Utilization trends for the worldwide mobile offshore drilling fleet are slightly depressed of late. Overall utilization dipped to an average of 69% last month. Global utilization rates for semis are 78%, below the average for the prior six month period of 82%…
Turbulent times in the oil & gas sector will be the backdrop for this year's two premier offshore industry events – Houston's annual Offshore Technology Conference in May and Aberdeen's SPE Offshore Europe gathering in September. But that's…
‘Securing Safe, Smart, Sustainable Supply' is the highly alliterative theme for this year's Offshore Europe conference, to be held in Aberdeen 6-8 September. It will be chaired by Amec chief executive Samir Brikho.--It is not just about having energy…
In the wake of the July 1988 Piper Alpha disaster in the UK North Sea, the Cullen Report introduced a risk management approach to offshore safety, making the production and maintenance of a risk-based ‘safety case' a legal requirement for every UKCS offshore facility…
The Marin Subsea asset recovery team was recently called in to recover a blowout preventer and lower marine riser package from 488m of water in Brazil. Within 20 minutes of the initial phone call, the Marin team had made a preliminary assessment…
China constantly shakes many of the world's beliefs, for better or worse, from its economic growth to trade to human rights. There is no doubt that China will become before not too long the world's dominant economic power. It also provides an additional…
A 2000ft plume of volcanic ash from Iceland's Eyjafjallajökull brought chaos and confusion to European airspace last year. North Sea offshore helicopter operators are accustomed to dealing high winds, driving rain and freezing fog, but how did they cope with this new phenomenon…
A week after the long-awaited release of a presidential commission’s report on the Macondo disaster, US Interior secretary Ken Salazar announced the latest moves in the reorganization of the agency that oversees offshore oil & gas activities…
Floating systems consultant Peter Lovie pinpoints some of the perils of speculative FPS building and wonders if the practice may now have become just too risky for operators or contractors to consider.In the service vessel business and in the…
A new international offshore contracting giant, with a market cap above $5.5 billion, backlog of $5.3 billion and over 12,000 employees, came into being last month with the combination of Acergy SA and Subsea 7 Inc. Meg Chesshyre looks at the rationale behind this high-profile marriage…
The old rivalry between ROV pilots and divers appears to be breaking down, as both sides recognize the considerable benefits of working together. Russell McCulley referees.--'When I started, it was taboo to even get near an ROV,' says Michael Johnson…
Even in an industry that thinks in decades, seconds count. As such, employees are seeking ways to speed up certain processes, such as collaboration. Once reserved for in-person visits and meetings, employees can now consult with one another through myriad means…
Jose Antonio Meade Kuribreña has been appointed Mexico's energy minister and chairman of the state oil company Pemex. Previously Mexico's deputy finance minister, Meade replaces Georgina Kessel, who had served as energy minister under President Felipe Calderón since 2006…
Cape Wind clears another hurdleThe Cape Wind offshore wind power project in January received a final permit from the US Environmental Protection Agency to begin construction of the first US offshore wind farm. The agency's approval came a…
With a year of incident-free operation in West Africa under their belt, Steve Douglas and David Brittan reckon combining the first CrewZer-class vessel with the latest Frog transfer devices has produced arguably the industry's safest crew supply…
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