Crude Oil Brokers Scam Blog


Friday, 31 July 2015

Cameron introduces new series of flow meters

The CamCor series meters can handle many hydrocarbon production and processing applications effectively, but are especially suited for monitoring separator outlets near wellheads, crude oil custody transfer operations, in plants and pipelines delivering refined products and specialty gases, low-flow applications, and high viscosity fluids, such as crude oil and adhesives. More »

Alberta pipelines set back by oil rout

TransCanada Corp. is slowing work on two pipelines in Alberta because of reduced demand tied to lower crude prices and setbacks to its major oil export projects. More »

Enbridge profit beats estimates on rising shipments

Enbridge Inc., Canada’s largest pipeline company, posted a second-quarter profit that exceeded expectations after revenue from oil, petroleum liquids and natural gas distribution rose. More »

$700 million invested in Ghana offshore gas project

The World Bank approved $700 million in investment guarantees for an offshore gas project in Ghana that will help the country address electricity shortages. More »

Saudi Aramco testing C02 to get more oil from giant Ghawar field

Saudi Arabian Oil Co. started injecting carbon dioxide to try and boost extraction rates from the world’s biggest oil field as the company steps up plans to recover more crude from its deposits. More »

TransCanada quarterly profit rises on power and pipe volumes

TransCanada Corp., which divides its business between pipelines and power plants, reported higher second-quarter profit as the company transported more fuel and produced more electricity from a nuclear plant in Ontario. More »

Dark times ahead as oil slump lingers

Exxon Mobil Corp. and Chevron Corp., the biggest U.S. energy producers, hunkered down for a prolonged stretch of weak prices after posting their worst quarterly performances in several years. More »

Chevron profit plummets after writedown of oil asset values

Chevron Corp. posted its lowest profit in more than 12 years after an energy market rout prompted the company to write down the value of oil and gas fields by almost $2 billion. More »

Total assumes operatorship of PRL 15

InterOil Corp. and Total EandP 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. More »

Exxon profit lowest since 2009 as cost cuts lag oil’s drop

Exxon Mobil Corp. posted its worst quarterly performance in six years as a worldwide glut of oil collapsed prices faster than explorers trimmed costs. More »

Parkmead wins three new UK oil and gas licenses

Parkmead has been provisionally awarded three new licenses covering three offshore blocks in the UK 28th Licensing Round. More »

CGG cuts spending after quarterly loss narrows on crude oil drop

CGG SA’s second-quarter loss narrowed and the French oilfield seismic surveyor will make further spending reductions as exploration companies cut their own investments and delay projects amid falling crude prices. More »

BG Group second-quarter profit declines 65% after oil price drop

BG Group, which agreed to be acquired by Royal Dutch Shell for more than $70 billion in April, reported a 65% drop in second-quarter profit following a slump in oil prices. More »

Thursday, 30 July 2015

Shell Arctic support vessel turned back by Greenpeace activists

Greenpeace USA activists suspended from the St. John’s Bridge in Portland, Oregon, for more than 30 hours have prevented Shell’s Arctic drilling support vessel, the Fennica, from leaving Portland. More »

Shell support vessel turned back by Greenpeace activists

Greenpeace USA activists suspended from the St. John’s Bridge in Portland, Oregon, for more than 30 hours have prevented Shell’s Arctic drilling support vessel, the Fennica, from leaving Portland. More »

First deviated Pierre wellbore completed in Colorado

Austin Exploration advises that the drilling of the company's deviated exploration well has encountered natural gas in the Pierre formation at its flagship Pathfinder project in Colorado. More »

Exploration program to commence on Montana prospect

Black Stallion Oil and Gas, Inc. confirms that it will start to execute a detailed exploration program on the 12,233-acre Woodrow Prospect in Teton county, northwest Montana, within the Alberta Basin Bakken fairway. More »

Exxon, Rosneft file joint bids for Mozambique license round

More »

Inpex Corp. to drill wildcat offshore Japan

Inpex has been commissioned by the Agency of Natural Resources and Energy of Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry to drill one exploratory well for the agency’s Heisei 26~28 Domestic Offshore Drilling Program. More »

Khaled Kacem appointed president of BG Egypt

BG Egypt has announced the appointment of Khaled Kacem as the company’s new president. More »

Subsea 7 awarded BP contract offshore Egypt

Subsea 7 has announced the award of a contract with a value of about $500 million by BP, and partner DEA, for the development of the Taurus and Libra subsea fields offshore Alexandria, Egypt. More »

Technip swings to loss as oil industry downturn lasts

Technip SA swung to a loss in the second quarter after Europe’s biggest oil-services provider took a writedown amid an industry downturn it expects to last for longer than anticipated. More »

Wood Group awarded FEED contract from Woodside

Wood Group has secured a new contract to carry out front-end engineering and design (FEED) for the Woodside operated proposed Browse Floating Liquefied Natural Gas (FLNG) Development, offshore Western Australia. More »

$40 oil may force Russia to increase rates, Bloomberg survey shows

If oil hits $40, Russia is in trouble. More »

Shell plans to cut 6,500 jobs as prolonged downturn looms

Royal Dutch Shell Plc said it’s preparing for a “prolonged downturn” by cutting thousands of jobs and slashing billions of dollars in investments over the next two years. The shares gained the most in three weeks. More »

Repsol profit declines 20% as crude slump counters refining

Repsol SA, Spain’s largest oil company, reported a 20% drop in second-quarter earnings as lower crude prices outweighed higher refining margins and led to a loss at its upstream operations. More »

Eni second-quarter profit drops 84% as Saipem reports loss

Eni SpA said second-quarter profit dropped 84% as its oil-and-gas contractor unit Saipem booked $1 billion in writedowns earlier this week after a plunge in crude prices. More »

Crude oil exports would benefit Great Lakes Region, says Sen. Murkowski

U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska has furthered her efforts to end the current ban on U.S. crude oil exports by releasing a report on the potential benefits to the Great Lakes region if the United States allowed domestic crude oil exports. More »

Gas awakening from U.S. shale slumber as LNG shipments near

After years of languishing in a shale-induced coma, the U.S. natural gas market is waking up. More »

Boehner joins chorus calling for end of U.S. oil export limits

House Speaker John Boehner endorsed ending a ban on most U.S. oil exports, giving his support to the lobbying by energy producers to end limits imposed four decades ago. More »

Suncor deepens spending cuts for 2015 as oil price languishes

Suncor Energy Inc., Canada’s largest oil producer, cut its spending plan for 2015 for a second time and eliminated some non-essential projects as part of cost-reduction efforts. More »

Wednesday, 29 July 2015

API urges House, Senate action on U.S. crude exports

The American Petroleum Institute (API) applauded legislative efforts now underway to lift outdated trade restrictions on U.S. oil during a conference call with reporters on Wednesday. More »

Halliburton introduces new refracturing service

Halliburton announced today the launch of ACTIVATE Refracturing Service, a collaborative workflow that leverages subsurface insight, expertise and breakthrough diversion technology to recover bypassed reserves from unconventional wells more predictably and repeatedly. More »

Hess has Q2 loss as Bakken helps lift oil output

Hess Corp., which sold off fueling stations and refineries to focus on production, reported its second consecutive quarterly loss as higher oil output failed to compensate for lower prices. More »

Sparrows Group breaks into Malaysian market through Eftech partnership

Sparrows Group has expanded into the Malaysian market after forming a strategic partnership with a local service provider in the region, Efficient Technology Sdn Bhd (Eftech), as part of the company’s plans to treble business in Asia Pacific over the next five years. More »

OFS Portal elects Bhushan Ivaturi of GE Oil and Gas to board

OFS Portal, eCommerce thought leaders and standards advocates in the upstream oil and gas industry, has announced that Bhushan Ivaturi, CIO of GE Oil and Gas Downstream and Technology Solutions has been elected to its Board of Directors replacing Jorge Frausto also from GE Oil and Gas. More »

Anadarko finds gas in ultra-deep waters offshore Colombia

Ecopetrol has informed that at a depth of 3720 m, the Kronos-1 well verified the presence of hydrocarbons in ultra-deepwater of Colombian south Caribbean area. More »

Oil industry starts fresh round of cost cuts as oil slump persists

BP Plc and Chevron Corp. fired the opening salvo for a further round of cost cuts by major oil companies grappling with the prolonged collapse in crude prices. More »

Total sells minority interests in West of Shetland fields

Total is to sell 20% of its interests in Laggan, Tormore, Edradour and Glenlivet fields, in the West of Shetland area, to SSE EandP UK Limited for around $876 million (£565 million). More »

Total profit beats estimates as production, refining advance

Total SA’s second-quarter profit almost matched year-earlier results as higher margins at Europe’s biggest refining business helped the company shrug off a 50% slump in crude prices. More »

How pipelines saved America’s biggest oil basin from bust

To understand why U.S. oil production is so resilient, it helps to consider the maze of pipelines running out of Midland, Texas. More »

How pipelines saved America’s biggest oil basin from shale bust

To understand why U.S. oil production is so resilient, it helps to consider the maze of pipelines running out of Midland, Texas. More »

OFS Portal elects Bhushan Ivaturi of GE Oil and Gas to its Board of Directors

OFS Portal, eCommerce thought leaders and standards advocates in the upstream oil and gas industry, has announced that Bhushan Ivaturi, CIO of GE Oil and Gas Downstream and Technology Solutions has been elected to its Board of Directors replacing Jorge Frausto also from GE Oil and Gas. More »

Lonestar announces Joint Development Agreement with IOG Capital

Lonestar Resources, Ltd. has announced the closing of a $100 million Joint Development Agreement (JDA) with IOG Capital. More »

WellAware launches Chemical Management Solutions to reduce oilfield operating costs and optimize production

WellAware has launched the WellAware Chemical Management and WellAware Chemical Optimization products. Designed for EandP and chemical service companies, the new products reduce operating costs, minimize pump and well downtime, and optimize production. More »

Ecopetrol discovers hydrocarbon in Colombian Caribbean ultra-deepwater

Ecopetrol has informed that at a depth of 3720 m, the Kronos-1 well verified the presence of hydrocarbons in ultra-deepwater of Colombian south Caribbean area. More »

Statoil’s Reitan sets sights on U.S. shale oil cost cutting

Torgrim Reitan, who’s about to take charge of Statoil's U.S. business after serving as CFO since 2011, has one priority: improve profitability by cutting costs. More »

Tuesday, 28 July 2015

Billionaire Ambani said to weigh sale of U.S. shale gas holdings

Indian billionaire Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries is weighing a sale of its U.S. shale gas investments, people with knowledge of the matter said. More »

National Oilwell Varco achieves positive results despite downturn

NOV reported that for its second quarter, it earned net income of $289 million, compared to first quarter net income of $310 million. More »

U.S. could be energy superpower with repeal of oil export ban, Senate committee hears

U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R – Alaska) testified before the Senate Banking Committee Tuesday on the benefits of lifting the ban on domestic crude oil exports. More »

ConocoPhillips extends Mærsk Innovator contract

ConocoPhillips Norway has awarded Maersk Drilling a contract extension for the Mærsk Innovator for work on Eldfisk field, part of the greater Ekofisk area, offshore Norway. More »

Technip awarded EPCIC contract for Petronas FLNG1

Technip has been awarded an engineering, procurement, construction, installation and commissioning contract by Petronas Carigali for the tie-in of the PFLNG1 facility to the KAKG-A platform in Kanowit field. More »

Dolphin starts East Campeche multi-client project in Mexico

Dolphin Geophysical has commenced the East Campeche 2D long offset multi-client survey in Mexico, utilizing the M/V Artemis Arctic. More »

Vermilion Energy farms into North German basin licenses

Vermilion Energy has entered into a farm-in agreement with Mobil Erdgas-Erd l GmbH (MEEG) and BEB Erdgas und Erd l GmbH and Co.KG (BEB). More »

UK names final winners from 28th seaward licensing round

The Oil and Gas Authority—the UK oil and gas regulator—announced the remaining winners from the 28th Offshore Licensing Round on Monday. More »

Dolphin commences East Campeche 2D multi-client project in Mexico

Dolphin Geophysical has commenced the East Campeche 2D long offset Multi-Client survey in Mexico, utilizing the M/V Artemis Arctic. More »

Technip awarded brownfield, subsea tie-back for Petronas FLNG1

Technip has been awarded an engineering, procurement, construction, installation and commissioning contract by Petronas Carigali for the tie-in of the PFLNG1 facility to the KAKG-A platform in Kanowit field. More »

FERC approves Excelerate Energy's Puerto Rico FLNG project

The U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has granted authorization to Excelerate Energy, in cooperation with the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority (PREPA), to site, construct, and operate the proposed Aguirre Offshore GasPort project. More »

Husky assessing West White Rose development options

Husky Energy continues to assess potential development options for the West White Rose extension in the Jeanne d'Arc basin, the company said Monday. More »

BP has worst profit in 10 years on Libya write-off, trading

BP Plc reported the lowest quarterly profit in at least 10 years after a boom in trading faded and the conflict in Libya forced almost $600 million of writedowns. More »

Cnooc oil-sands spill worsens outlook for Canada pipeline plans

It’s becoming increasingly difficult to get oil-sands pipeline projects off the ground, and Alberta’s worst spill since 1980 will probably make it tougher. More »

Unsated by crude glut, Asian oil buyers size up Iran’s barrels

Asian oil buyers, already sucking in barrels from as far away as Alaska and Mexico, are anticipating more bargains when Iran finally returns to world markets. More »

Statoil second-quarter profit beats estimates as output rises

Statoil, Norway’s biggest oil and gas producer, said adjusted earnings after tax fell 27% in the second-quarter following a plunge in crude prices. More »

Iraq southern oil exports at record amid market share battle

Iraqi’s oil exports from the south climbed to a record this month at the same time the self-ruled Kurds in the north are shipping crude independently, adding to a global supply glut as producers vie for market share. More »

Libya crude output drops as conflict cuts power at oil fields

Libya’s crude production dropped below 400,000 bpd as the conflict in the divided North African country cut electricity supply at oil fields, according to the state-run National Oil Corp. More »

Monday, 27 July 2015

Natural gas gains as heat sweeping eastern U.S. boost fuel use

Natural gas futures rose after two days of declines on speculation that hotter weather in the eastern half of the U.S. will boost demand for the power plant fuel. More »

Borets introduces PMM-PCP technology to North America

Borets has conducted a North American field trial of its PMM-PCP system, the first permanent magnet motor (PMM) running at a slow speed without a gear reducer to drive a progressing cavity pump. More »

China court allows NGO’s oil spill lawsuit amid pollution fight

A Chinese court allowed a lawsuit by a domestic non-governmental organization against Cnooc Ltd. and ConocoPhillips over the Bohai Bay oil spill in 2011, in what may be one of the first tests for the government’s new environmental-protection laws. More »

Report highlights importance of Strategic Petroleum Reserve

U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R – Alaska) has reiterated her opposition to selling off 101 MMbbl of oil from the nation’s Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) to pay for unrelated legislative proposals with a new report highlighting the stockpile’s importance to the nation's energy security. More »

Enterprise completes $1.5-billion Gulf of Mexico sale

Enterprise Products Partners L.P. has closed on the sale of its offshore Gulf of Mexico pipelines and services business to Genesis Energy L.P. for approximately $1.5 billion in cash. More »

Harkand achieves two survey firsts in Mexico

Harkand has carried out the first ever free inertial metrology in Mexico’s waters and at a new depth for this approach in the region. More »

The evolution of subsea EPC: DW Monday

The subsea sector is highly consolidated with just five players servicing the $12 billion annual requirements of the global EandP community. More »

Shell-BG merger receives Brazilian antitrust clearance

Royal Dutch Shell’s acquisition of BG Group has received unconditional merger clearance from the Brazilian competition authority (CADE), satisfying the first of the pre-conditions to the combination. Other pre-conditions include merger clearances in Australia, China and Europe. More »

Oil majors delay $200 billion of spending, Wood Mackenzie says

Global oil and natural-gas producers have delayed $200 billion of investment in more than 45 projects following the slump in crude prices, according to Wood Mackenzie Ltd. More »

Goodrich Petroleum sells Eagle Ford assets for $118 million

Goodrich Petroleum Corp. has entered into a definitive agreement to sell its proved reserves and associated leasehold in the Eagle Ford shale in LaSalle and Frio Counties, Texas, for $118 million. More »

Seabed Geosolutions secures two new contracts

Seabed Geosolutions will soon mobilise for the variation order that was signed Monday by Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) with CGG to conduct a shallow water seabed survey. More »

Oil slides in bear market as U.S. drillers increase rig count

Oil extended losses in a bear market as a rebound in U.S. drilling signaled that producers can withstand lower prices and may keep adding supplies to a global glut. More »

Oil bulls flee at fastest pace in three years as glut expands

Speculators’ conviction that oil will rally weakened at the fastest pace in three years, just before futures tumbled into a bear market. More »

Oil extends drop in bear market as U.S. drillers increase rigs

Oil extended its decline in a bear market as a rebound in U.S. drilling added to signs producers will keep pumping amid a global glut. More »

Panoro Energy spuds Aje-5 well offshore Nigeria

Panoro Energy has commenced drilling on the Aje-5 production well on the OML 113 license, offshore Nigeria. More »

Sunday, 26 July 2015

Saudi Arabia’s Sabic considering shale gas investments in U.S.

Saudi Basic Industries Corp., the world’s second-biggest chemicals manufacturer, plans to expand investment in U.S. shale gas projects through joint ventures, according to acting Chief Executive Officer Yousef al Benyan. More »

Saturday, 25 July 2015

False uptick: Baker Hughes U.S. oil rig count rises by 21

The total number of active U.S. rigs drilling for oil climbed by 21 rigs to 651, according to the latest weekly rig count data from Baker Hughes. Gas-directed drilling dropped by two rigs to 216, for a total U.S. rig count of 876, including one miscellaneous rig. More »

Friday, 24 July 2015

Encana slides to 13-year low as oil collapse brings job cuts

Encana Corp., the Canadian natural gas producer switching its focus to oil, fell to a 13-year low after second-quarter earnings missed analysts’ estimates. More »

KBR wins Fort Hills oil sands project contract

KBR has received an award associated with the Fort Hills oil sands mining project. KBR won a reimbursable contract to provide construction services at the facility located 90 km north of Fort McMurray, Alberta. More »

Cuadrilla to appeal planning refusals for UK shale sites

Cuadrilla plans to appeal Lancashire County Council’s (LCC) Development Control Committee’s decisions last month to refuse planning consent for two applications for temporary shale gas exploration sites. More »

API: Methane emissions are falling under existing regulations

The American Petroleum Institute (API) is to work with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to improve the agency’s new voluntary program on methane emissions but has cautioned against duplicative regulations on oil and gas operations. More »

Tendeka expands in China with exclusive AICD agreement

Tendeka has signed a two-year agreement with Eternal Asia Supply Chain Management for the exclusive supply of its FloSure autonomous inflow control devices (AICDs) in China. More »

China answers Japan rig concern with joint-development offer

China repeated a call Friday for talks with Japan over joint development of gas and oil resources in contested waters in the East China Sea. More »

Brent drops below $55/bbl with U.S. crude in bear market

Brent crude dropped below $55/bbl for the first time in more than three months while U.S. prices traded in a bear market amid a persisting surplus. More »

NUTECH’s Reservoir Intelligence takes well analysis to next level

NUTECH offers an integrated set of proprietary technologies that takes Reservoir Intelligence to the next level by providing a comprehensive and evolving picture of a reservoir across the entire life cycle of an asset through screening five areas of expertise: petrophysics, core analysis, completion engineering, reservoir mapping and modeling, and reservoir engineering. More »

Oil turning back to bear erases $100 billion from shale drillers

Crude oil slipped back into a bear market Thursday, disappointing U.S. shale drillers that pinned their hopes on higher prices. More »

After deadly blast, 2.7 MMbbl of Pemex oil go missing

Petroleos Mexicanos seems to have misplaced 2.7 MMbbl of oil. More »

Thursday, 23 July 2015

Eni to weigh sale of Nigeria assets amid oil price drop

Eni SpA, Italy’s largest oil company, is considering selling part or all of its onshore Nigerian operations as it seeks to divest peripheral businesses amid a drop in oil prices. More »

Former Packers Plus worker sentenced over intellectual property theft

Packers Plus Energy Services (USA) Inc., along with its legal counsel King and Spalding, have won a legal victory regarding the theft of its intellectual property against Isaac Bruce Broussard, a former employee of the company’s Oklahoma City office. More »

Keystone pipeline delivers one billionth barrel of oil

TransCanada Corporation has safely delivered the one billionth barrel of Canadian and U.S. crude oil on the Keystone Pipeline System. More »

Cygnus module sets sail for southern North Sea

One of the largest oil and gas topsides built this year has set sail from Burntisland Fabrication’s Methil yard, near Edinburgh, Scotland. More »

CBandI wins $60-million oil sands maintenance contract

CBandI has been awarded a contract for approximately $60 million by a major energy company to provide maintenance services for three separate oil sands facilities in Alberta, Canada. More »

Statoil finds gas, condensate in North Sea's Julius prospect

Statoil and Total EandP Norge, its partner in PL146/PL333, have made a gas and condensate discovery in the Julius prospect, in the King Lear area of the North Sea. More »

Oil rigs left idling turn Caribbean into expensive parking lot

Imagine parking your $300 million boat for months out in the open sea, with well-paid mechanics hovering around it and the engine running. More »

Subsea tech helps solve riddle of lost World War II ship

An Aberdeen-headquartered firm has donated specialist subsea equipment to help solve one of the most tragic mysteries of the Second World War. More »

Statoil spuds first production well on Gina Krog field

Drilling of the first production well at Gina Krog field has started, just eight days after the rig arrived at the North Sea field. More »

Work ahead for new U.S. energy legislation, API says

Major elements of a national energy strategy should be added to a draft package approved by the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Energy and Power, the American Petroleum Institute (API) said. More »

Det Norske seeks 20 MMbbl more of Johan Sverdrup resources

Det Norske Oljeselskap ASA is claiming as much as 20 MMbbl more of Johan Sverdrup oil field as it appeals a government decision that reduced its stake in the giant deposit offshore Norway. More »

Oil warning: Crash could be worst in more than 45 years

Morgan Stanley has been pretty pessimistic about oil prices in 2015, drawing comparisons to the some of the worst oil slumps of the past three decades. The current downturn could even rival the iconic price crash of 1986, analysts had warned—but definitely no worse. More »

Statoil discovers gas in Julius prospect in North Sea

Operator Statoil and its PL146/PL333 partner Total Norge have made a gas and condensate discovery in the Julius prospect in the King Lear area in the North Sea. More »

DCN receives largest EPIC order in it's history for gas pipeline repair in Java Sea

The Indonesian state-owned business PGN (Perushaan Gas Negara), together with its Indonesian partner SGI has awarded DCN International Diving and Marine Contractors an EPIC contract. More »

TimkenSteel names Director of tube manufacturing

TimkenSteel recently promoted Carolee Vanicek as the Director of tube manufacturing. More »

Wednesday, 22 July 2015

Weatherford raises job cuts target to 11,000

Weatherford International has announced a fresh wave of job cuts in response to weak market conditions in North America. More »

U.S. Arctic drilling permits for Shell stop short of oil zone

Shell has received limited permits to drill two wells off Alaska’s Arctic coast, leaving the company still short of its desire to tap into the offshore oil reserves. More »

Halliburton said facing antitrust hurdles over Baker Hughes acquisition

Halliburton Co.’s takeover of Baker Hughes Inc. is facing resistance from U.S. enforcement officials who are concerned the tie-up could hurt competition, according to a person familiar with the matter. More »

Oil sands production growth to continue despite oil price slump, IHS says

ENGLEWOOD, Colorado -- IHS expects continued oil sands production growth through 2020, albeit lower than what would be expected had prices remained higher, according to a new production forecast by the Englewood, Colorado-based organization. More »

Gas glut heading south as shale boom finally reaches Florida

A glut of cheap natural gas trapped in the U.S. Northeast will be heading south by the end of the year, radically changing the price differences between the regions. More »

Seatronics names new group QHSE co-ordinator

Seatronics, an Acteon company and part of its geophysical survey, monitoring and data business, has appointed Joanne Keilloh as its new group QHSE co-ordinator based in Aberdeen. More »

U.A.E. removes fuel subsidy as oil drop hurts Arab economies

The United Arab Emirates, the third-biggest OPEC producer, will link gasoline and diesel prices to global oil markets starting next month, becoming the first country in the oil-rich Persian Gulf to remove transport fuel subsidies. More »

Gas glut heading south

A glut of cheap natural gas trapped in the U.S. Northeast will be heading south by the end of the year, radically changing the price differences between the regions. More »

Misreporting of production from ageing gas fields is costing North Sea operators big, NEL

Research from NEL, the flow measurement RandD specialist, reveals that the North Sea oil and gas sector could be misreporting over $1093 million per year. More »

Oilfield service companies reap benefits from downsizing in crude crash

The world’s two largest oilfield service providers shrugged off a yearlong crude market crash with better-than-expected quarterly results in North America, helped by aggressive cost cuts from downsizing. More »

Misreporting of production from ageing gas fields are costing North Sea operators big, NEL

Research from NEL, the flow measurement RandD specialist, reveals that the North Sea oil and gas sector could be misreporting over $1093 million per year. More »

Ageing gas fields is costing North Sea operators big, NEL

Research from NEL, the flow measurement RandD specialist, reveals that the North Sea oil and gas sector could be misreporting over $1093 million (£700 million) per year. More »

Selling off Strategic Petroleum Reserve is shortsighted, Murkowski says

U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska has issued a statement in opposition to a proposal to sell off 101 MMbbl of oil from the nation’s emergency energy stockpiles to partially pay for the Senate highway bill. More »

Keppel bags third floating liquefaction facility conversion worth $684 million

Keppel Shipyard Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of Keppel Offshore and Marine Ltd, has signed a contract worth approximately $684 million with Golar Gandria N.V., a subsidiary of Golar LNG Limited, to perform the conversion of a Moss-type LNG carrier, the Gandria, into a Golar floating liquefaction facility. More »

Penn Virginia's CEO and President Baird Whitehead to retire

Penn Virginia Corporation has announced that H. Baird Whitehead has informed the Board of Directors of his plan to retire as President and CEO after more than 14 years of service, including four years in his current position. More »

Global Marine lands Subsea 7 contract for Clair Ridge project

Global Marine has secured a contract that will see it provide personnel and equipment to support the delivery of a submarine fibre optic link between platforms on behalf of client, Subsea 7, and end user BP. More »

Japan releases photos of Chinese rigs in disputed East China Sea

Japan’s foreign ministry unveiled a map and photographs of what it said were 16 Chinese marine platforms close to Japan’s side of the disputed East China Sea. More »

Penn Virginia's CEO and President Baird Whitehead to retire; Board commences CEO search

Penn Virginia Corporation has announced that H. Baird Whitehead has informed the Board of Directors of his plan to retire as President and CEO after more than 14 years of service, including four years in his current position. More »

ConocoPhillips halts Sichuan shale gas talks with PetroChina

ConocoPhillips ended talks with PetroChina Co. on a shale gas development in the country after a two-year study. More »

Ageing gas fields is costing North Sea operators $1093 million, finds NEL

Research from NEL, the flow measurement RandD specialist, reveals that the North Sea oil and gas sector could be misreporting over $1093 million (£700 million) per year. More »

Selling off strategic petroleum reserve is shortsighted, says Murkowski

U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska has issued a statement in opposition to a proposal to sell off 101 MMbbl of oil from the nation’s emergency energy stockpiles to partially pay for the Senate highway bill. More »

Oil servicers reap benefits from downsizing in crude crash

The world’s two largest oilfield service providers shrugged off a yearlong crude market crash with better-than-expected quarterly results in North America, helped by aggressive cost cuts from downsizing. More »

Consol’s top investor urges gas spinoff after forecast loss

Less than 12 hours after Consol Energy Inc. indicated it would report a second-quarter loss, its biggest shareholder called on the company to spin off or sell its natural gas operations. More »

CGG said to scrap $350 million loan amid slide in crude prices

CGG pulled a $350 million financing to become the latest victim of the oil slump in the loan market, according to three people with knowledge of the deal. More »

Tuesday, 21 July 2015

URTeC '15: Unconventional operators finding new ways to tackle low prices

Perhaps the proper term to describe the manner in which operators, in shale and other unconventional plays, are handling low oil prices is “adaptation.” More »

Exxon’s Guyana oil find may hold 700 MMbbl

An Exxon Mobil discovery off the coast of Guyana may hold oil and natural gas worth 12 times the South American nation’s entire economic output. More »

Gazprom Neft, Rosneft complete production well at Russia's northernmost field

Gazprom Neft and Rosneft have completed construction of the first production well at Vostochno-Messoyakhskoye field, part of the Messoyakha group, the northernmost onshore oilfields in Russia, ahead of schedule. More »

GE-Statoil announce winners for alternatives to sand in shale development

GE and Statoil’s Sustainability Collaboration have announced five winners of its inaugural Open Innovation Challenge that focused on addressing the use of sand in unconventional operations. More »

CGG awarded airborne gravity gradiometer survey in Tanzania

CGG has been awarded a contract by the Tanzanian Petroleum Development Corporation (TPDC) to acquire high-resolution gravity gradiometry and aeromagnetic data over two onshore areas along the South-Eastern Tanzanian Coastal basin and the eastern arm of the East African Rift. More »

InterMoor completes Juniper contract offshore Trinidad and Tobago

InterMoor Inc., an Acteon company, has completed its role in the largest foundation installation project offshore Trinidad and Tobago to date. More »

Searcher Seismic completes Echidna survey offshore Ireland

Searcher Seismic in cooperation with MAGE, announced the acquisition of the Echidna Regional Broadband 2D seismic survey covering the Porcupine and Slyne basins and the Goban Spur offshore Ireland, is now complete. More »

Edison Norge drills dry well in North Sea

Edison Norge's Haribo exploration well has been drilled to total depth without encountering hydrocarbons, Noreco Norway—a partner in the well—has announced. More »

CNOOC starts production from Luda 10-1 adjustment project

CNOOC Ltd. has announced that the Luda 10-1 comprehensive adjustment project has commenced production. More »

Gazprom Neft, Rosneft complete production well at Russia's northernmost onshore field

Gazprom Neft and Rosneft have completed construction of the first production well at Vostochno-Messoyakhskoye field, part of the Messoyakha group, the northernmost onshore oilfields in Russia, ahead of schedule. More »

URTeC '15: Speakers assess global market in wake of Iranian deal

An all-star panel of upstream-related speakers managed to agree on Monday morning, that the Iranian deal with the U.S. and other Western countries may pose an oversupply problem for oil markets in the long term, and it will create problems in the very short term, as well. More »

Technip wins Trans Adriatic Pipeline contract

Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) has awarded Technip a project management consultancy (PMC) services contract, for a project designed to transport gas from Shah Deniz field to the European market. More »

Noble Energy closes acquisition of Rosetta Resources

The stockholders of Rosetta Resources have overwhelmingly approved the merger of Rosetta into a subsidiary of Noble Energy. More »

Wall Street lenders growing impatient with U.S. shale revolution

Halcon Resources Corp. almost ran into trouble with its banks in June 2013. And again in March 2014. And in February 2015. More »

CNOOC commences production from Luda 10-1 project

CNOOC Ltd. has announced that the Luda 10-1 comprehensive adjustment project has commenced production. More »

Searcher Seismic completes Echidna 2D survey offshore Ireland

Searcher Seismic in cooperation with MAGE, announced the acquisition of the Echidna Regional Broadband 2D seismic survey covering the Porcupine and Slyne basins and the Goban Spur offshore Ireland, is now complete. More »

Edison drills dry Haribo well in North Sea

Noreco Norway has announced that the Haribo exploration well has been drilled to total depth without encountering hydrocarbons. More »

Total brings Angola's Dalia Phase 1A online

Total has started production from Dalia Phase 1 A, a new development on its deep offshore operated Block 17, located 135 km off the coast of Angola. More »

Greene Energy Group's CEO to retire; Mathews assumes role of President and COO

The Board of Directors of Greene’s Energy Group has announced that CEO Robert “Bob” Vilyus has elected to retire from the company and the Board of Directors in September 2015. Effective immediately, Frank Mathews assumes the role of President and COO of Greene’s Energy Group and will be added to the Board of Directors. More »

Honghua inks $26 million oilfield drilling services agreement in Middle East

Honghua Group Ltd. has entered into an oilfield services agreement worth approximately $26.0 million (approximately HK$201.5 million) with an Iraqi client in early July. More »

Katalyst acquires SpectrumData’s seismic data management division in Asia-Pacific

Katalyst Data Management has acquired the Perth-based oil and gas data management division of SpectrumData Pty Ltd. More »

Monday, 20 July 2015

URTeC speakers assess global market in wake of Iranian deal

An all-star panel of upstream-related speakers managed to agree on Monday morning, that the Iranian deal with the U.S. and other Western countries may pose an oversupply problem for oil markets in the long term, and it will create problems in the very short term, as well. More »

Add crippling pipe work to Canada gas woes as U.S. floods market

Canadian natural gas producers are losing more ground to U.S. competitors as an acute shortage of pipeline space is forcing them to curb growth. More »

Oil explorers retreat from shallow U.S. Gulf in shift to shale

Energy producers are abandoning the search for oil and natural gas close to shore in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico as drilling budgets shrink and exploration migrates to land-based shale fields. More »

Baker Hughes introduces EM-acoustic cement evaluation service

Baker Hughes has announced the commercial release of its Integrity eXplorer cement evaluation service. More »

Oil guru who called 2014 slump sees return to $100 crude by 2020

The oil guru who predicted last year’s rout said $100/bbl crude is likely to return within five years as faltering supply fails to meet demand. More »

Strategic Petroleum Reserve still vital national security asset, Murkowski says

U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R – Alaska), toured the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) site near Baton Rouge, Louisiana on Friday for a firsthand look at the reserve’s operational readiness and challenges given changes in the nation’s energy output. More »

Iran seeks to regain market share regardless of oil price

Iran will emphasize regaining oil sales it lost due to sanctions over helping to prop up prices once curbs that choked off the nation’s crude exports are lifted. More »

Maersk receives 5-year extension for Heydar Aliyev semisub

Maersk Drilling has been awarded a 5-year contract extension for the semi-submersible, Heydar Aliyev rig with BP Exploration (Shah Deniz) Limited acting as Operator of the Shah Deniz field. More »

Halliburton profit falls as crude crash slows oilfield work

Halliburton Co.’s profit tumbled in the last quarter after a yearlong crude-market crash forced customers to slam the brakes on oilfield work. More »

Bear Head LNG receives DOE approval for exports to FTA countries

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has granted Bear Head LNG Corporation and Bear Head LNG (USA), LLC authorization to export up to 440 Bcf per year of U.S. natural gas to Canada, and up to eight million tonnes per annum (mtpa) of LNG from Canada to free trade agreement (FTA) countries. More »

API highlights adoption of industry standards in proposed well control rule

The American Petroleum Institute (API) has welcomed the federal government’s effort to align regulations for offshore well control with industry standards in comments filed with the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE). More »

Eni reports 15-Bcm gas discovery in Egypt’s Nile Delta

Eni has reported a gas discovery in the Nooros exploration prospect, in the Abu Madi West license in the Nile Delta, 120 km northeast of Alexandria, Egypt. More »

Tullow gas exports from Jubilee field halted by glitch

More »

Polarcus starts 3D survey offshore The Gambia

Polarcus has started a new 3D broadband multi-client project across the Mauritania-Senegal-Guinea-Bissau basin (MSGB), offshore northwest Africa. More »

Vallianz inks new contracts worth up to $458 million

Vallianz Holdings Limited has signed new contracts valued up to $458 million that has lengthened the charter duration for 19 of its offshore support vessels (OSV) currently deployed to an existing customer in the Middle East, which is one of the world’s largest national oil companies (the NOC). More »

Maersk Drilling receives 5-year extension contract for the semi-submersible rig, Heydar Aliyev

Maersk Drilling has been awarded a 5-year contract extension for the semi-submersible, Heydar Aliyev rig with BP Exploration (Shah Deniz) Limited acting as Operator of the Shah Deniz field. More »

Hedge funds dump crude oil as Iran deal threatens prolonged glut

Speculators cut bullish bets on oil to the lowest level since March because an agreement over Iran’s nuclear program threatens to prolong a global supply glut. More »

Sunday, 19 July 2015

Fuel feud pits Saudis’ secretive Ghawar against sprawling bakken

Ghawar is the world’s oil spigot. It’s the biggest conventional field in the world’s biggest- producing country, Saudi Arabia. Statistics about Ghawar - a narrow, deep deposit in porous limestone - are a state secret. The best guess, according to Rasoul Sorkhabi, a geology professor at the University of Utah, is that the field accounts for about 60% of Saudi oil. More »

Oil-spill search near Barrier Reef finds no trace

MELBOURNE -- Air and sea surveillance found no trace of oil sheen or patches near Australia’s Great Barrier Reef after a reported sighting by fisherman on Friday. More »

Friday, 17 July 2015

Oil drilling retreat resumes in U.S. after two-week reprieve

Drillers sidelined rigs in U.S. oil fields for the first time in three weeks, resuming the steepest and most protracted decline in drilling on record. More »

Schlumberger job cuts paying off

Schlumberger Ltd. is beginning to reap some benefits from more than 20,000 job cuts announced this year to weather the oil-price crash. More »

U.S. rig count rally ends as driller cut six rigs, Baker Hughes says

The U.S. rig count has resumed falling with drillers idling six rigs this week, according to the latest data from Baker Hughes. More »

Oil set for longest run of weekly losses since January

Brent oil headed for the longest run of weekly declines since January, as ample inventories and an accord to ease sanctions on Iran suggested global markets will remain oversupplied. More »

Schlumberger profit falls 30% on oil price slump

Schlumberger’s second-quarter earnings fell 30% year-on-year as the downturn in the market continues to take its toll. More »

BOEM offers 22 million acres in Gulf of Mexico August lease sale

Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) Director Abigail Ross Hopper announced Thursday that the bureau will offer approximately 21.9 million acres offshore Texas for oil and gas exploration and development in a lease sale that will include all available unleased areas in the Western Gulf of Mexico Planning Area. More »

Energy Transfer Equity agrees to Williams auction process

Energy Transfer Equity LP has signed a confidentiality agreement to participate in an auction for Williams Cos., the pipeline company that turned down its $48-billion takeover offer last month. More »

Subsea 7, KBR form alliance to deliver Concept and FEED services

Subsea 7 has formed an alliance with Houston-based KBR and its wholly owned subsidiary, Granherne Inc., to collaborate in the delivery of Concept and Front End Engineering and Design (FEED) services to the global offshore oil and gas industry. More »

Rush Lake thermal project starts production, Husky says

Husky Energy has commenced production at the Rush Lake heavy oil thermal project in Saskatchewan. First oil at the 10,000 bpd development was achieved eight weeks following the startup of steaming operations and just two years after project sanction. More »

Mexico’s only oil champs backed by Riverstone, BlackRock money

Sierra Oil and Gas, poised to become Mexico’s first private crude producer in seven decades, has never drilled a well. More »

Award of two blocks in Mexico’s round 1

Premier is pleased to announce that it, together with its JV partners Talos Energy and Sierra Oil and Gas, has been awarded Blocks 2 and 7 in Mexico’s Round 1 held in Mexico City on 15 July. The Blocks contain numerous leads in established and emerging plays, located in the shallow water Sureste Basin, a proven and prolific hydrocarbon province in the Gulf of Mexico. More »

U.S. oil rolls with OPEC’s blows as Brazil and Canada take hits

Eight months into OPEC’s plan to hit rival oil producers, the casualties are mounting. Surprisingly, the most resilient may be the one that triggered the fight: the U.S. More »

SBM Offshore divests stake in Turritella project

SBM Offshore has entered into an agreement with Mitsubishi Corporation (MC) and Nippon Yusen Kabushiki Kaisha (NYK Line) for the acquisition of a stake in the JV companies incorporated for the purpose of owning and operating FPSO Turritella. More »

Thursday, 16 July 2015

ConocoPhillips cuts deepwater exploration spending, cancels drillship contract

ConocoPhillips is to reduce future deepwater exploration spending, with the most significant reductions coming from the company’s operated Gulf of Mexico program, the company said Thursday. More »

Nexen reports pipeline failure near Long Lake oil sands facility

Nexen Energy ULC is responding to an incident at its Long Lake oil sands facility south of Fort McMurray, Alberta, the company announced Thursday. More »

Halliburton introduces pulsed-neutron reservoir monitoring tool

Halliburton's Wireline and Perforating business has introduced the Reservoir Monitor Tool 3-Detector (RMT-3D) pulsed-neutron tool that helps solve for water, oil, and gas saturations within reservoirs using three independent measurements. More »

Big Oil to battle for Mexico’s deep crude after snub

International energy producers that sat out Mexico’s historic auction of oil and natural gas fields this week will be among the fiercest competitors for potentially massive deepwater prospects that go up for sale as soon as next month. More »

GE reaches milestone for Dominion's Cove Point

GE Oil and Gas (NYSE: GE) has announced the shipment of two liquefied natural gas (LNG) compressor trains being supplied for the development of Dominion’s Cove Point LNG export facility, currently under construction by IHI EandC International Corp. and Kiewit Energy Co. More »

Hexion releases new proppant that reduces produced water

Hexion's Oilfield Technology Group has announced the release of a new resin coated proppant technology. More »

Oil ‘El Dorado’ Iran can double output by 2020, former Eni CEO says

International oil companies will rush back to Iran after the removal of sanctions, helping the OPEC member double production by the end of the decade, according to former Eni SpA CEO Paolo Scaroni. More »

UK proposes regulations to allow fracing under national parks

The UK proposed new rules for hydraulic fracturing that would allow drillers to frac for oil and gas under national parks and UNESCO sites, drawing criticism from environmentalists who called the plan “outrageous.” More »

Enterprise sells Gulf of Mexico business to Genesis Energy for $1.5 bn

Enterprise Products Partners has executed definitive agreements to sell its offshore Gulf of Mexico pipelines and services business, which primarily consists of its Offshore Pipelines and Services business segment to Genesis Energy for approximately $1.5 billion in cash. More »

Russian majors well positioned for prolonged downturn, Wood Mac says

Russian major oil and gas companies are uniquely positioned to take advantage of the current macro-economic environment and favorable fundamentals, and to withstand any prolonged period of oil price weakness, according to the latest analysis from Wood Mackenzie. More »

Kristian Røkke appointed CEO of Akastor ASA

Akastor ASA’s board of directors has appointed Kristian Røkke as the company’s new CEO. Røkke will succeed Frank O. Reite, who will take the position of CFO at Aker ASA. More »

EMGS receives permits for Mexico survey

EMGS has received permits from Mexico's Comisión Nacional de Hidrocarburos (CNH) authorizing the acquisition of up to approximately 88,000 km2 of 3D EM multi-client data in the Salina de Itsmo basin. More »

Lundin installs topside modules for Edvard Grieg

Lundin Norway, a wholly owned subsidiary of Lundin Petroleum, has completed the installation of the topside modules on Edvard Grieg field, offshore Norway. More »

BHP shale writedown has some banks asking: Where’s the rest?

The size of BHP Billiton Ltd.’s $2.8-billion writedown for its U.S. shale assets took some banks by surprise: at least two thought it was too small. More »

Woodside sales slide 47% as gas trades near five-year low

Woodside Petroleum Ltd.’s sales fell by almost half in the second quarter amid falling energy prices and lower output of LNG. More »

Oil falls as inventories at biggest hub rise most since April

Oil fell to a three-month low after an Energy Information Administration report showed inventories at the biggest U.S. hub increased the most since April. More »

Global LNG market vital to grow Canada’s natural gas production

Canada needs to connect to global liquid natural gas (LNG) markets to avoid a decade of decline in natural gas production, the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers said today in its 2015 natural gas forecast and LNG report. More »

Ensco CFO Jay Swent to retire

Ensco plc announced that EVP and CFO Jay Swent, 64, will be retiring, after more than 11 years of service. Mr. Swent will continue to serve in his current role until the succession process has been completed and a new CFO has been named. The completion of the succession process may extend into the first half of next year. More »

Russian liquids production hits record levels of 10.7 MMbpd

Russian oil and condensate production reached a new post-soviet record of 10.7 MMbpd in 2015 with condensate being a key driver, according to the latest analysis from Wood Mackenzie. More »

Wednesday, 15 July 2015

Shell to sell its equity interest in the Elba LNG JV to Kinder Morgan

Kinder Morgan and Shell have reached an agreement for Kinder Morgan to purchase 100% of Shell's equity interest in Elba Liquefaction Company (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. More »

The Zeppelin exploration well, offshore Norway has been completed as a dry well

Lundin Petroleum announces that its wholly owned subsidiary Lundin Norway has completed wildcat well 10/4-1. The well was drilled in PL734, approximately 35 km southeast of the Yme field in the southern North Sea. More »

Oil majors shun Mexico auction with just two blocks sold

Fewer than half of the companies qualified to bid in Mexico’s first auction for offshore oil blocks have chosen to submit offers so far as that nation tries to entice foreign investment decades after seizing energy assets. More »

Blocks go unsold in Mexico offshore auction

The largest oil companies have chosen to skip bidding for blocks in Mexico, as that nation tries to entice foreign investment 77 years after seizing energy assets. More »

Exxon, Chevron, Total not bidding in Mexico oil auction

Exxon Mobil Corp., Chevron Corp. and Total SA weren’t among the nine bidders that presented offers in the final stage of Mexico’s first oil auction Wednesday, the National Hydrocarbons Commission announced in Mexico City. More »

Nigeria’s new president must reform oil sector to reverse production decline

Despite over 37 billion bbl remaining in proven reserves, oil production in Nigeria is forecast to falter due to underinvestment, with the country’s oil and gas sector in desperate need of reforms and transparency to reverse this trend, according to an analyst with research and consulting firm GlobalData. More »

ABB to provide power and automation solutions for oil fields off UAE coast

ABB has received orders from Hyundai Heavy Industries for electrical and telecommunication systems. More »

Cheap oil proves bad for the economy, so far

It's been about a year since oil prices started their historic drop, falling from above $100/bbl to a bottom of about $45 in March. After creeping back to around $60, prices are shaky again amid news of a nuclear deal with Iran and record Saudi production. More »

Sabine files for bankruptcy amid falling oil prices

Sabine Oil and Gas Corp., the Houston-based exploration and production company that merged with Forest Oil Corp. last year, filed for bankruptcy amid falling oil prices. More »

Even with the world's second-largest gas reserves, Iran is no Qatar

Natural gas made Qatar’s citizens the richest in the world within a generation. Even with bigger fuel reserves, Iran will struggle to follow its neighbor’s path. More »

Iraq’s kurds bypass state for oil exports on way to more control

Iraq’s self-ruled Kurds are bypassing the government in Baghdad and independently selling all the crude oil exported from their region for the first time as they take greater control of their own affairs. More »

Permian’s pancaked-layer rock makes it king of U.S. oilfields

Out in West Texas, the king of the U.S. oilfields is proving to be the safest investment for explorers. More »

Iran deal exacerbates Norway’s oil risks as supply set to swell

Norway’s oil industry, already struggling after crude prices collapsed last year, is being dealt another blow as an Iranian nuclear deal promises to boost global supply. More »

Tuesday, 14 July 2015

Keppel secures second liftboat order at $85 million

Keppel FELS has secured a contract from Crystal Heights to build a high specification liftboat worth $85 million. More »

Schlumberger first service contractor to receive SEMS certification

The Center for Offshore Safety (COS) today announced that Schlumberger is the first service/supply contractor to achieve the voluntary COS member certification of its safety and environmental management systems (SEMS). More »

‘Planning for the long-term should be the focus now’, says energy leaders

UK energy industry leaders must take action now, in order to capitalise on long-term opportunities according to a new white paper published by executive search specialists, FWB Park Brown. More »

IPAA: Iran deal a disadvantage to America’s oil producers

Independent Petroleum Association of America (IPAA) President Barry Russell released a statement Tuesday after the Obama Administration secured an agreement with Iran. More »

Rosneft and Statoil complete pilot drilling at the North-Komsomolskoye field

Rosneft and Statoil ASA have completed drilling works as part of the Pilot Project at the PK1 layer of the North-Komsomolskoye field. More »

Oilfield chemicals market reached $25 billion in 2014, but growth slowing due to oil price declines

Driven in large part by the rapid expansion of shale oil and gas drilling and production in North America, the world market for oil field specialty chemicals reached $25 billion in 2014, but significant declines in oil price have dampened the demand outlook for oil field chemicals. More »

New study shows correlation between fracing and dropout rates

Jobs offering low-skilled American teenagers a chance to earn big bucks in the shale oil and gas industry also made it less attractive to finish high school, causing a jump in dropout rates, a new study showed. More »

Wireless Seismic, Inc. and FairfieldNodal settle lawsuit

The Federal District Court in Houston dismissed all of FairfieldNodal’s claims against Wireless Seismic. More »

Rosneft and Statoil completed pilot drilling at the North-Komsomolskoye field

Rosneft and Statoil ASA have completed drilling works as part of the Pilot Project at the PK1 layer of the North-Komsomolskoye field. More »

Port Fourchon begins Slip D construction

GALLIANO, Lousiana – The dredging contractor for the Greater Lafourche Port Commission's Northern Expansion Slip D Bucket Dredge project has begun excavating a new channel in Port Fourchon's expansion area. More »

Alberta must do more on climate for Quebec pipeline

Quebec will only support TransCanada Corp.’s Energy East pipeline if it generates jobs for the province and if Alberta does more to protect the environment, Premier Rachel Notley said. More »

South Pars phase 1 output increases by 500 MMcfd to 1 Bcfd

More »

Range Resources progresses with onshore Trinidad Canari North exploration

TRINIDAD -- Range Resources reports progress on its upcoming Canari North exploration well on the Guayaguayare Block onshore Trinidad. More »

NPD issues well permit to Lundin for wildcat well

The Norwegian Petroleum Directorate has granted Lundin Norway AS a drilling permit for well 7220/6-2, cf. Section 8 of the Resource Management Regulations. More »

Oil field chemicals reached $25 billion in 2014, but growth slowing due to oil price declines

Driven in large part by the rapid expansion of shale oil and gas drilling and production in North America, the world market for oil field specialty chemicals reached $25 billion in 2014, but significant declines in oil price have dampened the demand outlook for oil field chemicals. More »

WPX expands into Permian with $2.75 billion RKI deal

WPX Energy Inc., the oil and gas explorer spun off from Williams Cos., has agreed to buy closely held RKI Exploration and Production LLC for $2.35 billion. More »

Drilling permit for well 7220/6-2 in production license 609

The Norwegian Petroleum Directorate has granted Lundin Norway AS a drilling permit for well 7220/6-2, cf. Section 8 of the Resource Management Regulations. More »

Mexico battles bad timing in first sale of oil fields since 1930s

Mexico waited 77 years to invite foreign oil producers back into its borders. That was one year too many. More »

What does Iran’s nuclear deal mean for the global crude oil markets?

The nuclear accord reached in Vienna could eventually reshape global oil markets. After almost two years of talks, the holder of the world’s fourth- biggest crude reserves will benefit from an easing of international sanctions. More »

Drilling permit for well 7220/6-2 in production licence 609

The Norwegian Petroleum Directorate has granted Lundin Norway AS a drilling permit for well 7220/6-2, cf. Section 8 of the Resource Management Regulations. More »

Shale oil output heads for record drop after U.S. drilling swoon

Shale fields that powered the U.S. energy renaissance will suffer the biggest drop in output since the boom began after companies pulled more than half their drilling rigs. More »

Accelerating shale gas declines show supply held hostage by oil

After four years of record supply, natural gas output is showing signs of weakness as producers pull back amid tumbling oil prices. More »

Monday, 13 July 2015

Mexico battles bad timing in 1st sale of oil fields since 1930s

Mexico waited 77 years to invite foreign oil producers back into its borders. That was one year too many. More »

Shale output heads for record drop after drilling swoon

Shale fields that powered the U.S. energy renaissance will suffer the biggest drop in output since the boom began after companies idled more than half their drilling rigs. More »

Bureaucrats go hungry as Nigerian oil crisis hobbles economy

The plight of the Umeadis and others who haven’t received wages has hit everything from local shops to the banking industry in Africa’s biggest economy, in which about a third of the formal workforce of 11 million is employed by the state, according to Renaissance Capital. More »

BG ships first LNG from Queensland Curtis Train 2

BG Group has started up and loaded its first LNG from the second production train at the Queensland Curtis LNG (QCLNG) facility in Australia. More »

PDO and Glasspoint to build 1 GW solar plant for enhanced oil recovery

Petroleum Development Oman (PDO) and GlassPoint Solar have announced plans to build one of the world’s largest solar plants. More »

TGS announces new multi-client 3D program in Flemish Pass basin

TGS announces a new multi-client 3D survey offshore Eastern Canada with plans to acquire approximately 4,300 km² of seismic data. This survey is conducted in partnership with PGS. More »

Black Hills buys GE-backed SourceGas for $1.89 billion

Black Hills Corp. agreed to buy natural gas distributor SourceGas Holdings LLC in a deal that will boost the South Dakota utility’s customer base and cut its exposure to unregulated power markets. More »

Ruble weakens as oil drop offsets Greek deal

The ruble weakened for the first time in three days as declining prices for crude, Russia’s main export earner, offset investor optimism after Greece reached a deal with creditors. More »

Argentina plans up to $784.3 million in bonds for oil companies

Argentina plans to issue as much as $784.3 million of bonds to pay debt owed to oil producers that participated in a program designed to encourage companies to boost output. More »

Oil bulls’ will broken as roiled economies pose risk to growth

Speculators retreated from bullish oil bets at the fastest pace since 2012 on mounting concern that economic turmoil in Europe and Asia will prolong a supply glut. More »

Refiner Marathon to buy MarkWest Energy for $15.8 billion

The pipeline unit of refiner Marathon Petroleum Corp. plans to buy MarkWest Energy Partners LP, the second-largest U.S. processor of natural gas, for about $15.8 billion in stock and cash. More »

PEMEX selects ProSep to deliver crude blending project for Gulf of Mexico operations

Houston-headquartered ProSep, the oil, gas and water treatment specialist, has been awarded a contract with PEMEX to supply its ProBlend mixer technology. More »

Fugro provides integrity monitoring system for Berkut oil platform

Fugro delivered a bespoke structural monitoring system for Exxon Neftegas Ltd., as operator for, and on behalf of, the Sakhalin-1 Consortium, to monitor the structural integrity of its Berkut oil platform in the Arkutun Dagi field. More »

OneSubsea announces global alliance with Subsea 7

OneSubsea, a Cameron and Schlumberger company, announced today that they have signed an agreement establishing a worldwide non-incorporated alliance with Subsea 7 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. More »

China retakes top oil-buyer spot from U.S. amid stockpiling

China regained its status from the U.S. as the world’s biggest crude oil importer as shipments surged to fill the Asian country’s strategic petroleum reserves. More »

Saudis pump record crude as OPEC sees stronger demand in 2016

Saudi Arabia told OPEC it raised oil production to a record as the organization forecast stronger demand for its members’ crude in 2016. More »

Saudi pumps record crude as OPEC sees stronger demand in 2016

Saudi Arabia told OPEC it raised oil production to a record as the organization forecast stronger demand for its members’ crude in 2016. More »

TGS, PGS partner for new multi-client 3D program in Flemish Pass basin

TGS has announced a new multi-client 3D survey offshore Eastern Canada with plans to acquire approximately 4,300 sq km of seismic data. This survey is conducted in partnership with PGS. More »

Liebherr delivers 1000th offshore crane order for Total

Liebherr Offshore Crane Division has almost completed another project with long-term partner Total. Three state-of-the-art ram luffing knuckle-boom cranes of the type RL-K 4200 will be delivered for Total’s Egina FPSO vessel. More »

Oil extends decline as Iran nuclear deal seen exacerbating glut

Oil extended its decline after its biggest weekly drop since March as investors weighed the prospects of Iran increasing crude exports in an oversupplied market. More »

Aqueos Corporation and Bibby Subsea to jointly provide subsea services

Aqueos Corporation and Bibby Subsea ROV have entered into a strategic alliance to jointly market their combined services to pursue subsea related projects in the Gulf of Mexico and other targeted regions. More »

Friday, 10 July 2015

Halliburton hopes to close Baker Hughes acquisition by Dec. 1

Halliburton and Baker Hughes have agreed to extend the time period for closing of the acquisition to no later than December 1, 2015. More »

Rig count increases again as U.S. drillers add five more oil-directed rigs

The U.S. rig count rose for the third week in a row on Friday, according to the latest data from Baker Hughes. More »

Schlumberger receives Center for Offshore Safety SEMS certification

Schlumberger has achieved SEMS certification to Center for Offshore Safety Program expectations and 30 CFR 250 Subpart S requirements. Schlumberger is the first service/supply contractor to achieve this voluntarily, further demonstrating their commitment to SEMS, assurance of their safety management system, and to ensure they know where is best to focus their continuing work on safety management. More »

Wellsite Rental Services to merge with Viking Oil Tools

Wellsite Rental Services and Viking Oil Tools have agreed to merge to form Wellsite Fishing and Rental Services. Both companies are majority owned by NGP Energy Technology Partners. More »

Saint-Gobain Seals opens new Houston office

Saint-Gobain Seals has announced the opening of its new technical and sales office in Houston, with a district sales manager and application engineer on staff, which will reinforce the support to local oil and gas customers. More »

Alder topsides sail-away and installation complete, Chevron says

Chevron Upstream Europe has announced that the sail-away and installation of the Alder Project’s topsides module has been safely and successfully completed, marking a major project milestone. More »

Halliburton hosts opening of St. Louis Primary School Nfiengong-Njap in Cameroon

An opening ceremony was held June 19 for the newly rebuilt St. Louis Catholic Primary School Nfiengong. Aided by a donation from Halliburton and the Amom Foundation, students in the village of Nfiengong near Bamenda, Cameroon, have a new primary school to attend in their village. More »

Maersk Discoverer finishes BP well 62 days ahead of time

At the start of May, the crew on the Maersk Discoverer semisubmersible reached a major milestone when they finished their latest well two months ahead of time. The well was another East Nile Delta success for BP, discovering 50 m of gas pay in high-quality Oligocene sandstones. More »

12 workers killed at Nigeria pipeline repair site, Eni says

A fatal explosion at a pipeline repair site in Nigeria claimed the lives of 12 workers on Thursday, Italy's Eni said in a statement. More »

12 workers killed by Nigeria pipeline explosion, Eni says

A fatal pipeline explosion in Nigeria claimed the lives of 12 workers on Thursday, Italy's Eni said in a statement. More »

North Atlantic Drilling secures contract for West Phoenix semisub

North Atlantic Drilling has been awarded a contract extension for the West Phoenix semisubmersible by Total EandP UK Limited, commencing mid-March 2016 and securing work for the unit through the end of August 2016. More »

Oil may fall further before supply growth slows, IEA says

Oil prices may fall further as the world remains “massively oversupplied,” before markets tighten in 2016 when output growth outside OPEC grinds to a halt, according to the International Energy Agency. More »

Petrofac awarded $780 million project in Kuwait

Petrofac has received an award notification for Kuwait Oil Company’s (KOC) manifold group trunkline (MGT) system in the north of Kuwait. More »

Alder topsides sail-away and installation complete

Chevron Upstream Europe has announced that the sail-away and installation of the Alder Project’s topsides module has been safely and successfully completed, marking a major project milestone. More »

Marica moors at BRASA following FPSO’s arrival in Brazil

There was a buzz at BRASA as it celebrated the arrival of FPSO Cidade de Marica. The SBM Offshore vessel berthed safely at the Niteroi-Rio based yard on Jul.9, 2015. She had arrived in Brazilian waters mid-June, following her 10,625 m voyage from China. More »

Thursday, 9 July 2015

Saint-Gobain Seals opens new Houston, Texas technical and sales office to support local oil and gas partners

Saint-Gobain Seals announces the opening of its new technical and sales office located at 12941 North Fwy., Suite 226, Houston, Texas 77060, with a District Sales Manager and Application Engineer on staff, which will reinforce the support to local oil and gas customers. More »

Wellsite Rental Services announces merger with Viking Oil Tools

Wellsite Rental Services and Viking Oil Tools have agreed to merge to form Wellsite Fishing and Rental Services. Both companies are majority owned by NGP Energy Technology Partners. More »

API calls for action to lift 70s-era crude export restrictions

The American Petroleum Institute (API) urged lawmakers to quickly chart a bipartisan path forward during Thursday’s House hearing on legislation to lift America’s outdated ban on crude oil exports. More »

Shell U.S. unit name may drop ‘oil’ as alternatives proliferate

The U.S. unit of Royal Dutch Shell Plc may soon drop the word “oil” from its name in a move that would signal its transition to other sources of energy. More »

Oil sands will continue to be a leading supply source, IHS says

Despite lower oil prices and other challenges, growth in Canadian oil sands will continue and remain one of the top sources of global supply growth in coming years, according to a new report by IHS. More »

In California, Big Oil finds water is its most prized commodity

California’s epic drought is pushing Big Oil to solve a problem it’s struggled with for decades: what to do with the billions of gallons of wastewater that gush out of wells every year. More »

Statoil awards production chemicals contract to Baker Hughes

Statoil Petroleum awarded Baker Hughes an eight-year contract to design and supply production chemicals to the offshore Norne field and the deepwater Aasta Hansteen field in the Norwegian Sea. More »

Chevron, OneSubsea embark on JIP to develop 20Ksi subsea systems tech

OneSubsea, a Cameron and Schlumberger company, and Chevron U.S.A. Inc. have entered into an agreement to form a joint industry program (JIP) to develop subsea systems technology for 20,000-psi applications. More »

Ophir awards FEED contract for Fortuna FLNG project

Ophir Energy has awarded Upstream Front End Engineering and Design (FEED) contracts for the Fortuna FLNG Project in Block R, Equatorial Guinea, to two contractor consortia. The first consortia is comprised of McDermott Marine Construction Ltd. and GE Oil and Gas UK Ltd., and the second consists of Subsea 7 and Aker Solutions. More »

MOL Group completes first acquisition in Norway with Ithaca Petroleum buy

MOL Group has 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 MMbbl of net un-risked best estimate prospective reserves. More »

Sub-Atlantic seals second ROV deal with Italy’s AALEA Offshore

Sub-Atlantic has won a second contract with Italian oil and gas subsea services provider, AALEA. The contract will see Sub-Atlantic deliver one of its Tomahawk observation ROV systems. More »

Pemex pulls out of Mexico licensing auction as oil slides

Mexico’s national oil company withdrew from the country’s first license auction to conserve cash and focus on bringing in partners for its existing operations. More »

Saipem loses $2.2-billion Gazprom deal for Black Sea link

Saipem SpA, Italy’s biggest oil-services contractor, lost a $2.2-billion contract to lay a Russian natural-gas pipeline under the Black Sea after its fleet waited seven months for the work to start. More »

C-Innovation inks two-year deal with BP for IMR vessel

C-Innovation (C-I) has signed a two-year master services agreement with call-off options with BP for inspection, maintenance and repair (IMR) services for the M/V Island Enforcer, a 401 ft subsea installation and construction vessel. More »

Oceaneering appoints Steve Barrett as Senior V.P., Subsea Products

Oceaneering International, Inc. announced the appointment of Steve Barrett as senior V.P., Subsea Products, with worldwide responsibility for Oceaneering's Subsea Products segment. More »

SRP bags $4 million contract to develop Nimway connector

Subsea Riser Products Ltd (SRP) has secured a contract to develop and qualify its Nimway 510 and Nimway 710 completion and workover riser connectors for a leading subsea wellheads and production systems provider. More »

Oil rout seen ending as demand trumps China’s market crash

Oil’s biggest slump in four years will lose momentum because the plunge in Chinese equities and Greece’s economic crisis won’t dent global demand, according to Morgan Stanley, UBS Group AG and Societe Generale SA. More »

GE’s Industrial Software to boost efficiency across BP’s global operations

GE Intelligent Platforms Software announced a new production optimization project to connect all of BP’s oil wells globally to the Industrial Internet. Using GE’s data management software, BP field engineers will gain real-time access to common machine and operational data sets across all wells, arming them with information to make better decisions to improve efficiency, prevent failures and minimize costly downtime. The project will initially be deployed across 650 of BP’s wells, expanding to 4,000 wells across the world over the next several years. More »

C-Nav launches upgraded C-Scape software

C-Nav has introduced a newly upgraded version of its C-Scape software. More »

C-Innovation signs two-year deal with BP for IMR vessel

C-Innovation (C-I) has signed a two-year master services agreement with call-off options with BP for inspection, maintenance and repair (IMR) services for the M/V Island Enforcer, a 401 ft subsea installation and construction vessel. More »

Wednesday, 8 July 2015

Oceaneering appoints of Steve Barrett as senior V.P., Subsea Products

Oceaneering International, Inc. announced the appointment of Steve Barrett as senior V.P., Subsea Products, with worldwide responsibility for Oceaneering's Subsea Products segment. More »

SRP awarded $4 million contract to develop Nimway connector

Subsea Riser Products Ltd (SRP) has secured a contract to develop and qualify its Nimway 510 and Nimway 710 completion and workover riser connectors for a leading subsea wellheads and production systems provider. More »

House committee subpoenas U.S. State Department for Keystone XL documents

The Republican-led House Oversight and Government Reform Committee has issued a subpoena to U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry to provide all reports, recommendations, letters, and comments received by the State Department from the advising agencies pursuant to Executive Order 13337 regarding the permit for the Keystone XL pipeline. More »

Global Maritime Group awarded mooring contract for Woodside

Global Maritime Deep Sea Mooring has been awarded a contract for the provision of mooring and rig positioning services to the Australian oil and gas company Woodside. More »

ION announces ruling in appeal on WesternGeco lawsuit

ION Geophysical Corporation announced Wednesday that a panel of justices on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in Washington, D.C. reversed in part and affirmed in part the patent infringement judgment against ION in favor of WesternGeco granted by the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas in May 2014. More »

Shell’s $70 billion BG acquisition approved by Brazil regulators

Royal Dutch Shell Plc obtained regulatory approval from Brazil to buy BG Group Plc, clearing another antitrust hurdle to completing the $70 billion acquisition. More »

Iraqi Kurds threaten government oil sales in budget dispute

Iraq’s self-ruling Kurds are threatening to bypass the country’s central government and sell oil produced in the neighboring Kirkuk region in a dispute over revenue from crude sales by OPEC’s second-largest producer. More »

North Star Shipping takes delivery of eighth new ERRV

North Star Shipping has reinforced its fleet of next generation vessels after taking delivery of its new emergency response and rescue vessel (ERRV), the Grampian Devotion, in Aberdeen. More »

Enterprise completes $2.15-billion acquisition of Eagle Ford assets

HOUSTON -- Enterprise Products Partners has closed on its purchase of the member interests in EFS Midstream LLC from affiliates of Pioneer Natural Resources and Reliance Holding USA. More »

Conflict continues to stifle South Sudan’s oil sector, GlobalData analyst says

Continuing armed fighting, trade disputes and low oil prices are having a considerable negative impact on South Sudan’s oil industry, with existing asset holders reducing investments and potential investors being deterred by instability in the region, says an analyst with research and consulting firm GlobalData. More »

Clariant Oil Services wins chemical contract for Johan Sverdrup

Clariant Oil Services has signed a framework contract with Statoil, representing the Johan Sverdrup partnership, to supply production chemicals and services for Johan Sverdrup oil field. More »

North Star Shipping takes delivery of eight new ERRV

North Star Shipping has reinforced its fleet of next generation vessels after taking delivery of its new emergency response and rescue vessel (ERRV), the Grampian Devotion, in Aberdeen. More »

Renowned trader sees ‘phenomenal’ demand in U.S., Asia ending oil glut

Oil’s collapse is sending demand in the U.S. and Asia “on a tear” that will push prices up this year and into 2016, according to hedge fund manager Andrew J. Hall. More »

Legacy Reserves acquires assets in East Texas for $440 million

Legacy Reserves LP has entered into separate agreements with affiliates of Anadarko Petroleum and Western Gas Partners, LP to purchase natural gas properties and gathering and processing assets in East Texas for a combined $440 million. More »

Saudi Aramco, McDermott ink long-term EPCI agreement

McDermott International has been selected by Saudi Aramco as one of the winners of a global competition for a new Long Term Agreement (LTA) for future brownfield work in various fields offshore Saudi Arabia. More »

BG, Petrobras achieve ambitious ultra-deepwater drilling target

In November 2011, BG’s Brasil’s well engineering team and Petrobras set out an ambitious target at a historic drilling performance workshop—to drill ultra-deepwater, pre-salt wells from spud to final depth in 30 days at a cost of less than $30 million. More »

BG reports first oil from India’s Mukta-B platform

BG India achieved first oil production from the Mukta-B (MB), a four-legged wellhead unmanned platform in the offshore Bombay basin, on July 1. More »

Suncor, TransAlta exchange assets in oil-sands power deal

Suncor Energy has reached an agreement with TransAlta Corporation to exchange Suncor's Kent Breeze and its share of the Wintering Hills wind power facilities for TransAlta's Poplar Creek cogeneration facilities. The Poplar Creek facilities provide steam and power for Suncor's oil sands base site in Fort McMurray Alberta. More »

Precision sees room for rig rebound as producers weather slump

Even with the oil market in a funk again, producers are adjusting and Precision Drilling Corp. sees the potential for more spending by customers in the second half. More »

Hall sees ‘Phenomenal’ demand in U.S., Asia ending oil glut

Oil’s collapse is sending demand in the U.S. and Asia “on a tear” that will push prices up this year and into 2016, according to hedge fund manager Andrew J. Hall. More »

Conflict continues to stifle South Sudan’s oil sector, says GlobalData Analyst

Continuing armed fighting, trade disputes and low oil prices are having a considerable negative impact on South Sudan’s oil industry, with existing asset holders reducing investments and potential investors being deterred by instability in the region, says an analyst with research and consulting firm GlobalData. More »

Clariant Oil Services receives supply contract for the Johan Sverdrup field

Clariant signed a framework contract with Statoil, representing the Johan Sverdrup partnership, on Jun. 3, 2015 to supply production chemicals and services for the Johan Sverdrup oil field. The contract has a length of eight years with a four-year option, totaling 12 years. The contract’s start-date is July 1, 2015 and has a significant value, including the option period. More »

Tuesday, 7 July 2015

Subsea 7 wins Emergency Pipeline Repair contracts offshore Australia

Subsea 7 announced the award of four contracts by Chevron Australia Pty Ltd and INPEX Operations Australia Pty Ltd, for the engineering, procurement and construction of an Emergency Pipeline Repair System (EPRS) to be used offshore Australia. More »

New survey vessel Fugro Americas completes maiden voyage

On June 11, Fugro’s premier geophysical survey vessel, the Fugro Americas, successfully completed data collection for a geochemical coring campaign in the Caribbean. More »

CME Group exec in call for end to U.S. oil export ban

CME Group Executive Chairman and President Terry Duffy will appear before the U.S. House Committee on Agriculture on Wednesday to discuss how lifting the oil export ban impacts the rural economy and futures markets. More »

2H Offshore awarded verification contracts for Stampede field development

2H Offshore, an Acteon company, has been awarded two separate contracts, one by Hess Corp. and a second contract by Enbridge Energy Co., to verify the design, fabrication and installation phases of the steel catenary risers (SCRs) for the Stampede field development in the Gulf of Mexico. More »

Refracing fever sweeps across shale industry after oil collapse

The technique itself is nothing new. Oil crews across the world have been schooled on its simple principles for generations: Identify aging, low-output wells and hit them with a blast of sand and water to bolster the flow of crude. The idea originated somewhere in the plains of the American Midwest, back in the 1950s. More »

LINN Energy secures $1 billion worth of funding for acquisitions

LINN Energy has signed definitive agreements with private capital investor Quantum Energy Partners to fund selected future oil and natural gas acquisitions and the development of acquired assets. More »

Rosneft gets Brazil’s approval for full control of Solimoes project

Rosneft Brasil—a wholly owned subsidiary of Rosneft—and PetroRio have received approval from Brazil’s National Petroleum, Natural Gas and Biofuels Agency (ANP) for Rosneft Brasil to acquire an additional 55% interest in the Solimoes project. More »

Atwood secures contract extension for Atwood Beacon

Atwood Oceanics announced Monday that one of its subsidiaries had reached an agreement for a six-month extension of its existing contract with Eni S.p.A. for the jackup rig, the Atwood Beacon. More »

DNV GL wins frame agreement with Wintershall Norge

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 (about $1.2 million). More »

China extends Xinjiang oil block bids to non-state companies

China is offering six oil and gas blocks in the resource-rich province of Xinjiang to non-state companies, extending the bids beyond state-owned explorers. More »

Technip shares sink on writedown, job cuts after oil-price slump

Technip SA shares fell the most in almost a year after the company announced plans to cut 6,000 jobs and reduce its fleet of oil-service ships to cope with the slump in crude prices. More »

Impact Selector and Wireline Engineering announce strategic combination

Impact Selector and Wireline Engineering have announced that the companies are joining forces through a strategic transaction. More »

Refracking fever sweeps across shale industry after oil collapse

The technique itself is nothing new. Oil crews across the world have been schooled on its simple principles for generations: Identify aging, low-output wells and hit them with a blast of sand and water to bolster the flow of crude. The idea originated somewhere in the plains of the American Midwest, back in the 1950s. More »

Monday, 6 July 2015

British Columbia sees $7.1 billion from Petronas gas exports

British Columbia is pledging to cap levies on Petroliam Nasional Bhd.’s gas export project as it expects to collect C$9 billion ($7.1 billion) from the venture by 2030. More »

LINN Energy finalizes strategic alliance with Quantum Energy Partners

LINN Energy has signed definitive agreements with private capital investor Quantum Energy Partners to fund selected future oil and natural gas acquisitions and the development of acquired assets. More »

OneSubsea wins FEED contract for Woodside’s Browse FLNG development

Woodside Energy and OneSubsea, a Cameron and Schlumberger company, announced Monday that OneSubsea has been awarded a front-end engineering and design (FEED) contract for the proposed Woodside-operated Browse FLNG Development offshore northwest Australia. More »

LINN Energy sells remaining Permian basin acreage for $281 million

LINN Energy, LLC and LinnCo, LLC announced Monday that LINN has signed a definitive agreement to sell its remaining position in Howard County in the Permian basin for a contract price of $281 million. More »

Oil falls most in five months as Greece, China boost demand risk

Crude tumbled the most in five months amid mounting concern about economic stability in Europe and Asia. More »

Technip to cut 6,000 workers amid oil price slump

Technip will accelerate its cost reduction and efficiency efforts worldwide through a restructuring plan in response to the downturn in the oil and gas market. More »

Technip restructuring to reduce workforce, cut costs

Technip will accelerate its cost reduction and efficiency efforts worldwide through a restructuring plan in response to the downturn in the oil and gas market. More »

Unimin makes history by shipping longest frac sand unit train on record

Unimin Energy Solutions has announced the delivery of the energy industry's longest frac sand unit train. More »

LINN Energy secures up to $500 million funding from GSO Partners

LINN Energy, LLC and LinnCo, LLC announced Monday that LINN has signed a formal agreement with private capital investor GSO Capital Partners L.P., the credit platform of The Blackstone Group L.P., to fund oil and natural gas development. More »

Eni, Repsol start production at Perla gas field offshore Venezuela

Eni has started production from the giant gas field Perla, in the Gulf of Venezuela. The first production well has been opened and is currently in the clean-up phase. More »

Brazil is in deep trouble: DW Monday

Petrobras has long been a pioneer in the adoption and deployment of deepwater technology. This has enabled them to build huge reserves of some 16 Bbbl of oil. Converting these reserves to production, however, is another matter and Petrobras has a history of setting ambitious targets, with a poor record of meeting them. More »

Husky Energy continues to ramp up Sunrise output

Husky Energy is continuing to ramp up production at the Sunrise Energy Project in northeast Alberta, the company announced Monday. More »

Aqualis Offshore wins Mexico rig support contract

MEXICO CITY -- Aqualis Offshore has been contracted by Perforadora Mexico to support with the transportation and installation of a platform rig for a fixed platform offshore Mexico. More »

Husky continues to ramp up Sunrise output

Husky Energy is continuing to ramp up production at the Sunrise Energy Project in northeast Alberta, the company announced Monday. More »

Polarcus expands footprint in Houston

Polarcus has relocated its North and South America regional office in Houston, Texas, to new premises in the Cobalt Center, Memorial City, as the company expands its regional footprint. More »

Aqualis Offshore wins Mexico rig contract

MEXICO CITY -- Aqualis Offshore has been contracted by Perforadora Mexico to support with the transportation and installation of a platform rig for a fixed platform offshore Mexico. More »

Bibby Offshore Singapore successfully delivers subsea projects to Asia Pacific

Bibby Offshore’s Asian division, Bibby Offshore Singapore (BOS), has expanded its foothold in the Southeast Asian oil and gas sector by securing a series of contracts in the first half of 2015. More »

FPSO Cidade de Itaguaí arrives in Lula field

The floating production, storage and offloading unit (FPSO) Cidade de Itaguaí is now anchored in the Iracema Norte area of Lula field, in the pre-salt layer of the Santos basin, off the coast of Rio de Janeiro. More »

Eni starts production at Perla gas field offshore Venezuela

Eni has started production from the giant gas field Perla, in the Gulf of Venezuela. The first production well has been opened and is currently in the clean-up phase. More »

Brent slumps below $60 as Greece, China put demand at risk

Brent slid below $60/bbl for the first time since April amid mounting concern about economic stability in Europe and Asia. More »

Baker Hughes bags integrated drilling services contract for Johan Sverdrup

Statoil has awarded Baker Hughes Norway the onshore contract for integrated drilling services for Johan Sverdrup. More »

Norway baffles analysts by ceding 15 MMbbl from Johan Sverdrup

No one can accuse the Norwegian government of being greedy when it last week decided on the ownership stakes in the giant Johan Sverdrup oil discovery. More »

Quadrant Energy spuds Levitt-1 well offshore Western Australia

Karoon Gas Australia has commenced the high impact Levitt-1 exploration well in WA-482-P Carnarvon basin, offshore Western Australia. More »

Drydocks World delivers world’s largest turret mooring system

Drydocks World has marked a major milestone in successfully completing the world’s largest turret mooring system at Shell's Prelude FLNG off Australia. More »

Sunday, 5 July 2015

Fjords Processing bags process systems delivery contracts for Johan Sverdrup

Fjords Processing has won three contracts for the deliveries of process systems for the Johan Sverdrup development in the North Sea. More »

Friday, 3 July 2015

Subsea 7 installs world's first subsea wet gas compressor at Statoil's Gullfaks platform

After several years of technology development, construction and testing the first subsea wet gas compressor in the world is now installed at the Statoil's Gullfaks C platform in the North Sea. More »

4Subsea receives research grant for corrosion in flexible pipes

The Research Council of Norway has through the “Petromaks 2” program has awarded 4Subsea funding for a research initiative on corrosion in flexible pipes. More »

BP’s spill deal is ‘catalyst’ for acquirers as uncertainty ends

BP’s $18.7 billion U.S. legal settlement is being cheered by investors and analysts as it ends five years of financial uncertainty. It also makes the British oil producer a more attractive takeover target. More »

Indian tycoon plans to invest $2.5 billion in Brazil oil and gas

Videocon Industries Ltd., an Indian maker of consumer electronics with ambitions to become a major energy producer, plans to invest as much as $2.5 billion over three years in Brazilian oilfields, Chairman Venugopal Dhoot said. More »

Millions from BP settlement to benefit Texas Gulf Research

With Thursday’s announcement that BP has settled federal, state and local claims related to the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill for a total of more than $18.7 billion, leaders with Texas’ RESTORE Centers of Excellence are moving forward with plans to use millions in spill-related Clean Water Act funding on research and science activities that will benefit Texas and help to restore the health of the Gulf of Mexico. More »

Lundin gains increased unitized interest in Johan Sverdrup

Lundin Petroleum has announced that the Norwegian Ministry of Petroleum and Energy has determined the allocation of resources in the Johan Sverdrup oil field and has decided to increase the unitized interest for Lundin Petroleum from 22.12 to 22.6%. More »

ION launches MexicoSPAN in Mexico’s offshore Gulf waters

ION Geophysical Corporation has launched the first phase of MexicoSPAN, encompassing more than 22,000 km of deep-imaged 2D seismic data. More »

Oil oversupply meets rising demand in quietest market since 2013

The sleepiest oil market since 2013 will probably limp through the second half of the year as well. More »

Shale boom shows resilience as rigs rebound with oil under $60

For the first time in almost seven months, America’s shale drillers put rigs in oil fields back to work, and they’re doing it at a lower price. More »

Thursday, 2 July 2015

Mexico unveils licensing plan to add million barrels output

Mexico plans to auction 914 onshore and offshore oil areas in the next five years as the historic opening of the country’s energy industry aims to add 1 MMbbl of production by 2025. More »

Drillers boost U.S. oil rigs for first time in 30 weeks

Drillers put rigs in U.S. oil fields back to work for the first time since December, driving down crude futures on speculation that an unprecedented retreat from the country’s prolific shale formations is ending. More »

PetroRio buys Petrobras’ stake in Bijupirá, Salema fields

Petro Rio S.A. has signed a purchase and sale agreement to acquire 20% of the rights and obligations of the concession contracts for Bijupirá and Salema (BJSA) fields with Petrobras. More »

Hess completes Bakken midstream sale, establishes joint venture

Hess has completed the sale of a 50% interest in its Bakken midstream assets to Global Infrastructure Partners for a cash consideration of $2.675 billion, the company announced Wednesday. More »

BP pays record $18.7 billion to settle Macondo claims

BP Plc will pay a record $18.7 billion to resolve claims by the U.S. and five states along the Gulf of Mexico related to the 2010 oil spill. More »

BP said to settle Macondo spill claims with U.S., states

BP Plc reached an agreement with states and the U.S. in the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill case, according to a person with knowledge of the matter. More »

CIS Group completes subsea piling operation in North Sea

Conductor Installation Services (CIS) has completed a subsea piling operation for Subsea 7 in the UK North Sea. More »

PGS inks Mexico cooperation agreement with Spectrum, Schlumberger

PGS has executed an MOU for a cooperation agreement with Spectrum and Schlumberger in Mexico. The collaboration will acquire 80,000 to 100,000 km of modern, long-offset 2D data encompassing all the major hydrocarbon provinces offshore Mexico. More »

Summit ESP launches Sentry Well Surveillance service

Summit ESP has launched its Sentry(SM) Well Surveillance services, a real time Electrical Submersible Pump and Optimization Service. More »

Summit ESP launches Sentry Well Surveillance and Optimization Service

Summit ESP has launched its Sentry(SM) Well Surveillance services, a real time Electrical Submersible Pump and Optimization Service. More »

Elk-Antelope joint venture selects LNG project sites

InterOil Corporation and the PRL 15 joint venture participants have unanimously endorsed recommendations from Total SA for key project infrastructure sites for development of Elk-Antelope gas field in Papua New Guinea. More »

CIS Group completes subsea piling operation in North Sea for Subsea 7

Conductor Installation Services Ltd. (CIS) has successfully completed a subsea piling operation for Subsea 7 in the UK North Sea. More »

Emerson improves offering with Yggdrasil acquisition

Emerson Process Management has acquired Norwegian company Yggdrasil, a provider of flow assurance and production optimization software. More »

Aqualis Offshore to open South Korea office

Offshore marine and engineering consultancy Aqualis Offshore is to open an office in Busan, South Korea, following increased demand for the company’s services. More »

China wary of closer Russia energy ties, ex-Cnooc economist says

China is wary of expanding energy investments in Russia because closer ties with the Kremlin could harm its relations with the U.S., according to a former researcher at China’s biggest offshore explorer. More »

Oil steady after biggest drop since April as U.S. supplies rise

Oil was steady after the biggest decline since April as an unexpected gain in U.S. crude stockpiles signaled a supply glut may persist. More »

Petroleum Geo-Services inks Mexico 2D cooperation agreement with Spectrum, Schlumberger

PGS has executed an MOU for a cooperation agreement with Spectrum and Schlumberger in Mexico. The collaboration will acquire 80,000 to 100,000 km of modern, long-offset 2D data encompassing all the major hydrocarbon provinces offshore Mexico. More »
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