Baker Hughes reports that the US oil/gas rig counts are stable this week. Pennsylvania has fallen to a 17-year low.
Baker Hughes, a closely watched energy services company, said that the U.S. firms maintained the same number of oil and gas rigs this week. The count fell to a low not seen in Pennsylvania for 17 years, according to its report. The number of oil and gas drilling rigs, a good indicator of future production, was 585 during the week ending October 25. Baker Hughes reported that the total number of workers was down by 40 or 6% compared to this time last. This week, oil rigs dropped by two - to 480 - while gas rigs grew by two – to 101. Drillers in Pennsylvania, which produces mainly gas, have cut down one drill rig.
Lukoil Hits Milestone at Caspian Offshore
Russian oil company Lukoil has exceeded 15 million metric tons of cumulative output from its Vladimir Filanovsky field in the Caspian Sea.Moscow-headquartered multinational energy corporation said that full-scale commercial operation of the project started in the fall of 2016, i.e. eleven years after the field's discovery. The third-stage of infrastructure development is under way now. Lukoil has mounted the wellhead platform topside (mini-platform) on the bearing units in the Caspian Sea. The…
Activists End Occupation of Arctic Drill Rig
Greenpeace activists climbed down from a Seadrill drilling rig in Norway on Tuesday and are no longer occupying it, the environmental group told Reuters.The rig, which was boarded by four activists on Monday, will be used next month by Equinor to explore for oil and gas in the Arctic.(Reporting by Gwladys Fouche, Writing by Terje Solsvik, Editing by Paul Tait)
Carnarvon Petroleum Secures Noble Tom Prosser Jack-up Drill Rig
Australian oil and gas exploration and production company Carnarvon Petroleum has secured a Noble Tom Prosser jack-up drilling rig for two appraisal wells at the Dorado joint venture oil, gas and condensate discovery offshore Western Australia.The energy sector company said in a press release that shallow water depths in this part of the Canning Basin on the North West Shelf mean that the joint venture can utilise a cost-effective jack-up rig for its appraisal wells. The Noble Tom Prosser was…
iSURVEY Completes Industry First Project for Norske Shell
iSURVEY, a provider of survey and positioning services to the global oil and gas, offshore renewables and telecommunications markets, has completed a pioneering project for A/S Norske Shell. The project, which took place last month as part of the operator’s Scarabeo 8 drilling campaign, utilized iSURVEY’s survey support remotely from its Oslo headquarter. This marks the first time remote positioning has been applied for a regular DP drill rig move operation on the Norwegian Continental Shelf.The survey equipment was initially mobilized on board…
IKM Cleandrill to Start Operations in Azerbaijan
IKM Cleandrill is slated to begin its first offshore operations in the Caspian Sea in early 2018, after having been awarded a contract for riserless mud circulating system services by Total E&P ABSHERON BV on behalf of Joined Operating Company for Absheron Project (JOCAP), a 50/50 joint venture between SOCAR and Total. IKM said the contract will include the installation of its MRR500 mud recovery system onto a new semisubmersible drill rig, and provision of subsea drilling fluid pumping services as part of Absheron Project’s drilling campaign in the Republic of Azerbaijan.
Lamprell Delivers 9th Jackup Drill Rig to NDC
Lamprell announced the completion of construction of Al Lulu, the final jackup drilling rig in a series of nine delivered to Abu Dhabi’s National Drilling Company (NDC). The contract for the NDC Al Lulu rig was awarded in April 2015, one of only three rig orders awarded that year. All nine rigs have been designed according to the Cameron LeTourneau Super 116E (Enhanced) Class design and were completed to the highest standards of quality using the latest in drilling system technology, the builder said.
Norway's Seadrill Warns of Share, Bond Wipe-Out
Drill rig operator Seadrill warned investors that its shares will lose almost all of their value and its bonds will be hit as the Norwegian company prepares for potential bankruptcy proceedings to restructure $14 billion in debt and liabilities. Shares in Seadrill, once the crown jewel in shipping tycoon John Fredriksen's empire, fell as much as 46 percent on Tuesday to a record low. The company has been hit by low oil prices, which have forced oil companies to cut costs, hammering rig rates.
Austin Starts Drilling on Marco Polo #1 Well
Austin Exploration Limited (ASX: AKK) (Austin or the Company) announced that the Math Energy Drill rig has been successfully mobilised to the Marco Polo well site and the second phase of drilling on the Marco Polo #1 well has commenced. The second phase of drilling involves drilling a deviated well bore that has been designed by Austin’s engineers to intersect multiple fracture networks and to maximise the oil pay-zone thickness of the reservoir. Upon drilling completion, the three wells will be sequentially flow tested with a view to simultaneously bringing them on to production.
Culzean Wellhead Jacket and Access Deck Set Sail
Heerema Fabrication Group (HFG) has completed the project for the Culzean Wellhead jacket and Access Deck for client Maersk Oil. April 13 at Heerema Vlissingen, the Netherlands the Wellhead jacket and April 11 at Heerema Hartlepool, U.K. Wellhead Access Deck set sail to their final destination: the Ultra High Pressure High Temperature Culzean development field in the U.K. sector of the North Sea, where Heerema Marine Contractors will perform the installation. On October 21, 2014, Maersk Oil awarded HFG the Procurement & Construction contract for the Culzean Wellhead jacket…
New Land Rig Critical Equipment Survey
The new service from Lloyd’s Register Energy has been developed in light of significant market challenges in the upstream oil and gas market, low oil prices and client mandates to achieve leaner operations. The equipment survey service includes a newly refined set of inspection tools focused on safety critical equipment used in drilling operations. It covers an assessment of both capital and safety critical drilling equipment, mud systems, BOP and well control equipment, electrical equipment and systems, power plant, safety equipment and the maintenance and spare parts system.
Harkand Secures Decommissioning Work in UKCS
Global inspection, repair and maintenance (IRM) company Harkand, has commenced decommissioning work in the United Kingdom Continental Shelf supporting Maersk Oil UK’s work in the Leadon field. Earlier this year, the IRM firm secured a multi-million pound 12-month frame agreement with Maersk Oil in the region for the provision of its two dive support vessels (DSVs), the Harkand Da Vinci and Harkand Atlantis as well as supporting onshore and offshore personnel. This new award will see Harkand…
US Weekly Oil Rig Count Decline Slows
U.S. drillers cut the number of rigs by just one this week, data showed on Friday, signaling that higher crude prices may be starting to steady the sector after 24 straight weeks of drill rig declines. The number of rigs drilling for oil fell by one to 659, oil services firm Baker Hughes Inc said in its closely watched report. It was the smallest drop since December. The number of rigs had fallen by eight the previous week and by 11 the week before that. With the oil rig decline this week, the number of active rigs has fallen to the lowest since August 2010, according to Baker Hughes data going back to 1987.
US Approves Shell's Plan to Drill for Oil in Arctic
Royal Dutch Shell's return to oil drilling in the U.S. Arctic for the first time since 2012 took a big step forward on Monday when the Obama administration approved the company's exploration plan. The Department of Interior conditionally approved Shell's plan to explore for oil in the Chukchi Sea off Alaska. Shell has already spent about $6 billion on exploration in the Arctic. The Arctic is estimated to contain about 20 percent of the world's undiscovered oil and natural gas, but its recovery could be decades away.
Malaysian Firm Sells Drill Rig for $223 million
Malaysian firm Coastal Contracts Bhd is selling a Jack-up drilling rig (JUDR) for 807 million ringgit ($223.6 million), the company said in its filing to the bourse on Wednesday. The contract was signed through its subsidiary Thaumas Marine Pte Ltd and the JUDR is expected to be delivered in the third quarter of 2015. The firm did not say who the buyer was. Coastal said its decision to sell the JUDR was to "reduce the company's exposure to a potential downturn in the drilling market". It said it was also negotiating a drilling contract for another JUDR with potential charterers.
New Safety Training Program in Drilling Industry
Optimus Seventh Generation launched its new ‘Operationalising the Safety Case’ workshop. The workshop, designed for drill rig crew and leadership in the global drilling industry, has been developed to raise awareness of major hazardous accidents within the safety case, and to provide a greater understanding of the strength and depth of plant, people and process barriers designed to protect the rig. Optimus Seventh Generation Chief Executive Derek Smith said, “In the current economic climate it is increasingly important that expenditure on training is focused on the most vital areas.
US Proposes First Rules for Arctic Oil, Gas Drilling
The Obama administration on Friday proposed standards on exploratory drilling for oil and gas in U.S. Arctic waters that would add costs for energy companies but aim to protect against catastrophic spills. The rules, proposed by the Department of Interior, require for the first time that energy companies have access to equipment to contain potential well blowouts, such as rigs that can drill so-called relief wells. The companies would also need to ensure quick access to capping stacks and containment domes while drilling in the Chukchi and Beaufort seas off Alaska.
Study: Offshore Ambient Vibration Monitoring
Two State University of New York (SUNY) Maritime College professors have received a $65,000 grant from the American Bureau of Shipping (ABS) to develop a program for inspecting underwater drilling equipment and gathering and maintaining information about its structural well being, all while the equipment remains in service and fully operational. Dr. Daniel Fridline, Assistant Professor, Mechanical Engineering and Dr. Neveen Shlayan, Assistant Professor, Electrical Engineering, along with 10 undergraduate research assistants…
Leni Gas & Oil Expects High Production Rates at Goudron
Leni Gas & Oil is confident of seeing excellent production rates from its new wells on the Goudron fields. Production from four recently drilled wells will shortly begin to come online now that work is complete for the fourth and final well at then current drilling location. The GY-668 well, the fourth at this drill pad and the fifth of thirty planned for the ongoing programme. has now been logged and cased after being drilled to a depth of 3,026 feet. GY-668 has encountered 254 feet of net oil pay in its primary target, the Gros Morne Sandstones.
Pulse Takes the Fatigue Pulse of North Sea Drill Rig
Pulse Structural Monitoring (Pulse), an Acteon company, says it has provided a real-time wellhead fatigue monitoring system for drilling and well testing operations on the 'Lancaster Discovery', west of Shetland in the UK North Sea. The well operator, Hurricane Energy plc, wanted to check the wellhead fatigue model during drilling operations to prevent significant damage. Real-time monitoring of the motion of the lower marine riser package (LMRP) provided early warning of excessive LMRP movement and instant visualisation of any wellhead fatigue damage from the rig.
