W&T Offshore Inc. is set to acquire a portion of Callon Petroleum Operating Co.'s Gulf of Mexico acreage, the company announced on October 18, 2013. W&T will take a 15% working interest in the Medusa field (deepwater Mississippi Canyon blocks 538 and 582)…
TAM International marked its 45th anniversary and the opening of its recently-built manufacturing facility on October 18 with a tour of the facilities in Houston, Texas. The new site was open to employees in September. TAM specializes in inflatable packers…
BP has selected a new head of exploration to replace Mike Daly, who is leaving BP at the end of 2013 after 28 years with the company. Richard Herbert returns to BP after serving as executive vice president at Talisman Energy since 2009…
“The safe transfer of personnel is a key challenge in the offshore environment,” says Reflex Marine founder & CEO Phillip Strong. The company organized a 3-hour seminar on crane transfer safety at EnerMech in Aberdeen prior to the start of SPE Offshore Europe 2013…
The US Coast Guard updated decades old regulations regarding offshore cranes and inspection practices. Anthresia McWashington takes a look at the changes to come. The US Coast Guard (USCG) recently proposed revisions to the design, certification…
The US Gulf of Mexico (GOM) has clearly returned to the spotlight as one of the hottest offshore regions in the world. The impact of Macondo appears to be in the past and the number of both drilling rigs and major production projects are increasing…
The US Senate bill ratifying the US-Mexico Transboundary Hydrocarbon Agreement, S. 812, is reportedly on its way to a conference committee. The Senate's version of the bill, passed October 12, differed from that of the US House of Representative’s version…
Wellhead fatigue is acknowledged as a technical challenge in the oil and gas industry. In an effort to advance industry capabilities and better inform operational decisions, BP is developing a system for instrumentation and data interpretation…
Houston-based LLOG Exploration Offshore L.L.C. awarded Technip a substantial contract for the development of the Delta House field, located in the Mississippi Canyon area of the U.S. Gulf of Mexico (GOM). The contract covers the project management…
The Canadian province of British Columbia released a comprehensive study assessing current marine-spill preparedness and response capabilities on 10 October 2013. The study also outlines necessary improvements to achieve a world-class system to ensure B…
Over the past week, the government shutdown has steadily crept into more sectors of the oil and gas industry. The Energy Information Administration (EIA) shuttered today, sending a message to subscribers at 1 pm ET that it would furlough…
Properly implemented, structural integrity management can provide structural integrity assurance from design to decommissioning, explains Mohammad Nabavian of Wood Group PSN. The concept of structural integrity management (SIM) for offshore installations is maturing…
Occidental Petroleum Corporation elected Vicki A. Hollub to vice president of Occidental Petroleum and executive vice president – U.S. Operations, Oxy Oil and Gas. Hollub heads the company’s domestic operations. She previously served as executive vice president…
Mexico's leftist Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD) announced this week that it will hold a Conference on the Defense of Energy Sovereignty from October 24 to 27. The PRD will disseminate information explaining its opposition to President Enrique Peña Nieto’s plans for energy reform…
Keppel AmFELS LLC was awarded a contract from Central Panuco S.A. De C.V to build a KFELS B Class jackup rig worth US$240 million. Scheduled for delivery in late 2015, the jackup rig is intended for operations in offshore Mexico. This…