The Norwegian Ministry of Petroleum awarded 24 licenses in the country’s 22nd licensing round. The offerings include 20 production licenses in the Barents Sea and four in the Norwegian Sea. The agency granted 29 companies shares—including ConocoPhillips…
As the 25th anniversary of the UK North Sea Piper Alpha disaster approaches, GL Noble Denton looks at regulatory best practice. The 25-year anniversary of the Piper Alpha disaster provides an important opportunity to stop and reflect…
ThoughtStream: Opinion Rosneft is the largest subsoil licenseholder in the Russian offshore. Total estimated recoverable resources under these licenses exceed 275 billion boe. The exploration program includes drilling 96 wells. I hope that the representatives of Halliburton…
COLLOQUY: Editor's Column Beginning this month, we recognize the 25th anniversary of the Piper Alpha disaster. The Piper Alpha production platform was operated by Occidental Petroleum (Caledonia) Ltd. in the UK sector of the North Sea…
CNR International is preparing to invest US $470 million to extend the life of one of Ninian Field—one of the oldest fields in the North Sea after the UK government approved an application for a Brownfield Allowance for the ambitious project…
FoundOcean has been awarded a contract by Graham Construction to pile grout the foundation for the world’s largest offshore wind turbine, developed by Samsung Heavy Industries, in Fife, Scotland. This will include the first 7MW turbine to be installed…
Wood Group PSN (WGPSN) has secured its second North Sea duty-holder contract extension this year. Valued at about US$200 million (£140 million), the life-of-field contract from Ithaca Energy will see WGPSN operate and deliver managed services…
On June 5, Houston-based Atwood Oceanics Inc. announced a new drilling services contract with Eni S.p.A. for the Atwood Beacon. The independent leg cantilever jackup rig is currently working offshore Israel but will finish by July 2013. The…
AMEC was awarded a two-year contract extension from BG Group to continue to provide engineering, procurement, construction, commissioning, and project management support for all of BG Group’s facilities in the central North Sea. The contract…
Maersk Drilling received a contract extension for its newbuild ultra-harsh environment jackup XL Enhanced 2 from Det norske oljeselskap ASA. The two-year extension allows the jackup to service the Ivar Aasen project for a total of five years…
Christophe Barnini has been appointed as Senior Vice President, group communications for CGG. Barnini will report to Jean-Georges Malcor, CEO of CGG, and has become a permanent member of CGG’s management committee. This appointment took effect on 15th May 2013…
Statoil announced it will delay an investment decision on its Johan Castberg project in the Norwegian Barents Sea due to unease regarding recent move by the Norwegian government to increase taxes on oil and gas producers. In addition to the tax rise…
Lundin Petroleum is to update its reserves estimates on the giant Johan Sverdrup field offshore Norway after its latest appraisal well completed. Lundin says the latest well on the find, 16/2-21 located in PL501, had been a success finding…
Exxon Mobil has taken an addition 6% stake in an exploration licence offshore the Faroe Islands. The deal, with Faroese explorer Atlantic Petroleum, will see Exxon's stake in Licence L016 increase to 26%. The move was followed by…
Norwegian oil and gas company DNO International is increasing its acreage offshore Tunisia and plans to drill next year. Through its subsidiary DNO Tunisia AS, the firm has entered a farm-in agreement on the Sfax offshore exploration permit and the Ras El Besh concession…