This year, the deepwater drilling record could be broken not just once, but twice, breaking the last record, set back in 2013. Elaine Maslin takes a look. Total’s Raya-1 well is due to be drilled offshore Uruguay using Maersk Oil’s ultra…
Deepwater subsea tiebacks conjure up all manner of technical innovation requirements, and/or the need for complex subsea processing technologies. Yet, it’s not always so. Elaine Maslin explores the particulars of Total’s Laggan Tormore development…
Much ado has been made over Mexico in the last three years as the country turned a new page and opened its industry to foreign investment. PECOM 2016 crowd. Images from OE Staff. Make no mistake…
There’s a war on: who can produce the fastest inspection ROV with the highest quality data? Elaine Maslin explains. The Surveyor Interceptor. Image from MMT. Is it a bird, is it a plane…
Quest Offshore assesses the drilling, subsea, and marine construction dynamics affecting of one of the world’s pre-eminent deepwater basins amid the downturn. The Gulf of Mexico has long been a region of critical importance to the global deepwater industry…
The Energy Industries Council’s project tracking database EICDataStream is currently tracking 85 active and future projects in the US Gulf of Mexico, in various stages of development, and the outlook for 2017 and beyond is positive. Major…
Earlier this year, Marathon Oil’s North Sea business was issued with an improvement notice after its failure to inspect the integrity of an 8in high-pressure pipe on its Brae Alpha facility. A failure in the pipe on 26 December 2016 resulted…
In 1975, the UK’s national oil company (NOC), BNOC, was formed. It didn’t last long, while others are still going strong. Alex Kemp takes a look at the whys and wherefores of NOCs. National oil companies have been in existence for many years…
Ultra-deepwater exploration on the Atlantic margin could be the opportunity the offshore industry is looking for, according to geoscience firm Spectrum. Elaine Maslin reports. Maersk Venturer drillship…
Mark Smith, Staci Stephenson and Brent Fergurson, of Oceaneering International, show how NASA’s neutral buoyancy lab is helping cut costs and cut risks involved in subsea initiatives. Deployment of MIL 27 ROV at the NBL…
Houston-based Seanic Ocean Systems has moved into a new deepwater hardware testing facility in Katy, Texas, just a few miles west of Houston’s Energy Corridor. The 5.5 acre facility features a large tank offering an alternative to the testing…
Kory Kinney, of IHS, takes a look at some of the projects underway in the US Gulf of Mexico. As we move through 2016, construction activity in the US Gulf of Mexico has begun dwindling…
Subsea boosting is coming under the spotlight, despite and also because of the current low oil price environment. Elaine Maslin reports from Subsea Expo and Subsea Valley. Omnirise ECM Subsea Boosting Pump System…
Tapping small fields and coming up with economic early production system solutions offers engineers an interesting challenge. Elaine Maslin reports. Amplus’ VPU. Image from Amplus. There…
Weatherford’s Snorre Lutnes examines managed pressure drilling applications across key regions. MPD deployment. Images from Weatherford. Once reserved as a last resort for wells defined as undrillable…