North Sea News


Ekofisk Shut Down: North Sea Output to Drop

Mar 20, 2019

Oil production in the North Sea will drop by 330,000 barrels per day (bpd) month-on-month in June 2019 as Ekofisk closes for planned work, according to Rystad Energy’s latest forecast.“Production is expected to remain stable through April 2019…

World’s Largest Offshore Wind Farm Generates First Power

Feb 17, 2019

The first turbine of the 1,218-MW Hornsea 1 offshore wind farm in the North Sea, the world’s biggest such facility, has been installed and is now generating power.Matthew Wright, UK managing director of Danish energy group Ørsted A/S, described…

Talon Petroleum Buys EnCounter Oil

Jan 31, 2019

Australian company Talon Petroleum has agreed to buy 100% of EnCounter Oil in line with its target to scale-up its UK North Sea portfolio.The acquisition, which is for an undisclosed amount and subjected to shareholder approval, is more than doubling the size of Talo's North Sea portfolio…

Ineos Completes Clipper South Re-routing Project

Nov 22, 2018

UK-based oil products company Ineos Oil and Gas UK has completed a project to re-route production from its Clipper South field via the Shell operated Clipper field into the Bacton processing terminal.According to a company release, the USD 80…

Total Makes Major Offshore UK Gas Discovery

Sep 24, 2018

French oil and energy group Total said on Monday it had made a major gas discovery on the Glendronach prospect, located off the coast of the Shetland islands in the North Sea.Total said preliminary tests on the new gas discovery confirmed good reservoir quality…

Apache inks Archer for North Sea services

Jan 16, 2018

Archer has been awarded a new, three-year contract by Apache for platform drilling management services in the North Sea.  The contract includes operations and maintenance on Apache's Forties and Beryl fields. This will include the Forties Alpha…

Offshore Achievement Awards finalists unveiled

Jan 16, 2018

Finalists for this year's Offshore Achievement Awards, hosted by the Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE) Aberdeen Section, have been revealed today.  The annual awards recognise the best talent, performance and innovation in the industry…

Bruce, Keith, Rhum fields resume production

Jan 15, 2018

BP has brought the Bruce, Keith and Rhum fields back on production following the successful repair of the Forties Pipeline System, Serica Energy reported on 12 January. Production from the fields was shut-in on 11 December, along with other fields using the system…

Shell advances Penguins FPSO redevelopment in North Sea

Jan 15, 2018

Shell has reach final investment decision on its Penguins fields redevelopment in what will be its first new manned installation in the northern North Sea in almost 30 years. The project will see a newbuild floating production, storage…

Repsol to decommission Rev field

Jan 12, 2018

Repsol's Norwegian subsidiary has set out plans to decommission its Rev field in the Norwegian North Sea.  The Rev field, in Production Licence 038C, Block 15/12 on the Norwegian Continental Shelf, comprises four seabed installations split into two separate areas…

NPD: Norway production increase to 2023

Jan 11, 2018

The Norwegian Petroleum Directorate (NPD) says that while oil production is down on the Norwegian Continential Shelf (NCS), overall production rose for the fourth straight year. The NPD's forecasts indicate that the production increase will continue toward 2023…

Rise of the robot in offshore operations

Jan 10, 2018

2017 became the year that the oil and gas industry embraced robotics. Elaine Maslin reports on initiatives in the North Sea (first published in the January 2018 OE, access the full issue here). While the industry has long been using autonomous underwater systems and remotely operated tooling…

Aker Solutions lined up for MFDevCo duty holder role

Jan 09, 2018

Norway-headquartered Aker Solutions has agreed to provide duty holder services for UK firm Marginal Field Development Company (MFDevCo). MFDevCo is targeting marginal field development projects globally, using normally unmanned installations or self installating fixed towers…

Downhole data, fiber optics helping to drive production gains

Jan 09, 2018

Elaine Maslin reports on how the oil and gas industry is getting more data from downhole thanks to fiber optics (First published in the December 2017 OE, access the full issue here). The big data revolution is being felt in the oil and…

Petrofac inks services contract with Chrysaor

Jan 08, 2018

Petrofac has been awarded a Rotating Equipment Management Services contract in support of Chrysaor’s operations on the UK Continental Shelf. Under the 12-month agreement, Petrofac will provide fully integrated services across Chrysaor’s Armada…

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