Dutch service company sets-up new Aberdeen base
Chief operating officer Roddy James said: “N-Sea has evolved considerably in the short time since we established our presence within the UK.
Oil & Gas
Buzzard back on stream
The North Sea Buzzard oilfield, the largest contributor to the Forties crude stream, has resumed oil exports following a fault, its operator Nexen said.
Kenya sees oil resources almost double with more drilling
Kenya expects its estimate of oil resources to almost double to 1 billion barrels as well-drilling climbs and the government forges ahead with plans to build an export pipeline, an energy ministry official said. Tullow Oil and its partner Africa Oil Corp. have discovered an estimated 600 million barrels of oil in the South Lokichar Basin since announcing the country’s first crude find in March 2012. The discovery has spurred the East African nation to accelerate infrastructure-development plans, including construction of an oil pipeline that will link Uganda to a planned port in the Kenyan coastal town of Lamu.
Opinion: BP – Grammar more valuable than oil?
The Supreme Court in Texas may soon decide whether a “missing comma” will give BP access to Transocean’s’ $750m insurance in relation to Macondo. The Macondo blowout and the explosion that followed killed 11 workers and set off the worst offshore oil spill in US history.
Statoil suspends second rig this month
Statoil has confirmed it will temporarily suspend the use of the COSL pioneer drilling rig. The firm credited “overcapacity” in its rig portfolio for the lay-up.
iSurvey snaps-up North Sea contract
iSurvey has been awarded a two year contract to provide positioning services to Island Offshore Management as part of a call off arrangement.
Investment surge will finally see firm transition from prospects to production, chairman says
Sound Oil chairman Simon Davies is confident a $14million investment injection will see the company turn its possibility portfolio into real-time production figures.
Stocks crash after oil billionaire arrested
The arrest of a Russian billionaire has sent shares in his holding company into a tailspin.
Leni Gas and Oil lands another Trinidad milestone
Leni Gas and Oil has managed to bring its second Goudron Field well on stream.
BP renews deal with Jee
Subsea engineering and training firm Jee has been awarded a three-year contract renewal from BP with potential value in excess of £4.5million.
Fracking study spurs call for rules to leakproof US gas wells
A study that blamed natural gas drilling for water pollution in two states has spurred calls for stricter regulations to keep wells from leaking methane into aquifers. The study backed the oil and gas industry in one respect: It discounted hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, as the source for harmful methane in water. Some environmentalists contend that by blasting rock with a mixture of water, chemicals and sand, producers can force the gas into drinking water near the surface.
Ithaca says Greater Stella production target on track
North Sea explorer Ithaca Energy said yesterday a positive well test in the Greater Stella area significantly "de-risked" its production forecast for the development. The Aberdeen company expects Greater Stella to produce about 30,000 barrels of oil equivalent (boe) per day, including 16,000 for its 54.66% stake.
Ophir makes gas discovery in Equatorial Guinea project
Ophir Energy today announced an oil discovery in its Equatorial Guinea project.
Ithaca’s Stella well posts promising returns
Ithaca Energy has boosted its production forecast for its Stella field following the completion of drilling its fourth well.
Technip sells 100% of its US diving assets
Technip has sold 100% of its North American diving assets to Ranger Offshore.
California fatal pipeline explosion brings more scandal for PG&E
A deadly pipeline explosion that shattered a California town four years ago continues to rip through the state agency weighing a record penalty for the disaster. The president of the California Public Utilities Commission asked his chief of staff to resign and stepped down himself from the case after “inappropriate e-mail exchanges” with utility PG&E Corp. raised questions about the agency’s bias, according to a statement from the commission yesterday. The CPUC may decide within weeks whether to levy a proposed $1.4billion penalty -- the biggest safety fine in the state’s history -- against PG&E for the 2010 explosion of its natural gas pipeline that killed eight people in San Bruno, California. Commission President Michael Peevey, who has been accused by San Bruno officials and consumer advocates of being too close to the utility, said in the statement he was recusing himself from the probe to eliminate any appearance of impropriety. The move is a step toward regaining credibility for the CPUC after two years of political infighting has created an ongoing climate of scandal.
Missing comma spurs BP to seek access to Transocean’s $750million spill insurance
BP Plc, which already has paid more than $28billion for the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill, seeks to get a $750million chunk of that back by convincing a Texas court that a missing comma may give the oil company access to Transocean Ltd.’s insurance policies on the Deepwater Horizon.
Falling oil prices not yet a risk for the North Sea
Falling oil prices should not spark a panic about investment and jobs in the North Sea, an industry expert said last night. Alex Kemp, professor of petroleum economics at Aberdeen University, said the commodity was still trading well above the level at which there would be any significant impact on energy companies’ spending plans.
New body to drive oil & gas technology
Paul Warwick, the executive vice president of Talisman Energy, will chair a new body that will drive forward the use and development on technology on the UK Continental Shelf.
Opinion: Alex Kemp – The potential recovery of oil and gas
This article sets out to add further clarity to the subject of the ultimate potential recovery of oil and gas from the UK Continental Shelf.
Firm makes North Sea gas find
The latest well drilled in the Pegasus West prospect returned a commercial gas find.
Petrobras posts rise in production
Petrobras posted a rise in production topping out at 2.7million barrels of oil equivalent per day in August.
Algeria gas plant dead ‘innocent’
Relatives of “wholly innocent” Britons killed during a terrorist siege at an Algerian gas plant have told an inquest into their deaths of their “grief and anger”.
UK gas contracts climb most in two weeks amid reduced flows
UK prompt natural gas contracts jumped the most in two weeks as flows declined amid maintenance and continued elevated exports to Belgium. Gas for October gained amid renewed fighting in eastern Ukraine. Gas for within-day delivery rose as much as 8.4% and next-day fuel added as much as 7%, the most since Sept. 1 for both contracts, broker data on Bloomberg showed. Supply is forecast to fall 15 million cubic meters short of demand, according to National Grid Plc data.
Hurricane Energy’s West of Shetland well could flow 20,000bpd
Independent oil and gas explorer Hurricane Energy has announced that its Lancaster well West of Shetland could flow twice as much oil as previously expected.