The UK's The Welding Institute (TWI) has started a new project to advance the decommissioning of offshore structures thru use of remote underwater laser cutting. Over the next 30 years, some 600 fixed steel structures and 3000 pipelines will need removing from the North Sea…
Independent Oil and Gas (IOG) has been awarded a license in the Oil and Gas Authority's 2016 Supplementary Offshore Oil and Gas Licensing Round. The license, comprising Block 48/25a, includes the western part of the Vulcan North West…
Royal Dutch Shell encountered hydrocarbons in the initial Whale exploration well in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico. Noble Globetrotter I. Image from Huisman. The well was safety…
ExxonMobil is preparing exploration activities offshore Suriname, after signing a production sharing contract (PSC) with Suriname’s national oil company Staatsolie Maatschappij Suriname NV for deepwater Block 59. Image from Exxon…
Map of Anchor, from Chevron. Houston’s Cobalt International Energy has entered into a definitive agreement with its co-owners in the Anchor development to unitize and include Cobalt’s…
The US Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) has approved Eni’s exploration plan (EP) to drill four wildcats at the company’s Spy Island Drillsite (SID) in the Beaufort Sea. Map of Spy Island…
Providence Resources and its partners on the Barryroe field offshore Ireland have been given a two-year license extension as the firm continues its farm-out efforts. Barryroe is in Standard Exploration License (SEL) and is operated by Providence subsidiary Exola DAC (80%)…
The Oil and Gas Authority (OGA) has offered for award 12 licenses to 11 companies, including Statoil, BP, Shell, Maersk, Apache and EnQuest in the 2016 Supplementary Offshore Licensing Round. Fourteen blocks were originally on offer in this Supplementary Round…
Lundin Petroleum's latest well on the Alta field in the southern Barents Sea has confirmed reservoir communication and qualities. Lundin is now planning a sidetrack well, which will help to plan for the drilling of a horizontal well for use as in an extended well test…
Ophir Energy is expecting to have the Fortuna FLNG project final investment decision (FID) off Equatorial Guinea settled in the coming months, as the company moves to decrease costs by cutting 15% of its global workforce. Thailand operations…
Trendsetter Engineering has successfully completed live well operations with their new 15,000 psi subsea hydraulic intervention system (referred to as STIM). Trendsetter's STIM. Image from Trendsetter…
Emerson Automation Solutions has launched the latest version of its reservoir characterization and modeling software, Roxar RMS 10.1. RMS 10.1. Image from Emerson. Through even…
Eni has increased its estimate of resources in place at the Amoca field offshore Mexico to 1 billion boe, following a successful appraisal well that is prompting the Italian giant to accelerate its development plan. Map from Eni…
Royal Dutch Shell will exit upstream operations in Ireland with the sale of its Corrib gas field stake to a Canadian pension fund. Source: Shell The sale is part of the company’s strategy to reshape itself through a three-year…
Statoil has gained more stake offshore Brazil, following a US$379 million deal with Queiroz Galvão Exploração e Produção (QGEP) to acquire QGEP’s 10% interest in the BM-S-8 license in the Santos basin. Map of BM-S-8…