With a recent injection of capital having positioned the company for growth, Fairfield Energy – the self-styled only independent of substance solely focused on the UK continental shelf – moved into new operational headquarters at Westhill last month…
Inside PazflorBelgian firm VRcontext International was recently contracted by Total E&P Angola to deliver a 3D immersive training simulator (ITS) for the Pazflor FPSO, to be anchored on one of Total’s largest offshore producing assets.The company’s…
Floating systems consultant Peter Lovie offers his personal take on the debt crisis facing round FPSO pioneer Sevan and the unexpected challenges encountered by the US Gulf of Mexico's first FPSO .Sevan brought the first round FPSOs into operation…
Problems of the kind encountered by the Deepwater Horizon and Sedco 711 are not unique and being judgemental with the benefit of hindsight is futile, argues drilling consultant Dr John Thorogood. Pointing out that there is much still to be learned about human error…
An offshore scaffolding safety innovation from RBG has attracted industry plaudits aplenty since its launch last year and has already been adopted by Apache North Sea on a number of its platforms. In this opener to OE's HSE two-parter, Bill Abbott outlines the thinking behind PlusGard…
Citing a ‘renewed culture of safety' taking hold in the offshore oil & gas industry, the co-chairman of the presidential commission set up to investigate the Macondo disaster told attendees at the March CeraWeek conference in Houston that the…
New software developed by naval architects and marine engineering consultants Safety at Sea to address the International Maritime Organization's challenging regulations on a ship's safe return offers potential for aspects of offshore vessel design…
Norwegian operator Statoil acknowledged last month that it could have been clearer in its dialogue with Norway's Petroleum Safety Authority following the May 2010 incident where pressure build-up in well 34/10-C06A resulted in a near blowout and the shutdown of the Gullfaks C platform…
‘An exciting future for the subsea business' was predicted by Ross Kinnear, head of subsea operations in BP's North Sea SPU, when he addressed Subsea UK's annual flagship conference in Aberdeen last month. David Morgan reviews some of the Subsea 2011 highlights…
Aberdeen-based Churchill Drilling Tools had on display at ONS an innovative dart activation system now being deployed for technically challenging high-angle sections in Norwegian continental shelf wells. According to Churchill, DAV MX mechanical…
Recent tests on Mobil Industrial Lubricants’ Arctic performance hydraulic oil have reportedly shown that it can help reduce hydraulic system energy consumption by up to 6.2%, when compared with standard mineral hydraulic oils. Given pride of…
The new NORM (naturally occurring radioactive material) monitor, added to Tracerco’s range of radiation monitors at ONS, was specifically developed to meet the requirements of the oil & gas industry in detecting and quantifying naturally occurring radioactive isotopes…
The Rhino XC on-demand reamer, released at ONS by Schlumberger, is a next-generation reaming tool that provides unlimited activation of the flow actuation system to reliably enlarge boreholes.Building on Rhino XS hydraulically expandable reamer technology…
A new range of four gastight well suspension plugs, designated the Lock series, was unveiled by well integrity specialist Archer during ONS.The series comprises four application-specific products: SafeLock, for short to medium term suspension periods…
Åge Landro has rejoined Norway’s AGR Group after a short break. Previously with the group’s field operations unit for seven years, he returns as EVP of its global Petroleum Services division.