Rockwell Automation has announced it has purchased the assets of ESC Services, Inc., a global hazardous energy control provider of lockout-tagout services and solutions.

“ESC Services will enable Rockwell Automation customers to increase asset utilization and strengthen enterprise risk management, while adding safety to our growing portfolio of data-driven, cloud-enabled services,” said Matt Fordenwalt, Rockwell Automation consulting business manager.

ESC’s unique methodology utilizes Quick Response (QR) codes that can be scanned to obtain asset information and streamline compliance with both external regulations and internal safety policies.

“The global use of lockout-tagout is expanding among multi-national corporations, and represents a great growth opportunity,” said Kelly Michalscheck, president, ESC Services. “This acquisition enables us to extend ESC Services lockout-tagout procedures and ScanESC solutions to tens of thousands of additional OEM machines, delivering more value and unique offerings to Rockwell Automation’s extensive global channels.”

ESC Services, based in Franklin, Wis., will be integrated into Rockwell Automation’s Control Products & Solutions segment as part of its customer support and maintenance business unit. Terms were not disclosed.

KBR has announced today that the KD Consortium, consisting of KBR and Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering Company, Ltd (KSE: DSME), has been awarded a front end engineering design (FEED) contract by Eni East Africa SpA for a floating liquefied natural gas (FLNG) facility for the Coral South Development Project located in Mozambique.

With the award, the KD consortium will be one of three consortia competing for the engineering, procurement, construction, installation and commissioning (EPCIC) contract to build the new floating LNG facility for Eni East Africa and its partners to develop the hydrocarbon discovery in the Rovuma Basin in Mozambique.

Only one consortium will be chosen to take the project to the EPCIC phase. Three important milestones of this combined FEED-EPCIC competition are:

- FEED activities started in May 2014.

- FEED completion date is set to be end of April 2015.

- EPCIC offer submission is foreseen by end of May 2015.

“Developing a cost-effective solution for the first FLNG vessel in Mozambique was the rationale for developing the KD consortium,” said Stuart Bradie, KBR President and CEO. “The consortium allows us to leverage the strength of both companies to provide the client the best choice for the EPCIC portion of the project.”

The KD Consortium will provide the FEED for the Topsides, Hull and Subsea for the Floating LNG facility. The Topsides and Turret are being designed in KBR’s Leatherhead office while the hull and marine system are being engineered in DSME’s facility in Seoul, South Korea.

The FLNG facility will be a turret moored double-hull floating vessel, on which gas receiving, processing, liquefaction, and offloading facilities will be mounted together with LNG and condensate storage.

Eni’s Coral South Development Project is located in the deep waters of the Rovuma Basin, which straddles Mozambique’s Northern border with Tanzania. Coral South is situated approximately 150 miles northeast of Pemba and 30 miles from the Mozambique coast.

Expected revenue from the contract will be included in the third quarter 2014 backlog of unfilled orders for the Hydrocarbons segment. The contract value was not disclosed.

KBR has announced today it has been awarded a three-year master services agreement (MSA) with Statoil Petroleum AS (Statoil) to provide engineering and procurement services for Statoil on a global scale. This agreement builds upon a long-term relationship between KBR and Statoil and provides Statoil access to KBR’s engineering expertise and capacity for their upcoming international field developments.

“We are very excited as this is a great opportunity to provide value-added support services to Statoil’s projects globally,” said Stuart Bradie, KBR President and CEO. “This award highlights Statoil’s confidence in KBR’s capabilities to deliver in multiple engineering discipline areas across a variety of projects.”

Additionally, the MSA will allow KBR to competitively bid on global services relating to concept studies, front end engineering design (FEED), detailed engineering and procurement services and general management assistance (EPCM) in connection with Statoil projects, both onshore and offshore. The MSA has an option to renew every three years for a total of 12 years.  Revenue will be booked to the Hydrocarbons business segment as work orders are awarded against the MSA.

Schneider Electric, the global specialist in energy management, has entered into an alliance with Applied Engineering Solutions, Inc. (aeSolutions), a recognized specialist in process safety consulting and engineering. The new agreement extends the capabilities of both companies to provide industry-leading process safety solutions to the global customer base.

“Safety needs to evolve beyond the mostly reactive process it has been to date,” said Michael Chmilewski, vice president, control and safety, Schneider Electric. “The process industries need to be much more proactive with safety when it comes to driving operational integrity throughout their plants. That is the key to confidently avoiding incidents, and the costs that result.”

By combining the core competencies of each company—Schneider Electric’s Triconex® safety instrumented systems and global delivery resources and aeSolutions’ process safety engineering services and safety lifecycle software, aeShield™ and aeFacilitator™—the alliance delivers solutions and expertise to help users provide safe, continuous operations for the life of their plants and strive to achieve operational excellence anywhere in the world. Customers will benefit by having an automated infrastructure that can close the loop on the safety lifecycle; from risk assessments and compliance audits; to comprehensive design; with rigorous monitoring and management of operational safety integrity.

“aeSolutions welcomes the opportunity to apply our unique software, services and automation expertise to provide customers with the most comprehensive process safety lifecycle solution in the market today,” added Kathy Shell, chief executive officer of aeSolutions. “In concert with the power and global capabilities of Schneider Electric’s industry-leading Triconex safety systems, this alliance assures our customers that their assets—their people, plant and environment—are safe, with visibility into all aspects of their operations and maintenance for empowered decision making.”