Drilling News


Proserv appoints senior management team

Aug 06, 2014

Proserv appoints two vice presidents to its senior management team. Paul Douglas has been promoted to the role of VP operations with Bruce Stuart joining Proserv as VP sales and business development for Europe and West Africa (EWA) from FMC Technologies…

Marathon spuds Key Largo

Aug 06, 2014

Marathon Oil is due to spud an exploration well on the Key Largo prospect, on Walker Ridge Block 578, Gulf of Mexico, in Q3. It will be the first well drilled with a new-build deepwater drillship. Marathon Oil is operator and holds a 60% working interest in the prospect…

Lundin spuds Barents well

Aug 06, 2014

Lundin Petroleum has announced a successful initial appraisal campaign offshore Malaysia and the start of drilling on a new exploration well in the Barents Sea.  The Barents well is exploration well 7220/11-1 in PL609 in the Norwegian sector of the Barents Sea…

LQ platform topsides arrive at Filanovsky field

Aug 05, 2014

The living quarters platform (LQP-1) topside for the Vladimir Filanovsky field has arrived at its north Caspian Sea destination from Krasnye Barrikady shipyard in Russia’s Astrakhan region, the Russian Maritime Register of Shipping (RS) announced on 5 August…

Tomax drilling jet impact

Aug 05, 2014

Norwegian drilling technology specialist Tomax released a video from an internal research program with recordings of the actual pressure impact from the drill-bit nozzles.  The video gives an insight to a “blind-zone” that is often critical for pressure-sensitive deepwater operations.

Centrica snaps up Serica stakes

Aug 05, 2014

Serica Energy has completed a farm out on UK East Irish Sea Blocks 113/26b and 113/27c (License P.1482) with Centrica, through its subsidiary Hydrocarbon Resources Limited (HRL). Under the agreement, HRL has acquired an operated 45% interest in the license…

Galp's Tao-1 disappoints again

Aug 04, 2014

Galp Energia will plug and abandon its Tao-1 exploration well in the Tarfaya block offshore Morocco after encountering unfavorable reservoir quality in the Trident objective, partner Tangiers Petroleum announced on 4 August 2014. The…

Nigerian oil finds for CAMAC

Aug 04, 2014

CAMAC Energy discovered four new oil and gas reservoirs during drilling on an Oyo field development well in OML 120 offshore Nigeria, the firm said today (4 August). Drilling on Oyo-8 started on 15 June. A vertical section of the well…

Gabon gas discovery for ENI

Aug 04, 2014

Eni made a gas and condensates discovery in the Nyonie Deep exploration prospect in block D4, about 13km from the coast of Gabon. ENI estimates initial potential in place is 500MMboe. The discovery was made in the pre-salt of Gabon through the NFW Nyonie Deep 1 well…

Genel spuds SM-1 well off Morocco

Aug 01, 2014

Genel Energy plc spud the SM-1 well in the Sidi Moussa block offshore Morocco, partner San Leon announced on 31 July 2014. The Noble Paul Romano semisubmersible rig began drilling operations on 30 July, and is expected to take 60-90 days…

Murphy brings Dalmatian online

Aug 01, 2014

Production began from two “high-rate” wells at Murphy Oil’s Dalmatian development in the US Gulf of Mexico. The US-based company announced that the project came online during its 2Q 2014 earnings report. Murphy Oil said the results were “better than planned…

Building a safety case

Aug 01, 2014

Girish U. Pai, Devendra Awadhiya and Zubin Fatakia discuss the evolution of safety case in designs for offshore platforms. Offshore installations are exposed to nature’s fury all the time. The operations involve handling very heavy modules weighing tens of thousands of tons…

What will it take to develop offshore heavy oil?

Aug 01, 2014

The Mariner development concept. Images from Statoil.  The Mariner heavy oil field took 40 years, 12 oil companies, five seismic surveys, and 18 exploration/appraisal wells to get to where it is today…

Rosneft deals beat EU sanctions

Aug 01, 2014

Rosneft and North Atlantic Drilling Ltd. (NADL) executed multiple long-term offshore drilling contracts at the end of July, just before the newest round of European Union (EU) and US-issued sanctions were enacted. Rosneft committed to six offshore drilling units until 2022…

Adding a secondary barrier against gas migration in deepwater environments

Aug 01, 2014

Secondary mechanical pressure barriers could help ease regulatory bodies’ concerns around effective zonal isolation in wells.  The Cytadel ZX packer can be activated by dropping a magnetic signal carrier from the surface…

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