Fewer people died in China’s often deadly mines in the first seven months of 2008 compared with the same period last year, a safety official said on Saturday, but warned that the situation remained serious. The death toll was 1,631 in the January to July period, a fall of 24 percent, spokesman for the State Administration of Work Safety, Huang Yi, told a news conference.

“Of course, coal mining is still a dangerous activity in China. The safety situation remains serious,” he said. “Although the number of accidents has dropped, there is still an effect on society.” Read more » »

Quest Minerals & Mining Corp., a Kentucky based operator of energy and mineral related properties, announced today that it has acquired additional mining equipment through a lease purchase agreement in order to manage their anticipated production demands. The equipment lease purchase included a JOY continuous minor, a JOY shuttle car, and an SNS F488 scoop. The company recently received a large purchase order for up to $8 million of coal through December 2008 from Logan & Kanawha Co., LLC., a West Virginia company.

Everett Hampton, President of the company’s contract mining group, White Star Mining, LLC., stated, “We will soon be in the production phase of our endeavor. Quest has shown a real commitment to the project by adding this extra equipment. We now have all of the essential tools needed to fulfill the company’s recent coal purchase order.”

EDS has signed a five-year, US$1 billion IT Master Services Agreement (MSA) with Royal Dutch Shell (Shell). Today’s agreement with EDS is one of three IT outsourcing agreements between Shell and three key suppliers, and is expected to deliver Shell a substantial business improvement over the five year initial term of the contract.

Under the terms of the agreement, EDS will manage Shell’s end-user computing services including desktop, service desk, on-site services, back-up and disaster recovery, mobile information protection and managed messaging services, for 150,000 users in over 100 countries across its global operations. Read more » »

Rowan Companies, Inc. has entered into contracts with Keppel AmFELS, Inc. for the construction of four Super 116E class jack-ups. The rigs will be built at AmFELS’ Brownsville, Texas shipyard, with delivery scheduled at approximately four-month intervals beginning in the second quarter of 2010. Rowan’s total cost of each rig is expected to average approximately $175 million, with more than one-third of that amount attributable to the cost value of the design, kit components and drilling equipment to be provided by the Company’s manufacturing businesses.
Read more » »

Nickel producer Inco, owned by Brazil’s Campanhia Vale do Rio Doce , expects to lift nickel output by 11.5 percent to 290,000 tonnes next year, a CVRD director said on Thursday.

Roberto Castello Branco, CVRD’s investor relations director, told reporters the firm was increasing capacity globally, which should lift nickel output from 260,000 tonnes this year.

“We expect it’ll contribute an increase in revenue,” he said on the sidelines of a mining conference in the Indonesian capital, without elaborating.
Read more » »

Smith Drilling Equipment, established solely by Smith International, Inc., was officially put into production in the Changzhou National Hi-Tech District of Jiangsu on September 29, 2007.

Smith Drilling Equipment (Changzhou) Ltd. was founded in the Changzhou National Hi-Tech District in October 2006 with a registered capital of US$8.572 million and its workshop area measures 5,931 square meters. This company is an important component of the global strategic deployment of Smith International, Inc. It will produce new oil exploration and developing instruments and equipment with the latest concepts and technology of the international oil and gas industry, and its yearly output is expected to reach 5,000 instruments/equipment in three years. The Company will not only meet the needs of the Chinese market, but is also oriented to the drilling market in the Southeast Asian region. Read more » »

Through its subsidiary Sense EDM AS in Kristiansand, TTS Marine ASA’s Drilling Equipment division has landed a contract worth approximately NOK 230m with delivery summer 2010 with Singapore-based Keppel FELS.

The contract with Keppel FELS includes delivery of a drilling equipment package and personnel for supervision during installation and commissioning in Singapore. The drilling equipment package will be installed on a KFELS N-Class Jack-Up rig built for operation in the Norwegian Sector of the North Sea.
Read more » »

Sumitomo Metal Mining Co, Japan`s second-largest copper smelter and biggest nickel producer, said first-quarter profit rose 81% as metal prices climbed.

Net income gained to 45.7 billion yen (US$386 million) in the three months ended June 30 from 25.2 billion yen a year earlier, the company said in a statement to the Tokyo Stock Exchange on Friday.

Profit growth may help the company buy more mine stakes to increase the ratio of ore it provides to its own smelters.

Economic growth in China is driving materials prices higher and processing fees are falling.

The company in April said it will double the ratio of ore it uses from its own mines to 40%.
Read more » »

Iranian construction firm Tablieh and China’s Sinohydro Corp. are among those interested in building the first stage of India’s strategic crude oil reserve, a senior oil ministry official said.

Thirteen consortia have submitted preliminary bids and will now be scrutinised before a shortlist is drawn by mid-August.

A final award to construct the 7.3 million barrel reserve at the coastal city of Visakhapatnam in southern India will be made by the end of November, the official told Reuters on Friday.

The federal government wants to build a reserve totalling 36.65 million barrels by the end of 2010 to hedge against volatility in international crude oil markets and meet domestic demand in case of short-term supply disruptions.
Read more » »

AGR Group announced that the Bredford Dolphin semi-submersible rig has spudded the first well in its AGR Group managed multi-well, multi-client programme.

The consortium have signed a three year contract for the rig following extensive upgrade work which was required in order for the rig to qualify for operating in Norwegian waters. AGR Group will manage the rig and drilling services on behalf of the seven companies operating on the Norwegian Continental Shelf (NCS). A total of 21 wells are planned to be drilled over the three year contract period for the seven companies.

Commenting on the start of the drilling programme, Geir Finsrud, Vice President of AGR Petroleum Services, Norway said :
Read more » »