Aberdeen-based deepwater buoyancy, insulation and elastomer product specialist Balmoral Offshore Engineering introduced two additions to its drill riser buoyancy portfolio. The new syntactic foams, Durafloat Superlite and Durafloat Superlite-X…
GE is developing a new oil & gas training facility in Houston at a cost of $10 million. Scheduled to open 4Q 2012, the 50,000ft2 GE Drilling Systems Technology Center ‘will focus on customer, technical and leadership skills aimed to meet…
Ulterra opened a stock point for its matrix and steel body PDC bits in Hammond, Louisiana, last month. Overseen by Rob Smith, and strategically located just 46 miles east of Baton Rouge and 58 miles northwest of New Orleans, the new facility will support Gulf Coast drilling operations.
ENSCO 8505, the sixth in a series of seven ultra-deepwater semisubmersibles, recently arrived in Texas for final trials before launching a two-year stint under contract to Anadarko, Apache and Noble Energy in the Gulf of Mexico. Russell McCulley was on hand in Corpus Christi…
The water depth record for conventional mooring offshore Brazil was improved by another 12m – to 2027m – by InterMoor recently under its one-year mooring and positioning support operations contract with Shell using the mobile offshore drilling unit Noble Clyde Boudreaux (pictured)…
The urge to explore new offshore markets outwith its traditional base as a cement and stimulation additives supplier has seen chemical technology specialist Aubin diversify into buoyancy and ballasting territory in recent years. Meg Chesshyre discusses…
Technology is a key enabler for Shell, Matthias Bichsel, director of the supermajor’s Projects & Technology business, told a two-day briefing at the Rijswijk technology centre in The Hague this spring. Meg Chesshyre joined the tour of the company’s iScope…
The iPZIG at-bit inclination, gamma ray and imaging service has been introduced by PathFinder, a Schlumberger company, to help optimize well placement in target zones through early bed boundary detection.Developed specifically for unconventional…
Rowan is changing its legal domicile from Delaware to the UK under plans aimed at ‘improving its long-term competitive position as a global contract driller’. President and CEO W Matt Ralls commented: ‘The offshore drilling industry is a global…
Nearly 11 years after Weatherford first commercially deployed drilling-with-casing, the service company is still testing the limits of where and how the technology can be helpful when it comes to overcoming wellbore instability. Jennifer Pallanich catches…
In the aftermath of Macondo, the E&P industry is preparing to invest heavily in upgraded BOP equipment. For some drilling professionals, including Fraser Offshore’s Douglas Nunn, this is a questionable use of resources. ‘Hardware upgrades and…
BOEMRE director Michael Bromwich vows that deepwater drilling will return to the US Gulf of Mexico in the coming months, marking a return of exploration all but shut down after the Deepwater Horizon disaster. But the oil & gas industry remains skeptical…
The mix of orders for all categories of drillings rigs continues, with Asia Pacific and Middle East shipyards and their overseas affiliates indicating a marked drift away from jackups and towards ever larger semisubmersibles and ultra-deepwater drillships…
Downhole memory tools specialist Omega Well Monitoring has launched the patents-pending Leakator, a tool optimised to locate leaks and monitor downhole flow.Omega said Leakator’s run-it-yourself capability means an existing on-site crew…
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…