US oil major Chevron has picked up a new exploration permit in a 'gas-rich' part of the Carnarvon Basin, offshore western Australia. Chevron paid US$2.3 million (A$3 million) for the cash bid permit WA-526-P, which will last six years…
A multi-skilled team of north east-England based subsea engineering experts has made it to the semifinals of Shell's US$7 million Ocean Discovery XPrize. XPrize is an international competition which aims to create the next generation tools…
UK-based semisubmersible rig operator Awilco Drilling has said global floater fleet utilization could finally start to recover from 2018. The firm says the decline in exploration and production spending seems to be bottoming out in 2017…
A new geological analysis of the Rockall area offshore the UK suggests that previous exploration failures in the area have been due to a misunderstanding of the subsurface. Exploration in the Rockall Basin, in the North Atlantic, north and west of Ireland and Scotland…
Noble Energy is moving forward with the development of its giant Leviathan project offshore Israel, with first gas targeted for the end of 2019. Image of Tamar operations, from Delek Group. The estimated 22 Tcf gas field…
Atlantic Petroleum (APN) has completed the sale of its Norwegian activities to M Vest Energy. The Norwegian activities include all of Atlantic Petroleum Norway’s assets and licenses, the liabilities of the licenses, and employees. Ben…
British subsea companies are expecting to increase overseas activity in the next 12 months, according to a survey conducted by industry body, Subsea UK. Of the 300 member companies surveyed, 27% are predicting increasing exports by 50% or more in 2017…
North Atlantic Drilling (NADL) has been awarded a firm one-well extension plus one optional well from Statoil for the jackup West Elara. The work will start in direct continuation of West Elara's existing contract with Statoil and the…
Oil major Shell has launched a 60-day public consultation on its plans for decommissioning the Brent field facilities in the North Sea. The huge engineering project will see the first significant use of Allseas' Pioneering Spirit heavy lift vessel…
Culzean. Image from Maersk Oil. IKM has secured a pre-commissioning contract, courtesy of Subsea 7, for the Culzean gas field, offshore the UK in the central North Sea. Subsea 7 has won the award from Maersk Oil for subsea…
Norwegian geoscience firm Spectrum has made an offer to acquire fellow Norwegian outfit MultiClient Geophysical for US$13.94 million (NOK 116 million). The offer trumps an earlier offer made by UK-based geoscience firm Geoex by about…
Industry funding will support TGS’ first new multi-client acquisition project in 2017, AM17 Atlantic Margin 3D in the Norwegian Sea. AM17 is a 40,000sq km project in the central-southern Norwegian Sea. The 3D survey will cover largely…
North Atlantic Drilling has been awarded a one-well contract for the semi-submersible West Phoenix for work in the UK, West of Shetland. The contract is in direct continuation with the West Phoenix' existing contract and the total backlog is estimated to be $17 million…
Schlumberger disclosed a 22% decline in its full-year 2016 revenue, despite gaining US$4.2 billion from the Cameron Group, which the oil services giant took over in April 2016. Image of Kibsgaard…
The Norwegian Petroleum Directorate (NPD) has granted Statoil Petroleum a drilling permit for well 16/2-22 S, cf. Section 8 of the Resource Management Regulations. Well 16/2-22 S will be drilled from the Deepsea Atlantic drilling facility in position 58°55’33…