Cyprus Issues Arrest Warrants for Turkey Drill Ship Crew
Cyprus has issued arrest warrants for the crew of a Turkish drill ship anchored close to its coast for allegedly infringing territory over which the island has rights to explore for oil and gas, a foreign ministry official said on Thursday."We can confirm that warrants were issued. It's a double digit number," the Cypriot official said, declining…
Book Review: Getting Down to It; 50 Years of Subsea Success in Norway
The Norwegian Continental Shelf’s journey from the very first basic marinized subsea trees to today’s complex and sophisticated subsea processing equipment has been a rapid, at times turbulent, but always remarkable.There are many engineers who have seen through that journey, from the first exploration wells using Norwegian rigs in the mid-1970s to today.
UKCS Investments On the Rise
North Sea operators and contractors are investing across people, R&D, technology and new markets to support continued growth, said a new report.The 30th Oil and Gas survey, conducted by Aberdeen & Grampian Chamber of Commerce in partnership with the Fraser of Allander Institute and KPMG UK, pointed out that around 45% of contractors have increased…
Johan Sverdrup Phase 2 Plan Approved
Norwegian authorities have formally approved the plan for development and operation (PDO) of the second phase of the Johan Sverdrup field, Equinor announced on Wednesday. The Norwegian energy company said the NOK 41 billion ($4.7 billion) project received broad support in Norway’s parliament at the end of April, and today the partnership received…
From KPMG: Visions of Cheese
Whilst we are seeing a clear uptick in activity and the UK oil and gas industry is certainly on the way up again, the industry must continue to move forward. However, under current market conditions, how can companies capitalize on change whilst remaining stable and sustainable and, more importantly, will there be enough return for all?Over the past five years…
Trump Administration Sidelines Offshore Drilling Plan
The Trump administration will hold off on issuing its plan to expand offshore drilling as it weighs what to do after a March court ruling that blocked drilling in the Arctic and Atlantic, Interior Secretary David Bernhardt told The Wall Street Journal.The newly confirmed secretary said the agency's five year plan for oil and gas drilling on the Outer Continental Shelf would be sidelined indefinitely as it waits for the ca
NPD Report on High North Offshore
Norwegian Petroleum Directorate (NPD), Norwegian government agency responsible for the regulation of the petroleum resources on the Norwegian continental shelf, has presented a report on petroleum activity in the High North at the Barents Sea conference.The report titled "Petroleum activity in the High North" aims to place petroleum activity in the High North into a technological…
US Lease Sale a Test for Drilling Demand
The Trump administration will hold its fourth major auction for oil and gas leases in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico on Wednesday, in a fresh test of demand from drillers that have lately been shying away from the region.The outcome of the lease sale will provide the last big signal from the industry about their interest in U.S. waters before President…
Norway to Offer More Arctic Exploration Blocks
Norway plans to expand the offshore oil and gas acreage offered to companies under its annual licensing round in so-called predefined areas (APA), oil minister Kjell-Boerge Freiberg said on Thursday.The 2019 APA round will offer 90 new blocks, of which 48 are in the Arctic Barents Sea, 37 are in the Norwegian Sea and 5 in the North Sea, he…
Norway Production Costs Rising
Petroleum production costs on the Norwegian continental shelf rose in 2018 after falling for three consecutive years, state-owned oil firm Petoro said on Thursday.Cost cuts were high on oil firms' agenda following a sharp fall in crude prices in 2014, making it possible to develop discoveries that had previously been considered too expensive…
CNPC to Develop New Shale Oilfield
China's state-owned CNPC has started developing a new offshore shale oilfield near the Bohai Rim Basin, the company said via its official newspaper on Thursday.CNPC aims to produce 50,000 tonnes of shale oil from the Bohai Rim Basin in 2019 and to achieve production capacity of 1 million tonnes by 2028.The new drilling venture is in response to president Xi Jinping's call to step up national energy security…
Equinor Sells Natural Gas Worth USD26bln in 2018
Norwegian energy company Equinor has announced its 2018 sales of natural gas totalled $26bn, an increase of 29% from 2017.Equinor sold a total of 100 billion cubic metres (bcm) of gas worldwide in 2018. The company is the second-largest gas supplier to Europe, as well as the largest producer of natural gas on the Norwegian Continental Shelf (NCS)."As more countries prepare for the energy transition…
Natural Gas Contributes to Low Carbon Future
Equinor sold natural gas for around $26 billion in total in 2018, an increase of 29 percent from 2017. As more countries prepare for the energy transition, Equinor sees strong market opportunities for gas and expects global demand to grow by around 10% towards 2030.Equinor is the largest producer of natural gas on the Norwegian continental shelf and the second-largest gas supplier to Europe.
Neptune Renews IRM Contract with Sea Mar Shipping
Dutch offshore vessel operator Sea Mar Shipping has won a three-year plus 2 x one year options for its IRM (Inspection, Repair and Maintenance) vessel Sea Mar Splendid from Neptune Energy Netherlands.The vessel and crew will support Neptune Energy with its IRM campaigns on the Dutch Continental Shelf from March 2019 until 2021, said a release.The…
Norway's Snow Crab Ruling Boosts Oil Claim
A court delivered a painful nip to European Union fishermen on Thursday by tightening Norway's grip on snow crab catches in the Arctic, a ruling that may also let Oslo claw more control of oil and gas from other nations.Fishermen from the European Union must ask permission from Oslo to catch snow crab — whose meat is a delicacy for gourmets from Canada to Japan — in Arctic waters north of Norway…
BOEM Plans Gulf of Mexico Lease Sale in March
The U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) said it will offer all available unleased areas in federal waters of the Gulf of Mexico during a region-wide lease sale scheduled for March 2019.BOEM said Lease Sale 252 will offer up 78 million acres, including approximately 14,696 unleased blocks, located from three to 231 miles offshore…
DNO 2019 Spending to Rise Sharply
Norwegian oil firm DNO reported on Thursday a higher-than-expected operating profit in the fourth quarter and said it would hike 2019 spending as it planned to drill a record number of wells.The Oslo-listed firm, which produces most of its oil in the Kurdistan region of Iraq, in January won a hostile takeover bid for London-based Faroe Petroleum…
Aker BP Raises Dividend, Q4 Profit Lags
Norwegian oil company Aker BP posted a smaller-than-expected increase in fourth-quarter earnings due to higher production costs and lower oil prices, but raised its dividend.The company said on Wednesday earnings before interest and taxes rose to $403 million from $305 million in the same quarter a year earlier, lagging the $491 million expected…
Repsol Buys Stake in Norway’s Mikkel Field
Repsol has reached an agreement with Total to acquire its 7.65% stake in the producing Mikkel field, in the eastern part of the Norwegian Sea.The Mikkel field is a gas and condensate reservoir located 35 kilometers south of the Midgard deposit on Equinor’s Åsgard field in the Norwegian Sea. In 2017, it achieved an average production of 47…
Continental Expects Low Oilfield Service Costs in 2019
U.S. shale producer Continental Resources expects oilfield services costs to remain low in 2019 as companies that provide drilling and completion work continue to face pressure from softer oil prices, executives said during a company presentation on Tuesday.Continental is now operating 12 rigs for its SpringBoard development in Oklahoma, down from 14 in the fourth quarter of last year due to improved efficiencies…
