A London arbitration tribunal has ordered offshore drilling company Pacific Drilling to pay $320 million to Samsung Heavy Industries for a 2015 drillship order cancellation.Pacific Drilling had ordered the Pacific Zonda ultra-deepwater drillship from Samsung in 2013…
A new high-definition dual-imaging-while-drilling service from Schlumberger has been introduced to overcome geomechanics-related challenges and provide geological characterization in real time.The new service, TerraSphere, introduced at the…
Seadrill Partners, the deep-water drilling contractor for the petroleum industry, has received an early termination notice from an unnamed operator for the West Vencedor rig contract offshore Ivory Coast.The contract was expected to start in 3Q 2019…
Offshore driller Odfjell Drilling plans to recruit more than 200 personnel as it adds two new semisubmersible drilling rigs to its fleet.The Norwegian-headquartered company, which will mobilize the two sixth generation semisubmersibles for drilling…
Australian producer Santos announced Tuesday that it has achieved first oil from the Van Gogh infill project, marking the completion of a two-well program to increase production from the field.The Santos-operated Van Gogh field is one of three…
While the late 2018 oil price swoon has put a damper on an otherwise positive year for offshore energy markets, Transocean Ltd. (NYSE: RIG) ends the year on a positive, signing a construction management contract, as well as a five-year drilling contract with Chevron USA…
Norwegian multinational energy company Equinor Energy has made discovery containing up to 24billion cubic feet of gas in the Barents Sea. Two exploration targets were found, with the first containing between 10 and 20billion cubic feet, the other between one and four billion…
This week, China Merchants Heavy Industries (CMHI) awarded Huisman a contract for the engineering and fabrication of a drilling system which will be integrated and installed on the moored drilling semi-submersible constructed at CMHI Haimen…
Norway’s Petroleum Safety Authority (PSA) has given Statoil consent to use the Songa Equinox mobile drilling facility to drill well 31/2-S-24 AY1H on the Troll field. Songa Equinox. Image from Songa Offshore…
CIMC Raffles has started sea trials for the ultra-deepwater drilling rig Blue Whale II, following the completion equipment testing. The sea trials are expected to last for three weeks. Designed to operate in water depths of 3658m and drill to depths of up to 15…
Lundin Petroleum's latest appraisal well on the Gohta field, in the Barents Sea, has had disappointing results, resulting in a downgrade in the field's resource estimate. Appraisal well 7120/1-5, in PL492, was 4km north of the original…
There’s a growing acceptance of MPD in offshore operations, but are all options being considered? Jerry Lee examines the RFC-HSE variation. AFGlobal’s riser gas handling system is integrated with…
CIMC Offshore Co., a wholly-owned subsidiary of China International Marine Containers (CIMC) Co., intends to partner with Shenzhen Mangrove Venture Capital Co. and China Industrial International Trust Co. to jointly establish Tianjin Lanshui…
Dutch vessel designer GustoMSC has unveiled a new mid-water drillship design, the Scylax. The 'fit-for-purpose' vessel is described as a compact deep water drilling unit based on a single derrick or drilling mast set up with off-line stand building…
Aquaterra Energy and Plexus Holdings have developed a light weight, dual barrier high-pressure high-temperature (HPHT) riser system which can be deployed by a jackup as an alternative to semisubmersible installation for HPHT well operations…