Conventional solids control methods are inadequate to manage low-gravity solids smaller than 8-10 microns. M-I Swaco’s Rich Cook discusses a new solution, recently successfully employed in West Africa, that helps manage these solids while keeping excess rig space to a minimum…
BP in late August was in the final stages of permanently plugging the deepwater Gulf of Mexico Macondo exploration well, which spilled nearly 5 million barrels of oil between the 20 April blowout that destroyed the Deepwater Horizon rig and mid-July…
Finally, some sanity has surfaced in Europe on the subject of climate change and it is from a real scientific heavyweight to boot. Rarely have I found a book* so elegantly simple and yet compelling. Christian Gerondeau, a very well known French scientist and engineer…
When the ideal coiled tubing string for a sleeve-shifting operation was too heavy for the platform crane, the string was split and then rejoined offshore. BJ Services’ Godwin Effiong and Greg Dean explain how they kept the job safe.Efficiency…
The six-month US moratorium on deepwater drilling following the Deepwater Horizon tragedy, along with tougher regulations and higher liability costs likely to follow, could put the squeeze on independent operators in the Gulf of Mexico. Russell McCulley talks to one company that's pushing back…
OE ’s analysis of current rig market data is updated monthly using statistics provided by Rigzone.comWorldwide utilization for the mobile offshore drilling fleet continues to hover in the 74-76% range. The recent softness seen in utilization…
Shell's solution for dealing with the heavy oil at the low-energy BC-10 concession offshore Brazil – caisson separator electrical submersible pumps - is working ‘outstandingly' well according to the field's project manager. Jennifer Pallanich…
The pre-salt Tupi field may claim most of the interest when it comes to oil activity offshore Brazil, but plenty is going on along the large country's coastline. In the last two months, Petrobras has brought online two fields, updated its files…
Cape Wind clears another hurdleAnother challenge to its long-delayed quest to become the US’s first offshore wind farm was successfully fought off by Cape Wind as federal regulators in August upheld an earlier decision that said the project posed no threat to airways…
Matthew Simmons, an energy investment banker and peak oil alarmist who in recent years was a strong advocate of renewable energy, died on 8 August at his home near Rockland, Maine. He was 67.In the 2005 book Twilight in the Desert: The Coming Saudi Oil Shock and the World Economy…
Macondo mattersSir, OE's article by Ian Fitzsimmons on preventing future Macondo spills [‘Macondo and other titanic struggles', OE July] was excellent and I distributed a copy to my colleagues both in EIA and DOE. The recommendations made…
Newly merged contractors Royal Boskalis Westminster and Smit Internationale got a foretaste of the operational synergies expected to stem from this move when their activities coincided earlier this year in the Strait of Magellan at the remote southernmost tip of Argentina…
With the UK poised to introduce an offshore carbon storage licensing regime, a process and design optimisation specialist and an Aberdeen-headquartered engineering, construction, operations maintenance and project management group are planning…
Gas is part of the solution to the global energy challenge says Brian Bjordal, president and CEO of Gassco, whose throughput of gas has doubled in just ten years. Meg Chesshyre reports.On the positive side, notes Bjordal, there are significant…
Engineering and building production facilities in-house not only saves money but can also give offshore suppliers a sizeable market edge. That's been the case, and not for the first time, at Moerdijk-based offshore steel wire ropes, cable-laid…
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