North Sea & Europe Deepwater Oil Drilling News

The semisubmersible Eirik Raude has spudded ExxonMobil’s first deepwater Dunquin prospect well offshore Ireland.

EMAS (SGX: 5DN) has won four contracts totaling $120 million spread among the Gulf of Mexico, West Africa, and the Philippines.

BP has discovered gas condensate in the deepwater North Uist exploration prospect west of Shetland.

As offshore exploration and production heads beyond 3,000 m (9,842 ft) water depth, the industry will need longer and stronger ropes for mooring and subsea installation systems.

Ocean Rig has provided an update on its deepwater drilling construction and contracts schedule.

Statoil and its partners have awarded subsea pipeline and marine installation contracts for the Aasta Hansteen field in the Norwegian Sea.

ExxonMobil and OMV Petrom have agreed to grant Romgaz the option to participate in deepwater operations in the Midia block (Midia Deep) in the Romanian sector of the Black Sea.

Eni (MI:ENI;NYSE:E) has a new gas discovery offshore Mozambique in the Mamba Complex of Area 4.

Statoil (OSE:STL) has awarded three contracts for the long-distance Polarled gas pipeline in the Norwegian Sea.

Production wells are drilled in various areas of the reservoir - initially some may produce oil and gas alone, while others flow water with the hydrocarbons.

Chevron North Sea has contracted Wood Group Kenny to provide front-end engineering design (FEED) for the Rosebank field gas export pipeline west of Shetland.

Reef Subsea Power and Umbilical Ltd. has completed the offshore trials of its Q1000 trenching ROV.

Arctic reserves are enormous, and industry interest in Arctic E&P is huge.

Drilling of the deepwater North Uist exploration prospect west of Shetland has been interrupted by mechanical issues, according to partner Nexen Energy.

Ecosse Subsea Systems has completed a seabed clearance exercise for Total E&P UK’s Laggan-Tormore development west of Shetland.

Europa Oil & Gas has provided an update on its licensing options LO 11/07 and LO 11/08 in the South Porcupine basin offshore western Ireland.

ExxonMobil Exploration and Production Ireland (Offshore) has signed a letter of intent with Ocean Rig UDW for the semisubmersible Eirik Raude.

Four companies have been awarded E&P rights for Ukraine’s deepwater Scythian oil and gas field in the Black Sea.

Statoil has named RDS to perform front-end engineering design for a fixed drilling rig to be part of Peregrino Phase 2 development offshore Brazil.

Providence Resources has issued a technical update on the deepwater Drombeg prospect offshore western Ireland.

Total E&P Angola has contracted Aker Oilfield Services to provide subsea intervention services using the Skandi Aker vessel.

A DNV-managed joint industry project (JIP) is investigating certification requirements for fiber rope-based deepwater installation systems.

Rolls-Royce has delivered 13 azimuth thrusters to Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering for installation on the Allseas Group’s Pieter Schelte offshore construction vessel.

DeepOcean has a contract to repair deepwater flexible risers serving various fields offshore Brazil