In the short-term, a lack of transition training to capture transferable skills is the biggest human resources issue for the industry, says industry skills body OPITO. “The Transition Training Programme (TTP) is a fast-track course which takes workers with relevant…
As the North Sea continues to attract record investment, the scale of opportunity for the supply chain is growing, says the EIC. The growth is characterised by four key areas of activity: small or marginal developments, led by a growing number of independents…
Shale gas, and now tight oil has seen an unprecedented increase in energy supply in North America. It has entirely changed the energy landscape, resulting in a dramatic fall of the gas price and reversing long-term decline in US oil supplies…
Dwarfed by the majors and super majors, the impact of the small independent oil company on global exploration and production activity is often overlooked. But, these companies are driving increased production in mature provinces such as the UK Continental Shelf (UKCS)…
Centrica Energy has paid tribute to the life of one of its pioneering exploration engineers who first discovered gas in Morecambe Bay Retired Chief Petrophysicist John Bains has died following a distinguished career which saw him discover one of the UK’s largest gas fields…
OMV is to invest in an offshore exploration block west of Madagascar. OMV will acquire a 40% stake in the Grand Prix block from Niko Resources (Niko). OMV will farm-in to the area for the planned drilling of an exploration well. OMV will…
Petroceltic International has launched drilling campaigns offshore Romania and in Kurdistan. The Romanian campaign, in the Black Sea, started with the spudding of the Cobalcescu South exploration well using the GSP Prometeu jack-up drill rig…
Viper Subsea will unveil its latest innovation on its stand (6A20) at SPE Offshore Europe 2013. The V-LIFE provides a solution to one of subsea engineering’s most common problems – the degradation of insulation resistance in subsea cables and umbilicals…
Scandinavia’s oil and gas industry, focused on Norway and Denmark, is expecting a resurgence. Espen Erlingsen looks at trends in the sector. The North Sea is characterized by large, producing platforms with declining production. To stop the falling production in the North Sea…
Twenty years after it came online, the UK’s longest serving permanently-moored FPSO has been given a new lease on life. Elaine Maslin reports on the extent the UK’s largest offshore project in 2012. When production from the central North Sea Gryphon field came online in October 1993…
Subsea UK is calling on the UK government to back plans for a national program that will support and fund subsea research, and a UK-wide skills program that will help the sector find the 10,000 people it needs to capitalize on current and future demand…
Emerson Process Management opened a new European education facility at the valve manufacturing center of excellence in Cernay, France, in May. A unique feature of the facility is its flow laboratory, which provides a training infrastructure for control valves and instrumentation…
The combined application of the ISO-MAX security packer and selective rotation and circulation tool (SRCT) helped a North Sea operator prevent losses during well displacement, thus ensuring well integrity and improving the chances of a successful completion…
During the last 10 years, the oil and gas industry has seen significant developments in seismic acquisition strategies, pushing the boundaries imposed by the technical limits of conventional 3D marine acquisition using narrow-azimuth towed streamers…
Decommissioning is on the rise and the cost to industry will be about US$80 billion over the next 25 years to plug and abandon more than 5,000 wells, clear flowlines, and remove related structures. Is there a way to improve the decommissioning process…