Offshore Regions News - page 1737


Spec build FPSOs: dangerously risky

Feb 02, 2011

Floating systems consultant Peter Lovie pinpoints some of the perils of speculative FPS building and wonders if the practice may now have become just too risky for operators or contractors to consider.In the service vessel business and in the…

Khodorkovsky is Putin jail again

Feb 02, 2011

The views expressed in this column do not necessarily reflect OE's position.Detesting cruel and unusual punishment, preventing double jeopardy and imposing statutes of limitations are basic tenets of the legal systems of democracies. A judiciary…

Learning to get along

Feb 02, 2011

The old rivalry between ROV pilots and divers appears to be breaking down, as both sides recognize the considerable benefits of working together. Russell McCulley referees.--'When I started, it was taboo to even get near an ROV,' says Michael Johnson…

Renewables - OE February 2011

Feb 02, 2011

Cape Wind clears another hurdleThe Cape Wind offshore wind power project in January received a final permit from the US Environmental Protection Agency to begin construction of the first US offshore wind farm. The agency's approval came a…

Coming to terms with the ash cloud

Feb 02, 2011

A 2000ft plume of volcanic ash from Iceland's Eyjafjallajökull brought chaos and confusion to European airspace last year. North Sea offshore helicopter operators are accustomed to dealing high winds, driving rain and freezing fog, but how did they cope with this new phenomenon…

Nexen spreads its wings

Feb 02, 2011

Field development prospects on the UK Continental Shelf are gathering momentum again, with Nexen (Golden Eagle, Blackbird), Chrysaor (Solan) and BG (Blake increased production) firming up North Sea project and environmental impact details in recent weeks…

Breathing new life into Mars

Feb 02, 2011

A decade and a half after its Mars TLP started production, Shell is gearing up for the Mars B development and its centerpiece, the Olympus TLP. Russell McCulley talks to Robert Patterson, Shell VP upstream major projects for the Americas, about…

MAN to put pressure on Asgard

Feb 02, 2011

Following lengthy qualification trials in Norway, MAN Diesel & Turbo has been selected as the supplier of the subsea gas compressors for the Åsgard field. According to field operator Statoil, in comparative trials carried out at the operator's K-Lab testing facility at Kårsto…

Repositioned for recovery

Feb 02, 2011

Companies across the offshore supply spectrum used the recent downturn to take stock – either out of necessity or for strategic reasons – in order to reposition themselves for when the upturn finally kicked in. OE looks at one such company,…

Safe passage for Sonangol crews

Feb 02, 2011

With a year of incident-free operation in West Africa under their belt, Steve Douglas and David Brittan reckon combining the first CrewZer-class vessel with the latest Frog transfer devices has produced arguably the industry's safest crew supply…

Renewables ... Bay of Fundy tests for Alstom's first tidal turbine generator

Jan 02, 2011

During the recent inauguration of the new premises of Alstom Hydro Ocean Energy on the island of Nantes, the French group revealed some of the key characteristics of its Beluga 9 tidal electricity-generating turbine and announced it will undergo its first tests in Canada's Bay of Fundy in 2012…

New year could herald offshore rebound

Jan 02, 2011

New reports point, cautiously, to better times ahead for the industry in 2011. But uncertainty in the post-Macondo Gulf of Mexico remains, as Russell McCulley writes.World oil demand bounced back in 2010 to its 2007 all-time high, according to a December report from Wood Mackenzie…

Deeper, further, colder

Jan 02, 2011

Newly published Polar class vessel rules from French classification society Bureau Veritas are aimed at speeding Arctic and Caspian Sea oil and gas development by facilitating the building of tank, cargo and offshore service vessels which can operate unsupported by icebreakers in very heavy ice…

Macondo: the human factors

Jan 02, 2011

Responding to consultant Ian Fitzsimmons' recent remarks in OE about BP's accident investigation report on the Gulf of Mexico's Macondo well disaster, drilling specialist Dr John Thorogood argues that it's time to stop pointing the accusatory finger and start learning the human factors lesson…

E&P minnows making their mark upstream

Jan 02, 2011

The Oil Council's recent World Energy Capital assembly in London shone a light on the new generation of smaller companies from disparate backgrounds now beginning to make their presence felt on the international exploration and production stage…

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