Lamar McKayLamar McKay has been chosen as Chief Executive of Upstream at BP, the company announced on 23 November 2012.McKay will lead BP's combined Upstream business, comprising the Exploration, Developments and Production divisions together with the Upstream strategy and integration team…
Aker Solutions has ended the process to acquire the Dubai-headquartered oil services company NPS Energy. Aker Solutions announced an agreement to buy the shares in NPS Energy on 21 May 2012. The agreement was conditional upon a series of parameters…
US Coast Guard PhotoA second worker has died of injuries sustained after a fire broke out on Black Elk Energy's production platform in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico, the Philippine Embassy in Washington D.C. announced on 23 November 2012.Baton…
US Coast Guard PhotoAfter 100 hours of search and rescue efforts, Black Elk Energy has ended its search for a missing worker who vanished following an explosion at its production platform offshore Louisiana on Friday, the company announced on 20 November…
Thomas DiNapoliChevron has filed a complaint with the New York State Joint Commission on Public Ethics against state comptroller Thomas DiNapoli in connection with the company's ongoing litigation in Ecuador, Chevron announced 20 November 2012…
Photo: BPA new discovery at BP's Savonette field offshore Trinidad has doubled the field's estimated reserves to 2Tcf, the supermajor announced on 19 November 2012.The Savonette 4 exploration well encountered an estimated 1Tcf of gas in two reservoir intervals…
Smit Lamnalco has renewed its marine support services contract with oil major Shell in Gabon, in a deal that has triggered investment in three auxiliary vessel newbuildings.The five year contract renewal extends an uninterrupted relationship…
The need to help small companies in a French offshore industry that has always punched above its weight was a key factor behind the recent amalgamation of the country’s leading oil & gas trade bodies. Meg Chesshyre reviews this and other talking points at the latest Subsea Europe gathering in Paris…
Robert Bachman, a friend and a distinguished reservoir engineer from Calgary, sent me an e-mail on 11 November 2011: ‘Michael, I am really looking forward to your comments on the Keystone debacle. You know as well as I do that the US has just stabbed their best friend in the back…
When a major operator with extensive holdings on the US Gulf of Mexico shelf wanted to scale back the use of divers while ramping up decommissioning and platform removal activities, it turned to contractor Versabar, the company behind the Bottom Feeder heavy lift system…
‘BW Offshore's Yùum K'ak' Náab FPSO has been producing Pemex' KMZ field in the Mexican sector of the Gulf of Mexico since 2007. BW is also supplying the first FPSO for the US sector of the Gulf of Mexico. The BW Pioneer is moored at Petrobras'…
Tullow has reached an agreement for 40% operating interest in Houston-based Hyperdynamics' offshore Guinea concession, the two companies announced on 20 November 2012.In late October, Tullow expressed interest in joining the concession. Hyperdynamics…
Photo: Harald Pettersen / StatoilProduction at Statoil's Hammerfest LNG plant in Melkøya was shut after a power failure on Monday, the company announced on 19 November 2012.The power went down just before 2:30 p.m. and remained down for approximately 20 minutes…
As 2011 drew to a close, yet another Deepwater Horizon report surfaced, this time from the National Academy of Engineering. Russell McCulley reports on the findings, as well as other late-year news involving ongoing legal wrangling between BP and its Macondo contractors…
China is on track to reach levels of oil use on par with today’s US demand by 2040, according to a new study by the James A Baker III Institute for Public Policy at Rice University in Houston.The study, The Rise of China and Its Energy Implications…