-pipe and general pipe-to-surface contact conditions. The group is also currently undertaking a detailed comparison of the Flexcom-3D, OrcaFlex and Riflex programs for riser global analysis simulations.

For further details please contact Dr. John Shanks, Manager Riser Engineering, at (281) 925-2298.