Open markets can be a powerful ally for a world seeking to manage short-term disruptions to energy supply and meet long-term demand, BP group chief executive Bob Dudley declared at the June launch of the BP Statistical Review of World Energy…
OE's latest review of deepwater subsea tieback projects ongoing in the Gulf of Mexico shows the region is still suffering from the after-effects of the drilling moratorium that followed in the April 2010 Macondo disaster's wake. Jennifer Pallanich…
The reigning and the emerging superpower are marching to their own beats, both of them in the process of long impact government elections and transitions. How the two countries handle themselves will affect the lives of millions, many beyond their borders…
Salaries for oil & gas industry engineers shot up over the past year, rising an average 6.1% across several professional disciplines, according to a new survey released by recruitment firm Hays.The average permanent salary across the survey's sample of 144…
Fifty-six i-FRAC sleeves were opened with three balls on the Norwegian shelf.Well technology company i-TEC has developed an innovative lower completion ball drop sleeve system which it claims can bring wells in tight formations online much more quickly than other methods…
Since it began addressing safety critical fire water deluge system integrity issues a year ago, Paradigm Flow Solutions has rapidly expanded its provision in this area. The company is now working on life-of-field solutions with two North Sea operators…
High safety standards in oil & gas operations are better achieved when self-imposed, rather than through excessive government regulation, a leading Shell figure told delegates to this year's SPE ATCE in Denver. US editor Russell McCulley listened in…
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…
Andrew McBarnet reviews some of the history of Norwegian marine seismic ventures to assess the aspirations of the latest entrant into the market.The launch of yet another Norwegian-inspired company dedicated to making its mark on the marine seismic business is so déjà vu…
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…