An Arctic petroleum research center has been launched in Tromso, Norway, to increase knowledge about hydrocarbon exploration in the region. The Research Centre for Arctic Petroleum Exploration (ARCEx) is funded by the Norwegian…
For the first time in 20 years, Norway's government is looking to include a new area in the Barents Sea in its next exploration licensing round. Blocks in the Barents Sea south-east have been included in consultation documents issued…
The past few weeks have seen a string of profit warnings and capital spending cutbacks from global oil and gas exploration majors. Should oilfield service companies be worried that the good times are coming to an end? According to bank and investment company Investec…
Vard Holdings Ltd., a Fincantieri company, has a contract with Bourbon to design and build an ice-class anchor-handling tug supply vessel (AHTS). The arctic AHTS vessel by Vard Design was developed for world-wide anchor handling and remote operations…
Gazprom and LUKOIL have signed a cooperation agreement on the prevention of and response to emergencies caused by oil and petroleum product spills offshore, including performing joint emergency exercises. The companies agreed that in…
The Arctic Technology Conference has put a spotlight on the latest innovations in the Arctic E&P industry. A panel of qualified E&P professionals reviewed entries from exhibitors at the show and selected recipients based on these criteria: New…
Royal Dutch Shell has said it will quit its 2014 plans for drilling offshore Alaska, cut capital spending, and increase the pace of assets sales, the oil major’s CEO Ben van Beurden (pictured) announced today. Shell's U-turn on Alaskan drilling follows a profit warning last week and…
Kleven has signed a contract with Rem Offshore for the building of a platform support vessel (PSV) specially designed to operate in challenging arctic conditions (pictured). The type VS 485 MK III ARCTIC design includes a number of features for ice prevention and de-icing…
A US court ruling has put a key document supporting oil major Shell's Chukchi Sea drilling in doubt. Over one partial objection, the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit (CA9, panel based in San Francisco) ruled that selection by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management…
Gazpromneft Sakhalin says it has started work preparing to drill an appraisal well in the Pechora Sea. The firm, a subsidiary of Gazprom Neft and project operator for the exploration and development of Dolginskoye field, on the arctic shelf of the Pechora Sea…
The group will conduct monitoring studies on potential Arctic nearshore impacts in Beaufort Sea development area.Olgoonik/Fairweather LLC, in conjunction with a team of scientists from the University of Alaska Fairbanks, the University of Texas at Austin…
Colloquy: Editor’s Column As we start a new year at OE, we offer projections from companies about projects and markets. This issue features a Global Market Forecast, with analysts from Infield Systems, DouglasWestwood, and Petroleum Geo-Services weighing in about exploration…
Astrakhan’s Krasnye Barrikady shipyard has started constructing the living quarter platform (LQP-2) for the second stage of Vladimir Filanovsky field developed by LUKOIL in the Russian sector of the Caspian Sea. The shipyard will construct two bearing blocks…
A consortium led by Chevron has been awarded exploration licenses covering two blocks offshore north-east Greenland. Consortia led by Statoil and ENI were also awarded licenses, covering one block each, also off north-eastern Greendland…
Gazprom Neft Shelf announced the start of oil production from the Prirazlomnoye platform in the Russian Arctic. Chief Executive Officer Alexey Miller said in a statement on December 20 that 'we have become the pioneers of Russia's Arctic development…