A new steel wire rope plant is taking shape for Kiswire on the Malaysian coast with the present and future needs of the offshore industry very much in mind.Of the 130,000t of wire rope the company already produces annually, some 30,000t is…
Aberdeen stalwart Balmoral Offshore Engineering already has a business unit trading under that name in Brazil. Now the company is preparing to take the next major step, setting up a manufacturing facility in the region. Meg Chesshyre reports…
The focus on Latin American deepwater activity naturally gravitates to the headline-grabbing pre-salt region offshore Brazil. But other areas in Latin American deep waters are worth noting, as Jennifer Pallanich explains.Petrobras' discovery…
The name Petrobras these days invokes thoughts of large, pre-salt discoveries, for good reason. Since announcing the Tupi pre-salt find in 2006, the Brazilian operator has made giant strides in developing and refining the technology needed to find and produce the oil hiding beneath the salt layer…
Long content to remain under the radar, Louisiana's LLOG is set to make a big splash with its first Gulf of Mexico deepwater development using a floating production system. Russell McCulley joins LLOG officials at the company's new digs north of New Orleans to talk about the Who Dat project…
In 2010, ShawCor picked up an OTC Spotlight on Technology award for its Thermotite Ultra pipe insulation coating system. That summer, two of the company's divisions, Bredero Shaw and Bredero Shaw FJS, put the technology to use on a reeled pipeline…
As an indicator of the health of the oil & gas industry, attendance at May's Offshore Technology Conference in Houston suggests that recovery from the global recession is well underway. OE looks back over some of the sights and sounds of OTC 2011…
Earlier this year, Douglas-Westwood forecast † the industry will spend $139 billion on subsea hardware 2011-15, a 23% jump on the previous five years, with the deepwater Golden Triangle inevitably dominating the anticipated spend. Despite the trials and tribulations of the past year…
Managed pressure drilling methodologies evolved over the years to address operational and economic problems inherent to conventional circulating systems that are open to the atmosphere. Most recently, the advanced closed-loop technology has swept into deepwater operations to help reduce risk…
High-modulus polyethylene ropes for deepwater mooring were first trialled 10 years ago, but despite promising early results subsequent problems with excessive creep stalled their application. A decade on, the situation has improved to the point…
Pulse Structural Monitoring, a recent offshoot from 2H Offshore, is gearing up post Macondo to provide what it claims is the most comprehensive drilling riser monitoring service on the market, as Bill Clewes reports.Despite its environmental impact…
Ahead of the September launch of its second offshore licensing round, Uruguayan national oil company Ancap opened up a Houston data room in February in hopes of whetting IOC appetites. Jennifer Pallanich paid it an early visit.Uruguay Round II has fair bidding terms according to Santiago Ferro…
Coring practices and equipment used in the Gulf of Mexico's Lower Tertiary needed to adapt to formation conditions to improve on past recovery success. Petrobras' James Meyer opens OE's drilling & completion technology two-parter with a review…
Exploration and production at greater depths and a heightened emphasis on safety could mean even bigger roles for ROVs in offshore operations. Experts say the machines are not just up for the challenge, but ahead of the game. Russell McCulley reports…
A decade and a half after its Mars TLP started production, Shell is gearing up for the Mars B development and its centerpiece, the Olympus TLP. Russell McCulley talks to Robert Patterson, Shell VP upstream major projects for the Americas, about…