The Caspian Sea is a land-locked interior basin with established oil and gas production that has seen increasing activity since the bordering nations gained independence from the former USSR in the late 1990s. Five nations surround the sea: Russia…
Atwood Oceanics, Inc. has agreed to sell its standard jackup drilling unit, The Vicksburg, to Gulf Drilling International Ltd (Q.S.C.) for US$55.4 million. The sale is expected to close in early 2014 following the completion of the unit's contract with CEC International…
Keppel Offshore & Marine signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with PEMEX Exploración y Producción (PEP) and PMI Norteamérica, S.A. de C.V. (PMI) to jointly develop, own and operate a yard facility in Mexico specializing in construction…
Keppel FELS Ltd (KFELS), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Keppel Offshore & Marine (Keppel O&M) has secured a contract from an affiliate of Clearwater Capital Partners (Clearwater) to build a pair of premium KFELS B Class jackup rigs. The total cost of the project is about US$440 million…
Dubai-based Dragon Oil plc has leased two LeTourneau S116E jackup rigs from BKE Shelf Ltd to use in its Cheleken Contract Area, offshore Turkmenistan. The Neptune and Mercury have been contracted for a period totaling three years. Neptune…
A new offshore marine and engineering consultancy has been launched with the backing of a Norwegian investment outfit and the company's own management. Aqualis Offshore was set up earlier in the summer and now has 40 staff and offices in offices in London…
Statoil ASA discovered between 300-600MMbo recoverable in its first Bay du Nord exploration well, located 500km (310 mi.) northeast of St. John’s, Newfoundland. 'It is exciting that Statoil is opening a new basin offshore Newfoundland…
Synthetic rope manufacturer Bexco has invested in a new test bench facility capable of automated testing 25m lengths of rope for one week or longer, with remote electronic data interchange and on-site certification of made-to measure rope solutions…
Statoil awarded Oslo-based Inocean a contract for concept design and option for the front-end engineering design of a new arctic drillship. The new gneeration Cat I drillship will be tailored for the Statoil Arctic step-up program…
Noble Corporation has announced plans to spin off its standard specification drilling units into a new separate company. The new company will own and operate standard specification drilling units from the Noble fleet, with the new company focusing on high-specification assets…
Maersk Drilling has ordered potentially up to three new ultra harsh environment jack-up rigs, underpinned by a five year contract with BP for plugging and abandonment work on the Norwegian North Sea Valhall field. The first new rig, an XL Enhanced 4…
Falkland Oil and Gas (FOGL) has said it is moving closer to securing a rig for a 2014 drilling campaign in the remote Falklands region. The firm, focused on areas to the south and east of the Falkland Islands, said a rig enquiry had been issued and available units identified…
Singapore-based YHM Group has said it has won a contract worth about US$183 million over a three-year period to provide a semi- submersible rig. The rig is to be used by a south east Asia-based national oil company to support oil and gas activities in the Andaman Sea…
Statoil ASA, along with partners Eni Norge and Petoro, made a gas discovery at the Iskrystall prospect on PL608 off Norway in the Barents Sea. The well is approximately 30km southwest of 7220/8-1 Johan Castberg and about 240km north of Hammerfest…
Ithaca Energy has agreed string of farm-out deals on a number of UK North Sea assets. Newly formed private-equity backed Oyster Petroleum is to take a 9% working interest in west of Shetland licences containing the Handcross prospect…