Subsea 7 S.A. signs global alliance with OneSubsea
Jul 14, 2015
Subsea 7 S.A. has signed an agreement establishing a worldwide non-incorporated alliance with Houston-based OneSubsea®, a Cameron and Schlumberger company, to jointly design, develop and deliver integrated subsea development solutions through the combination of subsurface expertise, subsea production systems (SPS), subsea processing systems, subsea umbilicals, risers and flowlines systems (SURF) and life-of-field services.

Maricá moors at BRASA following FPSO’s arrival in Brazil
Jul 13, 2015
There was a buzz at BRASA as it celebrated the arrival of FPSO Cidade de Maricá. The SBM Offshore vessel berthed safely at the Niteroi-Rio based yard on 9 July 2015. She had arrived in Brazilian waters mid-June, following her 10,625 Nm (19,678 Km) voyage from China. FPSO Cidade de Maricá is one of two carbon-copy FPSOs being constructed from the blueprint for FPSO Cidade de Ilhabela, the mother ship, which sailed from Brasa to commence production in November 2014. The FPSO is the deepest in SBM’s operating fleet at 2,140m and has the largest capacity at 150,000 bpd of oil.

MOL Group successfully completed its first acquisition in Norway
Jul 10, 2015
MOL Group has successfully completed a deal to acquire 100% ownership of Ithaca Petroleum Norge (IPN) from Ithaca Petroleum Ltd. The deal doubles the size of MOL Group’s exploration portfolio, adding 600 million barrels of net un-risked best estimate prospective reserves. Entry into the Norwegian market also takes the company a step closer towards becoming an offshore operator in the North Sea.

Grampian devotion marks major milestone for Craig Group
Jul 9, 2015
North Star Shipping has reinforced its fleet of next generation vessels after taking delivery of its new ERRV, the Grampian Devotion, in Aberdeen. The latest vessel represents the eighth and final D-class IMT-950 Emergency Response and Rescue vessels (ERRVs) that the company has had specially built as part of a major £110million investment programme.

DNV GL wins frame agreement with Wintershall Norge AS
Jul 8, 2015
DNV GL has been selected by Wintershall Norge AS to provide a frame agreement for global inspection services for its developments offshore Norway. The overall contract is expected to exceed NOK 10 million (approx USD1.2 million). The term of the contract is five years, with an option for two, two-year extensions and covers all Wintershall’s projects on the Norwegian Continental Shelf (NCS). It will initially be used for the ongoing Maria development.

Heerema Zwijndrecht awarded innovative project Oranje-Nassau Energie
Jul 7, 2015
On 3 July, Heerema Zwijndrecht, one of the yards of Heerema Fabrication Group (HFG), secured a contract from Oranje-Nassau Energie B.V. (ONE) for the Procurement & Construction of a topside and jacket. It concerns an unmanned and sustainable satellite platform for the P11-E field, located near the Dutch coast.

The first subsea wet gas compressor in the world at Gullfaks
Jul 6, 2015
After several years of technology development, construction and testing the first subsea wet gas compressor in the world is now installed at the Gullfaks C platform in the North Sea. In May and June Gullfaks subsea compressor project (GSC) completed successful structure and module installation campaigns for the subsea station. The compressors were installed at the end of June.

Lundin Petroleum allocated an increased unitised interest in Johan Sverdrup
Jul 3, 2015
Lundin Petroleum says that the Norwegian Ministry of Petroleum and Energy (the Ministry) has determined the allocation of resources in the Johan Sverdrup oil field and has decided to increase the unitised interest for Lundin Petroleum from 22.12 to 22.6 percent.

Huge Mexico seismic acquisition program from Spectrum / PGS / Schlumberger
Jul 2, 2015
A MOU has been executed for a cooperation agreement between Spectrum, PGS and Schlumberger in Mexico. The collaboration will acquire 80,000 - 100,000 km of modern, long-offset 2D data encompassing all the major hydrocarbon provinces offshore Mexico. This includes areas currently on offer for Mexico's Round 1 in the Perdido Fold Belt, Mexican Ridges Province, Campeche Deep Sea Basin and will also provide seamless coverage across the Yucatan Platform tying to Spectrum's Big Wave program in the eastern area of the US Gulf of Mexico.

Statoil, partners submits plan for development in the Gullfaks area
Jul 1, 2015
Statoil and its partners have submitted an amendment to the Plan for Development and Operations (PDO) for the Gullfaks licence to the Ministry of Petroleum and Energy for phase 1 of the Shetland/Lista development. Phase 1 of the development is expected to add 18 million barrels of oil equivalent, and will help increase the resilience of the area for continued operation of the Gullfaks platforms in the North Sea.

Statoil commences Johan Sverdrup construction
Jun 30, 2015
Production of the first elements on the Johan Sverdrup project has begun. On Monday 29 June Kværner metal worker Stian Myrvold Green started up the machine that will cut the steel for the riser platform jacket on the Johan Sverdrup field.'This is a special day. We've been working thoroughly for a long time making the preparations for this exciting and complex project. It feels great now that we've started construction on one of the biggest industrial projects in Europe,' says senior vice president for the Johan Sverdrup development project, Kjetel Digre.

OneSubsea awarded $60 million contract for Shah Deniz Two development, Azerbaijan
Jun 29, 2015
OneSubsea®, and Schlumberger company, has been awarded a contract totaling more than $60 million for the Shah Deniz Two development, operated by BP, offshore Azerbaijan. OneSubsea was awarded the initial contract for subsea trees for Shah Deniz Two in 2013. The scope of the new contract includes the supply of the second of three planned batches of subsea production trees and ancillaries. Deliveries are expected to commence 2016.

Risk-based approach to valve testing in wells could save US$10m annually per asset
Jun 26, 2015
Reducing expenditure while continuing to improve safety and reduce risk is a key driver for the oil and gas industry especially in today’s cost constrained environment. DNV GL and ExproSoft are now joining forces to offer a risk based approach to testing barrier valves in subsea completed wells applicable worldwide. The objective is to reduce both downtime and risk related to shut-in and restart of wells in addition to substantial cost savings.

Expro secures $100 million Tullow Oil contract win
Jun 25, 2015
Expro has been awarded new contracts from Tullow Oil plc, Africa’s leading independent oil company. Worth in excess of $100 million over three years, the contracts will see Expro work across Tullow Oil’s assets in Ghana, including the Jubilee Field and the Tweneboa-Enyenra-Ntomme (TEN) field project. Following on from Expro’s phase one contract for Jubilee, involving more than 10 completions, the company has been awarded continued services for phase 1a. This covers completions on new wells for Jubilee, as well as interventions and remedial work.

FMC Technologies awarded $297m contract for BP (Shah Deniz) Stage 2 project
Jun 24, 2015
FMC Technologies, Inc. has received an order from BP Exploration (Shah Deniz) Ltd. to supply subsea production systems for Well Clusters 3-5 of the Shah Deniz Stage 2 project in the Caspian Sea. The order has an estimated value of $297 million in revenue and is in addition to the initial order for Well Clusters 1-2 received in 2014 from BP, the operator of the Shah Deniz Stage 2 project.

Mooring Integrity Monitoring in Today’s Market: How BMT is Answering the Challenge
Jun 23, 2015
The need for mooring integrity monitoring has of late come back under the spotlight, not least because the use of floating production systems in the offshore Oil and Gas industry has been predicted to grow at a significant rate between now and 2017 with a peak in the number of new builds expected to occur in 2016/2017. Recently, an updated industry guideline on mooring integrity has been issued by Oil & Gas UK with the support of operators, contractors and vendors.

Baker Hughes and Aker Solutions to cooperate on early-phase oil and gas studies
Jun 22, 2015
Aker Solutions and Baker Hughes agreed to cooperate on early-phase studies to help customers improve the overall economics and value of oil and gas field developments. Aker Solutions’ Front End Spectrum unit and Baker Hughes’ Reservoir Development Services group will provide customers with development concept studies that address the entire value chain – from reservoir understanding and well design to subsea and topsides facilities, including flow assurance and risk management

DNV GL research paper shows bright future for subsea processing
Jun 19, 2015
DNV GL launched a research paper exploring the viability of moving offshore oil and gas processing subsea, including the techno-economics of an ‘all subsea’ solution. The report addresses current limitations, but also highlights opportunities for subsea technology.To lend clarity to the topic, the paper compares a benchmark FPSO set-up with a hypothetical all-subsea field development solution. However, instead of making a direct comparison between the two alternatives, the paper adopts a stepwise approach,

Lundin spuds exploration well on the Luno II North prospect
Jun 18, 2015
Lundin Petroleum’s wholly owned subsidiary Lundin Norway AS (Lundin Norway) has commenced drilling of exploration well 16/4-9 S on the Luno II North prospect. The Luno II discovery is located approximately 15 km south of the Edvard Grieg field in the North Sea sector of the Norwegian Continental Shelf.

P&A Guideline from DNV GL could save the oil and gas industry more than USD32 billion
Jun 17, 2015
The plugging and abandonment (P&A) of offshore wells represents a significant cost to operating companies and national authorities. On the Norwegian Continental Shelf (NCS) alone, the cost is estimated to be USD108bn (NOK1870bn) over the next 40 years. Now a new DNV GL guideline will introduce a risk-based approach instead of the current prescriptive practice.

Rig and drilling contract for Johan Sverdrup
Jun 16, 2015
Statoil, on behalf of the Johan Sverdrup licence, has awarded two contracts at a total value of more than NOK 4.35 billion to Odfjell Drilling for drilling wells on the Johan Sverdrup field. Odfjell Drilling has been awarded contracts both for the Deepsea Atlantic semi-submersible rig and for drilling services on the fixed drilling unit to be installed on the Johan Sverdup field.

IEA releases oil market report for June
Jun 15, 2015
Global oil supplies fell by 155 000 barrels per day (155 kb/d) in May to 96 million barrels per day (mb/d) on lower non-OPEC output, but remained at a steep 3 mb/d above the level of May 2014, the IEA Oil Market Report (OMR) for June informed subscribers. Annual growth slowed marginally from March and April and remained roughly split between non-OPEC and OPEC countries. The June issue raised the forecast of non-OPEC supply growth for 2015 by 195 kb/d to 1 mb/d.

Statoil awards Mariner production chemicals contract to Baker Hughes
Jun 12, 2015
Statoil (U.K.) Limited has awarded the contract for Production Chemicals and Services for the Mariner field to Baker Hughes Limited in the UK. Baker Hughes will design and supply production chemicals and services to the Mariner field under an eight year contract, anticipated to start in July 2015. The contract also includes an extension option of four years. The Mariner platform is currently under construction and production is scheduled to start in 2017.

Decommissioning contract win for NorSea Group (UK)
Jun 11, 2015
NorSea Group (UK) Limited has won North-east Scotland’s first major “small piece” decommissioning contract. Work has already begun on the six-month project which is being carried out at NorSea Group’s Peterhead facility on behalf of Endeavour Energy and involves safe disposal of subsea manifolds and associated pipework from the Renee and Rubie fields.