In 2007, OGX was but a dream of Brazilian entrepreneur Eike Batista. In the course of three short years, the company secured financing for leases, bid on and won shallow water blocks, secured drilling rigs, hired about 150 staff, tallied six…
Two recently published reports point to a speedy recovery for offshore E&P. The deepwater sector of the oil & gas business should recover quickly from the economic downturn and resume the growth the sector enjoyed before the recession, suggests a new report from Douglas-Westwood…
Two competing gas transportation projects in southern Europe could be combined to increase the future security of European gas supply, Eni chief executive Paolo Scaroni told CeraWeek attendees in Houston in March. According to Scaroni, combining…
With well costs escalating to consume up to half of a project’s funding, operators are seeking ways to trim costs. During IADC’s Deepwater Drilling conference in Rio de Janeiro in March, operators discussed some of their strategies to trim costs…
Non-productive time (NPT) associated with control systems software and hardware integration remains a significant drain on high-spec offshore asset costs, according to a study released last month.The study, by the Athens Group and ModuSpec,…
The shaky economic recovery could be threatened if US energy policies push up prices, ExxonMobil chairman and CEO Rex Tillerson said in Houston last month.‘You can raise taxes, raise royalties – it's going to ultimately increase the cost of energy…
OE ’s analysis of current rig market data is updated monthly using statistics provided by Rigzone.comUtilization for the worldwide mobile offshore drilling fleet continues to track in the 74-75% range, about 7% below year ago levels. Global…
The oil & gas industry and analysts greeted President Obama’s offshore drilling plan as a step in the right direction. But subsequent events surrounding the Deepwater Horizon disaster (see Heavy losses in Horizon tragedy ) could complicate matters…
Late in the evening 20 April, an explosion rocked the deck of the Deepwater Horizon and set off a fire that raged for 36 hours before the Transocean semisubmersible plunged to the seafloor 5000ft below. As OE went to press, operator BP and other…
When the P-61 tension leg wellhead platform (TLWP) begins operations at Petrobras' Papa Terra offshore Brazil in 2013, it will be the new kid on the block in more ways than one. Not only will the deepwater unit be the first TLWP facility off Brazil…
Operating in the marine seismic environment requires the ability to constantly adapt and chase down the opportunities. Andrew McBarnet describes how fortunes tend to favour the big rather than the brave.It’s business as usual’ has got to be something of a misnomer in commercial life…
Rapid technological and market developments in the offshore industry over the past five years have put pressure on class to develop rules and notations for a new generation of specialised well-intervention offshore vessels. DNV's Alexander Wardwell reports…
Improving data integrationLandmark has developed a new integrated, asset-level production operations and optimization workflow solutions program called DecisionSpace for Production. The software is deployed in several deepwater FPSO environments…
Nigeria’s controversial oil reforms, long in the works, appear close to passage. The government hopes to shore up falling production and get a bigger share of oil profits. But IOCs doing business in the Delta are wary, as Russell McCulley reports…
Handling the loadCargotec is to deliver MacGregor offshore and subsea load-handling systems to a deepsea research vessel on order at Mitsubishi Heavy Industries’ Shimonoseki shipyard in Japan.‘This contract highlights Cargotec’s capacity and technological expertise in offshore load-handling…