The views expressed in this column do not necessarily reflect OE's position.Detesting cruel and unusual punishment, preventing double jeopardy and imposing statutes of limitations are basic tenets of the legal systems of democracies. A judiciary…
Newly published Polar class vessel rules from French classification society Bureau Veritas are aimed at speeding Arctic and Caspian Sea oil and gas development by facilitating the building of tank, cargo and offshore service vessels which can operate unsupported by icebreakers in very heavy ice…
Responding to consultant Ian Fitzsimmons' recent remarks in OE about BP's accident investigation report on the Gulf of Mexico's Macondo well disaster, drilling specialist Dr John Thorogood argues that it's time to stop pointing the accusatory finger and start learning the human factors lesson…
The Oil Council's recent World Energy Capital assembly in London shone a light on the new generation of smaller companies from disparate backgrounds now beginning to make their presence felt on the international exploration and production stage…
For this specially extended edition of his monthly OE column, Professor Michael Economides invited famed horizontal drilling pioneer Jacques Bosio to collaborate on a piece discussing the provenance of this breakthrough technology and its continuing influence on oil & gas well design today…
During the recent inauguration of the new premises of Alstom Hydro Ocean Energy on the island of Nantes, the French group revealed some of the key characteristics of its Beluga 9 tidal electricity-generating turbine and announced it will undergo its first tests in Canada's Bay of Fundy in 2012…
New reports point, cautiously, to better times ahead for the industry in 2011. But uncertainty in the post-Macondo Gulf of Mexico remains, as Russell McCulley writes.World oil demand bounced back in 2010 to its 2007 all-time high, according to a December report from Wood Mackenzie…
During the Cold War, leaders recognized that a robust energy supply was a sign of power, economic strength and prosperity. But now, two decades on, there appears to be an unquestionable sign of ‘change’ – and it’s not necessarily change for the better for the US…
Merger and acquisition activity in the US oil & gas sector picked up steam 3Q 2010, despite ongoing uncertainty about business in the Gulf of Mexico, reported PricewaterhouseCoopers.For the three-month period ending 30 September, there were…
The overhaul of the reservoir model of the giant Forties oilfield – from data management to full field simulation – is described here by operator Apache North Sea’s Jeffery Pyle and Schlumberger’s Gordy Shanor.Production from the Forties field began in 1975…
With close proximity to the offshore Cantarell and Ku-Maloob-Zaap fields, the inland Gulf of Mexico port of Villahermosa is a major operation center for Mexican state oil company Pemex. Last month the city again played host to the Petroleum Exhibition & Conference of Mexico (PECOM)…
Worldwide utilization for the mobile offshore drilling fleet averaged 72% over the last month. Of late the global utilization rates for semisubmersibles have held steady at approximately 83% while rates for drillships have bounced around the mid-to-low 80% range…
McDermott picked up a Bentley Systems innovation in construction award at the infrastructure software provider’s recent ‘Be Inspired’ gathering in Amsterdam for the early delivery of the Su Tu Vang central processing platform at the Cuu Long project offshore Vietnam…
Things are stirring on the UK continental shelf if the attendance at last month’s Pilot Share Fair in Aberdeen is anything to go by. More than 1000 people, including Meg Chesshyre, turned out to hear from major operators and contractors about their strategies for future North Sea projects…
Water jetting is now a well-established subsea approach and the technology has evolved significantly in the 30 years since the first mass-flow excavation (MFE) tool reached the market. David Morgan looks at the latest such development: the Marin Group Evo Claycutting system…