Services/Suppliers

Tulsa, Okla., has named John Gass vice president of corporate business development.

Gass will be responsible for identifying and developing new business opportunities for Parker Drilling, including joint ventures, rig purchases, strategic alliances and acquisitions. When the opportunities are identified, Gass will be intimately involved in finalizing, coordinating, and implementing any such opportunities. Gass will report to James J. Davis, senior vice president and chief financial officer.

Most recently Gass served as vice president of international marketing with responsibility for marketing and contracts for international operations. Since joining the company in 1977, he has served in various management positions in Parker's international divisions of Brazil, Somalia, Singapore, Kenya, and South Africa. In 1985, he became the division manager for Africa and the Middle East. In 1987, he directed the company's mining operations in South Africa. In 1989, he was promoted to international contracts manager and in 1996 was promoted to vice president and general manager of the frontier area operations with responsibility for operations in the former Soviet Union, China, Africa, the Middle East, and new areas.

Parker is an energy company specializing in barge and offshore drilling and workover services, international land drilling, and specialized oil tool rentals.

Nickles Industrial Manufacturing Corp.

has acquired Compressor Pump and Engine Machine from Paradigm Services LLC., CP&E, Casper, Wyo., is a diversified service company for the natural gas compression, refining, power generation, and mining industries. CP&E operations include a 40,000 square foot machine shop, service center and warehouse in Casper, field service operations nationwide, and the leasing of field compressor units for gas gathering applications. CP&E was founded in 1975, purchased in 1996 by KN Energy Inc., and subsequently purchased by Paradigm in 1999 as part of a group of companies divested by Kinder Morgan (former KN Energy Inc.).

The company had its beginnings in 1918 as an automotive repair shop founded by C.A. Nickles. Today, Nickles Industrial is comprised of the former Nickles Machine Corp., Panhandle Industrial Co., Gray County Machine Co., Kansas Cylinder Head Co., D-Mec Compression Services, and now CP&E to be the largest independent aftermarket power parts producer for large stationary natural gas compressors. Nickles Industrial sells worldwide with products and services including new parts, repair services, field maintenance, used equipment sales, engineering services, and a distribution system covering 46 states.

Global Marine Inc.,

Houston, Tex., has named Thomas J. Morrow president of Challenger Minerals Inc. (CMI), the oil and gas subsidiary of Global Marine. Since 1997 Morrow has served as vice president and general manager of CMI.

Morrow joined the company in 1990 as director of domestic sales for Applied Drilling Technology Inc. (ADTI), another Global Marine subsidiary which provides drilling management services and operates primarily in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico. Before joining Global Marine, he worked for Amoco Production Co. and TXO Production Corp. as land manager.

Global Marine is an offshore drilling contractor with an active fleet of 32 mobile rigs worldwide plus one ultra-deepwater drillship under construction. In addition, the company is a provider of offshore drilling management services.

Aker Maritime

has named Knut Borgen managing director of Aker Maritime Pty Ltd and country manager for Australia. Based in Perth, he will be responsible for Aker Maritime's further business development activities in the Australasian markets.

Borgen has 20 years experience from various positions in Aker Maritime, his latest assignment being in charge of international business development in Aker Maritime UK. In his new position Borgen will report to Houston based Aker Maritime Inc.

As part of a three-party consortium, Aker Maritime was in late 1999 awarded the detail engineering of Phillips Petroleum's Bayu-Undan development project in Australia. In February this year Aker Marine Contractors AS and its local partner Clough Engineering Pty Ltd signed a letter of intent with Phillips to perform marine operations on the same project.

Aker Maritime has five majority or wholly owned companies operating in Australia. Aker Oil & Gas Pty Ltd and Genesis Oil & Gas Consultants Pty Ltd offers consultancy and engineering services. Their clients include Woodside and Phillips Petroleum. Aker Unirig Pty Ltd provides services to the marine and offshore industry, including pre-set moorings and design, manufacturing and certification of lifting and mooring equipment. Aker Shore Base Pty Ltd, located in Darwin and jointly owned with a local company, operates a supply base. Catco Pty Ltd provides services and equipment to the oil companies' downhole operations.

Cambridge Energy Research Associates,

Cambridge, Mass., has named Serena E. Leiser, CMM, associate director of global events, responsible for managing over 100 CERA-hosted conferences for energy executives in more than a dozen countries annually. Leiser previously was meetings director for the American Association of Orthodontists, conference services director at College of the Holy Cross, senior corporate meeting planner at Data General Corp. and national accounts manager for Westin Hotels & Resorts.

Cambridge Energy Research Associates organizes and hosts about 100 energy executive conferences and events each year, focused on energy markets, geopolitics, industry trends and strategy.

CERA's conferences address topics in all major energy sectors - oil, refined products, natural gas, and electric power - on a regional and global basis.

The Petroleum Equipment Suppliers Association,

Best

Houston, Tex., has announced the election of officers for the 2000-2001 term: Rhys J. Best (Lone Star Technologies, Inc.), chairman; Loren K. Carroll (M-I L.L.C.), vice chairman; Sheldon R. Erikson (Cooper Cameron Corp.), first vice president; Christopher T. Seaver (Hydril Co.), treasurer, and J. Wayne Richards, (Schlumberger Oilfield Services), secretary.

Best is chairman, president and chief executive officer of Lone Star Technologies, Inc. (Lone Star), a holding company whose principal operating subsidiaries manufacture and market oilfield casing, tubing and line pipe, specialty tubing products including finned tubes used in a variety of heat recovery applications, and flat rolled steel and other tubular products and services. Best was president and chief executive officer of Lone Star Steel Co. from 1989 until he was promoted to president and chief operating officer of Lone Star in 1997. He became the chairman and chief executive officer January 1999.

Carroll is president and chief executive officer of M-I L.L.C., a drilling fluid and equipment supplier. He is also executive vice president and a director of Smith International, Inc. He has been associated with the oil service industry for the past 23 years. Prior to joining Smith in 1984, he was managing partner of the Tucson, Arizona, office of Arthur Andersen and Co. He was also president of Geneva Business Services and a director of the Geneva Companies, an investment banking firm.

Erikson has been chairman of the board of Cooper Cameron Corp. since 1996, and president and chief executive officer since 1995. Cooper Cameron Corp. is an international manufacturer of oil and gas pressure control equipment, including valves, wellheads, chokes, blowout preventers and assembled systems for oil and gas drilling, production and transmission used in onshore, offshore and subsea applications. Cooper Cameron is also a manufacturer of integral and separable reciprocating engines and compressors, turbochargers and air compressors.

He was chairman from 1988 to 1995 and president and chief executive officer from 1987 to April 1995 of The Western Co. of North America, a worldwide petroleum service company engaged in pressure pumping, well stimulating and cementing and offshore drilling. Previously, he was president of Joy Petroleum Equipment Group of Joy Manufacturing Co. Prior to joining Joy, he served as president of the Oilfield Services Group of NL Industries, Inc., as well as executive vice president and chief operating officer of Digicon, Inc., group vice president of the Plastic and Chemicals Group of Hoover Universal Corp. and general manager of the Mining Products Department of General Electric Co.

Seaver

Seaver is president and chief executive officer of Hydril Co. He joined the company in 1985 with responsibility for Hydril's tubular products international sales administration. Over the next six years, the responsibility for Hydril's tubular business in Mexico and the US were added and, subsequently, all of Hydril's tubular products activities worldwide. From 1991 to 1993, he served as executive vice president of Hydril in charge of both its tubular and pressure control businesses. In mid-1993, he became president of Hydril.

Prior to joining Hydril, Seaver was a corporate and securities lawyer for five years with the law firm of Paul, Hastings, Janofsky & Walker in Los Angeles, Calif.

Richards

Richards was hired by Schlumberger Well Services in 1981 as an open-hole logging engineer based in Midland, Tex. After three years, he transferred to Midland Cased Hole as a completions engineer. His subsequent duties in technical and sales led to being assigned as district manager - Wireline in Monahans, Tex., in 1986.

After 21/2 years in Monahans, he transferred to Casper, Wyo., as district manager of Northern Wyoming - Wireline & Testing which included Casper, Cody and Gillette operations. The stay in Casper lasted one year before he was promoted to Wireline & Testing sales manager -Rocky Mountains and relocated to Denver, Colo.

After 31/2 years in Denver, he transferred to Sugar Land, Tex., as field personnel manager handling part of the U.S. and Canada. He was named director of personnel for North America Wireline Operations approximately six months later. After a 11/2-year tour in personnel, he was transferred back to Midland, Tex., and promoted to division manager - Wireline & Testing with responsibility for the state of Texas. When the company reorganized into the Area and GeoMarket structure in early 1998, he was promoted to vice-president, West & Alaska Geomarket and transferred back to Denver, Colorado.

In early 1999, he was transferred to Sugar Land, Tex., and was promoted to vice president/ general manager of U.S. Land Geomarket with responsibility for the Schlumberger Oilfield Companies in the US.

The other members of the 2000-2001 Petroleum Equipment Suppliers Association Executive Committee are: L. Craig Ketchum (Red Man Pipe & Supply Co.), chairman of the Eastern North-Mid Continent District; Galen Cobb (Halliburton Energy Services) chairman of the Gulf Coast/Louisiana District; George I. Boyadjieff (Varco International, Inc.) chairman of the Gulf Coast/Texas District, and Howard Hughes (Oil States Industries, Inc.) chairman of the Southern Mid-Continent District.