Market drivers point to a slowdown in new project activity, Ian Simpson and James Graf of ABS report. Changes in the drilling rig market are indicators of industry ups and downs. A look at today’s numbers indicates that the most recent upswing is about to change direction…
US rakes in $850million for lease sale The US Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) received 380 bids for 326blocks in the central Gulf of Mexico, totaling more than US $850 million. Gulf of Mexico Lease Sale 231 attracted operators to bison almost 40 million acres…
New Zealand's Minister of Energy and Resources Simon Bridges announced the country's third block offering. Up for grabs is a total of 405,000sq km, including both on and offshore acreage. Offshore release areas include the Reinga-Northland Basin…
Lukoil Overseas completed drilling on its first offshore exploration well, Capitaine East-1X, at block CI-101 in the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire, the Russian company announced 2 April 2014. The well penetrated through 140m of sandstone from a Turonian formation…
Eni CEO Paolo Scaroni outlined the Italian company’s exploration progress and activities within the country to the President of the Republic of Mozambique Armando Guebuza. Eni announced that the “possibility of enlarging the shareholder base of Area 4 was favorably received by the President…
A lot has changed for Statoil in the past four years. In 2010, the company had two core exploration areas (the Norwegian Continental Shelf and the US Gulf of Mexico), said Jez Averty, Senior Vice President of Exploration for Statoil, North America…
The drilling fluids market is driven by increasing worldwide drilling activities, focused on deepwater. Onshore, operators are increasing their use of horizontal drilling in developing shale gas, CBM, and other unconventional resources…
AGR was assigned by OMV to drill a well in the Barents Sea. As a result of establishing different drilling targets and challenging reservoirs, the operation ended with two wells drilled with the Leiv Eiriksson rig. AGR delivered the Wisting…
Norwegian oil services technology firm Cubility AS has been bought from private equity firm Energy Ventures by a Triton Partners fund. The firm, based in Sandnes, has developed MudCube, a solids control and waste management system for drilling operations…
Maersk Drilling has named its latest ultra harsh environment jackup drilling rig, the Maersk Intrepid, ahead of its first deployment development drilling on the Martin Linge field offshore Norway. Maersk Intrepid is the first…
A new tax break for high-pressure, high-temperature fields in the UK North Sea has been overshadowed by a move by the UK Government to change to taxes on drilling rigs. The move, relating to bare-boat chartering, “perplexed” industry…
Statoil Petroleum has discovered hydrocarbons in wildcat well 34/8-17 S in production license 120 in the Norwegian sector of the North Sea. The well was drilled on the north-east flank of the Visund field, in the northern part of the North Sea…
Ophir Energy’s deepwater Padouck Deep-1 well, in the Ntsina block, offshore Gabon, has completed drilling and found no significant hydrocarbons. London-based Ophir said the well, drilled with the Vantage Titanium Explorer, was targeting…
Australia-based AWE Limited will now attempt to drill a sidetrack well in New Zealand after drilling issues encountered last week on the Pateke-4H were unable to be resolved. The lower part of the hole has been abandoned. Read more on Pateke drilling:http://www…
Cairn Energy has said it is committed to its planned 2014 operations, but that spending beyond then is being looked at closely as its awaits resolution of tax issues in India. The Edinburgh-based firm says spending beyond 2014 would depend…