Island declines Celtic Sea option
ISLAND Oil & Gas has declined its option with Lansdowne Celtic Sea to farm into its SEL4/07 encompassing part blocks, 49/11(p), 49/12(p), 49/13(p), 49/17(p) and 49/18(p), in the Celtic Sea offshore Ireland.
Oil & Gas
Statoil planning Arctic attack
STATOILHYDRO is preparing for fresh operations in the Arctic and is planning a new drillship tailored to Arctic conditions which can be employed for exploration and development drilling in the northern Barents Sea.
US comes to town for Durango party
AUS-BASED oil&gas operator took time out to party in Aberdeen to celebrate bringing its first North Sea field onstream.
Spiderman Phil at masked ball
STAFF of Petrotechnics in Aberdeen enjoyed a masked ball at the city's Marcliffe Hotel - and no one enjoyed the role of Spiderman more than managing director Phil Murray.
Aberdeen software firm wins contracts
ABERDEEN firm Motion Software has won two contracts worth more than £100,000 with energy-sector firms.
Orphan exploration abandoned
CHEVRON Canada has for now abandoned its plan to drill a deepwater exploration well that it had planned offshore Labrador in Orphan Basin.
Subsea conference on course to be bigger than last year
Oil and gas industry leaders, more than 100 exhibitors and 2,000-plus visitors from around the globe will descend on Aberdeen next week for Europe's largest subsea exhibition and conference.
Wins for Fugro
FUGRO GEOS has been awarded two significant metocean contracts offshore East Africa. The first piece of work involves one year of ocean current measurement which will involve moorings in up to 1,700m (5,577ft) water depth off the Tanzanian coast.
Exxon China Sea field plan rejected
EXXONMOBIL'S proposed development plan for the South China Sea Natuna D-Alpha gas field in the Indonesian sector has been thrown out.
Authorities paving the way to US east coast offshore exploration
THE Department of the Interior's Minerals Management Service (MMS) is planning to prepare an environmental impact statement (EIS) for geological and geophysical studies offshore the US Atlantic seaboard.
TGS-Nopec pulls the work
NORWAY'S TGS-Nopec Geophysical has started two major multi-client offshore surveys - a 8,600km (5,375-mile) long offset 2D seismic, gravity and magnetic survey off West Africa and a 6,900sq km (2,664sq mile) 3D survey in the Eastern US Gulf of Mexico.
Solar power plant a world first
TORRESOL Energy, the strategic alliance between Spanish engineering group SENER and Masdar, Abu Dhabi's multi-faceted renewable energy initiative, has secured a £170million (171million euros) financing deal which will allow construction to commence on the Gemsolar project in Spain.
Double contract win for Cameron
CAMERON has secured two subsea systems contracts totalling more than $180milion in value - one of $83million with Chevron, the other of $100million as part of a frame agreement with BP.
Solid Jubilee job for OHM unit
Rock Solid Images, a unit of troubled Aberdeen group OHM, has started a 940sq km (274sq mile) rock physics-driven seismic inversion that encompasses the Jubilee field offshore Ghana in which UK-listed Irish independent Tullow has a large stake.
Signal to make key components for Noble
SIGNAL International has been chosen to manufacture key components for use in a drillship reliability upgrade programme being implemented by Noble Corporation. Houston-headquartered Signal said the $50million agreement covered three Noble drillships - Noble Leo Segerius, Noble Muravlenko and Noble Roger Eason - and that it would fabricate the components at its shipyards in Mississippi and Texas.
Newfoundland seismic campaign completed
NWEST Energy reports that Geophysical Service Inc (GSI) has concluded a 3D seismic acquisition campaign offshore western Newfoundland and that data processing is now under way.
Another Brazilian offshore giant ?
EXXONMOBIL has made what could be a world-class pre-salt oil discovery offshore Brazil - possibly greater than 10million barrels recoverable in size. The block BM-S-22 discovery well was drilled on the Ogum (Azulao) prospect, a deepwater pre-salt structure judged to be the southern flank of the giant Sugarloaf superstructure, which has produced the Carioca, Bem-te-Vi, Caramba and Guara finds on its northern flank.
Bond leads way
UK HELICOPTER operator Bond Air Services has ordered a Eurocopter EC135 to be used exclusively for windfarm maintenance in the UK, the first such application in the country, says Eurocopter.
Offshore Awards deadline extended
The deadline for companies planning to enter the Scottish Offshore Achievement Awards has been extended to Friday, February 6.
Ghana and Uganda storm oil club
Ghana and Uganda are each at the threshold of a multibillion barrels energy dream as the result of a spectacular run of oil discoveries by Irish group Tullow in partnership with others.
Remote MWD Murchison trial a success
Last year, CNR took a bold step in the North Sea by deciding to team with Schlumberger to remote manage the drilling of a well sidetrack in its quest to sustain production from the ageing Murchison field.
Global LNG tanker fleet reaches 300
It took 34 years for the in-service fleet of LNG carriers to reach 100 vessels and a further eight years for it to break through the 200-vessel barrier. Now, the 300-ship mark has been reached just over two-and-a-half years later, according to LNG World Shipping.
North Sea’s biggest parking lot
The rigs are back in the North Sea's biggest parking lot, with the likelihood that at least six will be resident in the Cromarty Firth by the spring. Also parked pending being worked on is the base of the Hutton TLP platform, which had been en route from Murmansk, in Russia, to the US Gulf of Mexico for further use. The Hutton TLP was built at Ardersier and Nigg, with the two main sections married together in the Moray Firth.
Rewiring Britain and green jobs? Gettaway
A few years ago, phrases like "renewables revolution", "re-wiring Britain" and "green jobs" used to trip off my tongue. Indeed, I coined quite a few of them.
Tough times in prospect for north-east
The oil&gas industry in the north-east of Scotland has done much better over the last few years than I expected. The reasons for that have been successes in overseas markets rather than the domestic North Sea market.