Late in the evening 20 April, an explosion rocked the deck of the Deepwater Horizon and set off a fire that raged for 36 hours before the Transocean semisubmersible plunged to the seafloor 5000ft below. As OE went to press, operator BP and other…
When the P-61 tension leg wellhead platform (TLWP) begins operations at Petrobras' Papa Terra offshore Brazil in 2013, it will be the new kid on the block in more ways than one. Not only will the deepwater unit be the first TLWP facility off Brazil…
Two recently published reports point to a speedy recovery for offshore E&P. The deepwater sector of the oil & gas business should recover quickly from the economic downturn and resume the growth the sector enjoyed before the recession, suggests a new report from Douglas-Westwood…
While operating in Brazil’s pre-salt region does require an array of technologies, Petrobras CEO Jose Gabrielli told a Houston lunch that a bigger challenge lies in meeting logistical demands for operating in deep waters offshore. During the Brazil-Texas Chamber of Commerce event in March…
With the offshore umbilicals market emerging from its recent slumbers and power cable demand from both the oil & gas and wind energy sectors picking up strongly, further expansion of Nexans’ Halden facility in Norway could well follow the current…
Deliberately designing pipelines to buckle – but in a controlled manner – is the Safebuck joint industry project team’s recommended solution to today’s ever more challenging deepwater pipeline requirements. And with most of the major operators already signed up for the JIP’s third and final phase…
Multiple zone single trip completion systems have been out there for quite some time. It wasn’t until the 1990s that Schlumberger started to invest in the time-saving aspects of single-trip multizone completions, Bryan Stamm, technology manager for Schlumberger’s sand control division…
Time is money, and deepwater means more time and more money. Operators, keen to minimize rig time, have been pushing for more efficient ways to complete wells with multiple zones. One method is to carry out multiple completions in one trip,…
Remediating plugged subsea lines in deep and ultra-deepwater is dangerous and time-consuming and can become extremely costly if coiled tubing or wireline intervention is required to resolve the problem. Champion Technologies’ Jeremy Lee describes…
BJ Services' new stimulation vessel built for deepwater wells, the Blue Dolphin, made a recent stop in Houston on its way to Louisiana, where it will be based while doing short-term contract work in the Gulf of Mexico. Russell McCulley was on…
In a development that could have far-reaching implications for oil & gas operators in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico, researchers last month released the findings of a two-year study that could help scientists better predict the behavior of the region’s powerful loop current and its eddies…
Why has the inhospitable West of Shetland region consistently bucked the trend of enhanced conservatism felt throughout the wider offshore market? And what is driving this activity? Infield Systems' Luke Davis, Gregory Brown and Dr Roger Knight…
The marine seismic industry chalked off 2009 as a year to forget, but Andrew McBarnet suggests that 2010 won't be a whole lot better.Making predictions is a mug's game. We all know it, but we all do it. And if you're in a business like marine seismic…