North Sea News


Statoil, Prosafe rephase Mariner work

Jan 04, 2016

Norwegian accommodation vessel provider Prosafe and oil firm Statoil have agreed to re-phase the Mariner project on the UK Continental Shelf of the North Sea from 2016 into 2017, and extend the firm hire duration from eight months to 13 months…

Model engineering for asset integrity

Jan 01, 2016

Aging assets and life extension are consuming ever more engineering hours in the offshore oil and gas industry. How can engineering tools help? Meg Chesshyre looks for answers. Image from Petrofac…

First cut is the deepest

Jan 01, 2016

OE reached out to analysts Wood Mackenzie and IHS Energy to find out the view on the next 12-18 months. And the outlook is not so great for exploration spend. Audrey Leon and Elaine Maslin report. Wood Mackenzie Image from iStock…

Tackling the backlog

Jan 01, 2016

With many assets now more than 25 years old, asset integrity is a daily concern on the UK Continental Shelf. Is the industry keeping up? Elaine Maslin reports. Rope access is used to get to areas usually out of reach…

Pain in the Annulus

Jan 01, 2016

Well plugging and abandonment activity as part of offshore decommissioning is starting to ramp up – but could it be done better? Elaine Maslin reports. Interwell’s exothermic P&A solution.  Image from Interwell…

IOG gains North Sea extensions

Dec 31, 2015

Independent Oil & Gas (IOG) has received extensions from the Oil and Gas Authority (OGA) for its Cronx and P2085 licenses located in the North Sea. Cronx OGA has extended the Cronx license by one year to 9 January 2017. In addition…

Storm continues, causes North Sea chaos

Dec 31, 2015

Oil firm BP has started returning staff to its Valhall complex after evacuating the facility when an adrift barge started drifting towards it as fierce weather continued to wreak havoc across the UK and Norway. ConocoPhillips had also downmanned its Eldfisk platform earlier today…

Lundin hits at Rolvsnes

Dec 22, 2015

Lundin Petroleum has discovered oil at the Rolvsnes exploration well 16/1-25 S in PL338C, in the central North Sea sector of the Norwegian Continental Shelf (NCS), the company confirmed on 22 December. Lundin said the well encountered a 30m gross oil column in porous granitic basement…

Total to drill Solaris wildcat

Dec 21, 2015

Total E&P Norge has been approved to drill a wildcat on its Solaris prospect in production licence 618, in the southern North Sea, bordering the UK shelf, announced the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate (NPD) on 21 December. The drilling…

DOF Subsea bags Asia, North Sea work

Dec 21, 2015

DOF Subsea inked US$30.8 million (NOK 270 million) in IMR and subsea installation contracts in the Asia Pacific and Atlantic regions that will use the company’s subsea project fleet. Skandi Hercules…

Lockheed Martin in asset integrity study

Dec 21, 2015

A major study is underway to identify new processes and technologies that can be applied to asset integrity challenges in the UK offshore oil and gas industry. Lockheed Martin has been commissioned to conduct a technology landscaping…

Sevan Marine in UK FPSO deals

Dec 18, 2015

Following the participation in front-end engineering and development (FEED) work over past several months, Sevan Marine has announced that it has signed two agreements related to the FPSO prospects in the UK North Sea. The first agreement…

First steel cut on Culzean jackets

Dec 18, 2015

Heerema Fabrication Group has marked the first steel for Maersk Oil's Culzean development jackets at its yard in Vlissingen, the Netherlands. HFG has contracts for fabricating the central processing facility, utilities and livings quarters and well head platform jackets for the high-pressure…

Statoil submits unmanned plan

Dec 18, 2015

Statoil and its partners have submitted a plan for Norway's first unmanned platform to develop three oil and gas fields under its North Sea Oseberg Vestflanken 2 project. The development, targeting the Alpha, Gamma and Kappa oil and gas fields…

UKCS Exploration: "Could do better"

Dec 17, 2015

Better success rates from North Sea exploration drilling could be achieved if historical well data was stored and shared better, according to the results of a review of well data published. The Oil and Gas Authority says a lack of quality geoscience and geophysics work…

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