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…
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…
Genel Energy chief executive Tony Hayward will give the keynote presentation in today’s SPE Offshore Europe session, The Independent Oil Company—Mighty oaks from little acorns grow (10-12.30pm, Gordon B). We asked the former BP chief executive…
Enclosure designs for protecting offshore equipment are evolving rapidly to combat the widespread problem of corrosion, and to meet industry demands for higher levels of safety and reliability, and new functionality. At Offshore Europe 2013…
The UK oil and gas industry has served our country for over 100 years. It delivers the energy needed to fuel and power our economy, provides vital revenue for the UK Treasury and supports about 450,000 jobs in Britain. The oil and gas industry has an impressive history…
Deepwater drilling and performance improvement firm Exceed has set up new business units in Canada and Ghana on the back of recent contract wins. The firm, on stand 3D210 at SPE Offshore Europe, is now also setting up new units in Angola…
Petrofac has awarded JDR Cable Systems a contract to design and manufacture five subsea power and communication (composite) cables and associated accessories for the Satah Al Razboot (SARB) package 3 project, offshore Abu Dhabi. Petrofac…
Kongsberg Maritime has launched its next generation Munin compact autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) at Offshore Europe today (stand 2C90). The Munin follows Kongsberg’s development of the Hugin and Remus AUVs, through Kongsberg-company Hydroid…
OneSubsea, the newly formed subsea partnership between Cameron and Schlumberger, is making its first major show debut this week. The company, which started trading on June 30, has already announced a US$500 million contract with Chevron on the North Sea Rosebank development…
I am very excited about the future of the oil & gas industry in the North Sea and internationally. The theme of this year’s SPE Offshore Europe conference is The next 50 years – but 50 years ago no-one could have predicted the way the UK oil & gas industry would develop or how we operate now…
Shale gas, and now tight oil has seen an unprecedented increase in energy supply in North America. It has entirely changed the energy landscape, resulting in a dramatic fall of the gas price and reversing long-term decline in US oil supplies…
Dwarfed by the majors and super majors, the impact of the small independent oil company on global exploration and production activity is often overlooked. But, these companies are driving increased production in mature provinces such as the UK Continental Shelf (UKCS)…
As the North Sea continues to attract record investment, the scale of opportunity for the supply chain is growing, says the EIC. The growth is characterised by four key areas of activity: small or marginal developments, led by a growing number of independents…
In the short-term, a lack of transition training to capture transferable skills is the biggest human resources issue for the industry, says industry skills body OPITO. “The Transition Training Programme (TTP) is a fast-track course which takes workers with relevant…
The foundations of the global energy system are shifting and the lives of energy policy makers are not getting any easier. If they didn’t have enough to worry about with securing affordable, sustainable supplies of energy to meet national needs…