CNOOC Ltd began production at its 100%-owned Kenli 3-2 oilfields, the company announced on 12 May 2014. The Kenli 3-2 oilfields, located in the southern Bohai Sea at an average water depth of 20m, consists of Kenli 3-2, Bozhong 34-6/7…
Statoil announced plans to divest its interest in the ENI-operated block 15/06 offshore Angola for US$200 million. The transaction, which will be effective 1 January 2013, means concessionaire Sonangol EP will pick up Statoil's 5% participating interest…
UK-based independent EnQuest says it has made a discovery in the North Sea and agreed a field development project with Malaysia’s Petronas. Drilling on the North Sea Avalon prospect confirmed a discovery. EnQuest said preliminary analysis…
In early April, Rosneft and ExxonMobil began aerial gravity-magnetic surveys over offshore blocks in the Yuzhno-Chukotsky licence area in the eastern Russian Arctic to establish the subsurface structure of the field. As part of a framework agreement…
Norway’s state oil firm Petoro has said it wants to double the number of wells on the Norwegian Continental Shelf and halve their cost in order to realize the great potential of discoveries and existing fields in the Norwegian State’s Direct Financial Interest (SDFI) portfolio…
UK-based Africa and Celtic Sea-focused explorer Fastnet Oil & Gas has farmed out a 9.375% interest in the Foum Assaka license, offshore Morocco, to SK Innovation, the energy and chemicals affiliate of SK Group, South Korea's third largest conglomerate…
The US Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) participated in a day-long Government Initiated Unannounced Exercise on 24 April 2014, involving Occidental Petroleum Corp. (OXY). The table-top exercise exercise, held in Huntington Beach…
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), part of the US Department of Commerce, announced yesterday the start of the 2014 hydrographic survey season. New data collected will increase coastal environmental intelligence around the country…
Octanex N.L. announced that OMV New Zealand Ltd. has completed the planned 2D seismic survey, named Mohua, in the Taranaki basin off New Zealand. OMV has confirmed the survey vessel, Aquila Explorer, commenced acquisition of the Mohua survey on 19 April…
Dubai-based rig and platform builder Lamprell has set an official Guinness World Record for the heaviest load moved by self-propelled modular trailers (SPMTs) as part of the Golden Eagle platform project (pictured). Lamprell’s contract was for a production…
A new design for nuclear plants built on floating platforms, modeled after those used in the offshore oil and gas industry, has been created by professors at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). They say such a design could help avoid the disaster at Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant…
Noble Energy Inc. announced that it will propose the election of the company’s President and COO, David L. Stover as a director at its 22 April 2014 organizational meeting, and that it intends to appoint Stover as CEO in October 2014. This decision follows current Chairman and CEO…
A multidisciplinary consortium of six private and public organisations from five European countries, led by the French wind power firm ASAH LM, will develop a floating wind turbine concept (SPINFLOAT) based on GustoMSC’s Tri-Floater. Other members include: SSP Technology…
Two of the major deepwater developments that have started production so far in the Gulf of Mexico belong to Shell and BP. Sarah Parker Musarra examines the technology behind two mammoth projects: Mars B and Na Kika. In Greek and Polynesian mythology…
The Prelude FLNG subsea architecture, supported by traditional mudmats. image source: Shell. Mobile foundation technology could offer an economic solution to some stranded offshore hydrocarbon reserves…