The UK Government is to contribute £15 million short-term funding over five years to help kickstart the establishment of a new arm’s length regulatory body, to be called the Oil and Gas Authority (OGA), based in Aberdeen, to oversee the oil and gas industry…
OMV Petrom has made an oil discovery in an exploration well drilled in the Istria XVIII offshore Perimeter (shallow water) in the Romanian Black Sea. Marina 1 was drilled 60km offshore, to a depth of about 2150m below the seabed in about 50m water depth…
Equistone Partners Europe has exited Aberdeen-based PD&MS, a fast-growing specialist provider of engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) services for the global oil and gas industry, in a secondary buyout to Inflexion. The mid-market private equity firm has achieved a 2…
Norway's Aibel has topped a recent string of contacts with a framework agreement with Statoil covering the supply of personnel to Statoil's projects in Norway and abroad. The agreement is in addition to Aibel's existing framework agreements with Statoil and is valid for one year…
The Crossover ball joint is a new and efficient dredge ball joint that provides optimal flow performance. Through computational fluid dynamics (CFD) the frictional losses and turbulence have been reduced to a minimum. Conventional dredge ball joints act like a ball valve when tilted…
Growing demand for offshore accomodation vessels in the North Sea is increasing rates and accomodatoin quality as operators seek to improve spanner time, says analysts Douglas Westwood. The firm says declining North Sea production and…
Centrica Energy has started drilling on the Pegasus West well 43/13b-7 on P1724 in the UKCS. The well is being drilled with the Noble Julie Robertson jackup rig in 95ft water depthabout 7km WSW of the 43/13b-6Z Pegasus North discovery well…
A second production well on Nexen Petroleum's Blackbird field in the UK North Sea has reached 7000bbl/d under a constrained production test, according to partner Atlantic Petroleum. The well, 20/02a-B3, was constrained by surface equipment…
Oil and gas pipe measurement specialist Optical Metrology Services (OMS) has appointed Denise Smiles as its CEO, replacing former CEO and founder Dr. Tim Clarke, who is appointed as non-executive chairman at OMS. OMS said Denise will…
Wood Group has boosted its Norwegian offshore engineering capability by buying Agility Projects from Agility Group for about US$164 million. Agility Projects is a Norwegian engineering, procurement, construction management, installation and commissioning company…
Dragon Oil secured its first operatorship outside Turkmenistan and expects production to reach up to 90,000bo/d by the end of the year. Dr Abdul Jaleel Al Khalifa, Dragon Oil's CEO, said: 'We are pleased to report that the contract has been signed for Block 19 East Zeit Bay…
The Fukushima Forward 2MW floating offshore wind turbine. Photo from Fukushima Forward. A growing number of companies are eying options for floating offshore wind. Elaine Maslin learned why at All Energy in Aberdeen…
Houston-based EFC Group appointed Anand Puthran as its managing director, a newly created role for the company. Puthran joins EFC Group with more than 15 years of experience working in the oil and gas industry in managerial positions…
Industry body Oil & Gas UK has welcomed HM Treasury’s plans to launch a formal consultation into the future of the UK offshore oil and gas tax regime. The trade body says it believes the sector faces an uncertain future and that the tax review is therefore now urgently needed…
Electromagnetic Geoservices (EMGS) has received a contract worth US$2.7 million from OMV (Norge) and its partners in PL537 for 3D EM data acquisition in the Barents Sea. The survey will commence in July using the vessel Atlantic Guardian…