National Oilwell Varco (NOV) said it will reduce its headcount by up to 900 positions as it looks to reduce costs amid the continued low oil price. The decision by the company means the number of job cuts it has made this year total around 2,400.
The North Sea drilling market is facing up to the prospect of lean times for at least the next two years, according an experienced industry analyst.
Aker Solutions won a framework agreement to provide maintenance and modifications services at BP-operated oil and gas fields offshore Norway
Norway will probably see investments slump by one-fifth next year compared with 2014, when crude reached a peak, as the industry adjusts to considerably lower prices.
The number of Norwegian offshore vessels idled with nothing to do has gone from zero to 100 in just a year. And the woes are far from over, the industry’s top lobbyist said.
The world’s largest sovereign investor wants to curtail the big banks’ hold over bond trading. The $860 billion Norwegian sovereign-wealth fund is backing the European Union’s campaign to bring transparency to the bond market and make debt trade more like stocks. The fund says the current setup -- where investors call a bank to get a price -- is dysfunctional and should be fixed by forcing the banks to publish their prices.
Statoil said it has completed drilling of the Tarvos exploration well offshore Norway after making a small discovery. The exploration well 34/8-16 S was drilled on the east flank of the Visund field in the northern part of the North Sea. The well had been drilled by the Songa Trym drilling rig initially but following its completion the rig’s contract had been cancelled.
Aker Solutions has won an order to carry out a feasibility study on the development of the world's first commercial-scale carbon capture facility for use in cement production, the source of about 5% of global greenhouse gas emissions.
Pareto Securities AS is among banks targeting debt funds and private-equity firms to buy oil rigs at firesale prices to hold until demand for offshore-drilling rebounds, according to people familiar with the matter. Norwegian investment banks are sounding out interest in special-purpose investment vehicles that would buy rigs from distressed companies, mothball them and sell them when the market picks up, said the people, who declined to be identified because the plans are private.
Statoil said it is already close to achieving its aim of reducing CO2 emissions on the Norwegian Continental Shelf by up to 800,000 tonnes by 2020. The Norwegian operator said it has now decided to increase its target by 50% to 1.2million tonnes. Seven years ago the petroleum industry, led by Konkraft, agreed on a goal of improved energy efficiency of up to one million tonnes of CO2 between 2008 and 2020.
Lundin Petroleum has commenced drilling of an exploration well on the Lorry Prospect. The company said well 6407/10-4 will explore the Lorry prospect in PL700, located on the northern part of the Froya High in the Norwegian Sea. The well is 17km northeast of the VNG Norge operated Pil and Bue discoveries in the Halten Terrace.
Norwegian oil firm Noreco said yesterday it still expected production from the North Sea’s troubled Enoch field to resume before the end of 2015 after “operational issues” on Marathon Oil’s Brae Alpha platform.
Norwegian oil explorer North Energy said it was looking at all options in a bid to boost shareholder value, which could include mergers and asset sales. The company reported a wide quarterly loss as low oil prices continue to hurt companies. The firm said it was on track to complete a restructuring which was started at the end of last year as the company looked to adapt to tougher marker conditions.
ONS has sold more exhibition space ahead of the event next year than it did for the whole show in 2014. Shows organisers said the growing interest in ONS, which takes place in Norway, has been led by a desire for more collaboration in order to meet the industry’s current challenges. The news comes after a number of exhibitors – including BP – opted out of exhibiting at Offshore Europe in Aberdeen amid the decline in oil price.
The PSA (Norwegian Petroleum Safety Authority) has given Gasco and Statoil a deadline for the end of the month to investigate causes of corrosion at the Karsto processing facility. The body said Gasco now has until Novermber 26 to deal with issue raised. Statoil is the technical service provider at Karsto.
The NPD (Norwegian Petroleum Directorate) has granted start-up consents for the Edvard Greig oil pipeline and the Utsira high gas pipeline. Both of these transport solutions will become part of the Edvard Greig and Ivar Aasen fields on the Utsira High in the North Sea. The oil transport system includes a 94-kilometre long 16-inch pipeline from the Edvard Greig platform and a new Y-connection point, which has been installed on the Grane oil pipeline about four kilometres away.
Norwegian operator Statoil said it has received an expert calculation of revised tract participation's for the Agbami field in Nigeria. The calculation will result in a reduction of 5.17% in Statoil’s equity interest in the field from 20.21% to 15.04%. The company previously initiated arbitration proceedings to set aside interim decisions made by the expert.
Norway should give companies fiscal incentives to continue production from maturing oilfields in the North Sea as investment falls, Exxon Mobil XOM.N Production Vice President John Chaplin said on Wednesday. Unlike many other oil and gas producers, Norway, Western Europe's top oil producer, hands out licences for free and subsidises exploration and development costs, before imposing a 78 percent tax on production.
Sparrows Group and OptiLift have formed a strategic partnership to deliver robot vision laser technology.
Statoil's UK managing director said the Hywind project could become a "profitable leg" for the company as it looks to expand its renewables arm. The company announced it had taken a final investment decision on plans to build the world's largest offshore windfarm just a day after winning approval from the Scottish Government. Tove Stuhr Sjoblom sat down with Energy Voice to discuss the next steps for the first of a kind project.
Faroe Petroleum has made an upward revision of its production guidance for the year rising from a 9,550 to 10,500 average barrels of oil per day. The company said its exploration and appraisal programme for the next year will continue with one frontier well in the Barents Sea and two other field exploration wells, one in the Norwegian North Sea and the other in the Norwegian Sea. Exploration costs are also expected to be “significantly lower” next year than in 2015.
The Norwegian Petroleum Safety Authority (PSA) has found a number of regulatory violations on board the newbuild production unit for the Goliat field development. The safety body made the findings after an audit of electrical installations on the unit for the project run by Eni in the Barents Sea.
Lotus Exploration and Production has signed a deal with ExxonMobil for a stake in the Sleipner field in the Norwegian North Sea. The company said the deal includes a 15% share in Sleipner Ost, Sleipner Vest and Gunge oraz Loke gas and oil deposits.
Centrica Enery Norway has awarded Aibel a frame agreement for field development projects on the Norwegian Continental Shelf. The company said all project phases have been included in the deal including various study phases and pre-engineering work.
The Norwegian Petroleum Directorate wants unmanned wellhead platforms to be considered more often as an alternative to subsea tie-back in connection with development decisions.