When we began planning this issue, we knew we would be including articles about decommissioning and remotely controlled vehicles (ROVs). But what’s come as something of a surprise is that in a very real sense, we’ve also taken something of a trip around the world.

From WellCut, we have a thought-provoking article about the future of subsea decommissioning. The era of subsea wells is in some ways still in its early days and its future looks long, so it may seem a bit odd to be thinking about sealing subsea wells. This overview of the ongoing debate is quite revealing.

DeepOcean reports on its activities as a part of the Total E&P Norge Frigg Cessation Project. It’s noteworthy that ROVs are contributing significantly to this decommissioning project.

It wouldn’t be a new year without taking some time to look back at the financial highlights of the old year. From Société Générale, we include look back at the oil price movements in 2005. Deloitte Petroleum Services Group has contributed an overview of the success of the Promote programme in the UK. Both articles provide useful insight into recent market forces.

After this, our journey around the world begins with an overview of the Goliat field and its promise for helping to make the Barents Sea an important part of Norwegian offshore activities. But this find comes in the midst of a debate over the future of oil and gas activities in the far north. Because of this, we include an overview of the most vocal parties involved in the debate.

Moving east, we have an overview of some of the current goings-on in Russia’s oil and gas industry. Russia’s potential is enormous, and we’ve included some of the major details that bear this out.

Iran has been in the news on a daily basis of late, so we decided to look. Rather than focus on the Iranian nuclear issue, we look at the country’s current oil and gas status as well as at how the Norwegian majors are fairing in the country. In addition, we have a report about recent co-operative energy agreements signed by Chinese and Indian companies.

We also have our country-focus sections, looking at the Netherlands and Germany. And don’t forget to glance at the upcoming events – there’s quite a bit of conference opportunities in the next few weeks.

... So maybe we haven’t quite made it all the way around the world. It looks like we might be stalled somewhere in the Aleutians, but I’m certain we can make it back in time for the next issue.