The name Petrobras these days invokes thoughts of large, pre-salt discoveries, for good reason. Since announcing the Tupi pre-salt find in 2006, the Brazilian operator has made giant strides in developing and refining the technology needed to find and produce the oil hiding beneath the salt layer…
The proliferation of modern specialist vessels serving just about every sector of the offshore oil & gas business has not gone unnoticed by traditional shipping industry equipment and service providers, as was plain to see at the 2011 Nor-Shipping event in Oslo late May…
A commercial version of a subsea booster designed to improve production of fluids containing both liquid and free gas is expected to be made available next year by Aker Solutions and its JIP partners. Jennifer Pallanich talks to Aker's Christian…
Through industry technology facilitator ITF, Green Ocean Energy has secured funding to the tune of £45,000 to investigate the capability of its Wave Treader device to power offshore oil & gas structures. This is the first renewable energy venture to receive ITF support…
As an indicator of the health of the oil & gas industry, attendance at May's Offshore Technology Conference in Houston suggests that recovery from the global recession is well underway. OE looks back over some of the sights and sounds of OTC 2011…
With floating LNG facilities now widely acknowledged to be a key enabler for exploiting stranded gas reserves, Trelleborg Marine Systems' Simon Wilson offers some insights into the new design methodologies needed for integrated berthing and…
Heavy demand--Schilling Robotics confirmed during OTC that EMAS has ordered eight of its Heavy-Duty ROVs while another offshore contractor, Global Industries, is purchasing one of the company's new Ultra-Heavy- Duty systems. EMAS plans to install the work-class HD ROVs…
In 2010, ShawCor picked up an OTC Spotlight on Technology award for its Thermotite Ultra pipe insulation coating system. That summer, two of the company's divisions, Bredero Shaw and Bredero Shaw FJS, put the technology to use on a reeled pipeline…
With wellbores drilled in ever deeper waters penetrating further into the earth and clients demanding improved performance from all parts of the drilling process, VAM Drilling has focused on two aspects of the drillstem it believes deliver on the reliability front…
Subsea welding goes deeperA decade of research at the UK's Cranfield University has confirmed that subsea welding can be successfully conducted at depths of up to 940m, more than 600m deeper than previous records and far deeper than the 180m depth limit for divers…
Technology and concerns about staffing took center stage at last month's SPE/IADC Drilling exhibition & conference in Amsterdam. Jennifer Pallanich listened in as companies discussed how to remain competitive. Hint: it's mostly the people.One…
DNV expects shortly to issue the first ISDS (Integrated Software Dependent Systems) class certificate to Dolphin Drilling. This new state-of-the art class notation has been under development since 2008 and the class society says it is already in demand…
Following two years of development, Aberdeen Drilling Consultants recently launched its new ADC Virtual Academy division, offering what they believe is the world's first online course focused on drilling equipment for the oil & gas industry…
Chevron chairman and CEO John Watson told the Energy Institute's International Petroleum Week dinner in London last month that fossil fuel is no dinosaur. Meg Chesshyre was there.Far from having reached any peak, the world's estimated base of recoverable oil…
The Macondo well disaster and its ramifications were never far from the surface during the recent GE Oil & Gas annual meeting in Florence, where business leaders gathered in large numbers to discuss the technological and regulatory challenges…