Mexico's Pemex is preparing this month to issue the first incentive-based contracts allowed under the country's 2008 oil reforms. Most observers agree that the reforms didn't go far enough, but will a new president in 2012 pick up the pace? Russell McCulley reports…
With a major service point for the deepwater Gulf of Mexico in Port Fourchon, Louisiana among all US states has the most at stake in the federal government's six-month deepwater drilling moratorium. The effects so far haven't been as bad as some feared…
The effect of the continuing credit crunch last summer meant that North Sea field development activity was down last year, but the steadying of the price this spring has led to projects being dusted off in both the UK and the Norwegian sectors…
A new world benchmark for hydraulic skidding was established this June in Geoje-Si, South Korea, with the loadout of the 19,400t deck for an Arctic class semisubmersible destined eventually to serve on Russia’s Shtokman gas field. David Morgan reports…
For more than 20 years, the UK’s Civil Aviation Authority has led various initiatives to reduce the risks to helicopters operating to moving platforms in the North Sea. Dr Athena Scaperdas and Dr Paul Gallagher of Atkins describe one such project which looks at helicopter on-deck safety…
Conventional solids control methods are inadequate to manage low-gravity solids smaller than 8-10 microns. M-I Swaco’s Rich Cook discusses a new solution, recently successfully employed in West Africa, that helps manage these solids while keeping excess rig space to a minimum…
Drilling at the Peró and Ingá prospects in block BM-C-40 and the Santa Helena prospect in BM-C-31 has turned up hits for Brazilian relative newcomer OGX. The operator has been focusing on shallow water opportunities (OE April) and has exploratory…
BP in late August was in the final stages of permanently plugging the deepwater Gulf of Mexico Macondo exploration well, which spilled nearly 5 million barrels of oil between the 20 April blowout that destroyed the Deepwater Horizon rig and mid-July…
Finally, some sanity has surfaced in Europe on the subject of climate change and it is from a real scientific heavyweight to boot. Rarely have I found a book* so elegantly simple and yet compelling. Christian Gerondeau, a very well known French scientist and engineer…
When the ideal coiled tubing string for a sleeve-shifting operation was too heavy for the platform crane, the string was split and then rejoined offshore. BJ Services’ Godwin Effiong and Greg Dean explain how they kept the job safe.Efficiency…
The six-month US moratorium on deepwater drilling following the Deepwater Horizon tragedy, along with tougher regulations and higher liability costs likely to follow, could put the squeeze on independent operators in the Gulf of Mexico. Russell McCulley talks to one company that's pushing back…
OE ’s analysis of current rig market data is updated monthly using statistics provided by Rigzone.comWorldwide utilization for the mobile offshore drilling fleet continues to hover in the 74-76% range. The recent softness seen in utilization…
Shell's solution for dealing with the heavy oil at the low-energy BC-10 concession offshore Brazil – caisson separator electrical submersible pumps - is working ‘outstandingly' well according to the field's project manager. Jennifer Pallanich…
The pre-salt Tupi field may claim most of the interest when it comes to oil activity offshore Brazil, but plenty is going on along the large country's coastline. In the last two months, Petrobras has brought online two fields, updated its files…
Cape Wind clears another hurdleAnother challenge to its long-delayed quest to become the US’s first offshore wind farm was successfully fought off by Cape Wind as federal regulators in August upheld an earlier decision that said the project posed no threat to airways…