North Sea News


UK Govt-funded seismic shoot complete

Oct 30, 2015

A UK Government funded project to acquire new seismic data over underexplored areas of the North Sea in a bid to boost exploration in the basin has completed. The £20 million program saw WesternGeco acquire 20,000km of new 2D seismic shot over 200…

INEOS buys more North Sea assets

Oct 30, 2015

Chemicals company INEOS has increased acquired the 25% interest in the Clipper South gas field, further increasing its ownership in North Sea fields. INEOS had announced earlier this month its acquisition of a portfolio of natural gas assets…

SMOE taps KBR for Culzean construction

Oct 30, 2015

KBR has been awarded a detailed design engineering and follow-on services contract by SMOE, Singapore, for the topsides facilities for Maersk Oil's HPHT UK North Sea Culzean project. Specifically, KBR will deliver the living quarters…

Mariner, Aasta Hansteen projects set back

Oct 28, 2015

Statoil’s US$7 billion Mariner heavy oil project in the UK North Sea has been set back a year due to engineering and construction delays, the operator revealed today.  The Norwegian operator's Aasta Hansteen project, in the Norwegian Sea…

North Sea’s first oilfield makes come-back

Oct 28, 2015

The North Sea’s first producing oilfield, Argyll, has finally been brought back on stream by operator EnQuest, after being started and decommissioned twice in the past by previous operators. Argyll, now named Alma, and part of EnQuest’s Alma/Galia development…

BG, SSE divest Columbus stake

Oct 27, 2015

BG International and SSE E&P UK entered into an agreement with Block 23/16f participants, Serica Energy, Endeavour Energy UK, and EOG Resources UK, to transfer their equity of Block 23/21a in the UK North Sea. Columbus field…

Rosebank rig deal dumped

Oct 27, 2015

Fred Olsen Energy has formally declared that construction contract for a newbuild semisubmersible rig which was originally destined for development drilling at the Chevron-operated Rosebank oil development in the UK West Shetlands region has been cancelled…

OPITO app makes waves in North Sea

Oct 26, 2015

Image: OPITO OPITO has introduced a mobile app designed to give North Sea offshore workforce access to their training and certification records anywhere at any time. In its first year…

Dong picks DeepOcean for cable installation

Oct 26, 2015

Dong Energy has awarded a contract for the provision of cable installation and trenching work for its Race Bank offshore wind farm to DeepOcean. Offshore work will be carried out in 2016/2017 from DeepOcean’s in-house fleet of dedicated cable installation and trenching vessels…

Centrica to bring more York gas on tap

Oct 26, 2015

Centrica Energy has started drilling a new well from the York gas field in the southern North Sea, offshore England, after nearly £80million of investment. The new well, the fourth at York, will tap an additional 20 Bcf of gas and extend the life of the field out to 2020…

Proserv wins Johan Sverdrup contract

Oct 26, 2015

UK-based energy services company Proserv has secured a £1.6 million plus contract to provide topside control equipment at one of the largest field discoveries on the Norwegian Continental Shelf. The agreement will see Proserv supplying Aibel…

Cosco confirms floater delay

Oct 23, 2015

Dana Petroleum's Western Isles floating production unit will not be on stream until late 2017, some two years later than originally planned, it was confirmed today. In a statement, China's Cosco Corp (Singapore) said it and a European…

E.ON’s Amrumbank West operational

Oct 22, 2015

The construction of Amrumbank West offshore wind farm in the German North Sea is complete. Image from E.ON. All 80 turbines are connected to the network. With its full installed capacity of 288 MW now operational…

Alpha eyes FPSO for Cheviot

Oct 22, 2015

Alpha Petroleum has lifted the lid on a new FPSO based development for the Cheviot heavy oil field in the UK sector of the North Sea.  Alpha has spelled out plans for a 26 well project with a target for first oil in 2021, which will have production of  up to 35…

Butch tie-back start up 2019

Oct 21, 2015

Operator Centrica Energy Norway and partners have decided that the Butch discovery in the Norwegian sector of the North Sea will be developed as a subsea tie-in to the Ula field.  With the selected subsea tie-in concept the Butch well…

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