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…
When a story becomes the story it may sell a few more newspapers for a couple of days but most editors know that this is not a good way to the future – unless of course ideologically driven or vested interest motives become barely disguised…
Combining Alternate Path shunt tube technology with concentric sandface completion systems is improving operational efficiency and economics while bringing new life to old offshore wells in Malaysian waters. Here, Schlumberger's Shahryar Saebi and Sergey…
OE's popular annual guide to oil & gas developments on the Northwest European Continental Shelf returns, fully updated.Operators in the UK sector of the North Sea were taken aback in March this year by UK Chancellor George Osborne's decision to raise the supplementary tax rate from 20% to 32%…
Baker Hughes' latest fracturing and stimulation vessel, the Blue Tarpon, is designed for operations in the Lower Tertiary play of the Gulf of Mexico. Katie Jernigan takes a look at the newest addition to the Baker Hughes fleet. Chouest owns…