Spirit Energy 76, the Lower 48 E&P unit of Unocal, plans toform the Venture 76 Alliance with five U.S. deep-water engineeringand service companies. Each alliance member will bring specificexpertise to the development of Unocal’s deep-water prospects inthe Gulf of Mexico. As opposed to strictly project-focused teams,the alliance will be directly involved in such pre-drillingactivities as field development scenario planning and screeningconcepts for handling deep-water production.

“Spirit Energy expects to be able to lower deep-water projectdevelopment costs, reduce production-cycle time and accessleading-edge technology,” said Jack Schanck, Spirit Energypresident. “I believe these kinds of venture partnerships willbecome more prevalent in the future as energy companies continue tolook for ways to minimize costs and maximize value.” Members of thealliance are Aker Maritime, Deepwater Consultant Alliance (W.H.Linder and Associates, and W.S. Nelson and Co.), FMC Corp., INTECEngineering, and J. Ray McDermott.

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