Andrew McBarnet puts the decision-making of marine seismic companies under the microscope.Carrying on where we left off (OE last month), the future of financially troubled SeaBird Exploration and its ocean bottom node (OBN) seismic acquisition business remains unclear…
A majority of oil & gas company officials are confident that their information security practices are effective, despite an acrossthe- board rise in security breaches in recent years, according to a new study.The 2012 Global State of Information Security Survey…
Two Engineering Construction Industry Training Board (ECITB) initiatives have been launched in the UK for offshore companies looking to address the skills gap through the reskilling of adult trainees. The first 16 learners recently completed their training…
OE's popular annual guide to oil & gas developments on the Northwest European Continental Shelf returns, fully updated.Operators in the UK sector of the North Sea were taken aback in March this year by UK Chancellor George Osborne's decision to raise the supplementary tax rate from 20% to 32%…
Dozens of obsolete offshore platforms have been successfully converted to artificial reefs under the US ‘rigs-to-reefs’ program. But an independent Houston operator is pushing for rule changes that, its CEO says, would preserve far more delicate ecosystems…
Earlier this year the refrain was ‘$5 natural gas forever', based on the US Energy Information Administration's (EIA) annual outlook, which argued that natural gas prices will remain below $5 per million btu until 2022. The underlying rationale was growth in the ‘vast' US shale gas resource base…
Multi-client specialist TGS took the marine seismic business by surprise last month with the purchase of Stingray Geophysical, a UK-based start up company focusing on seismic-based permanent reservoir monitoring (PRM). Andrew McBarnet discusses what prompted the move…
Following two years of development, Aberdeen Drilling Consultants recently launched its new ADC Virtual Academy division, offering what they believe is the world's first online course focused on drilling equipment for the oil & gas industry…
Investments in the region of NKr65 billion are on the cards over the next few years following ConocoPhillips' recent submission of its plans for the further development of the Ekofisk and Eldfisk fields to the Norwegian Ministry of Petroleum & Energy…
Industry experts gathered in Houston late last year to discuss the future of floating LNG. Jennifer Pallanich joined them.A supply glut stemming from a wave of project sanctions between 2003 and 2005 followed by the North American shale revolution…
Reporting from last month’s SEG annual meeting in Denver, Andrew McBarnet finds marine seismic contractors frustrated by contract bidding woes.There is no question about what was bothering the marine seismic community at last month’s well attended…
Aker Solutions has started a six-month integrated operations pilot with Danish operator Dong on the Trym field, an industry briefing in London heard recently. Meg Chesshyre reviews the status of this and other developments on the Aker technology horizon…
Energy and climate wars: How naïve politicians, green ideologues, and media elites are undermining the truth about energy and climate. Peter C Glover & Michael J Economides. Continuum International Publishing Group, 2010.The lengthy subtitle…
Mexico just registered its first Clean Development Mechanism with the United Nations under a collaboration between Pemex and Statoil to reduce gas flaring at the onshore Tres Hermanos oil field in Mexico. Statoil said 26 October 2010 the registration…
One or two recent asides from major seismic contractor bosses implies that they expect that the global seismic fleet to move closer to some kind of equilibrium next year where the supply of vessels is no longer so out of kilter with the demand for survey work…