Specialist back-deck equipment provider Maritime Developments has won contracts worth about £7 million and broadened its product portfolio. The company, which supports subsea industry operations worldwide, has secured the first order…
Lundin Petroleum has started drilling exploration well 26/10-1 on the Zulu prospect in production license (PL) 674BS, 100km west of Stavanger in the North Sea. Zulu is about 30 km northeast of the Johan Sverdrup discovery. The main objective…
Norway's Ministry of Petroleum has welcomed interest in its latest Awards in Pre-defined Areas licensing round, despite the expection that future discoveries in the area will be smaller than in the past. Stakes in some 54 new production…
Claxton is extending its large surface riser inventory to meet operators’ needs as more heavy-duty jackup rigs enter the North Sea. The company is adding new joints in the size and pressure required to interface with the blowout preventer (BOP) stacks on the new rigs…
Det norske is planning a US$238 million development for the Viper-Kobra fields near Alvheim in production license (PL) 203, in the central North Sea, off Norway. Map of Alvheim field. From Det norske…
High costs and weaker oil prices could drive cost cuts, which, while leading to a short-term drop in activity, would strengthen Norway's petroleum industry over the long-term, according to the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate (NPD). The…
Noreco has reduced its ownership in license 9/95 on the Danish continental shelf from 20.1% to 16% by transferring the balance to Nordsøfonden, the Danish State’s oil and gas company. Drilling of the exploration well 9/95 Xana started…
An urgent report to address major concerns about the health of the North Sea oil industry amid the plummeting oil price has been commissioned by the UK Government. The UK Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, Rt Hon Edward Davey MP (pictured)…
Deloitte’s Petroleum Services Group’s latest North West Europe Review has revealed a drop in drilling, deals and new field start-ups in 2014. Deloitte says the drop in drilling was consistent with expectations, given recent trends and market conditions…
Total has started gas and condensate production from the high-pressure, high-temperature (HPHT) West Franklin Phase 2 project in the Central Graben area of the UK North Sea. The project, tapping 85 MMboe, will supply 40,000 boe/d to the…
Italy's Edison is to acquire Apache Beryl I's assets in license P185 Block 15/22 in the UK Central North Sea, including non-operated stakes in the Scott (10.5%) and Telford (15.7%) fields. This deal, which is subject to customary closing conditions…
Harland and Wolff (H&W) have won a contract award for dry docking and renewal/ special periodic survey of the Byford Dolphin mobile offshore drilling unit (MODU) from Aberdeen based Dolphin Drilling. Following on the successful completion of its sister rig the Blackford Dolphin in 2014…
Independent oil firm Premier Oil is sticking to an eight-well exploration campaign in 2015, including its four-well campaign in the Falkland Islands, due to start in March, and its first well in the emerging Mandal High play offshore Norway…
Statoil’s request to drill at Knappen prospect in the central North Sea has been granted approval from the Petroleum Safety Authority of Norway (PSA). Drillng is scheduled to begin next month at well 16/7-11 using the Songa Trym semisubmersible drilling facility…
In a year during which the oil price remained stable at circa US$100 per barrel until the last quarter when a significant collapse in commodity price began, activity levels in both the UK and Norwegian sectors have continued to show a distinct divergence…