North Sea News


Drilling at Statoil's Statfjord

May 16, 2016

In this video, Statoil shows still drilling at its Statfjord area, offshore Norway. Statfjord is one of the oldest producing fields on the Norwegian continental shelf, and the largest oil discovery in the North Sea. The field…

FPF-1 to sailaway next month

May 16, 2016

Ithaca Energy's UK North Sea Stella field production is on schedule for September 2016, following planned sailaway of the FPF-1 floating production facility from Poland next month.   The FPF-1, previously used by Hess on the North Sea Ivanhoe and Rob Roy fields…

Laggan Tormore at full production

May 16, 2016

Total's Laggan-Tormore subsea to shore development west of Shetland has now ramped up to full production at 90,000 boe/d. The French oil giant held an official inauguration ceremony at the Shetland Gas Plant, built to receive the production…

Wintershall to drill Orion with Borgland Dolphin

May 13, 2016

Norway’s Petroleum Safety Authority (PSA) has granted Wintershall Norge consent for exploration drilling at the Orion prospect in the North Sea with the Borgland Dolphin semisubmersible. The 35/11-19S well is located in production license 248…

Dudgeon jacket sails away

May 12, 2016

A jacket built for the for the Dudgeon Offshore Wind Farm offshore substation by Sembmarine SLP in Lowestoft, England, sailed away from the yard yesterday (11 May).  The 1500-tonne structure that has dominated Lowestoft’s port skyline…

Vast CO2 storage potential in North Sea

May 12, 2016

A new report produced for the Energy Technologies Institute (ETI) says there are no technical hurdles to permanently and safely storing large quantities of CO2 deep underground off the coast of the UK. There is also the potential for…

Premier cuts 15% Catcher costs

May 11, 2016

UK independent operator Premier Oil says it has cut costs on its North Sea Catcher floating production project by 15% - and the project remains on schedule. Forecast gross capex to first oil is now anticipated to be about US$1.35 billion…

North Sea drilling outlook remains bleak, says Awilco

May 11, 2016

Drilling contractor Awilco Drilling posted zero revenues for Q1 this year and a net loss of US18.7 million, thanks to one rig being out of work and another undergoing work. While the firm has work for one of its two semisubmersible rigs…

Sparrows inks Stena Drilling gig

May 11, 2016

Sparrows Group has been awarded a 20-month inspection services contract to cover Stena Drilling’s global fleet of drilling vessels. The agreement will see Sparrows Group deliver LOLER lifting gear surveys, potential dropped objects surveys…

Thialf installs 10,000-tonne Montrose module

May 10, 2016

Photographer Jan Berghuis has caught these stunning images of the moment Heerema Marine Contractor's Thialf heavy lift vessel lifted into place a new, 10,000-tonne module for Talisman Sinopec Energy UK's new Montrose platform in the UK North Sea…

Bibby inks double vessel deal in North Sea

May 09, 2016

Bibby Offshore has entered into a multimillion dollar agreement for two of its vessels to provide first gas and construction support on its assets in the Southern North Sea. The contract, with an unnamed global energy provider, is due to be executed between Q3 and Q4 2016…

Lessons from the automotive industry, or how oil can learn from Lutz

May 09, 2016

OE readers won’t need much reminding of the parlous state in which oil and gas currently finds itself. That’s particularly the case here in the North Sea where the price slump is compounded by dwindling reserves and high operating costs.  By contrast…

OGA invites tenders for seismic work

May 09, 2016

The UK's Oil and Gas Authority (OGA), a newly formed independent regulator, has released a second invitation to tender (ITT) for the 2016-2017 UK Government funded seismic program. This tender is for reprocessing legacy seismic data in…

Nexen ends Ettrick, Blackbird production

May 06, 2016

Nexen Petroleum is to end production from the Ettrick field in the North Sea and remove the floating production facility FPSO Aoka Mizu from the location. Nexen, which is owned by China National Offshore Corporation, terminated a contract with FPSO provider Bluewater in March…

Administrators called in to Harkand

May 05, 2016

UK-based subsea inspection, repair and maintenance firm Harkand has gone into administration.   In a recorded message left by the firm on its phone line, the company said that on Wednesday, 4 May, staff from Deloitte had been appointed…

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