A new design for nuclear plants built on floating platforms, modeled after those used in the offshore oil and gas industry, has been created by professors at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). They say such a design could help avoid the disaster at Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant…
Russian President Vladimir Putin hailed Russia's first shipment of Arctic offshore oil today. Gazprom Neft, the oil arm of Russia's top gas producer Gazprom, shipped the first 70,000 tonnes of oil by tanker from the Prirazlomnoye platform…
The Arctic Research and Design Center, a joint venture between Rosneft and ExxonMobil, has started its Kara-Winter 2014 Expedition to assess ice conditions in the Laptev, Kara, and East-Siberian Seas. The expedition, which has support…
Dragon Oil says drilling on the Cheleken Contract Area in Turkmenistan has been delayed and will be weighted towards H2 this year, with a total 14-16 wells due to be drilled. The Cheleken Contract Area covers about 950sq km and comprises two offshore oil and gas fields…
AGR's software solutions division had signed its first contract with Sakhalin Energy. The three-year deal includes the latest version of AGR's P1 software, as well as maintenance and support services. The software allows operators to maximize performance during well-construction projects…
US rakes in $850million for lease sale The US Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) received 380 bids for 326blocks in the central Gulf of Mexico, totaling more than US $850 million. Gulf of Mexico Lease Sale 231 attracted operators to bison almost 40 million acres…
Lukoil Overseas completed drilling on its first offshore exploration well, Capitaine East-1X, at block CI-101 in the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire, the Russian company announced 2 April 2014. The well penetrated through 140m of sandstone from a Turonian formation…
KTR-WG Turbine Services LLP (KTR-WG), a joint venture between Wood Group GTS and KazTurboRemont (KTR), has been awarded a long-term service agreement by the North Caspian Production Operating Company (NCPOC) in Kazakhstan. The joint venture…
A rendering of Kirinskoye's subsea processor, a first for a Russian company. Sarah Parker Musarra examines the offshore developments that helped make 2013 a banner year for Russia's Gazprom. Located…
Schematic of the Arctic surface circulation including the Transpolar Driftal. The Siberian shelves are vast and shallow, seasonally ice-covered, and receive more than 80% of the Arctic freshwater input…
Global oil majors continue to lobby concessions for opertations on the Russian Arctic shelf; Eugene Gerden reports. Amid the fierce critics from the global environment organizations, the Russian government continues to create conditions…
Greenpeace has said five of its 14 activists have scaled the West Alpha semisubmersible drilling rig offshore Norway in protest against ExxonMobil’s plans to drill in the Russian Arctic. The protest has been staged on the 25th anniversary of the Exxon Valdez oil spill…
Keppel Offshore & Marine’s subsidiaries have secured contracts worth about US$110 million in total. Keppel Shipyard will, for SOFEC Inc., fabricate an external turret mooring system for an FPSO vessel that will operate in the Tweneboa-Enyenra-Ntomme fields in Ghana…
Germany’s RWE Aktiengesellschaft has conditionally agreed to sell its exploration and production firm subsidiary RWE Dea AG to Russian-backed LetterOne Group for about Euro 5.1 billion (US$7 billion). LetterOne was founded last year as an investment vehicle…
Germany-based crude oil and natural gas producer is planning to divest its shareholding in the Eastern German company Verbundnetz Gas AG (VNG) as part of its strategy to concentrate on the upstream sector. A 24 March agreement will see EWE Aktiengesellschaft take over Wintershall’s 15…