Oilfield-service company Osca Inc. (Nasdaq: OSCA), Lafayette, La., sold 5.7 million shares of common in an initial public offering for $15.50 each, raising $87 million, gross. Osca is a 21-year-old provider of well completion fluids and services and downhole completion tools primarily in the Gulf of Mexico and in some international markets. Approximately $31 million of net proceeds will reduce debt. Lead manager was Salomon Smith Barney. Comanagers were Morgan Stanley Dean Witter and Simmons & Co. International Inc. Hydril Co., Houston, a 67-year-old oilfield manufacturing company, filed for a 7.5-million-share initial public offering that could net as much as $155 million. Salomon Smith Barney and Credit Suisse First Boston are lead underwriters, with Simmons & Co. International and Dain Rauscher Wessels as managing underwriters. Hydril was established in 1933 as a drilling and production products manufacturer and pioneered the development of blowout prevention equipment. Some 2.3 million primary common shares and 5.2 million secondary shares will be offered. Hydril will use net proceeds from the primary offering to expand its business. Some of the secondary offering will be by stockholders and institutions that have held a stake in the company for many years. Chiles Offshore LLC, Houston, registered an initial public offering of 8 million common shares for $145 million, or $18.13 per share. Upon completion of the IPO, the offshore drilling contractor will rename itself Chiles Offshore Inc. and its common stock will begin to trade on the American Stock Exchange. Credit Suisse First Boston Inc. is lead underwriter, with Salomon Smith Barney Inc., Prudential Securities Inc. and Wasserstein Perella Securities Inc. as managing underwriters. Chiles Offshore has granted the underwriters the right to sell an additional 1.2 million shares to cover any overallotments. It will use the $135 million of net proceeds ($155 million if the overallotments are exercised fully) to retire approximately $95 million of senior notes. The remaining money will fund part of the cost of expanding Chiles Offshore's premium jackup rig fleet and for other general corporate purposes. The 8 million shares will represent 49% of Chiles Offshore Inc.'s total outstanding common stock, with the remaining 51%, or 8,231,257 shares, held by existing equity-holders in Chiles Offshore LLC. It also will reduce Seacor Smit Inc.'s (NYSE: CKH) interest in Chiles Offshore to 28.1% from 55.4%. Louis Dreyfus Natural Gas Corp. (NYSE: LD), Oklahoma City, announced a 5 million-share common stock offering. It said that 3 million shares would be sold on its own behalf, while the remainder will be offered by SA Louis Dreyfus et Cie, its largest shareholder. Lehman Brothers, Salomon Smith Barney, Banc of America Securities, Dain Rauscher Wessels and Prudential Securities are underwriters. Friede Goldman Halter Inc. (NYSE: FGH), Gulfport, Miss., will sell 8.75 million common shares for $8.25 each for nearly $72.2 million of gross proceeds. RBC Dominion Securities Corp. is lead manager and Jefferies & Co. Inc. is comanager of the offering. The offshore oilfield service company expects the offering to generate $69.7 million in net proceeds. Hanover Compressor Co. (NYSE: HC), Houston, privately placed 1 million new presplit common shares for $60 million with a leading institutional investor that it did not identify. The natural gas compression services company recently split its stock 2-for-1. It will use proceeds from the private placement to pay bank debt and position the company financially for anticipated industry consolidation. Trico Marine Services Inc. (Nasdaq: TMAR) priced an offering, on a firm commitment, underwritten basis, of 4.5 million common shares at $9 per share. Johnson Rice & Co. LLC is underwriter. "This transaction will enhance our financial flexibility, as well as enhance the operating leverage Trico has to any improvement in vessel day rates and utilization," said Thomas E. Fairley, the Houston offshore oilfield service company's president. Trico plans to use the approximately $39 million in net proceeds to pay debt. Newpark Resources Inc. (NYSE: NR), Metairie, La., privately placed $30 million of a new preferred stock and warrants to purchase 1.9 million common shares with Fletcher International Ltd., an affiliate of Fletcher Asset Management Inc. of New York. The preferred stock carries a 4.5% dividend payable in cash or common stock at the company's option. It may be converted into common stock of the oilfield service company at market prices at any time, subject to certain restrictions. The warrants may be exercised at any time during a seven-year term at $10.08 per share, a 30% premium to the common stock's May 26, 2000, market price.