China has successfully mined flammable ice, or natural gas hydrates, at the Shenhu area of the South China Sea. Image from iStock The mining of gas hydrates marks a major breakthrough that could lead to a global energy revolution…
Jerry Lee examines how Schlumberger’s PowerDrive ICE ultraHT RSS enabled Pemex to drill a high temperature well in Mexico’s shallow Sureste Basin. The proprietary electronics in the PowerDrive…
Russian's Lukoil says its Phase 2 Vladimir Filanovsky LSP-2 ice-resistant topsides have set sail for the Caspian Sea. Production from the project is due at the end of this year. Phase 2 of Vladimir Filanovsky field development provides for the construction of a fixed ice-resistant platform…
Hansa Heavy Lift (HHL) has successfully transported two ship-to-shore (STS) cranes via the Northern Sea Route (NSR), relocating them from the port of St. Petersburg to the port of Vostochny, spanning both the European and Far East regions of Russia…
Joe Mullin gives an update on the Arctic Response Technology joint industry project. Workers conduct field trials of the first-of-its-kind aerial oil spill response system near Fairbanks, Alaska…
Russia's LUKOIL-Nizhnevolzhskneft has taken into service, from contractor Bumi Armada Berhad, three ice-class vessels for use on its Vladimir Filanovsky field in the Caspian Sea. Bumi Naryan-Mar is a standby/rescue vessel equipped with oil spill response equipment and fire fighting system…
Fugro has begun a three-year period of metocean and ice data acquisition as part of the Barents Sea Metocean and Ice Network Project. The data will help operators to better understand relevant operational uncertainties and risk factors…
Despite a multibillion dollar backlog of projects, put on hold amid US$30-50/bbl oil prices, exploration firms are still eyeing resources in arctic waters. New areas of the Barents Sea were offered to oil firms in Norway’s 23rd licensing round…
Arctech Helsinki Shipyards, part of United Shipbuilding Corp., held a keel laying ceremony on 17 December for a new icebreaking platform supply vessel ordered by PAO Sovcomflot under a long-term agreement with Sakhalin Energy. The agreement…
Work on a new ice-breaker which will work for Sovcomflot in the Sakhalin-2 project has started at the Arctech Helsinki shipyard with a festive keel laying. The vessel is the first of four icebreaking sister ships Sovcomflot has ordered…
Rosneft has completed its 2015 geological exploration program at offshore licenses using 2D seismic survey methods that covered 20,434km in the Kara Sea, Chukchi Sea, and Laptev Sea. For the first time, 2D seismic exploration was carried out with support of an integrated information system…
International classification society Bureau Veritas announced it will class the series of Arctic-capable LNG carriers that will be built in Korea's DSME yard to service the Yamal LNG project in Russia's high arctic. Exporting LNG from Yamal calls for a type of LNG carrier never built before…
Ice cover in the far north isn’t static, but varies in extent with the seasons and from year to year. Thanks to the Gulf Stream, the southern Barents Sea is usually ice-free all year round, but icebergs and sea ice can pose a real threat to installations if they collide…
Two Norwegian polar researchers have returned from a project to collect seismic data over an area of the Arctic usually inaccessible to seismic vessels. The pair, Yngve Kristoffersen and Audun Tholfsen, deployed their ice drift technique…
On 1 March, EMAS AMC officially christened and named its flagship, the Lewek Constellation, prior to her departure to the Gulf of Mexico to start work for Noble Energy. EMAS AMC’s Lewek Constellation…