Making more sense of pipe handlingNorway's TTS Sense has developed an advanced pipe handling machine named SmartRacker, following the award to the company of a contract to supply an entire drilling package to two advanced newbuild jackups…
GDF Suez takes over as operator of Gjøa when the field comes onstream in October. The project comprises a semisubmersible platform with subsea tiebacks, and is also expected to be a hub in the future. Meg Chesshyre opens this month's Scandinavian…
Within days of sister company Heerema Fabrication Group handing over the largest offshore deck ever built in the Netherlands, Heerema Marine Contractors was announcing plans to diversify its installation fleet with a multirole monohull vessel…
Subsea trenching is not seen as one of the offshore industry's most glamorous or challenging activities – what could be more straightforward than digging in the dirt? In truth, however, it is far easier to lose money trenching than to make it…
Increased uncertainties about operating in ultra-deepwater typically result in over-designed production systems with resulting increased costs. Prasanna Parthasarathy and Kellin Nelson of MSi Kenny and Shell's Howard Littell discuss how high…
Boosting recoveryThe HiWay flow-channel hydraulic fracturing technique, formally released by Schlumberger late June, is designed to maximize production and hydrocarbon recovery through the creation of open flow channels within the propped fracture…
With a major Russian Arctic contract already in the bag for next year, the Tideway Group is looking at early payback on its €115 million investment in the industry's first ice-class fallpipe rockdump vessel.Dubbed Flintstone, the DP2 vessel…
New view for crane operatorsClaxton's new EEx-rated crane boom rig camera helps rig crane operators monitor the area beneath the crane boom, where loads can often be moved into 'blind' areas not visible from the crane's cab.Claxton, an Acteon company…
Ultra-deep Perdido pumpsThe Centrilift XP enhanced run-life electrical submersible pump (ESP) systems with which Baker Hughes outfitted the pioneering subsea boosting stations at Shell's Perdido field are being hailed as the only subsea pumping systems qualified for Perdido's 8000ft water depths…
The Underwater Centre in Fort William, Scotland, has been an influential training provider for commercial divers and ROV pilots in the offshore oil & gas sector for many years. Now, with a little more investment, the facility believes it can…
A set of international standards for a wide selection of vital oil & gas industry materials, equipment and offshore structures is emerging from the International Standards Organization (ISO). OE reviews some of the latest developments in this area…
Rotary steerable successBaker Hughes deployed its AutoTrak rotary steerable system to successfully drill four directional wells in the Gulf of Mexico’s South Timbalier area, including one well that reached total depth nearly five days ahead of schedule…
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…
‘Innovation Now’ was the over arching theme of the 11th GE Oil & Gas annual meeting held in Florence early February.Meg Chesshyre was among the 930 industry attendees from 69 countries.--GE Oil & Gas’ Drilling & Production division confirmed…
With an offshore network of over 7000 production platforms, 180,000km of pipelines and 40,000 producer wells already installed, the global offshore operations & maintenance market could be worth more than $330 billion over the next five years - and…