North Sea News


Rise of the robot in offshore operations

Jan 10, 2018

2017 became the year that the oil and gas industry embraced robotics. Elaine Maslin reports on initiatives in the North Sea (first published in the January 2018 OE, access the full issue here). While the industry has long been using autonomous underwater systems and remotely operated tooling…

Aker Solutions lined up for MFDevCo duty holder role

Jan 09, 2018

Norway-headquartered Aker Solutions has agreed to provide duty holder services for UK firm Marginal Field Development Company (MFDevCo). MFDevCo is targeting marginal field development projects globally, using normally unmanned installations or self installating fixed towers…

Downhole data, fiber optics helping to drive production gains

Jan 09, 2018

Elaine Maslin reports on how the oil and gas industry is getting more data from downhole thanks to fiber optics (First published in the December 2017 OE, access the full issue here). The big data revolution is being felt in the oil and…

Petrofac inks services contract with Chrysaor

Jan 08, 2018

Petrofac has been awarded a Rotating Equipment Management Services contract in support of Chrysaor’s operations on the UK Continental Shelf. Under the 12-month agreement, Petrofac will provide fully integrated services across Chrysaor’s Armada…

Gas focus for 2017 UKCS exploration

Jan 08, 2018

A 10-year low in oil discoveries in Norway in 2017 doesn’t deter an expected increase in drilling in 2018, whilst performance continues to improve in the UK with the focus switching to gas for 2018, says Westwood Global Energy's Dave Moseley…

Mono Buckets for German wind farm

Jan 08, 2018

Mono-bucket foundation technology for offshore windfarms could be tested on the Deutsche Bucht Wind Farm offshore Germany. The technology, developed by Universal Foundations, a Fred Olsen company, was picked for the Bucht wind farm as a pilot project…

OGTC awards $1.76 million in P&A funding

Jan 08, 2018

Aberdeen's Oil & Gas Technology Centre (OGTC) is to invest US$1.76 million (£1.3 million) in four projects aimed at developing new plugging and abandonment (P&A) technologies. BiSN, Strathclyde University, Heriot-Watt University and Baker…

Subsea UK 2018 business awards finalists revealed

Jan 05, 2018

Finalists for industry body Subsea UK's 2018 business awards have been unveiled.  Some of the country’s most innovative and successful subsea businesses have made it on to the shortlist for the annual awards which seek to recognise companies…

DeepOcean wins Snorre Expansion contract

Jan 04, 2018

Statoil has awarded DeepOcean a contract to provide project management, engineering, procurement of anchors for risers and umbilicals, and offshore installation activities on the Snorre Expansion Project in the North Sea.   The offshore…

"Serious shortcomings" found following fatal incident investigation

Jan 04, 2018

An investigation into a fatal incident on the Maersk Interceptor jackup rig last month has identified “serious shortcomings” in systems and processes for materials handling. Following its investigation, Norway’s Petroleum Safety Authority…

Statoil wildcat well near Gina Krog dry

Jan 04, 2018

A wildcat well drilled by Statoil near the Gina Krog field in the Norwegian North Sea was dry, says the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate (NPD).  The well, 15/6-14 S in production license 029 C, was drilled just north of the Gina Krog field about 250km west of Stavanger…

Forties pipeline now fully operational

Jan 02, 2018

UK North Sea Forties Pipeline System (FPS) operator Ineos says the system is now fully operational, following repairs works to a crack found in an onshore section of the pipeline, early December. 'All restrictions on the flow of oil and…

Apache exec joins Neptune Energy

Jan 02, 2018

Former Apache North Sea boss Jim House has signed up to Neptune Energy as CEO, starting this month.  House makes the move from Apache Corp. where he has spent the last 26 years in senior leadership roles, most recently as the Senior Vice President responsible for Egypt…

Investment plans on the UKCS

Dec 28, 2017

UK operators have gone a long way to reducing their costs and are even starting to look at investment, delegates attending the Oil & Gas UK Share Fair in Aberdeen early November learned. Elaine Maslin reports (First published in the December 2017 OE…

Forties pipeline repairs 'mechanically complete'

Dec 27, 2017

Forties Pipeline System (FPS) operator Ineos says all restrictions on flow through the pipeline have now been lifted following mechanical completion of a repair to the onshore section of the major North Sea export trunkline.  'All restrictions…

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