Shell is ceasing further exploration offshore Alaska after the company's Burger J prospect failed to prove oil, resulting in a multi billion dollar write-down. The Transocean Polar Pioneer “Shell…
Noble Energy will plug and abandon its Cheetah exploration well offshore Cameroon after finding both crude oil and natural gas shows in multiple non-commercial reservoir sands. Noble said that results from the well are being integrated…
ExxonMobil Upstream Research Co. awarded Schlumberger and Weatherford International licenses for its patented Internal Shunt Alternate Path (ISAPT) technology. Schlumberger was awarded the license for ISAPT sand screens to improve gravel packing of cased and openhole completion wells…
It is 20 years since the start of oil production from the Troll field. The 20 year-old can look back on enormous wealth, with 1.56 billion bbl produced so far and US$53.76 billion (NOK 460 billion) in income. Image from Statoil…
The National Oil Corp. of Kenya (NOCK) has invited expressions of interest (EOI) from eligible companies to acquire a multi-client 3D broadband seismic survey including processing over the shallow waters of the offshore Lamu basin, Kenya…
Italian explorer Eni is set to spud its deepwater Gulf of Mexico Vernaccia exploration well in early October, according to partner Louisiana-based Stone Energy. The Vernaccia prospect, in Mississippi Canyon Block 35, will target the Miocene interval in a four-way structure…
Maersk Training, with Oiltec Solutions, and eDrilling, have made training available on the advanced drilling and engineering simulator, wellSim hiDRILL, in Maersk Training’s new training facility in Houston, TX when the center opens in November 2015…
Primeline Energy Holdings spudded the LS23-1-1 exploration well on 23 September to tap into resources near its LS36-1 gas field production facility, in the East China Sea. Images from Primeline Energy…
Independent Oil & Gas (IOG) has made significant progress towards drilling the Skipper well in the Northern North Sea, located in Block 9/21a, in license P1609. Image from IOG. Alpha…
Maersk Drilling has been awarded a new three-year contract worth US$110 million for the jackup rig Maersk Resilient with Danish oil company Maersk Oil. The Maersk Resilient. From Maersk. Commencement is expected in October 2015…
ROC Oil commenced drilling operations the second of two planned exploration wells in the Bohai Bay basin, offshore China, according to joint venture partner AWE. Map of Block 09/05. From ROC. The…
ExxonMobil and partner Canadian Overseas Petroleum Ltd. (COPL) are planning to return to the waters offshore Liberia as early as next year after the duo delayed drilling plans due to an Ebola virus outbreak in the region. Map of Block LB-13…
Statoil received consent from the PSA to drill a new production well from the Heimdal facility. The well is to be drilled using a modular drilling rig (MDR). An MDR is a modular mobile rig installed in the facility's drilling area. One has been used for permanent plugging of wells at Heimdal…
VNG Norge has started drilling on the Blink prospect in the Norwegian Sea offshore Norway. The well, 6406/12-5 S, is in license PL586, which also contains the recent significant Pil and Bue discoveries (announced in 2014), says partner Faroe Petroleum…
In response to the decline in crude oil prices since mid-2014, the number of active offshore rigs has declined worldwide, dropping close to 20%, says the US Energy Information Administration (EIA). There were 304 offshore rigs operating in August 2015…