Boosting recoveryThe HiWay flow-channel hydraulic fracturing technique, formally released by Schlumberger late June, is designed to maximize production and hydrocarbon recovery through the creation of open flow channels within the propped fracture…
Weather is a major factor when planning offshore drilling campaigns. Asbjørn Stålesen of FMC Technologies says the company's Real Time Operating Limits system has allowed it to increase the time available for carrying out drilling work.The biggest…
OE 's analysis of current rig market data is updated monthly using statistics provided by Rigzone.comWorldwide utilization for the mobile offshore drilling fleet is tracking at 76%, near the top of a 74%-76% band that it has traversed over the past 11 months…
BP's Gulf of Mexico oil leak is an unmitigated disaster, not just because of the amount of oil that has to be skimmed, the oil-soaked birds that have to be cleansed and the beaches that require purification. It has allowed an Obama administration…
BP has come under fierce criticism for its response to the Macondo blowout, a months-long saga of top hats, riser insertion tools and other containment efforts that only began collecting a significant portion of the oil spilling into the Gulf several weeks after the event…
For a while, non-productive time was a problem most companies didn't want to acknowledge. Two recent reports have brought into focus the amount of time, and money, lost due to non-productive time. Jennifer Pallanich finds out what the Athens…
The six-month moratorium on deepwater drilling in the Gulf of Mexico following the Deepwater Horizon disaster has forced oil & gas companies to redraw their plans for the rest of the year. But the effects of the ban could linger long after, as Russell McCulley reports…
OE's analysis of current rig market data is updated monthly using statistics provided by Rigzone.comWorldwide utilization for the mobile offshore drilling fleet is tracking at about 74%, within the tight 74%-76% band it has seen for the past 10 months…
The Titanic, Columbia space shuttle and Deepwater Horizon disasters span a period of almost 100 years but have more in common than might at first be apparent. All three were avoidable and foundered on a misguided belief in their indestructibility…
The world's largest deepwater well intervention ship recently set sail from Norway, bound for its first offshore contract. Before it left port, Terry Knott visited the newbuild Skandi Aker to find out what makes this vessel stand out from the pack…
Chinese companies have stepped up their activities over the last year, and two recent reports from analysts Infield Energy Analysts and Wood Mackenzie suggest increased activity in the near future, especially as the NOCs venture into deeper waters…
BP in mid-June began collecting oil & gas from the first phase of a system that taps into the choke and kill valves on the Macondo well's failed blowout preventer. The system employs the same flow lines and manifold used in the company's unsuccessful top kill attempt in May…
Brazilian operator Petrobras expects to initiate production from a new reservoir to existing facilities in Modules 1 and 2 of its deepwater Marlim Sul field this summer and bring a third module onstream via the P-56 semi early next year. Asset…
BP struggled to stop the flow of oil from the Macondo well in the Gulf of Mexico as the disaster entered its second month, and the spill, the worst in US history, was having repercussions far beyond the environmental catastrophe. Russell McCulley reports…
Andrew McBarnet forecasts some damaging consequences for marine seismic operations offshore the US as a result of the Deepwater Horizon disaster.The enormity of the blow-out and sinking of the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig at the BP Macondo…