Greenpeace activists who boarded the semisubmersible drilling rig Transocean Spitsbergen (pictured) 300km offshore Norway are now in the hands of Norwegian police, says Statoil. But, Greenpeace's ship, the Esperanza, has moved to the location where Statoil plans to drill…
Rowan Companies plc said the Rowan Renaissance drillship has been pulled from service off West Africa after experiencing equipment problems, the company announced in its monthly fleet status report released on 27 May 2014. Rowan said…
Saipem has been awarded a new engineering and construction contract in the Caucasus region and some new drilling contracts in the Middle East, for a total value of about US$750 million. In the E&C onshore sector, Saipem has been awarded by the Shah Deniz consortium…
The urgent need to address the global cost competitiveness of Australia’s oil and gas industry has been highlighted by a new analysis that shows fewer exploration wells are being drilled offshore despite significantly higher expenditure. An…
The Norwegian Petroleum Directorate has granted Statoil Petroleum AS a drilling permit for well 7324/2-1. It will be the first well to be drilled in Production License (PL) 615 in the Barents Sea. The wildcat well 7324/2-1 (Apollo) will…
Today's Baker Hughes North American offshore rotary rig count listed 60 rigs operating this week, up 3 rigs from a week ago and up 9 rigs from a year ago (18% year-over-year increase). The majority, 58 rigs, are working in the Gulf of Mexico…
Gazprom Neft has announced the signing of a three-year framework agreement on drilling and well reconstruction with drilling service provider Commonwealth of Independent States Eurasia Drilling Company Limited (EDC). Under the terms of this agreement…
Petrobras announced today that it has confirmed the Sagitario well discovery (formally 1-SPS-98 / 1-BRSA-1063 -SPS) initially announced 25 February 2013 while in the drilling phase. Located in the ultra-deepwater presalt area of the Santos basin…
Schlumberger has launched a new technology, the GeoSphere reservoir mapping-while-drilling service, which has been tested in more than 140 wells worldwide. The new technology gives operators an opportunity to optimize well landing operations…
W&T Offshore Inc. subsidiary, W&T Energy VI, acquired Woodside Energy's deepwater Gulf of Mexico assets for US$51 million, the company announced on 20 May 2014. The transaction includes a 20% non-operated working interest in the producing Neptune field (Atwater Valley Blocks 574…
Brazilian independent HRT Participacoes em Petroleo SA announced plans to focus on the offshore Polvo field, in the Campos basin. HRT operates the field with 60% interest along with partner Maersk (40%). In 4Q 2013, the National Petroleum Gas and Biofuels Agency (ANP)…
The Atwood Eagle semisubmersible drilling rig has been mobilized to the Phoenix South-1 well location within the WA-435-P exploration permit, off Western Australia. Perth-based partner Carnarvon Petroleum Ltd. said that operator Apache Energy Ltd…
Odfjell Drilling and BP Angola have agreed a deal securing further work for Odfjell Drilling's sixth generation ultra-deepwater and harsh environment semisubmersible Deepsea Stavanger (pictured) on Block 18 in Angola. The contract is…
A subsidiary of Genel Energy is preparing to start drilling the Hagar Qim-1 well offshore Malta after the rig for the program was accepted under contract. The Noble Paul Romano (pictured) set sail for Block 7, in Area 4 offshore Malta…
GAC Russia is upgrading its supply base at the port of Novorossiysk to support offshore oil & gas exploration and extraction in the Black Sea. GAC Russia has already signed contracts to provide supply base support for operations from Novorossiysk on the northeastern Black Sea coast…