Salaries for oil & gas industry engineers shot up over the past year, rising an average 6.1% across several professional disciplines, according to a new survey released by recruitment firm Hays.The average permanent salary across the survey's sample of 144…
Merger and acquisition activity in the oil & gas industry rebounded in 2010, up 35% over the previous year, Ernst & Young said last month. Global transaction value hit $270 billion last year, up from about $200 billion in 2009, the company said…
A rising tide of seismic demand has quite suddenly changed the conversation in the marine seismic community. Andrew McBarnet explains why.It’s amazing sometimes how quickly the clouds can clear. Just a month or two ago marine seismic companies were forecasting another flat year…
A robust mergers & acquisitions market in the latter half of 2011, particularly in midstream, bodes well for deal making in 2012, according to Deloitte's Center for Energy Studies. But world events could throw a wrench into the M&A machine, as Russell McCulley reports…
Fifty-six i-FRAC sleeves were opened with three balls on the Norwegian shelf.Well technology company i-TEC has developed an innovative lower completion ball drop sleeve system which it claims can bring wells in tight formations online much more quickly than other methods…
Since it began addressing safety critical fire water deluge system integrity issues a year ago, Paradigm Flow Solutions has rapidly expanded its provision in this area. The company is now working on life-of-field solutions with two North Sea operators…
ITF last month outlined the specific challenges that its membership of operator and service companies want to see tackled as priorities in 2012. Up to 100% funding will be available for the right solutions to some of the industry's most pressing challenges…
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…
Andrew McBarnet puts the decision-making of marine seismic companies under the microscope.Carrying on where we left off (OE last month), the future of financially troubled SeaBird Exploration and its ocean bottom node (OBN) seismic acquisition business remains unclear…
A majority of oil & gas company officials are confident that their information security practices are effective, despite an acrossthe- board rise in security breaches in recent years, according to a new study.The 2012 Global State of Information Security Survey…
The focus on safety within the offshore oil & gas industry has never been clearer. Two of Rowan's safety specialists took time to discuss with Jennifer Pallanich the company's work on the safety case for the Rowan Mississippi while the jackup was in the Sabine Pass…
Two Engineering Construction Industry Training Board (ECITB) initiatives have been launched in the UK for offshore companies looking to address the skills gap through the reskilling of adult trainees. The first 16 learners recently completed their training…
OE's popular annual guide to oil & gas developments on the Northwest European Continental Shelf returns, fully updated.Operators in the UK sector of the North Sea were taken aback in March this year by UK Chancellor George Osborne's decision to raise the supplementary tax rate from 20% to 32%…
Dozens of obsolete offshore platforms have been successfully converted to artificial reefs under the US ‘rigs-to-reefs’ program. But an independent Houston operator is pushing for rule changes that, its CEO says, would preserve far more delicate ecosystems…
Ever-alert to the need to hone its competitive edge, the drilling technologies business unit of Aker Solutions is looking to take its service offering to an unrivalled level of sophistication with the new drawworks extended test facility in Erkelenz…