Marathon Oil has agreed to sell its 10% working interest in Block 31, off Angola to China Petrochemical Corp. (Sinopec) for US $1.5 billion.. The companies anticipate closing 4Q 2013, with an effective date of January 1, 2013. The transaction will bring Sinopec’s stake in Block 31 to 15%…
ONGC Videsh Ltd. (OVL) and Oil India Ltd. (OIL) have agreed to purchase Videocon Mauritius Energy Ltd.’s 10% share in the Rovuma Area 1 Offshore Block in Mozambique (Area 1) for US $2.47 million. The acquisition will give OVL 60% stake and OIL 40% stake in Area 1…
Tenaris announced that it will provide the TenarisHydril Wedge 623™ Dopeless® and Blue® Riser connections for Shell’s Olympus TLP in the Gulf of Mexico. The Wedge 623™ connections were designed to comply with recent changes in deepwater operating requirements in the Gulf of Mexico…
Viatran Corp. announced the opening of their new Southwest Calibration Center in Houston, Texas. Now owners of Viatran Hammer Union Pressure Sensors in the southwestern states can receive true OEM calibrations and certifications closer to their place of business…
GE announced the grand opening of its new, state-of-the-art customer application center (CAC) in Moscow. At an invitation-only ribbon-cutting ceremony, customers toured the facility and experienced the complete GE Measurement & Control product…
Russian state-owned company Gazprom along with a consortium of Japanese firms have signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) concerning the development of Gazprom's Vladivostok LNG project. Present for the signing on June 22 were Gazprom Chairman Alexey Miller and Masanori Toyoshima…
PTTEP Australasia (PTTEP AA) achieved first oil from the Montara field in the Timor Sea off Western Australia, the company announced on June 20. The Montara Venture FPSO started production at the H2 well at the beginning of June, achieving steady rates by June 12…
Lars Hellberg, president of PowerTech, executive vice president and member of the board of management announced he will leave Wärtsilä to become the president & CEO of Fortaco Group, a Finnish industrial manufacturer. Hellberg is projected to leave Wärtsilä in mid-December 2013…
FMC Technologies, Inc. was awarded a US $1.2 billion contract from Total Upstream Nigeria Ltd. for subsea equipment for the Egina field, and Saipem won a $3 billion contract for the subsea development of the field. The Egina field is located in Block OML 130 offshore Nigeria…
A subsidiary of Atwood Oceanics has ordered a fourth ultra-deepwater drillship from South Korea's Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering (DSME). The vessel, to be named the Atwood Archer, will be identical to the previously ordered Atwood Advantage…
Wood Group PSN (WGPSN) has extended one of its longest running projects in the North Sea under a US$60 million (£40 million) one year contract extension with ConocoPhillips (UK). WGPSN will continue to provide operations and maintenance services…
Australian engineering firm WorleyParsons has won two contracts, offshore Australia and on and offshore Africa. Worley Parsons is to provide brownfield engineering services to Chevron for the operator's west Australian assets, under a master services agreement lasting initially five years…
A project to design and build a new Category B semisubmersible rig capable of year-round well-intervention work offshore Norway has been cancelled. Aker Solutions and Statoil have said the technology development needed to build the rig…
South Africa's national oil company, PetroSA, signed a Technical Cooperation Permit (TCP) for Block 3A/4A with Sasol. The block is located in the Orange basin, off the country's west coast. Block 3A/4A covers 19,066 sq km, with water depths ranging from 100-500m…
The Inpex-operated Ichthys LNG Project cut first steel on June 18 for the hull of its floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) facility in Okpo, Korea. With fabrication of the hull underway, work on all of the project’s major offshore facilities has commenced…