Mubadala Petroleum began drilling operations at the Manora oil development in the Northern Gulf Thailand, reported joint venture partner Tap Oil Ltd. The Atwood Orca jackup did the honors of spudding MNA-02, the first of 15 planned development wells…
A US federal district court judge ruled on Thursday that the Macondo blowout, which killed 11 workers, and spilled millions of barrels into the US Gulf of Mexico was the result of BP’s gross negligence and willful misconduct. BP’s contractors Transocean and Halliburton were both found negligent…
Statoil announced that the Dilolo-1 exploration well in the Kwanza basin offshore Angola was drilled to its pre-salt target, but failed to find any hydrocarbons. The well is now in the process of being plugged and abandoned. Statoil says…
Statoil’s Martin prospect located in Mississippi Canyon block 718 in the US Gulf of Mexico (GOM) has been plugged and abandoned. Statoil said while a discovery was made, it was non-commercial. Statoil says the Maersk Developer semisubmersible rig…
Vard Holdings Ltd. awarded Houston-based Forum Energy Technologies (FET) a contract for eight remotely operated vehicles (ROV) systems. FET will supply eight Perry XLX 150HP work-class ROVs that will be mobilized on four new-build pipeline…
Atwood Oceanics, Inc. took delivery of Atwood Achiever from the Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering Co., Ltd. (DSME) shipyard in South Korea. Atwood says the ultra deepwater ship began the mobilization phase of its drilling services contract with Kosmos Energy…
Rig design and engineering firm RDS has been awarded a front-end engineering design (FEED) contract by AMEC for Premier Oil’s Sea Lion development in the North Falklands Basin. The FEED work is part of AMEC’s overall FEED contract for…
IKM Group will provide a riser-less top-hole mud circulation system to Shell on the Malikai project offshore Sabah, Malaysia. IKM says the contract award is an important milestone for its MRR technology (mud recovery without riser) and…
Lundin Petroleum has started drilling exploration well 33/12-10 S on the Vollgrav South prospect, 250km west of Florø, between the Gullfaks and Statfjord fields, in production license 631. The main objective of well 33/12-10 S is to test…
From a peak of 396 in 1996, numbers of wells drilled offshore UK fell to 164 in 2013, a low not seen since 1979. Development wells were down from 289 in 1998, to 120 in 2013. Exploration and appraisal drilling, on which offshore production ultimately depends…
As the industry advances into ultra-deepwater, an increasing number of tight tolerance wells require an efficient system for determining early influxes or losses during drilling, tripping, and cementing operations. Scott Hilliard of Statoil and Florian Le Blay…
An in-depth look at NOV’s closed-loop drilling automation system, which could help develop North Sea and Arctic assets. Automation is a growing force in the offshore oil and gas industry. Its potential to increase safety, optimize operations…
Raja Roy examines DNV GL’s first comprehensive overview on how to properly comply with US Coast Guard requirements to operate FOIs, FSOs and FPSOs in US waters. The roadmap document called “Verification for compliance with United States…
Baker Hughes has been developing completion technology and well control with Petrobras in deepwater ever since its first intelligent completion system contract in the early 2000s. Claudio Paschoa found out more. Baker…
Claudio Paschoa discusses Stinger conical diamond technology with João Pedro Tocantins, Senior Product Engineer from Schlumberger’s Smith Bits. The CDE, centrally placed in a PDC drill bit cutting structure…