ExxonMobil began exploratory drilling operations in the Kara Sea’s Universitetskaya structure in the East Prinovozemelskiy area on 9 August, defying Western-imposed sanctions against Russian state-owned Rosneft. Drilling on the Universitetskaya-1 well…
Statoil awarded Schlumberger Norway a contract to provide integrated drilling services and exploration drilling on the Norwegian continental shelf (NCS). Licenses are for Gullfaks, Gullfaks Satellites, Snorre, Statfjord, Tordis/Vigdis…
Petrobras announced drilling has started on the first exploration well on the Libra pre-salt area in the Santos basin offshore Brazil. Drilling on Libra, discovered in 2010, and estimated to contain 8-12 billion boe, comes as marine production…
Proserv appoints two vice presidents to its senior management team. Paul Douglas has been promoted to the role of VP operations with Bruce Stuart joining Proserv as VP sales and business development for Europe and West Africa (EWA) from FMC Technologies…
Marathon Oil is due to spud an exploration well on the Key Largo prospect, on Walker Ridge Block 578, Gulf of Mexico, in Q3. It will be the first well drilled with a new-build deepwater drillship. Marathon Oil is operator and holds a 60% working interest in the prospect…
Lundin Petroleum has announced a successful initial appraisal campaign offshore Malaysia and the start of drilling on a new exploration well in the Barents Sea. The Barents well is exploration well 7220/11-1 in PL609 in the Norwegian sector of the Barents Sea…
The living quarters platform (LQP-1) topside for the Vladimir Filanovsky field has arrived at its north Caspian Sea destination from Krasnye Barrikady shipyard in Russia’s Astrakhan region, the Russian Maritime Register of Shipping (RS) announced on 5 August…
Norwegian drilling technology specialist Tomax released a video from an internal research program with recordings of the actual pressure impact from the drill-bit nozzles. The video gives an insight to a “blind-zone” that is often critical for pressure-sensitive deepwater operations.
Serica Energy has completed a farm out on UK East Irish Sea Blocks 113/26b and 113/27c (License P.1482) with Centrica, through its subsidiary Hydrocarbon Resources Limited (HRL). Under the agreement, HRL has acquired an operated 45% interest in the license…
Galp Energia will plug and abandon its Tao-1 exploration well in the Tarfaya block offshore Morocco after encountering unfavorable reservoir quality in the Trident objective, partner Tangiers Petroleum announced on 4 August 2014. The…
CAMAC Energy discovered four new oil and gas reservoirs during drilling on an Oyo field development well in OML 120 offshore Nigeria, the firm said today (4 August). Drilling on Oyo-8 started on 15 June. A vertical section of the well…
Eni made a gas and condensates discovery in the Nyonie Deep exploration prospect in block D4, about 13km from the coast of Gabon. ENI estimates initial potential in place is 500MMboe. The discovery was made in the pre-salt of Gabon through the NFW Nyonie Deep 1 well…
Genel Energy plc spud the SM-1 well in the Sidi Moussa block offshore Morocco, partner San Leon announced on 31 July 2014. The Noble Paul Romano semisubmersible rig began drilling operations on 30 July, and is expected to take 60-90 days…
Production began from two “high-rate” wells at Murphy Oil’s Dalmatian development in the US Gulf of Mexico. The US-based company announced that the project came online during its 2Q 2014 earnings report. Murphy Oil said the results were “better than planned…
Girish U. Pai, Devendra Awadhiya and Zubin Fatakia discuss the evolution of safety case in designs for offshore platforms. Offshore installations are exposed to nature’s fury all the time. The operations involve handling very heavy modules weighing tens of thousands of tons…