Greg Hale takes a look at subsea electronic modules. “Doom and gloom,” and “scaling back” are phrases not heard in the industry in the last five years. But, now there is an opportunity to wring more productivity and profitability out of existing assets…
Most of the Mexican side of the Gulf of Mexico remains unexplored. Dan McConnell explores the geotechnical knowns and unknowns in the basin. Acquiring geotechnical data for platform foundation design in Mexico’s Bay of Campeche Image from Fugro…
Grout is taking on new forms to meet the needs of offshore wind applications, Jim Bell explains. FoundOcean worked on the 30 wind turbine Ormonde Offshore Wind Farm, 10km off Barrow-In-Furness in the Irish Sea…
Floating production systems are on the hard edge of asset integrity management, says Jonathan Boutrot. The business case for having an asset integrity management (AIM) system in place for offshore assets is getting more and more cogent every day…
Repsol’s Director for Exploration and Production Technology Santiago Quesada discusses the company’s partnership with IBM aimed at developing cognitive technologies for better decision-making. As demand for oil and gas increases and oil plays mature…
Getting engineering back to basics isn’t just about standardization anymore. Industry executives at the annual GE Oil & Gas summit in Florence advocated for simplicity in order to keep costs low and get projects done right. Elaine Maslin reports…
Automation on the drillfloor has been slow to take off – but it is coming as advances in enabling technologies are made. Elaine Maslin looks at work ongoing in the field. Automation on the drillfloor has been slow to take off – but it’s coming and there will be no going back…
It is widely accepted that the UK Continental Shelf (UKCS) is a high cost petroleum province by world standards. The collapse in oil prices from over US$100/bbl to less than $50 can thus be expected to have a substantial effect on activity levels…
Will subsea tech join fracking slowdown? There may be too much momentum. Bruce Nichols reports. Testing for Train 2 of the Asgard subsea compression system was completed in December at Aker Solutions’ dockside yard in Egersund…
Resonance enhanced drilling could help speed up drilling time and efficiency. Elaine Maslin reports. Professor Marian Wiercigroch with the vertical RED full scale experimental rig. Images from the University of Aberdeen…
The Mariner heavy oil discovery on the East Shetland Platform in UK block 9/11 will be one of the largest offshore developments on the UK Continental Shelf in more than a decade. Meg Chesshyre checks on its progress. Chris…
Is the oil industry good at lessons learned but not at learning lessons? – asks Jan-Erik Nordtvedt, SPE Intelligent Energy program committee chair 2014 and President and CEO, Epsis Almost a year has passed since the SPE Intelligent Energy 2014 conference…
Angus Rodger and Matt Howell discuss the exploration environment as well as the potential impact from the recent fall in oil prices on Australian and New Zealand projects. Graphs from Wood Mackenzie. Australia…
Flow measurement isn’t always foremost in industry debates, but the role it plays – and getting it right – is key. Elaine Maslin found out more. NEL’s flow measurement facility. Image from NEL…
Dutch contractor Allseas last night (26 February) signed a contract with Norway's Statoil for the installation of three platforms on the giant Johan Sverdrup development in single lifts using the newly renamed mega-vessel Pioneering Spirit…