A new shipbuilding yard, jointly developed by Keppel Offshore & Marine, Azerbaijan’s state oil firm SOCAR and Azerbaijan Investment Company (AIC), was officially opened this morning, September 20. Baku Shipyard is a 62ha yard, in Baku…
Diamond Offshore Drilling Inc.'s Ocean Saratoga semisubmersible drilling rig spudded a well on Noble Energy's Tyra Bank concession off Nicaragua in mid August. The rig is under contract to Noble Energy for US$323,000/d and is expected to finish in late November…
Salamander Energy plc announced the spud of an exploration well in Block G4/50, Gulf of Thailand targeting the Ayutthaya prospect. Ayutthaya is located in the Western Central sub-basin, less than one mi northeast of the recent Surin oil discovery…
Serica Energy has said a drilling campaign will start offshore Morocco in October. Drilling will be carried out on the Foum Draa and Sidi Moussa blocks in October, and H1 2014 respectively. The well on the Foum Draa block (operated by Cairn Energy…
Desire Petroleum has said a farm out process on its Falklands acreage has been held back by uncertainty over the timing and scope of the development of the Sea Lion oil field. A lack of a firm date for the mobilisation of a rig to the…
Russian oil firm Lukoil Overseas has started drilling in deep water off the coast of Sierra Leone. The company is drilling the Savannah prospect on Block SL-5-11, using the semisubmersible Eirik Raude drilling rig, in more than 2000m water depth…
Lundin Petroleum has made an oil discovery on the Ghohta prospect in exploration licence PL492 in the Barents Sea. The well, 7120/1-3, 35km north west of the Snøhvit field, found a 75m oil column beneath a 25m gas/condensate cap in dolomitized and karstified carbonate in a Permian target…
Ensco plc has taken delivery of ENSCO 120, the first in its series of three ultra-premium, harsh-environment jackup rigs. The rig is contracted to work for Nexen in the North Sea beginning in the 4Q 2013 at a day rate of about US$230,000 plus cost adjustments…
Ensco plc has taken delivery of ENSCO DS-7, an advanced-capability, ultra-deepwater drillship. The vessel will embark from the Samsung Heavy Industries shipyard in South Korea to Angola, where it is contracted to Total for three years beginning…
The Macondo well catastrophe occurred more than three years ago, but it continues to serve as a central reference point in any assessment of contemporary offshore drilling, not least at today’s SPE Offshore Europe keynote session, Industry Progress since Macondo…
Centrica Energy, stand 5D50, has completed its longest horizontal well using the Noble Julie Robertson (NJR) jack-up rig on the southern North Sea gas field. Running 19,000feet (6km), the extended reach well was drilled between December…
Atwood Oceanics, Inc. announced that one of its subsidiaries has been awarded a two-year contract extension by CEC International, Ltd. for the jackup Atwood Manta. The extension is priced at a day rate of $159,500 in Thailand and begins December 2…
Latest drilling on the Pweza-2 discovery offshore Tanzania has confirmed resource estimates, according to partner Ophir Energy. Appraisal drilling was completed on Pweza-2 in Block 4, 2km to the south of the Pweza-1 discovery, using the DeepSea Metro 1 drillship…
The group chief finance officer of United Arab Emirates-based rig builder Lamprell is to leave the business. Frank Nelson, who joined Lamprell last year, is to return to the UK for personal reasons, said Lamprell, which is due to announce its half year results tomorrow (August 29)…
Aberdeen-based Dolphin Drilling Ltd has awarded Harland and Wolff the contract for the dry docking of the Blackford Dolphin mobile offshore drilling unit (MODU). The project will include upgrade work and repairs and renewals for its class renewal survey…