North Sea News


Cape wins BP North Sea work

May 01, 2015

UK supermajor BP awarded Cape a US$153.5 million two-year contract to supply services on six North Sea assets and the Forties Pipeline Systems. According to Cape, the company will provide a range of core services, including access, insulation…

Oil & Gas UK gets new chief executive

May 01, 2015

Oil & Gas UK appointed Deirdre Michie as its new chief executive on 1 May 2015. Michie will replace Malcolm Webb who, following a brief handover period, formally retires on 31 May 2015.  Appointed by the board of Oil & Gas UK in February 2015…

Offshore heavy oil economics

May 01, 2015

Jeannie Stell looks at offshore heavy oil development economics with an eye on the current low-price environment. ExxonMobil expects its 52-well Hebron development project offshore Newfoundland to bring in first oil in 2017…

Ready for prime time

May 01, 2015

Italy is sitting on sizeable untapped gas resources, yet it still imports a large proportion of its gas. Elaine Maslin reports from the Offshore Mediterranean Conference, Ravenna. Bruno Lescoeur…

Plastic fantastic

May 01, 2015

Polymer-lined pipe has been around since the 1990s, but its potential has yet to be fully tapped, according to those behind JIPs to extend use of this technology. Mostafa Tantawi and David Whittle explain. Swagelinings enior…

Taking the load

May 01, 2015

Calibrating the 64 load cells on the Snorre A tension leg platform was a lengthy arduous task, until a new solution, installed late 2014, was found. Elaine Maslin reports. The Snorre A tension leg platform…

Short-term uncertainties in the deep

May 01, 2015

Infield Systems’ Catarina Podevyn takes a look at recent oil price movements and market conditions on the deepwater (500m+) capex spending up to 2019. Olympus platform in deepwater US Gulf of Mexico…

Safety from a design consideration

May 01, 2015

Preventing corrosion is necessary to avoiding production failures. Leokadia Rucinski and Genesis’ Binder Singh provide details. Fig. 1: A collage of somewhat unusual corrosion phenomena, many of…

Ivar Aasen jacket en-route

Apr 30, 2015

The 9000-tonne jacket for Det norske's Ivar Aasen field offshore Norway is in Rotterdam before it's final journey to the North Sea.  The 138m-tall jacket was built by Saipem at its Arbatax facility in Sardinia and is now sat on Heerema's H-627 barge at Franklin Offshore…

Ravn heading for Danish sector

Apr 30, 2015

Wintershall's unmanned Ravn platform is being towed out to the Danish sector of the North Sea ready for installation. The platform, which will produce the Ravn field, in License 5/06, is due to start up by the end of this year. Ravn…

SmartPlug used for inline isolation

Apr 29, 2015

Statoil Petroleum recently completed a North Sea inline isolation in order to facilitate the tie-in of its Valemon platform to its Huldra-Heimdal pipeline. The tie-in will require 27km (16mi) of pipe to be laid. Statoil chose SmartPlug isolation technology…

Total, BP report better than expected results

Apr 28, 2015

BP and Total beat analysts’ predictions by reporting better than expected results this morning, despite consistently low oil prices.  French oil major Total saw its fastest production growth in more than a decade and gains in its refining…

EIC: High value contracts awarded despite decline in overall quantity

Apr 27, 2015

The latest EIC Monitor report once again shows a significant decline in the levels of contracting activity across the global upstream sector in Q1 2015. Despite the overall number of contracts being awarded dropping, the value of some is substantial…

MOL takes first Norwegian steps

Apr 24, 2015

Hungarian exploration outfit MOL Group has made its first step into the Norwegian offshore sector, purchasing the Norwegian assets of UK-based North Sea exploration and production firm Ithaca Energy.  Ithaca will sell its Norwegian assets…

BP sells CATS

Apr 23, 2015

BP agreed to sell its equity in the Central Area Transmission System (CATS) business in the UK North Sea to Antin Infrastructure Partners for US$486million. BP is currently the operator of CATS. The sale of CATS will be as a fully operational business…

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