Aberdeen-based deepwater buoyancy, insulation and elastomer product specialist Balmoral Offshore Engineering introduced two additions to its drill riser buoyancy portfolio. The new syntactic foams, Durafloat Superlite and Durafloat Superlite-X…
GE Oil & Gas introduced its next-generation technology for shearing and sealing wellbore tubulars at OTC 2012. The new Blind Shear Ram, designed for use in GE’s 183/4in ram BOPs, is claimed capable of both shearing and sealing after cutting 65/8in tool joints…
FMC Technologies, flying high on two OTC ‘spotlights on technology’ this year for its advancements in the subsea separation arena, discussed the two projects – Marlim and Pazflor – that earned this recognition.The subsea oil-water separation…
OE's latest review of deepwater subsea tieback projects ongoing in the Gulf of Mexico shows the region is still suffering from the after-effects of the drilling moratorium that followed in the April 2010 Macondo disaster's wake. Jennifer Pallanich…
A mechanical issue detected early last year with the production riser system on Anadarko’s Caesar/Tonga development in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico had the potential to substantially delay production from this 10-mile subsea tieback to the Constitution spar…
With the basin-opening Jubilee field and other oil and natural gas condensate discoveries, Kosmos Energy and its partners have placed Ghana on the deepwater oil & gas map. The company is now franchising its exploration strategy and aims to open…
Technology is a key enabler for Shell, Matthias Bichsel, director of the supermajor’s Projects & Technology business, told a two-day briefing at the Rijswijk technology centre in The Hague this spring. Meg Chesshyre joined the tour of the company’s iScope…
ENSCO 8505, the sixth in a series of seven ultra-deepwater semisubmersibles, recently arrived in Texas for final trials before launching a two-year stint under contract to Anadarko, Apache and Noble Energy in the Gulf of Mexico. Russell McCulley was on hand in Corpus Christi…
While the Q4000, star of the Macondo response,was in dock recently for some much-deserved TLC, Helix Energy Solutions Group chairman and CEO Owen Kratz spoke with analysts about the company’s bet on a burgeoning well intervention market and…
Low creep synthetic ropes made from high modulus polyethylene (HMPE) hold the key to overcoming the engineering and installation issues facing naval architects and installation contractors arising from ultra-deepwater, permanent moorings. Lankhorst…
The offshore division of mooring rope specialist Lankhorst Ropes is unveiling a new ultra-low creep, high modulus polyethylene (HMPE) mooring rope for 2000m-plus water depths at OTC 2012 in Houston.Based on the Lankhorst Gama 98 rope construction…
Subsea has moved from being the outlier to being ‘one of the core ways of us doing our business’, Chevron’s Peter Blake told the recent Subsea 2012 conference in Aberdeen. He expects the company’s net operated subsea production, currently in the region of 600…
One portion of the Golden Triangle – the Gulf of Mexico – has slipped a notch in its dominance of the global deepwater play while activities in the other two corners – West Africa and Brazil – amped up. In addition, a new region has joined the report this year…
The era of the oil & gas industry is not over. Predictions for global energy demand can’t be met without an increasing utilization of petroleum recourses. And when many thought our industry was in decline, elephant discoveries in the North Sea…
We are moving away from being subsea plumbers into people who are deeply integrated into the full value chain of the subsea production system,’ Peter Blake, subsea systems manager with Chevron Technology Company, told Subsea 2012 attendees. In the past…