Aurora Power names Alaska vice president, forms Aurora Well Services
Aurora Power Resources announced today that the company appointed David L. Boelens as vice president Alaska operations effective March 1. Boelens will be responsible for the day-to-day operations of Aurora and its associated endeavors in Alaska.
Aurora also said it has formed Aurora Well Services LLC and is working with Wyoming-based Boelens Well Service LLC to equip a Franks 300 Series well servicing unit and associated allied equipment for use in the Cook Inlet area. Aurora said the equipment is undergoing modifications in Casper, Wyo., and will be available for transport to Alaska during the second quarter of 2002.
Boelens Well Service is owned and operated by David Boelens’ father, Floyd Boelens of Thermopolis, Wyo. The new company will be jointly owned by Aurora and Boelens Well Service.
Aurora’s president and chief operating officer, G. Scott Pfoff, said in a statement: “We are extremely pleased with Dave’s decision to join our team: He brings a wealth of diverse, oil and gas related experience to Aurora. The timing of his involvement couldn’t be better as Aurora has committed to enter the well service business. He grew up on his father’s pulling units in Wyoming and I worked with him for many years at Marathon Oil.
“Dave and I have been kicking this idea around for years. We both see the need as development activity heats up in the Cook Inlet, ” Pfoff said. “The problem has always been that despite the demand for a pulling unit of this type, no one was willing to pay the cost of bringing it to Cook Inlet on speculation that the market would be there for it. However, our advantage is that our E&P affiliate, Aurora Gas LLC, has a full summer of development work planned at Nicolai Creek which will benefit from the lower mobilization costs and greater operating efficiencies. Once Aurora’s program is complete we will set out to market the pulling unit to other operators in the Cook Inlet. The equipment will be ideally suited for situations where wells need to be worked over, but the economics aren’t justified if a full blown drilling rig must be mobilized to the location.”
BJ buys OSCA for $420 million; combination could aid Alaska business
BJ Services Co. has agreed to purchase another oilfield service company, OSCA Inc., for $420 million, adding a major supplier of completion fluids and downhole tools to its business, primarily pressure pumping services.
"It gives us the tools to grow our operations in Alaska," said J. Jay Garner, BJ’s sales manager for Alaska. "We’re going to have access to more resources and a broader spread of product services." BJ currently is working on projects in Cook Inlet and on the Kenai Peninsula, Garner said, for all the operators in that region.
OSCA, based in Lafayette, La., provides completion fluids, completion services and downhole completion tools. It has about 500 employees and has concentrated in the Gulf of Mexico.
BJ Services gets most of its revenues from pressure pumping. It also provides well stimulation, cementing, and coiled tubing.
"The combination of BJ’s pressure pumping capabilities and OSCA’s completion tool and fluids technology significantly strengthens our ability to meet the increasing demand for a 'packaged' completion services approach," said J.W. Stewart, CEO of BJ Services, in a statement announcing the purchase.
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