Continuous registration of vessel traffic above pipelines via the proposed Automatic Identification System (AIS) represents a significant improvement on pipeline operators' emergency response to possible mechanical damage, says Jens Erik Thygesen…
Five Ashtech ProFlex 500 GNSS receivers are helping guide the operations of the self-propelled offshore wind turbine installation vessel Bard Wind Lift I during construction of the first commercial wind farm in the German North Sea. The GNSS receivers are used for the jackup's every manoeuvre…
Following a recent flurry of new contracts, Marine Subsea UK is currently carrying out a multi-client well abandonment programme for a number of North Sea operators. Managing director Alasdair Cowie talks to Meg Chesshyre about how he sees the multiclient approach as the way forward…
Macondo mattersSir, OE's article by Ian Fitzsimmons on preventing future Macondo spills [‘Macondo and other titanic struggles', OE July] was excellent and I distributed a copy to my colleagues both in EIA and DOE. The recommendations made…
Newly merged contractors Royal Boskalis Westminster and Smit Internationale got a foretaste of the operational synergies expected to stem from this move when their activities coincided earlier this year in the Strait of Magellan at the remote southernmost tip of Argentina…
With the UK poised to introduce an offshore carbon storage licensing regime, a process and design optimisation specialist and an Aberdeen-headquartered engineering, construction, operations maintenance and project management group are planning…
Gas is part of the solution to the global energy challenge says Brian Bjordal, president and CEO of Gassco, whose throughput of gas has doubled in just ten years. Meg Chesshyre reports.On the positive side, notes Bjordal, there are significant…
Engineering and building production facilities in-house not only saves money but can also give offshore suppliers a sizeable market edge. That's been the case, and not for the first time, at Moerdijk-based offshore steel wire ropes, cable-laid…
BP has come under fierce criticism for its response to the Macondo blowout, a months-long saga of top hats, riser insertion tools and other containment efforts that only began collecting a significant portion of the oil spilling into the Gulf several weeks after the event…
Increased uncertainties about operating in ultra-deepwater typically result in over-designed production systems with resulting increased costs. Prasanna Parthasarathy and Kellin Nelson of MSi Kenny and Shell's Howard Littell discuss how high…
The Macondo oil spill will have a lasting impact, but not the same repercussions on the petroleum industry that the Three Mile Island accident had on the nuclear industry. So said Douglas Becker, director oil services & equipment, global research for Bank of America…
Andrew McBarnet detects a shift of emphasis in the marketing of marine seismic.The marine seismic industry is well used to the cyclical nature of its operations, but could currently be described as being in something of a state of limbo. This…
Ultimately, the life of existing offshore assets will have to be extended, safely and reliably, and balancing production against integrity requires a comprehensive understanding of those assets and the use of management strategies that engage employees at all levels…
Chemical tracers have long been used to keep tabs on what is going on in a reservoir, such as characterizing injection water flow through the reservoir, and to determine what type of fluid is flowing from a certain location along the well. Jennifer…
Boosting recoveryThe HiWay flow-channel hydraulic fracturing technique, formally released by Schlumberger late June, is designed to maximize production and hydrocarbon recovery through the creation of open flow channels within the propped fracture…