INTEC HEAD OFFICE EXPANSION
Just two years after moving into the 9th floor (19,000 sq. ft.) of Intercontinental Center, INTEC has added the 8th floor (23,000 sq. ft.). In between, we added 7,000 sq. ft. on the 7th floor. This makes us the building's largest tenant. What is more important, this allows INTEC to provide a complete range of services under one roof in contiguous office space, to all of our clients, alliance and joint venture partners, including having ample conference room facilities and client representative offices, when needed. It truly is one-stop shopping for discriminating buyers of quality offshore engineering and construction management services. However, our goal is not to be the biggest at what we do; just the best! |  Intercontinental Center, 15600 JFK Boulevard | |||||||||||||
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DRILLING IS UNDERWAY ON EAST BOOMVANG DEVELOPMENT
Things are happening on the Reading & Bates/East Boomvang project. The Reading & Bates rig, M. G. Hulme, is currently drilling a well in East Breaks Block 688. The well was spudded on January 12, 1997, and is expected to reach target depth around the end of February. Meanwhile, INTEC, in close cooperation with the TOPS preferred vendors, is performing conceptual design and project definition, due for completion by mid March. The INTEC team consists of Phil German (Project Manager), Paul Miller (Project Engineer), Gurminder Manku, Majid Al-Sharif, Paul Martyniak, Bill Auer and others providing part-time assistance. The team is currently located at Reading & Bates headquarters, but is slated to return to the INTEC fold at completion of conceptual design (please note those of you who thought you were rid of us!). The Boomvang project is a three-well development in 3,800 ft. water depth located in East Breaks, almost due south of Houston, about 40 miles from the host shallow water platform and will be developed on a turnkey basis by TOPS (Total Offshore Production Systems), a joint venture of Reading & Bates and INTEC. | ||||||||||||||
| SUBSEA SYSTEM ENGINEERING UPDATE | ||||||||||||||
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 As with all other facts of the offshore oil business, the quantity of funded subsea engineering activities at INTEC Engineering has been escalating steadily since early last year. Even with the addition of subsea staff gathered from around the world, idle moments rarely occur within the busy halls and offices of subsea engineers at INTEC. In this environment, even the receptionist commands a major responsibility as the chief scheduler for four large conference rooms which are usually booked several days in advance.
Below, are examples of subsea project activities either currently in progress, or recently completed by the INTEC Subsea Engineering Group.
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INTEC Subsea Engineers are currently assisting several large engineering firms with the development of EPIC proposals for both shallow and deepwater field developments due to begin in the near future in the Gulf of Mexico and Overseas.
INTEC continues with its subsea technical support for the DeepStar Project.
Subsea system engineering involving generating functional specifications, contract strategies, evaluating vendors, project interface coordination, and detailed flowline design and implementation is provided to the TOPS-related subsea field development projects including the East Boomvang, Ruby and Knight projects.
INTEC is providing subsea technical support to Texaco for several deepwater Gulf of Mexico and Overseas field developments. INTEC is providing subsea technical support for Shell Offshore, Inc., Deepwater Gulf of Mexico Developments including technical coordination for the Shell Mensa Project, which will produce gas in 5,400 feet of water and deliver it to a host platform 63 miles away, representing significant technological advancements in linking ultra deepwater fields to existing production infrastructure on the Gulf of Mexico Shelf. | ||||||||||||
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| ARCTIC PIPELINE UPDATE
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| Northstar Development Project
BP Exploration (Alaska) Inc., BPXA, is developing the Northstar oil field through an Alliance agreement with a group of nine engineering and construction firms. INTEC Engineering is responsible for the engineering on this first offshore Arctic oil production pipeline and the overland pipeline segments leading to Trans Alaska Pipeline System Pump Station 1. The project has advanced into the detailed design and materials procurement phase, with pipe delivery scheduled in Alaska June 1997. Offshore linepipe and welding specifications for the six miles of twin 10-inch lines are based on limit state criteria to resist the effects of sea ice gouging the seabed and potential permafrost thaw subsidence. Overland sections of the oil export and gas import lines are being designed as "fit for purpose" and satisfy the field development marginal economics. |
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Simply stated, the team INTEC has assembled to meet the technical and permitting challenges on this fast-track, frontier project is impressive when you consider it is just a short, twin 10-inch pipeline in 37 ft. of water!
Liberty Prospect Conceptual Engineering In February, BPXA spudded an additional appraisal well on the Liberty Prospect, drilling from the existing Tern Island. INTEC Engineering has initiated the conceptual design of the pipeline(s) and is assisting with critical, long-lead-time permit applications. Potential offshore pipeline routes are approximately the same length as Northstar, but may have their own unique design challenges. Preliminary geotechnical survey work is scheduled for February 1997 and the project schedule is proposed to follow one year behind the Northstar Project. | ||||||||||||
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The oil industry has its own lore and myths, some of which are reflected in the names assigned to offshore oil and gas fields. This led us to a bit of research into Greek mythology, the apparent source of some of this name calling, and has revealed a level of intrigue and conspiracy that would make for another Dallas series.
In Australia, for example, we are working on the Gorgon project. Gorgons happen to be children of Ceto and Phorcys (a wise old man of the sea), and one of these Gorgons was Medusa (another offshore field in Australia). Medusa was the one with the bad hair; she was once very beautiful, but one night she slept with Poseidon in a temple of Athena who became quite irate, and as punishment changed Medusa into a winged monster whose gaze turned men into stone (a trait still found among the less enlightened class of oil industry executives). Then came this guy Perseus (you will not be surprised to find that this is also a gas field off Australia). Perseus was born of Danae after she was visited (!) by Zeus despite her being locked up in a dungeon to keep her away from her uncle Proteus (I warned you, this is better than soap). If Proteus is not yet an oil field name, it will be pretty soon. The result of Zeus' visit was not appreciated, so Danae and Perseus were put in a wooden ark and cast into the seas, thus constituting the first floating production system! Anyway, Perseus one day encounters Medusa, makes sure he looks away so he is not turned into stone, takes his sword, decapitates Medusa, and out jumps Pegasus. Now here the plot thickens, since everyone knows that Pegasus stands for Mobil Oil (which explains their recent acquisition of Ampolex in Australia). Then after Pegasus has jumped out of Medusa, Chrysaor comes next, carrying a falchion. You will not be surprised to hear that Chrysaor is a gas field offshore Australia. Chrysaor somehow ends up becoming king of Spain, and is eventually killed by Hercules who is found rustling Chrysaor's cattle. You will know who Hercules is from the popular TV series, and the older among you may recall Steve Reeves' rendition. |
We have also been involved with an oil field of Texaco's called Dionysus. It so happens that he was also a son of Zeus, who this time had slept with Demeter, goddess of corn. Recently we worked for Exxon on a field called Diana, who is also known as Artemis. Now Artemis was another of Zeus' children, but this time with Leto, whom he surprised by changing her and himself into quails (I wonder how this will be handled in the upcoming TV series).
It is obvious that Zeus had much to do with the creation of the oil industry. He was a son of Cronos, who had the nasty habit of eating each child that he fathered, but Zeus was hidden away in time. Clearly, the oil business was pretty unruly in the early days, and father Zeus slept around a lot, which may explain why the major oil companies are called the seven sisters.
Very early on, there was this god Uranus who was married to Mother Earth and had many children, one of whom was the child-abusing Cronos. One day Uranus got mad at his other sons, the Cyclopes, and threw them into Tartarus. Now Tartarus is deep! It is as far from the earth as the earth is from the sky; in fact, it would take a falling anvil (or BOP stack) nine days to reach the bottom, which definitely makes it a deepwater frontier area. Now, his sons one day took revenge on Uranus, and castrated him, throwing his genitals into the sea. This might barely make the 10 o'clock news, but it happened that, from the sea foam that formed around these private parts, rose Aphrodite, riding a scallop Shell (!) as recorded by Botticelli.
In the North Sea it seems that Germanic rather than Greek mythology has determined much of the naming of oil and gas fields. We are checking into this further, and may report on it another time. Meanwhile, wait for the motion picture!
W. J. Timmermans | |||||||||||||
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| PIPELINE UPDATE
The last quarter saw the INTEC pipeliners getting busier, with more emphasis on global activity—two projects in water depths of 1,000 to 2,000 m in Australia and Russia, an 850 km long, 36-inch OD pipeline in Southwest Asia, route surveys of a 500 km pipeline in the Philippines; and a second project in Alaska - being the five biggest new ones. INTEC is also carrying out Limit State Design of pipelines for DeepStar, Mobil, Enron and Esso, and has been appointed to advise API on changes to the RP1111 code. With more major prospects on the horizon, we are eagerly looking forward to a busy and successful 1997.
FSO AND FPSO UPDATE
In order to effectively respond to the ever-increasing issues related to flow assurance and operability, particularly in regard to the development of deepwater fields, INTEC has formalized this effort into the Flow Assurance and Operability (FA&O) Group under manager Tom Choate. |
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This group will operate independently from the other disciplines, such as Pipeline and Subsea, but will supply their specialized services to them and to our overseas/regional offices in Kuala Lumpur and Delft, as needed.
Recent additions to the FA&O Group, Jack Lu with thirteen years related experience and Richard Chaney with close to twenty years experience in facilities and process engineering, will greatly enhance INTEC's capabilities in this area.
INTEC BV UPDATE
The Delft office of INTEC Engineering is rapidly approaching its first anniversary. On April 1st, 1996, there was just empty space, with the first provisional telephone line coming a few days later, and now we are again going through the process of wiring and messing up the place. This time, the computer network is being installed so that, shortly, Delft and Houston can communicate over our own network.
It is too early yet to judge the first year, but results so far in terms of projects are rewarding. Studies from Enterprise Oil and Norske Shell were performed with mainly Houston staff. Early January, Gene Mullee transferred to Holland and, although he only spent two weeks in the office before going on a survey mission near the Philippines, his coming was a welcome extension to the small group at the Poortweg 14. It also seemed to signal an invasion. Jerry Collins has already been around on a project for Bluewater and came back after the Christmas Season. Mid January, Roger Purchase flew into Holland to do preparatory work for a pipeline feasibility study for which a Dutch company has engaged INTEC. The first week of February, our crew in Holland more than quadrupled while one new staff member - Koos Jans - joined Delft. More engineers are scheduled to join us soon from both Holland and the UK. If we are successful in the anticipated projects, they will be more than needed. Our location in Delft works as hoped: several of INTEC's clients have expressed that they find it easy to communicate within their regular office hours. We will, therefore, continue at the Poortweg office after the first "experimental" year, and we even have plans to expand as our updated workload forecast indicates the need as we approach our second year in operation.
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| CONGRATULATIONS
The following employees were recently promoted to new positions. We appreciate their hard work and congratulate them on their success:
INTEC'S FEATURED EMPLOYEE
A new article added to our Quarterly Newsletter is "Featured Employee." This will give all of our readers the opportunity to not only put a face with the name, but to see what makes up the INTEC staff beyond the technical aspects.
Chosen for our first feature is Alvin Alleyne. The following have nothing to so with the fact that Alvin was chosen to be the first featured employee:
Alvin has a career dating back 32 years in which he has gained extensive experience in the international oil and gas industry. He has worked as Project Manager or Engineer in the areas of structural, marine, construction and subsea engineering. Alvin joined INTEC in October 1992. Alvin's original homeland was Trinidad. He first came to Houston in 1976, then worked on numerous international assignments before settling in with INTEC. |
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Alvin and his wife, Anne, have two sons; Darren, who is studying Criminal Justice, and, Wayne, an 8th grader in high school.
A Registered Professional Engineer in Texas, Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering, Master of Business Administration, one of INTEC's elite engineers and top project managers, Alvin is one good reason why INTEC is able to stay ahead of its competition.
IN MEMORIAM Ammar Bellazoug, formerly Sonatrach's Chief Pipeline Engineer and Project Manager for the first pipeline crossing of the Mediterranean, has been closely associated with INTEC Principals, particularly Jim Gillespie, since that time. We are aware that a number of readers know the Bellazougs and that they lost their daughter, Myriam, in the TWA 800 crash last year.
This is to inform those friends and associates who might not yet know that The Myriam Bellazoug Memorial Fund has been established at Yale University to provide a public lecture series and symposia on current issues and developments in the discipline of architecture. Interested parties should contact:
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| NEW AWARDS THIS PAST QUARTER INCLUDE: | ||||||||||||||
 For Chevron Petroleum Technology Co., Basic Subsea Flow System Design for three different development options
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ForConoco NG&GP, Sterling Gas Plant PHA Audit
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Alvin Alleyne - Senior Project Manager