Industry News

The fully owned subsidiary of A.P. Møller - Maersk, Maersk Olie og Gas (Maersk Oil) is revising its strategy and will no longer pursue growth or operatorship for its business in Brazil. Because of this, Maersk Oil has divested its ownership share in the small producing field Polvo to the operator, Brazilian independent HRT O&G Exploracao e Producao de Petroleo, subject to regulatory approvals.

Velan announced the appointment of Yves Leduc as the president of the company. Leduc will report to Tom Velan, CEO and formerly president. He will be joining Velan on 26 January 2015. As part of Velan’s leadership succession planning process, a Leadership and Talent Committee of the board of directors was formed and the committee hired Egon Zehnder, an executive search firm, to help with the search for a new president.

ValvTechnologies, manufacturer of zero-leakage severe service isolation valve solutions, has expanded the company’s existing in-house welding capabilities by adding six new state-of-the-art machines dedicated to the welding process including an Arc-5 cladding machine and five Fronius cladders.

Stephen D. Pryor, president, ExxonMobil Chemical Company and vice president of Exxon Mobil Corporation, has elected to retire on 1 January 2015, after more than 44 years of service. It is anticipated that the board of directors of Exxon Mobil Corporation will appoint Neil A.

BP announced that it plans to invest over USD 200M to upgrade its purified terephthalic acid (PTA) plants at Cooper River, South Carolina and Geel, Belgium. The investments will position these assets amongst the most efficient PTA manufacturing facilities in the world.

Crane ChemPharma & Energy, a provider of highly engineered solutions for fluid handling applications worldwide, launched three new products during the 2014 Valve World Düsseldorf Conference & Expo.

Characterised by simplicity of design, low energy usage and the innovative Wedgetorque operator, Pacific Wedgeplug valves from Crane are specifically engineered to address the challenges in severe service applications.

Wood Group Mustang has appointed Harold Kraft to the newly created position of Manager, Pipeline, Canadian region.Kraft’s mandate is to manage the Calgary-based Pipeline group, a new addition to Wood Group Mustang’s Canadian operations, comprising about 70 professionals with specialised pipeline expertise.

FoundOcean and Ranger Offshore signed a strategic agreement in September, formalising the strong relationship between the two oil and gas sector specialists. Combining complementary resources and a wealth of industry expertise, the partnership will offer clients a competitive, design-to-installation solution for a range of projects.

Flowserve Corporation elected Lynn L. Elsenhans as a member of the board. With the addition of Elsenhans, the Flowserve board increases to 12 members, 11 of whom are independent. She will initially serve as a member of the board's finance committee and organisation and compensation committee.