Rosneft acquires a Russian oilfield service company from Trican Well Service Ltd.
Aug 17, 2015
A company of the Rosneft Group and a subsidiary of Trican Well Service Ltd. signed a framework agreement and ancillary documents, pursuant to which a Rosneft subsidiary agreed to acquire a 100% shareholding in Trican Well Service LLC, which provides high-quality pressure pumping services focused on enhancement of production within the conventional oil and gas industry in Russia.

The first building block completed on the Johan Sverdrup field
Aug 14, 2015
The first piece of the Johan Sverdrup development has now been completed and installed on the field in the North Sea. It was Heerema Marine Contractors’ crane vessel “Thialf” that completed the installation of the 280-tonne pre-drilling template on the Johan Sverdrup field.

Harding wins contract to supply the lifeboats for Johan Sverdrup
Aug 13, 2015
Statoil has awarded Harding a prestigious contract for delivery of the nine free-fall lifeboats needed for phase 1 of the Johan Sverdrup North Sea development."This order is a solid validation of the quality of our products, the competency and commitment demonstrated by all our employees, and the effects of the significant restructuring which we have implemented in order to strengthen our competitive edge in a tough market," commented Styrk Bekkenes, the happy and proud Harding CEO, after the contract signing on July 14th.

Schlumberger launches multiclient wide-Azimuth deepwater seismic survey in Mexican waters
Aug 12, 2015
Schlumberger expanded its Gulf of Mexico multiclient wide-azimuth seismic data portfolio by launching a new survey in the Campeche Basin. The acquisition of the industry’s first multiclient wide-azimuth survey offshore Mexico will cover 80,000 sq km using two fleets of WesternGeco vessels, including Amazon Class, the world’s first purpose-designed 3D seismic vessels.

BAM Clough secures Woodside Marine services contract
Aug 11, 2015
Engineering and project services company Clough Limited (Clough) says that Woodside Energy Limited (Woodside) has awarded the BAM Clough Joint Venture the Marine Installation Services contract for the Karratha Gas Plant Life Extension Integrated Marine Campaign project. The contract involves project management and installation engineering works associated with replacing existing equipment on two berths, including LNG and LPG marine loading arms, gangways and dolphin fenders, with an option to provide marine equipment and resources to undertake the site works.

LUKOIL obtains long-term financing for Shah Deniz Stage 2 project in Azerbaijan
Aug 10, 2015
Under the second stage of the Production Sharing Agreement of the Shah Deniz Project in Azerbaijan, LUKOIL Overseas Shah Deniz Ltd. (a fully-owned PJSC LUKOIL subsidiary) has signed in Baku a 12 year credit-facility agreement with a consortium of banks to borrow USD 1 billion.

Russia is world's largest producer of crude oil and lease condensate
Aug 7, 2015
Russia is the world's largest producer of crude oil (including lease condensate) and the second-largest producer of dry natural gas, after the United States. Hydrocarbons play a large role in the Russian economy, as revenue from oil and natural gas production and exports accounts for more than half of Russia's federal budget revenue. However, recent international sanctions on Russia, coupled with low oil prices, have put pressure on the Russian economy

Applus RTD Australia awarded three year short form agreement for major refinery
Aug 6, 2015
Applus RTD has been awarded a three-year Short Form Agreement with a Major Refinery in the state of Victoria, Australia. The agreement will see Applus RTD continue to supply inspection and integrity management services at this Refinery, located in Victoria, for a three-year period commencing January 2016.

Statoil's Peregrino marks 100 million barrels produced
Aug 5, 2015
After just four years in production, the Peregrino field in the Campos basin offshore Brazil has passed a significant milestone, with 100 million barrels of oil produced since April 2011. The field, jointly owned by Statoil and Chinese Sinochem, achieved the milestone on August 2."We are pleased to have reached a major milestone in our Peregrino operations,” says Pål Eitrheim, country manager of Statoil Brazil.

Fugro awarded BG contract for geochemical campaign offshore Honduras
Aug 4, 2015
Fugro has been awarded a contract by BG International Limited Sucursal Honduras to conduct an integrated multibeam echosounder (MBES) survey and seabed coring campaign over its offshore acreage (block) in the Honduran Caribbean. As part of BG's exploration licence commitments, the campaign will map the seafloor to interpret, identify, sample and analyse potential hydrocarbon seeps. Fugro's modern 65-metre survey vessel, MV Fugro Brasilis, commenced the two-month mapping and interpretation portion in July 2015.

Total acquires operatorship of PRL 15, Papua New Guinea
Aug 3, 2015
InterOil Corporation and Total E&P PNG Limited have agreed that Total will become operator of Petroleum Retention License 15 in the Gulf Province of Papua New Guinea from August 1, 2015. On February 27, 2015 InterOil announced that the PRL 15 Joint Venture, which is developing the Elk-Antelope gas discovery as the Papua LNG Project, had unanimously appointed Total as the operator, subject to an agreed transition plan.

Rosneft files joint bid with ExxonMobil for Mozambique license round
Jul 31, 2015
RN-Exploration (100% Rosneft subsidiary) and ExxonMobil Exploration and Production Mozambique Offshore Limited filed joint bids to participate in the fifth license

Statoil produces more oil from Gullfaks
Jul 30, 2015
Production from the Gullfaks South (GSO) fast-track project for improved oil recovery in the North Sea started on 27 July. GSO will increase the output from the Gullfaks area by around 65 million barrels of oil equivalent. "GSO demonstrates how we can increase recovery and profitability by use of standardised, simplified development solutions tied to existing infrastructure,” says Arild Dybvig, vice president for fast-track projects in Development & Production Norway.

Trelleborg provides coating solutions to help enhance safety at new Sverdrup oil field
Jul 29, 2015
Trelleborg’s offshore operation has secured a contract to supply its thermal insulation, corrosion and passive fire protection (PFP) solutions for use on the new Johan Sverdrup oil field in the North Sea, off Norway. Contracted by Kvaerner, Trelleborg’s offshore operation in Norway will supply its Vikotherm™ R2 thermal insulation coating to be applied to 12 risers. In addition, the company will provide corrosion coating for 195 riser guides, 40 caisson guides and 15 J-tube guides.

Technip, SACE and MIDOR agreement for the Alexandria refinery
Jul 28, 2015
Technip Italy S.p.A. and SACE announced the finalization of a joint agreement with Midor (Middle East Oil Refinery) for a project to modernize and expand the MIDOR refinery near Alexandria, Egypt in the frame of the long-standing cooperation between Italian and Egyptian Governments and companies, especially in the Oil and Gas sector.

Tendeka expands in China with exclusive AICD agreement
Jul 27, 2015
Tendeka, the provider of completions systems and services to the upstream oil and gas industry, has signed a two-year agreement with Eternal Asia Supply Chain Management for the exclusive supply of its market-leading FloSure™ autonomous inflow control devices (AICDs) in China. The strategic partnership with Eternal Asia, China’s first listed supply chain service enterprise, is a significant development in Tendeka’s growth within the country.

Statoil, partner makes gas and condensate discovery in the North Sea
Jul 24, 2015
Operator Statoil and its PL146/PL333 partner Total E&P Norge have made a gas and condensate discovery in the Julius prospect in the King Lear area in the North Sea. The discovery well 2/4-23S, drilled by Maersk Gallant, proved gas and condensate in the Ula formation. Statoil estimates the volumes in Julius to be between 15 and 75 million barrels of recoverable oil equivalent.

Keppel contracts third floating liquefaction facility conversion worth US$684 million
Jul 23, 2015
Keppel Shipyard Limited (Keppel Shipyard), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Keppel Offshore & Marine Ltd (Keppel O&M), has signed a contract worth approximately US$684 million with Golar Gandria N.V., a subsidiary of Golar LNG Limited (Golar LNG), to perform the conversion of a Moss type Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) carrier, the GANDRIA, into a Golar Floating Liquefaction (GoFLNG) facility.

Baker Hughes Introduces Revolutionary Technology for Cement Evaluation
Jul 22, 2015
Baker Hughes announced the commercial release of its Integrity eXplorer™ cement evaluation service: a radical change in the evaluation of the cement integrity of oil and gas wells. Existing evaluation techniques, which have been used for over thirty years, are acoustic-based and may not provide the accuracy needed when faced with some of today’s challenges. This new electromagnetic-acoustic technology allows operators to directly assess the integrity of cement bonds in any current wellbore environment or cement mixture.

Eni makes important gas discovery in the Egyptian Nile Delta
Jul 21, 2015
Eni has made an important gas discovery in the Nooros exploration prospect, located in the Abu Madi West license in the Nile Delta, 120 kilometers north-east of Alexandria, Egypt. Preliminary estimates of the discovery account for a potential of 15 billion cubic meters of gas in place with upside, plus associated condensates. Eni achieved the important exploration success through the Nidoco NW2 Dir NFW well, which reached a total depth of 3,600 meters and encountered a 60 meters thick gas bearing sandstone interval of Messianian age with excellent petrophysical properties, further of other gas layers in the overlying Pliocene section.

Fugro adds cable-lay to its trenching services
Jul 20, 2015
Fugro is now offering cable-lay in addition to trenching to its offshore windfarm and tidal energy clients. The company has equipped its trenching vessel Fugro Saltire with a compact, custom-made, cable-lay spread. This comprises a reel drive system to store the cables, a tensioner to lay them, twin winches and a quadrant deployment system on rails, all fitted to the rear deck of the Fugro Saltire alongside the existing trenching equipment.

Shell to sell its equity interest in the Elba LNG joint venture to Kinder Morgan
Jul 17, 2015
Kinder Morgan, Inc. and Shell have reached an agreement for Kinder Morgan to purchase 100 percent of Shell's equity interest in Elba Liquefaction Company, LLC (ELC), the owner of the Elba Liquefaction Project, which is proposed to be constructed and operated at the existing Elba Island LNG Terminal near Savannah, Georgia. Kinder Morgan currently owns 51 percent of the ELC joint venture.

Maersk Drilling decommissions Jackup Maersk Endurer
Jul 16, 2015
Maersk Drilling has decided to decommission the jackup Maersk Endurer(350' ILC) from the fleet and recycle the rig with Zhoushan Changhong International Ship Recycling in China. “Given the current market situation and the over-supply of drilling rigs in the offshore market, there is a strong need to retire older rigs. Therefore, Maersk Drilling has decided to decommission its oldest rig in the fleet, Maersk Endurer,” says Morten Pilnov, head of Global Sales in Maersk Drilling.

Rosneft and Statoil completed pilot drilling at the North-Komsomolskoye field
Jul 15, 2015
Rosneft and Statoil ASA completed drilling works as part of the Pilot Project at the PK1 layer of the North-Komsomolskoye field. During 2015 the companies jointly drilled 2 horizontal exploitation wells. Using best global practices Rosneft and Statoil ASA implemented extended logging, including core and fluid samplings. Also, for the first time onshore in Russia, a well was completed using 'openhole gravel packing' in a horizontal section of 1,000 m.