Aker BP has received consent to use the Mærsk Invincible jackup rig for plugging and abandoning wells at the Valhall field. Production from the Valhall DP is scheduled to end in the next few years. Three of the wells are still in production…
Shell has awarded Wood Group a contract in support of its decommissioning the Brent Bravo platform in the UK North Sea. Effective immediately, Wood Group will prepare the platform for removal via a single lift using the Pioneering Spirit heavy lift vessel…
Centrica is investing £35 million in the North Sea Chestnut field, drilling a new production well which aims to more than treble production. The well is expected to also extend the life of the field, which otherwise would have been shut in later this year…
A new center of excellence for testing emerging technologies in the subsea sector is to be established with support from Scottish Enterprise. Balmoral Offshore Engineering, based in Aberdeen, is creating a new open access hyperbaric pressure testing facility for the oil and gas supply chain…
A group of private firms and universities from the Netherlands and the UK have been given funding to undertake a feasibility study into permanent CO2 capture and storage (CCS) in empty gas and oil fields in the North Sea. Under the Acorn CCS project…
UK-independent i3 Energy is planning to list on the AIM Market of the London Stock Exchange and raise US$50 million to fund the development of its Liberator field. The company acquired a 100% operated interest in License P.1987, Block 13/23d…
UK independent Parkmead has agreed a deal with Verus Petroleum to acquire 50% interest in North Sea License P.2209 containing the Farne Extension prospect and a further four prospective leads. The moves secures 100% interest in the license for Parkmead…
The massive, 600 MW Gemini offshore wind park has been opened offshore the Netherlands ahead of schedule and under budget. Gemini will produce 2.6 TWh of wind power every year, reducing the Netherlands’ CO2 emissions by 1.25 million tons…
First oil is flowing from Repsol Sinopec Resources UK's Shaw field, part of the firm's Montrose Area Redevelopment (MAR) in the Central North Sea. Shaw has been developed as a subsea tie-back to a new bridge-linked production platform…
A new evaluation on Hurricane Energy's Lancaster field, west of Shetland, has said the field contains 2.3 billion bbl in place, a 120% increase compared to the 2013 estimate, and attributed 2P reserves to the field for the first time. According to the Competent Persons Review (CPR)…
Faroe Petroleum has been given Norwegian Petroleum Directorate approval to drill appraisal well 31/7-2 S on the Brasse discovery. Well 31/7-2 S will be drilled using the Deepsea Bergen semisubmersible drilling rig in production license 740…
Private equity backed Azinor Catalyst has awarded a rig contract to Diamond Offshore Drilling for use of the Ocean Guardian semisubmersible rig to drill two wells in Q3 2017. The first exploration well will target the Partridge prospect…
The first modules for Statoil's UK North Sea Mariner heavy oil field topside have set sail from Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering's yard in South Korea. The Mariner field is on the East Shetland Platform, about 95mi (150km) east of Shetland and is being developed via a production…
Just days after being lifted from the concrete legs it had stood on since 1976, Shell's Brent Delta platform arrived in one piece at Able Seaton Port, Hartlepool, on Tuesday. The journey followed the record-breaking, 24,200-tonne lift by Allseas' megavessel Pioneering Spirit…
Marathon Oil has renewed a contract for work on its three Brae platforms in the North Sea with Aberdeen-based oilfield equipment firm Archer. The contract for platform drilling, maintenance and engineering services was first signed in 1993…