Despite a brief interruption post-Macondo, the rig newbuilding boom that started in 2005 is gathering momentum. Jennifer Pallanich talks to IHS about the latest trends in the drilling contractor market.One of the trends that Tom Kellock, Houston's head of consulting for IHS Petrodata…
Hunting has completed the acquisition of Specialty Supply for an initial cash consideration of $31 million. Located in Houston, Specialty manufactures precisionmachined MWD parts used in directional drilling markets worldwide.Lankhorst Mouldings and…
Reservoir complexity and an emphasis on asset integrity have encouraged developers to refine visualization technology for oil & gas applications. OE shares details of a handful of new products that have come across our desk in recent weeks.The…
With 2011 drawing to a close, it's time for OE to look afresh at the world's emerging hot spots. One of those generating the most interest, if not the most dollars yet, is also the coldest: the Arctic. Jennifer Pallanich asks a cross-section…
Siemens last month increased its stake in UK tidal energy company Marine Current Turbines to 45%, with Michael Axmann, CFO of Siemens Energy's newly established solar & hydro division, declaring: ‘We will actively shape the commercialization process of innovative marine current power plants…
Class society Lloyd's Register is working with leading owners and operators from the oil & gas sector to improve current methods of monitoring the performance of blowout preventers. Two risk management specialists within the Lloyd's Register Group…
Offshore rig and vessel repair continues to produce attractive returns for yards that are well placed strategically and geographically. OE checks out the latest developments at two players – one in Bahrain, the other in Gibraltar – still relatively…
Baker Hughes continues to invest heavily in R&D, having reorganized itself along ‘geo-market' lines over the last couple of years. During the recent SPE ATCE gathering in Denver, Russell McCulley caught up with the oilfield services giant's president of products & technology…
High safety standards in oil & gas operations are better achieved when self-imposed, rather than through excessive government regulation, a leading Shell figure told delegates to this year's SPE ATCE in Denver. US editor Russell McCulley listened in…
Born in Houston, raised in London, Gardiner Henderson is no stranger to travel. Which is just as well, since his latest job has him in almost perpetual motion criss-crossing the globe to build business and raise awareness of a company he sees…
BP has received approval from the US Bureau of Ocean Energy Management for a supplemental exploration plan in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico, the company’s first such approval since the April 2010 blowout and spill at its Macondo prospect and…
North Sea independent Ithaca Energy will use Petrofac's FPF-1 semi – the former AH-001 deployed by Hess on Ivanhoe/Rob Roy – as a production hub to develop the Greater Stella Area (GSA ) fields, Stella, Harrier, Hurricane and Helios. Jennifer Pallanich reports…
The Macondo incident pushed oil spill response to the top of the environmental agenda. A recent contest let some innovative companies demonstrate spill response equipment – and for one of the event's technical advisors, Shell, to reassure the public that it intends to operate safely in Alaska…
When a story becomes the story it may sell a few more newspapers for a couple of days but most editors know that this is not a good way to the future – unless of course ideologically driven or vested interest motives become barely disguised…
A growing belief that the ‘bow wave' of the long-awaited North Sea decommissioning market has now reached the industry was evident at last month's sell-out Offshore Decommissioning Conference† in Dunblane, Scotland. Meg Chesshyre reports.A plea…