An internal Transocean investigation into the explosion and loss of the Deepwater Horizon found that the tragedy was the result of ‘compromised' well integrity due to a series of well design, construction and temporary abandonment decisions made by operator BP…
The name Petrobras these days invokes thoughts of large, pre-salt discoveries, for good reason. Since announcing the Tupi pre-salt find in 2006, the Brazilian operator has made giant strides in developing and refining the technology needed to find and produce the oil hiding beneath the salt layer…
The proliferation of modern specialist vessels serving just about every sector of the offshore oil & gas business has not gone unnoticed by traditional shipping industry equipment and service providers, as was plain to see at the 2011 Nor-Shipping event in Oslo late May…
Offshore sector M&A activity continues apace, with Aberdeen-based ‘inspect, assess and repair' services provider RBG among the latest players to change hands. Meg Chesshyre talks to RBG chief executive Dave Workman about the background to –…
Long content to remain under the radar, Louisiana's LLOG is set to make a big splash with its first Gulf of Mexico deepwater development using a floating production system. Russell McCulley joins LLOG officials at the company's new digs north of New Orleans to talk about the Who Dat project…
The 5 million barrels of oil that spilled into the Gulf of Mexico last year from the BP-operated deepwater Macondo well after a bad shear job played heavily on Radoil president Benton Baugh's mind. An inventor at heart, he knew there had to be a way to shear the unshearable…
A decade after acquiring Kvaerner, Aker Solutions is preparing a demerger that will spin the company off as a separate, fully fledged EPC contractor – with concrete gravity base structures (GBS) very much on its agenda.Legacy company Norwegian…
As an indicator of the health of the oil & gas industry, attendance at May's Offshore Technology Conference in Houston suggests that recovery from the global recession is well underway. OE looks back over some of the sights and sounds of OTC 2011…
Earlier this year, Douglas-Westwood forecast † the industry will spend $139 billion on subsea hardware 2011-15, a 23% jump on the previous five years, with the deepwater Golden Triangle inevitably dominating the anticipated spend. Despite the trials and tribulations of the past year…
Planning and information are key to the successful realization of Petrobras’ ambitious plans to hoist pre-salt production levels from the current 100,000b/d to 1.08 million b/d inside ten years. Jennifer Pallanich listened in as José Formigli…
Hugo Chávez is a 50-years behind times anachronistic male version of Eva Peron. But he has been elected by the Venezuelan people and he must be reckoned with not just because it is the democratic thing to do but because Venezuela is crucial to America's energy security…
Heavy demand--Schilling Robotics confirmed during OTC that EMAS has ordered eight of its Heavy-Duty ROVs while another offshore contractor, Global Industries, is purchasing one of the company's new Ultra-Heavy- Duty systems. EMAS plans to install the work-class HD ROVs…
An INTECSEA-led joint industry project headed by former Shell subsea specialist Ian Ball is looking to pave the way for increased step-outs, enhanced recovery and improved economics on upcoming subsea developments in arctic and sub-arctic waters…
When KBR bought out JGC's near 45% stake in MW Kellogg earlier this year making it a wholly-owned subsidiary, the resulting ‘London Operating Centre' – combining major UK bases in Greenford and Leatherhead with over 2600 staff – emerged as KBR's largest entity globally…
The US Coast Guard in April released a report on its investigation into BP's Deepwater Horizon disaster, just weeks after DNV delivered the results of its forensic examination of the Macondo blowout preventer. Both will inform the Joint Investigation Team's final report…