Worldwide utilization for the mobile offshore drilling fleet averaged 72% over the last month. Of late the global utilization rates for semisubmersibles have held steady at approximately 83% while rates for drillships have bounced around the mid-to-low 80% range…
McDermott picked up a Bentley Systems innovation in construction award at the infrastructure software provider’s recent ‘Be Inspired’ gathering in Amsterdam for the early delivery of the Su Tu Vang central processing platform at the Cuu Long project offshore Vietnam…
Things are stirring on the UK continental shelf if the attendance at last month’s Pilot Share Fair in Aberdeen is anything to go by. More than 1000 people, including Meg Chesshyre, turned out to hear from major operators and contractors about their strategies for future North Sea projects…
The days may be numbered for resource nationalism, Robert Johnson told the Houston World Affairs Council at the Mayer Brown offices late October. ‘Not every country is equally capable of exercising a campaign of resource nationalism,’ said Johnson…
Merger and acquisition activity in the US oil & gas sector picked up steam 3Q 2010, despite ongoing uncertainty about business in the Gulf of Mexico, reported PricewaterhouseCoopers.For the three-month period ending 30 September, there were…
The overhaul of the reservoir model of the giant Forties oilfield – from data management to full field simulation – is described here by operator Apache North Sea’s Jeffery Pyle and Schlumberger’s Gordy Shanor.Production from the Forties field began in 1975…
With a Norwegian sector breakthrough in the area of subsea gas compression very much on the cards for the next year or two, Statoil last month reaffirmed the case for compression in the Åsgard area while one the key vendors targeting this technology…
During the Cold War, leaders recognized that a robust energy supply was a sign of power, economic strength and prosperity. But now, two decades on, there appears to be an unquestionable sign of ‘change’ – and it’s not necessarily change for the better for the US…
Post-Macondo efforts to improve well containment capabilities on both sides of the Atlantic moved into higher gear last month.In the US it was confirmed that Technip will handle front- end engineering and design of a proposed subsea well containment…
It’s amazing how little it takes for perspective on a business to change more or less overnight and be seen through a completely fresh set of lenses. Andrew McBarnet reviews some surprising developments.A month or so ago at the annual meeting…
A configuration change-up on traditional spars could spell out some relief in wind load, drop the unit’s center of gravity, slim down the hull, and cut the amount of tripping time needed for drilling operations from a spar. OE’s Jennifer Pallanich…
Don’t expect much action on legislative items of interest to the US oil & gas industry before the next Congress is sworn in early 2011. That was the word from King & Spalding senior government relations advisor George Crawford, who spoke to…
Offshore topsides must be light enough to be economical, yet big and robust to contain all the drilling and production equipment needed to develop the field. Alliance Engineering’s Norb Roobaert argues that there is no need to compromise safety…
LNG business took a hit last year as the economic downturn put the brakes on global natural gas demand just as US shale gas output started to surge. Infield Systems’ Peter Kiernan reviews the changing gas market fundamentals and assesses the…
Global upstream capital spending should rebound this year, according to IHS Herold director Nicholas Cacchione, author of the research firm’s 2010 Global Upstream Performance Review, released last month. ‘In North America, E&P investment increased 30% in the first half of 2010…
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