The subsea gas compression system for Norway's Ormen Lange subsea compression pilot is about to start a six-month endurance test which will last until June 2012, Aker Solutions project director Øystein Haukvik revealed last month at the opening of his company's new engineering office in west London…
Despite a brief interruption post-Macondo, the rig newbuilding boom that started in 2005 is gathering momentum. Jennifer Pallanich talks to IHS about the latest trends in the drilling contractor market.One of the trends that Tom Kellock, Houston's head of consulting for IHS Petrodata…
Andrew McBarnet says it makes sense for the oil and gas E&P business to provide more independently researched evidence documenting best environmental practice in its operations. A recent fragment in the oil industry news cycle noted that electromagnetic…
Total's UK North Sea Islay tieback, a gas condensate field with challenging flow assurance issues for the management of hydrates, is being used as a pilot for what is being hailed as the world's first electrically trace heated pipe-in-pipe system…
Harnessing and transporting multiphase products from often high temperature/high pressure well environments to the processing plant presents many a technological challenge. Tata Steel’s Derek Bish discusses one of them: how to construct and efficiently insulate pipe-in-pipe bends…
The offshore oil & gas industry has long relied on sensors and sporadic ROV footage to find out what's going on subsea. Now a new tool designed for permanent deployment at well sites is about to change all that, according to Weatherford's Ole Tom Furu…
Siemens last month increased its stake in UK tidal energy company Marine Current Turbines to 45%, with Michael Axmann, CFO of Siemens Energy's newly established solar & hydro division, declaring: ‘We will actively shape the commercialization process of innovative marine current power plants…
A growing belief that the ‘bow wave' of the long-awaited North Sea decommissioning market has now reached the industry was evident at last month's sell-out Offshore Decommissioning Conference† in Dunblane, Scotland. Meg Chesshyre reports.A plea…
With a number of new vessels in the works and others just starting to make their presence felt in the market, Jumbo Offshore's recent announcement that it will build a new-generation K-Class heavylift vessel suggests there's still plenty of competitive juice in the offshore installation…
As gas wells mature and the produced gas becomes less able to carry water from the well, a decline in flow rate and production to rates below the anticipated decline curve often results. Bert Lugtmeier and Kees Veeken from Dutch operator NAM…
North Sea independent Ithaca Energy will use Petrofac's FPF-1 semi – the former AH-001 deployed by Hess on Ivanhoe/Rob Roy – as a production hub to develop the Greater Stella Area (GSA ) fields, Stella, Harrier, Hurricane and Helios. Jennifer Pallanich reports…
An innovative installation approach was adopted this summer for a Dutch riser access tower constructed under Shell's SWEEP gas accumulation development programme. David Morgan reports.The 800t riser access tower (RAT) was fabricated by Mercon…
Siri field operator Dong Energy is now forging ahead with a DK r2 billion ($384 million) permanent repair programme that virtually constitutes a redevelopment of the Danish North Sea field in 60m of water. Meg Chesshyretalks to Dong's executive vice president E&P Søren Gath Hansen…
Statoil’s two UKCS heavy oil developments – Mariner in block 9/11a and Bressay in blocks 3/27b, 3/28a, 3/28b, 9/2a and 3/a – are back on track having been halted by the operator in March following the UK Chancellor’s decision to increase the…
The big news coming out of Europe is that it is running out of money, but is Europe also running out of gas? Infield Systems' Peter Kiernan(left) and Dr Roger Knight discuss the future of Europe's gas supply in the light of the growing need to secure energy from Russia and the Middle East…