Odfjell Drilling has taken delivery of Deepsea Aberdeen semisubmersible drilling rig from Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering (DSME) in Korea. Deepsea Aberdeen, pictured, is a sixth generation ultra deepwater and harsh environment semisubmersible of enhanced GVA 7500 design…
RWE Dea Norge has started drilling the Atlas exploration well in production license 420 after approval from the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate (NPD). Atlas, also known as well 35/9-12 S, is located in the North Sea approximately 45km off Norway…
Cobalt International's Cameia #3 appraisal well drill stem test offshore Angola has proved more successful than expected, the firm announced (4 November). The results confirm the existence of a large reservoir and support Cobalt’s plan…
Mubadala Petroleum completed drilling at the MNA-05 development well and began drilling at the MNA-07 and MNA-08 wells on the Manora Field, offshore Thailand. The Atwood Orca. From Atwood Oceanics…
SOCO EPC, operator of the Marine XI Block offshore the Republic of Congo (Brazzaville), has successfully completed testing the exploration well Lidongo X Marine 101 ST1 well (LXM-101). The well 'significantly exceeded' pre-test expectations…
Weatherford discusses how a collaborative approach helped in the planning and execution of a North Sea drilling with liner operation. Fig. 1: Pore, frac, overburden and mud-pressures in the well…
With a slightly different approach, hydrodynamic modeling can be used for overpressure prediction in on and offshore environments. Marcell Lux, Ahmed Amran, and Marianna Vincze explain. Fig. 1…
The naming ceremony for four DSME semisubmersibles was held in H quay on 24 October. The rigs, hull numbers 3031, 3032, 3034, and 3035, were ordered by Norway’s Songa Offshore Company to be operated by Statoil. Around 290 guests attended the naming ceremony…
Arctic-ready facilities: meeting the engineering challenge for a new era of offshore exploration. Mark Manton explains. The Sable South Centre module being loaded ready for installation at the Sable Offshore Energy Tier II Compression Project…
GE’s new 20,000psi-rated BOP recently secured a contract with Maersk Drilling as part of BP’s own Project 20K program. Jerry Lee reports on the new BOP and its control system. Completed GE BOP stack. All images from GE…
Mooring failure rates are still higher than industry targets. Assessing past failures could help industry understanding, say Will Brindley and Andrew Cornley. The Blackford Dolphin semisubmersible mobile offshore drilling unit Images from DNV GL…
The 3Q 2014 Oil & Gas UK Business Sentiment Index published on 30 October shows that optimism in the sector continues to decline with a drop from two points above zero on the -50 to +50 index to seven points below zero. Published quarterly…
Cairn Energy's second planned exploration well offshore Senegal is underway, the firm said today (30 October). The SNE-1 probe on the Sangomar Deep Block follows Cairn's successful FAN-1 well, on the same block, which struck oil early…
Shell has asked the Obama administration for five more years to explore for oil off Alaska’s coast, saying set backs and legal delays may push the start of drilling past the 2017 expiration of some leases. In a letter to the Interior…
Eni has made a light oil discovery estimated to contain about 1billion boe in place in the Minsala Marine exploration prospect in shallow waters offshore Congo. The discovery, in the Marine XII Block, about 35km from shore and 12km from the recent Nené Marine discovery…