Holstein | Photo: SeatraxPlains Exploration takes reins on Gulf assets Plains Exploration and Production (PXP) has closed on $6.1 billion worth of Gulf of Mexico assets belonging to BP and Shell, the company announced on 30 November 2012…
Tullow has reached an agreement for 40% operating interest in Houston-based Hyperdynamics' offshore Guinea concession, the two companies announced on 20 November 2012.In late October, Tullow expressed interest in joining the concession. Hyperdynamics…
An offshore oil and gas processor needed a full processing installation on the seabed, but first needed to prove that multiphase fluids – oil, gas, brine, sand and more – could be pumped in deep water. After careful review, the company settled…
Burdened by high drilling costs, lower success rates and smaller discoveries relative to other regions, not to mention post-Macondo regulatory changes, the deepwater Gulf of Mexico will nevertheless draw $70 billion in investment over the next two decades…
Some notable heavy oil projects offshore Brazil are entering advanced phases to increase or maintain production. Russell McCulley reports from Rio de Janeiro on the latest developments at three Campos Basin fields – Statoil’s Peregrino, Petrobras’…
As offshore operators get into deeper waters and develop more mature oil & gas fields using more complex well architectures, continuous downhole injection of chemicals is increasingly required to manage challenges such as scale formation or asphaltene precipitation within the wellbore…
'In two to three years' time we could be looking at data speeds of 1Gbps.' Derek RobertsonThe development of subsea controls over the past 30 years, and trends for the future, were reviewed as part of a subsea technology day held in Aberdeen last month by Aker Solutions…
Rising day rates and demand for drilling in deepwater environments are helping the offshore drilling sector recover from not just the global economic gloom of recent years but also the post-Macondo drilling moratorium in the US. According to…
Citing a ‘renewed culture of safety' taking hold in the offshore oil & gas industry, the co-chairman of the presidential commission set up to investigate the Macondo disaster told attendees at the March CeraWeek conference in Houston that the…
As a number of Caribbean nations set sights on developing potential deepwater reserves, concerns have surfaced about the region’s ability to respond to a Macondo-style subsea leak. The topic is especially prominent in a swath of sea where tourists…
Oil seeps at Chevron’s Frade field nearly a year ago have led Brazilian regulator ANP to assess millions in fines against Chevron and ultimately halted output at the troubled Campos Basin field. In November 2011, Chevron P&A’d an appraisal well…
Brazil’s oil & gas potential continues to grab the industry headlines, with Petrobras confirming more than a score of offshore discoveries, most of them deepwater, in the last 18 months alone. Newcomer OGX confirmed a number of discoveries too…
The 2012 release of the deepwater knowledge base, ReservoirKB, has been announced by global energy consulting firm Knowledge Reservoir. Hailed as ‘the most comprehensive knowledge base for exploration and appraisal geoscientists and engineers in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico region’…
The worldwide mobile offshore drilling fleet has seen modest but steady increases in utilization since the beginning of the year. Currently, worldwide utilization stands at 78% whereas at the start of the year it was hovering around 73%.Recently…
Purpose-built to match the evolving needs of deepwater subsea developments, the Seven Borealis promises to set a new benchmark in the subsea world. Terry Knott was invited to visit the vessel as it neared completion in the Netherlands.When Subsea…