Brazil's FINEP extended the deadline for submitting proposals for the Inova Petro program. This is the second tender protocol of the BRL 3 billion (US$1.33 billion) program. The proposals need to be submitted by 24 April 2014. The aim of the program is to foment projects on R&D…
Oslo’s Dolphin Geophysical announced that two high-capacity 3D vessels will be dispatched to shoot a seismic contract in South America as the company “to build solid contract back-log in South America.” The name of the company awarding the contract was not disclosed…
Houston-based UTEC Survey Inc. provided survey services aboard the Ocean Spur jackup rig for rig move operations in Amistad Field, Gulf of Guayaquil, offshore Ecuador. The survey work was staffed and project managed from UTEC’s Houston headquarters…
Subsea 7 has won a lump sum contract worth about US$110 million from Shell for the installation of jumpers, umbilicals and associated subsea structures for the BC-10 Phase 3 project in the Campos basin, offshore Brazil. Project management…
One of McDermott International’s subsidiaries has entered into an agreement with Petrobras for the supply of its subsea Lay Vessel North Ocean 105 (LV105). This contract is included in McDermott’s 1Q 2014 backlog. The LV105 will carry…
Brazil's President Maria das Graças Silva Foster and Director of Exploration and Production, José Formigli, announced the start of the seventh and final round of the Fleet Renewal Plan for Offshore Support Vessels (Prorefam). The Brazilian…
Petrobras announced that it has completed drilling wildcat well 1-BRSA-1205-RNS (Pitu), located in the Potiguar Basin. The results confirm the discovery of intermediate oil as previously announced to the market on 17 Dec 2013. The Pitu well sits at a water depth of 1731m…
Dutch seismic interpretation solutions provider dGB Earth Sciences has opened an office in Rio de Janeiro because of the growing market for seismic interpretation solutions in South America. The company's open-source seismic interpretation platform…
Shell quits Alaska: Royal Dutch Shell will discontinue its 2014 plans for drilling offshore Alaska. Shell’s U-turn on Alaskan drilling follows a profit warning and a court judgment, raising “substantial obstacles” to the company’s plans for drilling in the Chukchi Sea…
Norway-based SeaBird Exploration announced that its Osprey Explorer vessel was awarded a contract in South America with a major oil company. The US $9million contract is expected to last about75 days and will commence in March. The…
Colombia’s offshore is not as widely explored as its conventional onshore space. The country, which has many resources including coal bed methane and even shale, is making a bigger push for offshore exploration. Colombia’s Vice Minister of Energy for the Ministry of Mines and Energy…
Fairmount Marine has safely delivered rig ENSCO 5002 in Singapore. The rig was towed from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, via Cape Good Hope, by tug Fairmount Expedition. ENSCO 5002 is a 1975 built 70m long and 61m wide semisubmersible drilling rig…
Noble Corp.’s drilling rig, Noble Paul Wolff (pictured), experienced a “ballast control incident” off Brazil at 1 a.m. local time, the company reported 28 Feb 2014. The rig’s crew has secured the well, and Noble said that measures are underway to resolve the matter…
Falklands explorer Rockhopper Exploration has appointed Stewart MacDonald Chief Financial Officer, with effect from 10 March 2014. Prior to joining the Company, Stewart, who is 33, was a director in Rothschild's global oil and gas group…
Petrobras Colombia Ltd. will drill the Orca prospect in the Tayrona-1 (Tayrona Occidental) block off Colombia's Caribbean coast in 2Q 2014. The company will move a rig from Brazil to spud the Orca-1 exploration well in water about 600m deep off the Guajira peninsula…