Offshore Energy Svc. Inc. history

In 1910, using a floating pile driver, the company built a series of wooden platforms on pilings spaced out in the lake, each topped by a derrick and a generator.

Acergy S.A. was a ‘société anonyme holding’ incorporated in the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg under the Luxembourg law of August 10, 1915 on commercial companies as amended, and quoted on both the NASDAQ Global Select Market and Oslo Børs.

In 1932, the Indian Oil Co. placed what is possibly the first stand-alone platform in shallow waters off Rincon, Calif.

In 1938, in a joint venture, Pure Oil Co. and Superior Oil Co. built a 320-by 180 ft. free-standing, wooden drilling platform using steel strapping and redundant piling in deference to hurricane winds, near Creole, La.

The formal birth of the offshore industry is generally said to be the Kermac 16, universally recognized as the first “out-of-sight-of land” well, built 10 miles offshore by Brown & Root for Kerr-McGee, Phillips Petroleum and Stanolind Oil & Gas, in 1947.

As the hunt for energy offshore continued to flourish and grow, Maritime Reporter was there too, covering LeTourneau’s $2m “Portable Island” in the February 1, 1956 edition.

Gracing the cover of the June 1, 1957 edition was a “Huge Oil Drilling Barge” the Margaret which was one of the largest ever built at 300 ft. long, 200 ft. wide and 93 ft. high, capable of an operating depth of 65 ft.

Since 1976, Offshore Energy Services, Inc. (OES) has established itself as an icon within the gulf coast region of the oil and gas industry as a leading provider of tubular handling and installation services.

W&T Offshore has been an independent oil and natural gas producer active in the acquisition, exploration, and development of properties in the Gulf of Mexico since 1983.

Possible 100-Million Barrel Field.” Indeed, Kermac 16 eventually produced 1.4 million barrels of oil and 307 million cubic feet of natural gas by 1984.

1989: Superior Group is formed.

Founding the Corporation in 1991

Acergy was established through the merger of the businesses of two leading diving support services companies, Comex Services S.A. and Stolt-Nielsen Seaway A/S, which were acquired by Stolt-Nielsen S.A. ‘SNSA’ in separate transactions in 1992.

Acergy S.A. was incorporated in Luxembourg in 1993 and has been a publicly traded company since May 1993.

The reverse merger was complicated and after more than a year had passed it finally was completed in December 1995.

In July 1996 Superior completed the purchase of Baytron, Inc., paying $1.1 million in cash and 550,000 shares of stock, in a deal worth approximately $2.6 million.

Superior picked up the pace of acquisitions in 1997.

Despite difficult industry conditions, Superior improved its sales in 1998 to $91.3 million, although it suffered a net loss of $4.1 million.

But the sale would not be completed, with the parties deciding in January 1999 to terminate the merger.

In June 2000 Superior acquired HB Rentals, L.C., and its subsidiary Eagle Rentals Co., Inc., which served both the onshore and offshore oil and gas markets with onsite housing units.

On October 18, 2001, DSND announced that it was in discussions with Halliburton on combining their respective activities within subsea construction and related services.

On May 23, 2002 the two companies announced that they had completed a final agreement for the creation of the 50/50 joint venture company Subsea 7 Holding Inc. (formerly named Subsea 7 Inc.), registered in the Cayman Islands.

In 2003, despite what was considered a soft year for the energy sector in the Gulf of Mexico, Superior reported record revenues, topping $500 million, and net income grew by almost 40 percent, to $30.5 million.

On November 15, 2004 the company announced that it had entered into heads of agreement with Halliburton to acquire the Halliburton Group’s 50% share of Subsea 7 Holding Inc.

SNSA sold its equity interest in January 2005.

In 2006, the name ‘Acergy S.A.’ was adopted.

A FPS, which can be a floating semisubmersible or a drillship, places much of the production equipment on the ocean bed, pumping oil or gas into storage facilities on the platform, using dynamic positioning to stay in place. It started producing oil in late 2007.

In 2008 the decision was taken to dispose of Acergy’s Trunkline business.

On July 23, 2009 Acergy entered into a sale agreement to dispose of 19% of its ownership interest in Sonamet and Sonacergy.

The most remote and deepest is Shell’s spar Perdido, which was deployed in 2010, stands 9,600 ft., and sits in just under 8,000 ft. of water 220 miles off the Texas coast.

The company was founded on January 7, 2011 and is headquartered in London, the United Kingdom.“

Jim McCaul of IMA told attendees at the 2013 Emerging FPSO Forum conference that shale oil and gas are a threat to deep water because they could drag investment away.

(As published in the April 2014 edition of Maritime Reporter & Engineering News - http://magazines.marinelink.com/Magazines/MaritimeReporter)

Shell hopes to take drilling to the next depth level in 2016, when it plans to deploy a floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel to tap into subsea facilities 9,500 ft. below, in its ultra-deep Stones field, located in the Gulf’s largely uncharted lower tertiary region.

Once towed in 2017 to its destination off the coast of Western Australia, it will be moored in 250m deep water, where it will stay for the next 25 years, designed to produce 3.6 million tons of LNG a year as well as LPG and condensate for export.