Rosneft CEO Igor Sechin addressed the International Petroleum (IP) Week forum in London, stating that the oil markets are in a fairly acute crisis. Image from Rosneft. “In the second half of 2014 there was a drop in oil prices…
With the discovery of deepwater pre-salt reservoirs offshore Brazil, national operator Petrobras began complex drilling operations to uncork the massive hydrocarbon reserves under these salt layers, which acted as seals, preventing the oil and gas from escaping…
US oilfield services giant Weatherford has joined its big three competitors in announcing a headcount reduction amounting to thousands as the industry faces cut backs into 2015. Weatherford says it is targeting a 5000 cut in staff, more than 85% of which will be in the Western Hemisphere…
Jerry Lee reports on new guidelines for managed pressure drilling operations due out this year from both ABS and API. Pacific Drilling’s Pacific Santa Ana drillship, classed by ABS, has been outfitted…
Orderbooks reflect reined-in spending based on conservative near-term oil price estimates. ABS’ James Graf sets out the detail. MODU new construction projects through 4Q/14. Source: ABS. Weak demand…
Over supply of oil, diminishing returns and an increasing rig fleet will challenge rig operators in 2015. Rystad Energy’s Joachim Bjørni and Oddmund Føre look for a ray of light. Graphs from Rystad. Throughout 2014…
President Obama’s fiscal year 2016 budget request for the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) is US$204.7 million, providing robust support that will enable BSEE to keep pace with industry activity and the technology developments…
ConocoPhillips has started drilling on the third well in its Barossa area exploration campaign, Barossa-4, in the Bonaparte basin, offshore Australia's Northern Territory. The latest well follows the Barossa-3 appraisal well…
Harland and Wolff (H&W) have won a contract award for dry docking and renewal/ special periodic survey of the Byford Dolphin mobile offshore drilling unit (MODU) from Aberdeen based Dolphin Drilling. Following on the successful completion of its sister rig the Blackford Dolphin in 2014…
The first new-build semisubmersible drilling rig incorporating Wood Group Mustang Norway's (WGMN's) GG5000 floating hull design has been delivered to COSL Drilling Europe (CDE). The COSLProspector was designed to operate in water depths up to 1500m (5000 feet) and drill wells up to 7600m (25…
Schnitger President Monica Schnitger urged oil and gas companies to explore and exploit the latest technologies to have successful projects at the 2014 Bentley Systems Year in Infrastructure conference. Meg Chesshyre has more. “I’m…
Northern Offshore International Drilling Co. is in the midst of filing a US$50 million claim against Camac Energy for canceling the Energy Searcher drilling contract earlier this month. The Energy Searcher…
Depressed oil prices are going to make 2015 a challenging year as the “industry adjusts to the new realities,” rig, engineering and fabrication firm Lamprell has said. The Dubai-based company had an “exceptionally strong” 2014, with…
Mexican national oil company, Petróleos Mexicanos (Pemex) took delivery of its first of two KFELS B Class jackup rigs from Singapore’s Keppel FELS. The Yunuen jackup. From Keppel. The…
Controls, instrumentation, monitoring and handling systems firm EFC Group has been awarded contracts with major oil and gas drilling contractor companies to the value of £3.65 million. The company has already completed two BOP control system contracts with Ensco worth more £1…