Premier Oil has sold interest in six Central North Sea offshore licenses to Hungary’s MOL Group for US$130 million, the duo announced on 30 June 2014. The sale includes non-operated equity stakes in the Nexen-operated Scott (21.84%), Rochelle (15%) and Telford (1…
The Norwegian Petroleum Directorate has granted Norwegian exploration and development company, Det norske oljeselskap ASA, a drilling permit for well 2/9-5 S. Well 2/9-5 S will be drilled from the Mærsk Giant jackup drilling facility at position 56°24’45…
Statoil (UK) has awarded two five-year contracts to two UK firms for the Mariner ultra-heavy oil field, in the East Shetland Platform in part-block 9/11a in the UK North Sea. Aker Solutions' Aberdeen operations will perform maintenance and modification services for the US$7 billion project…
Statoil announced it has awarded a joint venture contract to Technip and DeepOcean for Pipeline Repair System (PRS) Pool services. The contract was sent out on competitive tender by Statoil in December 2013 and will replace the existing one…
Fractured basement explorer Hurricane Energy has successfully completed the testing phase of its horizontal appraisal well in the Lancaster fractured basement oil discovery West of Shetland. The well will be suspended as a future producer…
UK oil and gas engineering firm, FES International, has secured a US$2.5million contract to supply its automated Diverless Bend Stiffener Connector (DBSC) to NOV Flexibles, for use by Subsea 7 on the Western Isles Development (WID) project in the northern North Sea area…
Deeper and more difficult reservoirs are demanding different concepts offshore West Africa, including tension leg platforms. Jérôme Iacovella and Pauline Beraud discuss the options. The Moho Nord TLP design…
The Archer Topaz modular rig, as it will look installed on the Helmdal platform. Photo from Archer. Archer’s new vertical drilling rig is due to debut in the Norwegian North Sea later this year…
UK-based exploration and production firm Ithaca Energy has agreed to buy non-operated stakes in three producing fields from Sumitomo Corporation. The deal, worth about US$170 million, will see Ithaca take a further 20% interest in the Shell-operated central North Sea Cook field…
Paul de Leeuw, a visiting Professor at Aberdeen Business School, has been appointed as the first director of Robert Gordon University’s International Institute for Oil and Gas. With extensive experience in the oil and gas industry Professor de Leeuw will take up his new role in July…
The nominees for the 2014 ONS Innovation Awards have been announced. According to ONS, whose 2014 theme is 'Changes,' the jury has evaluated all of the applications for the ONS Innovation Awards. The award will be presented in two different…
Maersk Oil UK has awarded Denmark's Ramboll Oil & Gas the detailed design for the Culzean wellhead jacket. The project will be Ramboll’s first major involvement in the Culzean field, and it also marks the largest substructure design by Ramboll for the North Sea…
Two dry exploration well results have been announced offshore Norway. The Norwegian Petroleum Directorate said the Statoil Petroleum operated wildcat well 7324/2-1, 'Apollo,' which was the first well in production licence (PL)615…
Figure 1: The Cygnus field is the sixth largest gas field in the southern North Sea and the largest to be discovered in the last 25 years within the southern North Sea gas basin.Image from GDF Suez. A…
Statoil will pay COSL Offshore Management (COM) a one-time settlement of US$65 million under an agreement reached today that ends disputes related to the stand-by fees of two semisubmersible platforms. The stand-by fees stemmed from the installation of third-party equipment…