The US Gulf of Mexico (GoM) is no stranger to adversity.

Status of US Gulf of Mexico deepwater discoveries

The US Department of Energy, through its Research Partnership to Secure Energy for America (RPSEA) initiative, working in concert with a consortium of seven deepwater operators, sponsored a joint industry project (JIP) to address perceived gaps in measurement of flow in deepwater.

Alden J. "Doc" Laborde, a graduate of the US Naval Academy and World War II veteran, left his job with Kerr-McGee in 1950 to found the Ocean Drilling and Exploration Co.

Offshore decommissioning is growing more complex and challenging.

McMoRan Exploration continues to build on its successes in its shallow-water, ultra-deep gas play in the Gulf of Mexico.

The wet-tree floater market in the Gulf of Mexico (GoM) has been growing, largely due to reservoir properties that favor direct vertical wells, which leads to subsea production; and increased water depth, which makes steel catenary riser (SCR) design easier and top tension riser design more difficult.

As reservoirs mature there is an almost inevitable increase in water cut and associated sand production.

A new high-pressure drill pipe riser for intervention system (DPRIS) was deployed recently on the Cameron/Total Usan project offshore West Africa, and appears to be a cost-efficient solution for subsea operations, workover applications, and well intervention.

The high temperatures and pressures which occur in subsea flowlines induce large compressive axial forces in the pipe wall.

Offshore Solutions B.V. (OSBV), the joint venture between AMEC and Cofely Nederland N.V, recently introduced a free-standing version of its Offshore Access System (OAS).

Along with the introduction of its new QSK95 engine, Cummins Inc. has announced that the engine will be configured as a ready-to-install offshore drilling power module (ODPM) with 2.1 MW output.