STATOIL has signed a letter of intent with Songa Offshore for the long-term hire of the Songa Dee semi-submersible rig to drill on the prolific North Sea Gullfaks field. The contract value is some $378million.
Norwegian drilling contractor Seadrill has ordered two further rigs from the Far East at an estimated cost of $400million, plus it has options for a further four that could take the bill to $1.2billion.
A COMBINATION of weather and other factors have reduced the number of active rigs to nine mobile units on exploration & appraisal (E&A) activity compared with 13 at the end of September.
STATOIL says it is ready for the next phase of exploration in the Barents Sea. The Norwegian group claims that its oil spill response capability is up to scratch and performs "as planned".
AMEC has secured a global agreement with BP to provide engineering and project management services (EPMS) for the petroleum major's onshore facilities development activities.
THE Norwegian Petroleum Directorate (NPD) has approved Eni's planned wildcat exploration well on block 7120/12 in the Norwegian sector of the Barents Sea.
BAKER Hughes is to provide a package of drilling, formation evaluation and waste management services to the so-called Borgland Dolphin Consortium.
AN ABERDEEN company with more than 140 years of explosives experience within its management team says the application of explosives in the North Sea has not passed its sell-by date.
Aberdeen-headquartered energy services company Senergy has signed a collaboration agreement with Centrica Energy Upstream (Centrica) potentially worth more than £10million.
PETROFAC Training Services (PTS) has become the first provider in the world to be approved for the new Opito-recognised major emergency management initial response course.
MAERSK'S recently appointed North Sea UK managing director sees a buoyant future for the business unit.
THREE foreign consortia have been awarded the contracts to develop three key gas production assets in Iraq.
AGG Aviation has launched a 24-hour medevac service for the oil and gas industry in Iraq between Basra and the new Al Seef Hospital in Kuwait.
KBR has been awarded a contract to execute the topsides detailed design for Total's CLOV floating production, storage and offloading vessel (FPSO).
AKER Solutions is selling its subsidiary Aker Marine Contractors (AMC) to Ezra Holdings in an equity and cash deal worth $250million.
THE US Gulf of Mexico shallow water slowdown precipitated by the BP Macondo disaster could cost more than $10billion and threaten the region's economy, particularly that of the Louisiana state.
Aberdeen company ADIL (Asset Development and Improvement Limited) has secured a further significant new contract - more valuable and of longer duration than the $2.8million (£1.8million) arrangement with Bridge Energy that was unveiled mid October.
The latest monthly statistics from the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) show UK oil production down - 19% on an annual basis and gas production down 21%. Those are alarming rates of decline.
We've had a wood-burning stove in our house for the better part of 20 years. It's incredibly effective and is in fact so good I'm looking seriously at fitting another one in my office to use during the winter instead of having to run the oil-fired central heating system.
There is one golden rule about major financial statements made in the House of Commons and it is that nobody should express an opinion until they have read the small print.
Everyone involved in the US Gulf of Mexico deepwater sector must surely have heaved a sigh of relief when, on October 12, President Barack Obama said the temporary six-month moratorium on deepwater drilling had been lifted.
His has not been a smooth road, but is anyone's?
Deepwater drilling and performance improvement specialist Exceed has secured several new contracts leading to 25 new staff being taken on lately, with further expansion on the cards.
Having developed the concept and basic design for Heerema's new monohull construction vessel, Ulstein Group's design company Ulstein Sea of Solutions (USOS) is to carry out further engineering with the DSME in South Korea.
Proven oil and gas reserves grew last year for the first time since 2005 despite a 23% drop in international upstream investment, according to analysts at IHS Herold.
