Commentary, 3/4 2016
May 12, 2016

Preparing for the Future

Like almost everyone in the industry, we’re keeping a close watch on the price of oil. While it can be a bit frustrating day-to-day, as we prepared to go to press – and over the last month – we’ve seen a few positive signs...

From the Editor, 3/4 2016
May 12, 2016

Opportunity Spotting

As we worked towards finalising this issue, we were able to break away and take part in a local, two-day event – Subsea Valley. With a focus on the subsea industry that’s located in or not so far from the Oslo region of Norway, the event focuses on some of the industry’s exciting technologies...

Dependability Gives Us Strength in Depth
May 12, 2016
Steven Kilpatrick, regional manager for Europe, Middle East and Africa, at Aquatic Engineering & Construction Ltd, an Acteon company, discusses Aquatic’s history in Scandinavian waters, his role and the vision Aquatic has for the future.

2016-2020 Deepwater Spend to Total USD 137 Billion – Sustained Low Oil Price Sinks Deepwater Projects
May 12, 2016
The need to offset declining onshore and shallow water reserves has led to a greater focus on the deepwater market. However, the oil price environment has resulted in declining exploration activity – 2015 discoveries dropped by 56% when compared to 2013. Sustained low oil prices have raised further concerns over the viability of many deepwater developments, leading operators to consider alternative development options or defer sanctioning of new projects. The market downturn has initiated a rethink within parts of the industry, resulting in a move towards standardisation and the streamlining of development processes.

Getting Creative – The Upside of a Down Market
May 12, 2016
Based on Trelleborg’s “Next Level” report, a panel of experts predicts enormous opportunities for executives who are ready to get creative.

Waking Up to The Digital Dawn
May 12, 2016
As the volatile oil price continues to hit new lows and put further pressure on productivity, limiting CAPEX and OPEX across all segments of the global oil and gas industry is now a fundamental goal. The need for a rapid shift change to counter the long-term impact of the changing market requires increased investment, more speed in new technology utilisation, combined with a smarter and more collaborative way of working.

Can Casing Centralizers Be Pulled and Rerun?
May 12, 2016
The typical spread cost of a deepwater, semi-submersible rig is now around USD 450,000 per day. For wells that hit trouble, the average time lost per well is probably about six days, which would give average downtime costs of USD 450,000 x 6, or an eye-watering USD 2.7 million. Let’s suppose the problem gets fixed in three days, you are still looking at a totally unacceptable figure given the present oil economic climate.