The A-6 well in Ship Shoal block 201 in the Gulf of Mexico is complete and has tested at a restricted rate of 10.4 MMcf/d and 423 b/d of oil (a combined rate of 2,153 boe/d), says Leed Petroleum.

Chevron has deployed Transocean’s ultra deepwater drillship Discoverer Inspiration in the US Gulf of Mexico, under a five-year contract.

BP and Devon Energy Corp have signed a $7 billion agreement whereby BP will acquire all of Devon’s deepwater Gulf of Mexico, Brazil, and Azerbaijan assets.

Electromagnetic Geoservices ASA (EMGS) has received a Letter of Award from an oil and gas company to provide 3D EM data acquisition services offshore West Africa.

Cobalt International and Anadarko have executed a Rig Assignment Agreement for Cobalt to use Diamond’s semisubmersible drilling rig Ocean Monarch.

Statoil has increased its working interest in the Chevron-operated St. Malo development in the US Gulf of Mexico to 21.5% by exercising its preferential rights on a proposed sale of Devon's share in the project.

Petrobras has awarded Aker Solutions a $41-million contract to supply sulphate removal units and associated equipment for the P-58 and P-62 FPSOs offshore Brazil.

Shell has awarded the Technip and Samsung Heavy Industries consortium contracts for the Prelude floating liquefied natural gas (LNG) project off the coast of Western Australia.

Statoil has awarded FMC Technologies a $2-million contract to manufacture and supply subsea production equipment for the Marulk field.

The ACG partnership has taken a final investment decision to proceed with the $6-billion development of the Chirag oil field in the Azerbaijan section of the Caspian Sea, according to partner Statoil.

Helix Energy Solutions intends to divest its entire oil and gas business to become a pure contracting services company, with a focus on deepwater well intervention and subsea construction.

Sand Monitoring Services Ltd. (SMS) is teaming with Robert Gordon University (RGU) to investigate the extent and cost of sand production to the oil and gas industry.

Challenger Minerals North Sea (CMNS) has signed an agreement to farm into the Xcite Energy-operated Bentley heavy oil field in the UK sector.

Iran has proposed a joint development with Kuwait of the Arash offshore oil field.

Lundin Norway has failed to prove further oil with its latest exploration well in the Greater Luno area of the North Sea.

Petrofac and Lundin Petroleum plan to de-merge their UK North Sea interests, forming a new independent E&P company called EnQuest.

Antrim Energy has agreed to sell a 30% interest in its Causeway development in the UK northern North Sea to Valiant Petroleum.

Petrofac has transferred production from the West Don and Don Southwest (Don SW) fields in the UK northern North Sea to Lundin's Thistle platform.

Ownership of the offshore area containing the recently reported Dzata 1 discovery is in dispute between Ghana and the Ivory Coast, according to a report by Dow Jones.

There was a 40% increase in upstream oil and gas merger and acquisition value in 2009 to nearly $150 billion, says IHS Herold in its annual review.

Transocean Ltd’s new ultra deepwater drillship Dhirubhai Deepwater KG2 is at work offshore India for Reliance Industries under a five-year contract.

Chevron Australia Pty Ltd has awarded a $80-million pipeline precommissioning contract for work on the Gorgon project offshore Western Australia to BJ Services (Australia) Pty Ltd.

Technip has awarded Jubilee pre-commissioning and commissioning services to Weatherford Pipeline & Specialty Services.

BP Norge A/S has ordered additional seabed reservoir characterization equipment from OYO Geospace to augment an existing system installed in 2003.

NZOG (New Zealand Oil & Gas Ltd) advises that the Kan Tan IV drilling rig is on location and is preparing to start drilling the Hoki-1 exploration well.

Expansion work continues at the giant Al Shaheen oilfield offshore Qatar.

Upgrades to the Espoir field FPSO offshore Cote d’Ivoire should be completed this spring, says operator CNR International.

Det norske oljeselskap has signed a framework agreement with Norse Cutting & Abandonment (NSA) Norway for wellhead cutting and removal operations at sea.

Wintershall Norge is to drill an exploration well in the Norwegian Sea with the semisub Songa Delta, following clearance from Petroleum Safety Authority Norway.

Petroceltic is aiming to spud an appraisal well in September on the Elsa oil discovery in the Italian sector of the Adriatic Sea.

Technip’s new flexible pipe manufacturing plant in Malaysia has won its first offshore order, for CNOOC’s Lufeng 13-1/13-2 oil field in the South China Sea.

BP has released the Nafta-1 rig from the location for the NS377-5 oil field development in the North Shadwan concession in the Gulf of Suez.

FMC has contracted Scana Subsea for machined riser forgings.

Iran provides the best option for gas purchases for countries in the Persian region, according to National Iranian Offshore Oil Co. Managing Director Mahmoud Zirakchianzade.

Dolphin Energy has contracted engineering consultancy ESR Technology for safety and risk management services for the Dolphin Gas Project in the Middle East.

Jacobs Engineering Group Inc. chose the Subsea Tieback Forum & Exhibition in Galveston, Texas, from March 2-4 to emphasize its addition of a new subsea division to its upstream oil and gas services to give Jacobs technical coverage from topsides through subsea design.

Controlling a well from an office desk is one of the technologies highlighted by Cameron at the Subsea Tieback Forum & Exhibition in Galveston March 2-4.

Infield Systems Ltd. has hit the exhibition floor at Subsea Tieback Conference with a trio of new reports.

At this year’s Subsea Tieback Forum & Exhibition in Galveston, Texas, from March 2-4, Roxar is introducing an ROV system for retrieval and installation of subsea sensors and transmitters.

BASF is showing its Elastoshore glass syntactic polyurethane (GSPU) for subsea pipeline protection and thermal installation at the Subsea Tieback Forum & Exhibition in Galveston, Texas, March 2-4.

Fluor Offshore Solutions and Global Industries are featuring at the Subsea Tieback Forum & Exhibition news that the two companies have agreed to join forces to produce offshore oil and gas projects in the Middle East and North Africa region.

Craig Group has unveiled its latest offshore support vessel, the Grampian Confidence.

The governments in Norway and Britain have prepared new Guidance Notes to help companies obtain approvals for developing fields across the two countries’ offshore median line.

ExxonMobil has clearance from the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate to drill a wildcat in the Balder area of the Norwegian North Sea.

Abu Dhabi’s National Drilling Company has contracted Maritime Industrial Services (MIS) to modify and refurbish its jackup NDC Al Bzoom. The $55.4 million order is MIS’ largest to date for this type of work.

Chevron has contracted GE Oil & Gas technology to support the Gorgon field development.

Bourbon Subsea Services and Schilling Robotics have jointly developed a new ROV design for the inspection, maintenance, and repair of subsea infrastructure.

The semisubmersible drilling rig West Orion has been christened at Jurong Shipyard, Singapore, and is on track to be delivered early in the second quarter to Seadrill.

Petrobras has awarded Diamond Offshore three term drilling contracts for work offshore Brazil, worth approximately $1.4 billion combined.

Gazprom and GDF SUEZ have signed a memorandum under which GDF secures additional natural gas from Russia and becomes a 9% interest owner of the Nord Stream pipeline project.

Dominion Petroleum has raised £32.7 million ($50 million) through a planned placing of new ordinary shares, which will be applied toward the funding of the company’s drilling program and seismic acquisition in East Africa.

Drilling of a side track on the Don Southwest Area 22 production well in the UK North Sea has been completed, according to partner Valiant Petroleum.

Iran is aiming to discover 500 MMbbl of oil per year and 5 tcm (177 tcf) of gas between 2010-2015, according to the country’s Petroenergy Information Network, Shana.

First oil production has begun ahead of schedule from the BHP Billiton-operated Pyrenees project, offshore Western Australia.

An exploration well on the Mandy prospect in the Gulf of Mexico Mississippi Canyon block 199 has hit pay, according to partner Mariner Energy.

Rowan, majority-owner of offshore high-spec jackup rigs, says it sees an increase in tendering for its drilling units across all regions.

The Dzata-1 well in the Cape Three Points block in the Gulf of Guinea has hit pay, says operator Vanco.

HB Rentals has named Tim Murphy as technical sales and marketing manager.

The Department of Primary Industries of Victoria, Australia, has contracted SeaBird Exploration for a 7,400-m (24,278-ft) survey within the southern flanks of the offshore Gippsland basin covering greenhouse gas storage blocks Gipps-01 to Gipps-03.

Shell and IBM have agreed to explore advanced techniques for reconciling geophysical and reservoir engineering field data using improved algorithms, analytics, and accelerated simulations.

The Songkhla B-02 sidetrack offshore Thailand has encountered 12 ft (4 m) of net pay in the Lower Oligocene reservoir.

AF Decom Offshore UK and Lerwick Port Authority have agreed to develop a deepwater quay facility at Lerwick, Shetland, as a decommissioning center for major Northern North Sea structures.

Iran expects first oil from its $300-million Hengam field development in the Persian Gulf in mid-March.

Engineering contractor Grup Servicii Petroliere expects the construction vessel C-Master to arrive at its yard this weekend, ahead of pipelay operations in Russian waters towards end-March.

Gassnova SF, the Norwegian state enterprise for carbon capture and storage, has contracted Polarcus for two 3D seismic acquisition projects offshore Norway using the vessel Polarcus Naila.

Production and investment on the UK shelf are in slow decline, according to the latest activity survey by industry association UK Oil & Gas.

The SC54A Joint Venture has awarded all major equipment contracts for the Tindalo oil field development including awards to Knutsen Shuttletanker Pool for an FPSO and Weatherford Asia Pacific for production processing equipment.

An international customer has awarded ODIM a $4-million contract to deliver two automated ODIM LARS launch and recovery systems for ROVs.

The MOPUstor jackup platform for Talisman Energy Norge’s Yme field are scheduled to be loaded out from the yard in Abu Dhabi next month, contractor SBM Offshore confirms.

Rolls-Royce has agreed with the board of ODIM ASA to make a cash offer for all outstanding shares of ODIM.

GL Noble Denton has opened an office in Trinidad and Tobago offering technical assurance, advanced consulting and specialized engineering, marine consulting, and operations and project execution.

Tunisian authority Comite Consultatif des Hydrocarbures has approved AuDAX Resources’ work program to drill one exploration well to 3,000 m (9,843 ft) in the Kerkouane permit offshore Tunisia.

Total Exploration and Production Angola has awarded FMC Technologies a $65-million contract to manufacture and supply subsea production equipment for the offshore Angola block 17 development.

Statoil Petroleum has awarded Seawell a contract extension for platform drilling services for six fixed platforms on the Gullfaks and Statfjord fields on the Norwegian continental shelf.

Helix started oil production from its Danny field in the Gulf of Mexico in early February.

PPL Shipyard has completed construction of Seadrill’s new tender rigs West Vencedor and T12.

Operator OGX has struck oil with the 1-OGX-5-RJS well in block BM-C-43 in the shallow waters of the southern part of the Campos basin.

First gas has flowed from the Netherby field offshore Australia back to an onshore processing facility in Iona, says AWE.

Petrobras has hit pay with exploratory well 6-BR-63A-RJS in the prolific Campos basin.

San Leon Energy has agreed to acquire Irish independent Oil & Gas.

Norway has produced 5.3 bcmoe, and has remaining proven recoverable reserves of 4.8 bcmoe, according to the latest resources review by the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate (NPD).

Exploration drilling is under way on the Bamboo prospect in the West El Burullus concession, in Egypt’s offshore Nile Delta region, according to partner Dana Petroleum.

Dana Petroleum expects to participate in at least six exploratory wells off northwest Europe in the coming months.

DONG Energy has produced first oil from the Nini East development in the Danish North Sea.

The semisubmersible Songa Delta is drilling appraisal well 16/1-11 on the Draupne oil and gas discovery in the Norwegian North Sea.

Origin Energy Resources NZ has farmed out an undivided 50% interest in offshore New Zealand exploration permit PEP 38262 in the Canterbury basin to Anadarko New Zealand.

Development drilling is set to resume on the Thistle field in the UK northern North Sea after a gap of more than 20 years.

TGS has extended the charter for the Polarcus Nadia for six months following the completion of the initial program in the charter, expected in May.

Nexen has restored production from the Buzzard field to full rates of between 200,000 and 220,000 boe/d.

Merrick Systems has launched Software as a Service (SaaS) technology solution, which allows companies to host their choice of Merrick’s production software package – field, operations, or enterprise – on its secure environment.

Dragon Oil expects to drill eight wells by end-2011 from its newly installed Dzheitune (Lam) B platform in the Caspian Sea.

Qatar Petroleum and ExxonMobil have started Train 7 of the Ras Laffan 3 LNG project at Ras Laffan Industrial City, Qatar.

AGR Subsea has contracted Mako Technologies to promote its SeaVator and ClayCutter X seabed excavation service lines in the US Gulf Coast region and provide operational support once projects are under way.

Polarcus Naila AS has taken delivery of the 12-streamer 3D seismic vessel Polarcus Naila.

Fugro-Jason has released EarthModel FT 4.1, the latest version of its geologic modeling software.

Clough and Forge have agreed to jointly target LNG and oil and gas projects in markets including Australasia and West Africa.

Acergy and Exxon have chartered the vessel Halani 1 under a 10-month 250 Pax DP-2 time charter contract with the Halani Group.

The Petroleum Safety Authority Norway has granted Statoil consent to use Oseberg field center low-pressure oil production (LPOP).

Melrose Resources hopes the Romanian government shortly will approve its assigned interests in the Pelican and Midia concessions in the Black Sea.

Qatar and Iran expect to draft a master plan to develop gas co-operation initiatives, according to Iran’s petroleum minister Masoud Mirkazemi.

Saudi Aramco has added a new super-computing system to its EXPEC Computer Center (ECC) to support the company’s exploration effort in the Red Sea and frontier areas, and to help optimize field development/improved recovery programs.

OTM Consulting and Douglas-Westwood have released the first edition of The Produced Water Gamechanger Report, which explores the options for managing produced water from offshore oil and gas production.

PTTEP has made a natural gas discovery with the Oliver-2 exploration well in the Timor Sea.

The PTTEP and Petronas joint-operated MTJDA-B17 project has begun natural gas production from the Muda and Jengka fields.

Production is under way from Qatar’s Al Khaleej Gas-Phase 2 (AKG-2) project, according to joint venture partners Qatar Petroleum and ExxonMobil. Operations began in December, providing 1.25 tcf/d of sales gas capacity.

The Ship Shoal A-6 well in the Gulf of Mexico has hit pay, says operator Leed Petroleum.

The semisubmersible Glomar Arctic IV has spudded the 15/23d-15 well on the boundary between blocks 15/23c and 15/23d in the North Sea, says operator Nexen.

The Petroleum Safety Authority Norway has awarded Statoil consent to drill well 6407/2-6 S in the North Sea using the semisub Ocean Vanguard.

ITT C’treat Offshore has appointed Viet-Tech JSC as its representative in Vietnam.

A well in the northeastern area of the Snorre field has proven oil, says Statoil.

Talisman Energy (UK) has awarded Technip two lump-sum engineering, procurement, and installation contracts for the development of the Auk North and Burghley fields.

Lundin Norway has contracted Sevan Marine to study the potential application of a Sevan production unit for the Luno development in the Norwegian North Sea.

PEMEX has awarded GX Technology (GXT) a three-year contract to provide seismic data processing and imaging services for multiple offshore projects.

MODEC has appointed Norio Nagata as director and Kiyoshi Nakamura and Akira Nishihata as corporate auditors.

Clough has appointed Mark Goodwin as group manager of corporate finance and former John Whitehand as company secretary.

Xodus Group has appointed Matt Kirk to lead the company’s subsea operational support and integrity management services and Frank Smith as head of detailed design within its subsea division.

Production has resumed from the North Sea Durango field following production meter replacement and maintenance on the Waveney platform, says Bridge Resources Corp.

Statoil has awarded Aibel a three-year contract for the Snorre A and B platforms.

The Vietnamese government has awarded Enovation Resources exploration block 105-110/4 in the Song Hong basin offshore Vietnam.

The Ocean Guardian has spudded the Liz 14 /19-A exploration well in the North Falkland basin, says Desire Petroleum.

RINA has completed a feasibility study for a regasification terminal off the Atlantic coast of Morocco.

Hydrex has completed repair and replacement work on one of four swing-up azimuth thrusters for a crane barge servicing rigs offshore Gabon.

ConocoPhillips China has awarded Sperry Drilling a $40-million, two-year contract, plus options for directional-drilling and logging-while-drilling services on the Peng Lai development in China's Bohai Bay.

Norway’s Ministry of Petroleum and Energy has announced the APA 2010 licensing round, which consists of predefined areas with blocks in the North Sea, the Norwegian Sea, and the Barents Sea.

The Norwegian Petroleum Directorate has granted Talisman Energy Norge a permit to drill wildcat well 9/2-11 using the semisub Transocean Winner.

The Brazilian authority ANP has approved INPEX’s acquisition of a 15% participating interest in block BM-ES- 23 from Shell Brasil.

RINA is classifying the world’s first offshore LNG floating storage and regassification unit (FSRU) for the OLT Offshore LNG Toscana project.

Schlumberger, Smith agree to merge

Cobham SATCOM’s USAT 24 marine stabilized antenna has received a full accreditation FCC license.

Single Buoy Moorings (SBM) has contracted Bergen Group Rosenberg for platform construction services on the Yme project in the Norwegian North Sea.

Construction group Maritime Industrial Services has confirmed acceptance of its newbuild jackup KS Endeavor (Hull 107) from KSAM 2 Petrodrill Offshore.

Chevron North Sea has awarded Wood Group a three-year operations and maintenance for the Alba, Captain, and Erskine fields in the UK sector.

Det norske has farmed into 10% of Mid-Norwegian license PL 392, operated by AS Norske Shell.

Statoil and its partners have approved a $3.52 billion development program for the Gudrun field in the North Sea.

Flowserve has unveiled the McCANNA cartridge ball valve, designed for high-cycle, long-life performance.

Knight Oil Tools has promoted Chris Rosson to business development manager and Pat Clark to business manager.

Husky Energy President and CEO John C.S. Lau has elected to retire.

Jon Khachaturian, founder and president of Versabar, is among the 68 new members and nine foreign associates recently elected to the National Academy of Engineering.

The Windjammer exploration well in the frontier Rovuma basin offshore Mozambique has reached an intermediate casing point and encountered more than 480 net ft (146 m) of natural gas pay in high-quality reservoir sands, with a gross column of more than 1,200 ft (366 m), says operator Anadarko.

Accommodation support provider Prosafe says demand for its services is picking up in its main markets of the North Sea and the Gulf of Mexico.

Boots & Coots Inc. has awarded DOF Subsea USA a contract for BOP recovery operations in the Bay of Bengal using the DP-2 construction vessel MV Geoholm.

The Danish Energy Agency has approved Hess’ plan for further development of the South Arne field, according to partner Noreco.

VAM Drilling has acquired Abu Dhabi-based Protools, a supplier of bottomhole assembly products in the Middle East. The company was formerly owned by Hunt Oiltools LLC.

Nexen claims its 2009 global exploration program was among its most successful, leading to numerous substantial discoveries.

Statoil has awarded Aker Solutions a $70.9-million engineering, procurement, and construction contract for the Gudrun field jacket in the Norwegian North

Apache North Sea has awarded EnerMech a $1.56 million contract to supply rigging lofts and portable lifting equipment to the four Forties field platforms, Alpha, Bravo, Charlie, Delta, and Echo.

Knowledge Reservoir LLC has released the 2010 version of its deepwater knowledge base software, ReservoirKB.

Newfield expects to increase its Gulf of Mexico production by more than 60% this year.

AWE moves Kan Tan IV rig to drill Hoki-1 off New Zealand in the Taranaki basin.

Dril-Quip will provide dry tree completion systems, which include specialty connectors, subsea wellhead systems, production riser, and 10,000 psi surface completion trees, to an independent operator for the Mirage field development in the Gulf of Mexico, the company says 

Technip has awarded DOF Subsea UK a contract worth around £2 million ($1.5 million) to provide survey and positioning services in BP-operated block 31, offshore Angola.

The Exmouth basin Van Gogh development offshore Western Australia in WA-35-L is producing first oil, says Apache Corp.

The Philippines Department of Energy, has awarded a service contract relating to the GSEC 101 licence to Forum (GSEC 101) Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of Forum Energy.

Ireland’s government has issued an exploration permit to Providence Resources covering the Baltimore heavy oil discovery in the north Celtic Sea basin.

Petroleum Safety Authority Norway has approved Centrica Energi’s plan for an exploration well in the Norwegian Sea.

Oldham joins Oil & Gas UK board.

Swedish independent PA Resources has agreed to relinquish UK offshore licenses P1318, P1319, and P1336. In exchange, Britain’s Department of Energy and Climate Change has approved a one-year extension to PA’s P1342 license. It has also extended the terms for license P1529 by a further two years.

India’s Ministry for Oil and Natural Gas has approved Rocksource ASA as licensee for Cauvery basin block CY DWN 2001-01.

Following a quiet 2009, drilling contractor Fred Olsen Energy says enquiries are picking up for its fleet of semisubmersibles and drillships.

Statoil is exercising options to extend five production drilling/maintenance contacts with Odfjell Drilling Management, KCA Deutag Norge, and Seawell, all of which were due to expire in 2010.

Chevron North Sea has contracted Metocean Services International (MSI) to measure currents on the Rosebank discovery west of Shetland.

Maersk Oil has exercised its option to farm into a high-pressure/high-temperature play in two blocks in the UK central North Sea.

Falkland Oil and Gas Limited (FOGL) is set to drill its first exploration well off the Falkland Islands. The Diamond Offshore semisub Ocean Guardian will drill the Toroa prospect in the East Falklands basin, probably during the first half of 2010.

Dassault Systèmes has released a new version of its Abaqus finite element analysis (FEA) software from SIMULIA.

The Faroe Islands’ Minister of Trade and Industry Johan Dahl has approved extensions for three hydrocarbon exploration licenses.

Aker Qserv has appointed Ian Pittman as well services manager to lead its operations in the east of England.

The upstream mergers and acquisitions sector recovered strongly during the course of 2009, according to a new review by analysts Wood Mackenzie. 

The UK government has granted its first gas storage license for the £600 million ($1 billion) Gateway Gas Storage project.

Norway’s Petroleum Safety Authority Norway (PSA) has asked all Norwegian continental shelf operators to report on the safety status of wells used for injecting drill cuttings.

The NS377-5 oil development well in the Gulf of Suez North Shadwan lease offshore Egypt has reached TD of 2,909 m (9,544 ft), after intersecting a gross oil column of 107 m (351 ft) in Miocene-age sandstone in the Kareem formation.

Shell is teaming up with Delft University of Technology (TU Delft) in The Netherlands to develop new technologies for improving reserves recovery.

Oil reserves in the Ombrina Mare field offshore eastern Italy have been upgraded by independent reservoir engineers Studio Ingegneria Mineraria (SIM).

Centrica Resources Norge has started drilling the Fogelberg prospect in the Norwegian Sea.

MEO Australia aims to drill an exploration well later this year on the giant Artemis prospect in Western Australian offshore permit WA-360-P.

Production from the Mubarek K2-ST4 well offshore Sharjah totaled 15,363 bbl of oil, or 167 b/d, according to partner Sky Petroleum. Output from the H2 well totaled 2,197 bbl, or 24 b/d.

PETRONAS has awarded MDC Oil and Gas (SK320) Ltd. and PETRONAS Carigali a production sharing contract for block SK320 offshore

The PL 416se partnership for block 31/8 in the Norwegian North Sea will drill a well targeting the Breiflabb prospect.

Kosmos Energy has awarded OHM Rock Solid Images a contract to do a seismic reservoir characterization study of the West Cape Three Points block offshore Ghana.

Repsol Investigaciones Petroliferas has awarded a contract for development of two fields 50 km (31 mi) offshore Spain in the Mediterranean.

Seadrill has received a two-year, $345-million contract from an international E&P operator for the ultra deepwater drillship West Gemini.

Nido Petroleum has awarded OEG Asia Pacific (OEG APac) a $40,000 contract to supply a series of mini-containers and cargo baskets for the Aqua Marine Driller on the Tindalo development project.

Nord Stream AG has received the Finnish “Water Permit,” the last permit required to start constructing its 1,223 km (760 mi) natural gas pipeline through the Baltic Sea.

Hyundai Heavy Industries has awarded CB&I a $50-million contract to provide engineering services for the Goliat FPSO project.

Rocksource has awarded Electromagnetic Geoservices (EMGS) a $7-million contract for data acquisition services on the Norwegian continental shelf, ahead of Norway's 21st and APA 2010 exploration licensing rounds.

Electromagnetic Geoservices has launched a multi-client 3D survey campaign ahead of the 21st licensing round in Norway.

Schlumberger has contracted New Tech Engineering to provide wellsite consultants and engineering services for its integrated project management activities worldwide.

On Feb. 12, the US Department of the Interior’s Minerals Management Service (MMS) will issue the Final Notice of Sale (FNOS) for Federal Lease Sale 213.

Trelleborg Offshore has developed an innovative syntactic foam insulation for saturation diving to depths of 1,000 ft (300 m).

ITT Interconnect Solutions has developed a method to join without splicing downhole power cables for electric submersible pumps.

ITT Interconnect Solutions has a new high-temperature electric power feedthru system for submersible pumps designed to operate with conductor temperatures up to 450 °F (230 °C), the company says.

The newbuild drilling platform Sevan Driller is in transit to Brazil, according to Sevan Marine.

TGS remains active in seismic surveying off West Africa, according to the company’s review of its recent progress.

Knowledge Reservoir has divided its reservoir management business into four practices: deepwater, improved recovery and field redevelopment, unconventional resources, and reserves and mergers/acquisitions.

Tracerco has developed pig tracking technology that can be equipped with a wireless communication device.

Harrington Dubai has contracted the Saipem jackup Perro Negro 3 for a six-month drilling program in the Persian Gulf, with an option for a further 18 months.

Expro’s deepwater AX-S subsea well intervention system features RotaBolts on its key pressure containing flanges.

Kongsberg Oil & Gas Technologies (KOGT) has won the first contract for its most recent 3D visualization technology, SIM Reservoir, from an unnamed national oil company in the Middle East.

Bergen Oilfield Services has completed a 10,000 km (6,214 mi) 2D seismic acquisition for Hyperdynamics to delineate areas of interest offshore Republic of Guinea.

Campos basin exploratory well 4-PM-53 has hit pay, says Petrobras. Drilled 6 km (4 mi) from the PPM-1 (Pampo platform), the well encountered a continuous, 128-m (420-ft) net pay column of 20° API oil in Albian calcareous rocks.

Subsea Services International has established a new subsidiary, PT Subsea Services Indonesia.

Turkish state-owned petroleum company TPAO has completed drilling of two exploration wells in the shallow water sector of the Black Sea, according to partner Stratic Energy.

BP is to collaborate with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and the UK’s University of Manchester on materials and corrosion research for oilfield applications.

The Shtokman Development AG partners Gazprom, Total, and Statoil have been reviewing progress towards a Final Investment Decision (FID) for the project in the Russian Barents Sea.

The Browse LNG development off northwest Australia has entered the Basis of Design phase, says Woodside Petroleum.

Talisman Energy’s production from UK North Sea fields last year averaged 89,000 boe/d, down 7% from 2008.

Transocean’s heavy-duty jackup Galaxy II has mobilized to the UK North Sea to drill an appraisal well on the Stella field.

Tullow has contracted Ikon Science to provide rock physics and quantitative interpretation technologies and services for exploration globally.

TAQA Bratani has awarded J P Kenny a subsea engineering and management services contract for its North Sea assets.

Expro is constructing a new facility in Takoradi, Ghana.

The Industry Technology Facilitator (ITF) is calling for proposals for technological solutions covering subsea power, AUV mission, cost-effective light well intervention, downhole diagnostic tools, high pressure/high temperature technology, and improved artificial lift.

Cobalt International Energy has awarded FMC Technologies a contract for the supply of subsea systems, including production trees, manifold hardware, and distribution systems.

The Artificial Lift Co. (ALC) has promoted Dr. Hassan Mansir to VP of engineering and technology.

Multi-Chem has promoted Dr. Zubin Patel to director of capital expenditure and flow assurance.

EnerMech has completed maintenance and inspection on three pedestal cranes onboard Technip’s flexible pipe vessel Sunrise 2000 while the vessel was docked in Rio de Janeiro.

RBG has unveiled a new hydraulic lightweight flange pulling tool.

Drillsearch Energy has appointed David Evans as CTO, effective in March.

Maersk Oil has purchased Devon's 25% working interest in the Jack Lower Tertiary development project in the Gulf of Mexico.

Coastal Energy has installed the Bua Bua platform in the Gulf of Thailand.

Schlumberger has appointed Paal Kibsgaard as COO.

Fairfield Energy is progressing towards submission of a re-development plan for the Crawford field in the UK North Sea, according to partner Stratic Energy.

China’s CNPC plans to develop phase 11 of the South Pars gas field in the Persian Gulf, according to Iran’s Petroenergy Information Network, Shana.

Xcite Energy has exchanged a letter of intent with Applied Drilling Technology International (ADTI) concerning a well for the heavy oil Bentley field in the northern UK North Sea.

GDF Suez reports a second gas discovery in its West El Burullus concession in Egypt’s offshore Nile Delta.

Chevron Energy Technology Co. has contracted Landmark Software and Services to deploy globally the OpenWorks R5000 data management system.

Teekay and Det norske oljeselskap ASA have agreed to jointly develop further the Teekay FlexShuttle concept, a patented export solution for advanced future offshore operations.

The National Energy Board (NEB) of Canada plans to hold a written hearing to review its policy on same-season relief well capability for oil and gas drilling in the Beaufort Sea.

Marathon Oil has sold a 20% undivided working interest in the production sharing contract and joint operating agreement in Angola block 32 to Sociedade Nacional de Combustiveis de Angola, Empresa Publica.

On Feb. 20, Otto Energy is scheduled to begin a 1,800-sq km (695-sq mi) 3D seismic data acquisition program in SC55 using the seismic vessel Ramform Explorer operated by Petroleum Geo-Services Asia.

North Sea exploration well 34/4-12 S is dry, says operator Statoil.

Petrobras, YPF, and Petrogal (Galp Energia) have signed an agreement with Ancap, the Uruguayan national oil company, for oil and natural gas exploration and production on the Uruguayan continental shelf.

Multiphase Solutions Inc. (MSi) has completed integration and deployment of a subsea simulation system to model operation for the Perdido project in the Gulf of Mexico.

Technip has awarded DOF Subsea UK a $7.3-million contract for the light construction vessel Skandi Bergen.

Joint operators BG Exploration and Production India, ONGC, and Reliance Industries have awarded BJ Services a contract to provide conductor driving services operations on the Panna-Mukta and Mid & South Tapti fields, offshore India.

Helix Energy Solutions Group and Clough have formed a joint venture to provide a subsea services to offshore operators in the Asia/Pacific region.

Husky Energy has made a third gas discovery on block 29/26 in the South China Sea.

Royal Boskalis Westminster has awarded Keppel Singmarine a contract to construct a 159-m (522 ft) long rock dumping fall pipe vessel.

BP Norge AS has exercised its $44-million, six-month option for continued use of the accommodation support rig MSV Regalia at the Valhall offshore facility in the Norwegian sector of the North Sea.

Desire Petroleum and Rockhopper Exploration have awarded AGR Petroleum Services (AGR) a $3.1-million contract to provide logistical support and undertake a six-well drilling program in the North Falklands basin.

"K" Line Offshore has awarded ODIM a contract for two automated overhead ODIM LARS launch and recovery systems for ROVs.

Angola is set for significant expansion of offshore oil and gas developments in the short- and medium-term, according to a recent country briefing by the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA).

Shell has appointed Emerson Process Management as a main automation contractor on future capital projects globally under a five-year contract.

Ezra Holdings, EOC, PetroVietnam, and KSI Production are establishing a joint venture company that will supply an FPSO and related services to Premier Oil for the Chim Sao project, offshore Vietnam.

The Lamprell/Swiber Offshore Construction consortium has been contracted to supply two new wellhead platforms for a gas field offshore India.

ExxonMobil Production has drilled and cased PTU-15, the first development well for the Point Thomson project on Alaska’s North Slope.

EnCore Oil has contracted two rigs to drill exploration wells on its prospects in the UK North Sea.

Ithaca Energy and its partners have committed to purchasing long-lead items for the Athena project in the UK North Sea.

Eni Norge and Statoil have contracted Hyundai Heavy Industries Co. (HHI) for the Goliat field FPSO.

Shell Development has contracted the semisubmersible Songa Venus for a 156-day exploration drilling campaign in the Browse basin, offshore Australia.

Awards for the best papers at DOT Houston were made on Thursday, Feb. 4, at the closing of the conference and exhibition.

DOF Subsea has established PT DOF Subsea Indonesia, an integrated subsea services provider based in Jakarta.

C & C Technologies has completed a second project using the PROSAS Surveyor SAS sonar to assess pipeline integrity in the Gulf of Mexico.

Geotrace has appointed Mark Robinson as area manager for the Far East.

Foster Findlay Associates (ffA) has released its SVI Pro and SEA 3D Pro 2010 3D seismic analysis and volume interpretation applications on Windows and Linux platforms.

ATP Oil & Gas has set new industry records in subsea well intervention by working over two production gas wells in 2,950 ft (900 m) of water and approximately 9,000 ft downhole without a riser.

Acergy has awarded CRC-Evans/Global Pipelines a contract to provide onshore double jointing of production lines as well as offshore welding services for the EnCana Deep Panuke natural gas field.

GE has unveiled its AltairSystem3 inlet filtration system.

The US Coast Guard has ordered a Kongsberg Maritime EM 122 deepwater multi-beam echo sounder for use aboard the icebreaker Healy, the largest vessel in its fleet.

Jurong Shipyard is building a new shipyard in Brazil.

Wildcat well 35/9-5 in the North Sea is dry, says operator Nexen Exploration Norge.

Repsol has awarded Aker Solutions a contract to deliver subsea equipment for its Mediterranean wells.

Single Buoy Moorings has contracted Cathelco to supply an impressed current cathodic protection (ICCP) system for the FPSO OKHA.

Gas production has begun from exploration well N52 in the North Sea, TOTAL E&P UK says.

STX Norway Offshore has delivered the anchor-handling tug supply vessel Far Shogun to Farstad Supply.

Production potential from the Beatrice Bravo facility has increased by approximately 1,500 b/d of oil, following well intervention operations to refurbish and restart three wells tied into the platform, Ithaca Energy reports.

Acergy/Halliburton adopted a novel approach for pre-commissioning of the 42.6-km (26.5-mi) Frade flexible pipeline offshore Brazil, according to a presentation at DOT International by Sean Barr, Victor Birch and Jean-Francois Saint-Marcoux of Acergy.

Petrobras has awarded FMC Technologies a four-year subsea tree frame agreement.

The offshore industry would benefit from a consistent periodic approach to performance benchmarking for deepwater facilities, according to Thomas Gray of consultants Ziff Energy.

A new service addresses the stringent requirements of weld root profiles in offshore projects, according to a presentation at the Deep Offshore Technology conference.
In a paper on internal weld scanning, specialists from Optical Metrology Services, Dr. Tim Clarke and Dr. Richard Gooch, described how the new tool is applied in different settings.

BP’s riser integrity management (IM) program is valuable to the company’s long-term strategy, according to a paper presented by Sandeep Jesudasen, Wilson Zeng, and David Petruska of BP America Inc. and Madhu Hariharan and Finlay Baxter of 2H Offshore Inc. at the Deep Offshore Technology Conference and Exhibition in Houston.

The knotty problem of getting dependable seismic images under the Gulf of Mexico salt formations in deepwater requires new data processing approaches, Dr. Arthur B. Weglein of the University of Houston told the opening plenary session of DOT on Tuesday morning.

Huisman has opened its latest production hall in China.

Hannon Westwood has issued an updated study on the potential resource opportunity offered under the UK’s newly-launched 26th licensing round.

GE has realigned its Oilfield Technology business from GE Energy Services to GE Oil & Gas.

Foster Wheeler has agreed to form a jointly owned Saudi Arabian entity with A. Al-Saihati, A. Fattani and O. Al-Othman Consulting Engineering Co. (SOFCON).

Marathon Oil UK has awarded EnerMech a $16.5-million contract for crane operations and maintenance.

Roc Oil, operator of the Basker-Manta-Gummy (BMG) project offshore Australia, has obtained preliminary results from its first integrated full field reservoir simulation model of the Basker and Manta reservoirs.

Statoil has extended its contracts with Schlumberger Norge and Baker Hughes Norge for integrated drilling services.

Total is protecting the subsea christmas trees on the Dalia field offshore Angola with gel to prevent hydrates forming during production shutdowns.

Technip’s Anil Sablok and Wade Mallard gave the attendees of the Deep Offshore Technology (DOT) conference a presentation on a new truss spar configuration called the “closed centerwell (CCW) spar."

Selecting a floating platform for a deepwater development in the Gulf of Mexico is an important and challenging activity in the select phase of the field development planning process, according to a report presented by Richard D'Souza and Shiladitya Basu of Granherne Americas at the Deep Offshore Technology Conference and Exhibition in Houston.

GE Sensing & Inspection Technologies is expanding its Odelzhausen, Germany, facility which designs and manufactures Rheonik coriolis flow meters.

Senergy’s oil and gas division has unveiled Wellscope, a new tool that produces 3D models of prospective wells to estimate the inflow performance of horizontal, deviated, and vertical wells using computational fluid dynamics (CFD).

S3 ID has appointed Doug Woodbridge as head of group sales and marketing.

Ashtead Technology has appointed Mark Derry as MD of the company’s offshore division.

Pan Asia has appointed Domenic Martino as chairman of the company’s board of directors.

Leed Petroleum has spudded the Ship Shoal 201 A-6 well.

Chariot Oil & Gas has appointed Martin Richards as chief reservoir engineer and Alex Green as commercial manager.

PSN has awarded Cosalt Offshore a three-year contract extension to supply lifting and tooling equipment for projects in the North Sea.

Rigless subsea intervention is a growing technology for the offshore oil and gas industry.

GE Oil & Gas has completed a subsea equipment upgrade to increase production from the Lobito Tomboco field, offshore Angola.

Vetco Gray has awarded Emerson Process Management a contract to supply Roxar subsea wet gas meters for the Greater Gorgon fields, offshore Australia.

Keppel AmFELS has delivered the jackup Tuxpan to Mexico’s Perforadora Central.

Superior Energy Services now owns Shell's Gulf of Mexico Bullwinkle platform and related assets.

Global offshore prospects for 2010 call for a “delicate recovery” according to Steven Kopits, MD, Douglas-Westwood, speaking at the opening plenary session of DOT in Houston.

In the opening plenary session at DOT on Tuesday, Steve Thurston, Chevron VP of North American Exploration and Production and head of Chevron’s deepwater exploration and projects, told delegates to the event that opportunities for success are high in the Gulf of Mexico and that the key to that success is technology.

Energy Resources has clad more than 80, 24-in. (61-cm), heavy-walled flanges and tension joints for Subsea Riser Products (SRP).

Cairn Energy expects to drill its first well offshore western Greenland next summer, a year earlier than scheduled. The Edinburgh-based company has contracted the DP drillship Stena Forth and the semisub Stena Don to work on the Disko West license area during June-October.

GLOBAL DATA

The Asia-Pacific area is an offshore growth market. With an estimated capex of over $97 billion through 2009 to 2013, Asia is expected to witness an increase of 77% in terms of capex when compared to the previous five-year period, according to energy analysts Infield System’s Regional Perspectives Asia Pacific Market Update Report 2009/13. Asia is expected to represent the second largest share of the global capex spend.

Subsea projects are proliferating and going deeper, according to speakers at the recent Subsea Europe conference in London. But there are concerns over whether technology is ready for the next frontier.

Responding to the growth, demand, and vitality of West Africa’s offshore industry, Offshore West Africa (OWA) is moving to Ghana for its 2010 conference and exhibition. OWA will be held March 9-11, 2010, at International Conference Center in Accra, Ghana.

Swimmer is a new hybrid AUV/ROV subsea intervention system for light inspection, maintenance, and repair (IMR) operations on subsea production systems (SPS). One prime advantage is that it can carry out IMR operations on its own, without a field support vessel. Once the Swimmer AUV shuttle is resting on its docking station, the ROV can be controlled fully from surface facilities via the production control umbilical. The Swimmer’s technical feasibility was shown in 2001 by full-scale sea trials. Since 2007, Total, Statoil, and Cybernetix have cooperated to develop a commercial version.

Last year, Subsea 7 completed subsea installation activities for Chevron’s Tombua Landana EPIC project in block 14 offshore Angola. The contract was awarded in September 2006, shortly after the completion of work for Chevron’s Lobito Tomboco development in the same region.

Sand control plays a key role in production from the Gulf of Mexico (GoM). With some Lower Tertiary reservoir depths in excess of 30,000 ft (9,144 m), and reservoir interval lengths up to 1,500 ft (457 m), innovative completion methodologies must be devised to meet the challenges of the ultra deepwater sandface.

Fugro Survey and Hafmynd Ehf, in a joint initiative with Woodside Energy, have trialed a Gavia Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV) down to a water depth of 1,000 m (3,281 ft).

Shell UK has awarded GE Oil & Gas’ drilling and production arm an order for its VetcoGray SVXT S-series subsea tree.

Hyperdynamics has extended the term of its letter of intent with Repsol until March 11, 2010.

While fiber optics certainly have a place in seismic monitoring, even on the seafloor, it is worthwhile to consider the inherent limitations of this technology for certain cases.

As production declines and water cut increases, wells are often converted from gas lift to electrical submersible pumps (ESPs). ESPs are an attractive alternative since they can achieve lower bottom-hole flowing pressures, providing opportunities for accelerated production and improved recovery.

The fifth edition of the annual Offshore Asia Conference and Exposition is scheduled for Kuala Lumpur this March with a strong lineup of speakers and topics.

The Asia-Pacific area is an offshore growth market. With an estimated capex of over $97 billion through 2009 to 2013, Asia is expected to witness an increase of 77% in terms of capex when compared to the previous five-year period, according to Infield’s second edition Regional Perspectives Asia Pacific Market Update Report 2009/13. Asia is expected to represent the second largest share of the global capex spend.

Brazil is taking an active role in carbon capture and storage (CCS) R&D with two carbon dioxide (CO₂) storage pilot projects, both operated by Petrobras, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA). One, at the Miranga onshore field in Bahia state, injects around 400 tons CO₂/day into a saline formation and is one of the largest CO₂ demonstration projects in the world.

Coastal Energy is laying the groundwork for two new oil production centers in the Gulf of Thailand. After initial difficulties with facilities installation due to storm damage, output is building steadily from Songhkla, the company’s first operated development in block G5/43. Platform installation and development drilling also should get under way shortly on Bua Ban, a second field to the west.

A seismic survey in Mannar basin of Sri Lanka is underway by CGGVeritas forCairn Lanka Private Ltd., a subsidiary of Cairn India.

Puma Petroleum expects written confirmation in the next few weeks from Italy’s Ministry of Economics regarding the exploration status of four offshore permits.

Commercialization of the Kiliwani North gas discovery off Tanzania is proceeding slowly, according to partner Key Petroleum.

Drilling of the Hoki prospect in New Zealand’s Taranaki basin should start later this month or in March, according to partner New Zealand Oil & Gas (NZOG).

Talisman Energy has budgeted $2.9 billion for exploration and development programs in the North Sea and Southeast Asia in 2010.

After a year that brought bankruptcies across the industrial, financial, and retail sectors – and oil prices under $40 a barrel – 2010 cannot help but look better. Many offshore rig owners are looking for a recovery now that 2009 is behind them.

The main deck for BP Norge’s new Valhall platform is nearing completion, according to Heerema Fabrication Group.

Serica Energy has secured the jackup Ensco 80 for an exploration well on the Conan prospect in UK East Irish Sea.

Petroleum Safety Authority Norway has consented for ConocoPhillips Skandinavia to use the Ekofisk 2/4 K and 2/4 E Tor installations in the North Sea beyond their design lifetime.

The Papa Terra Joint Venture, consisting of Petrobras and Chevron, has awarded J. Ray McDermott a project for the P-61 tension leg wellhead platform.

QUIP has contracted AMEC to perform basic engineering services for the Petrobras-operated FPSO P-63’s topsides for the Papa Terra heavy oil field in the Campos basin, offshore Brazil.

Cairn Energy has awarded Plexus Holdings a contract to supply a POS-GRIP wellhead system and mudline suspension system for exploration work offshore Tunisia.

Containental Offshore and Vertec Engineering have merged to form OEG Offshore.

Keppel FELS has delivered West Vencedor, the sixth of seven KFELS semisubmersible drilling tenders (SSDT), to Seadrill. The completion wraps up a record year of 13 rig deliveries in 2009 by Keppel FELS on time and within budget, the fabricator claims.

Statoil has used a riserless mud recovery (RMR) system on the drillship Discoverer Americas for operations on the Krakatoa prospect.

McMoRan Exploration Co. has made a deep well discovery on the Davy Jones prospect in South Marsh Island block 230. The well was drilled to 28,603 ft (8,718 m) MD in 20 ft (6 m) of water. Wireline logs indicate 200 net ft (61 net m) of hydrocarbon-bearing sands in four zones of the Wilcox section of the Eocene/Paleocene. Flow testing, to be done within one year’s time, is required to confirm production rates. McMoRan says it will deepen the discovery well to 29,000 ft (8,839 m), and it will drill an appraisal well to confirm the field’s commercial extent.

The strength of the recovery in oil prices was the major surprise of last year. After several months of demand downgrades, the International Energy Agency (IEA) in the fourth quarter admitted that its forecasts for 2009 and 2010 were too negative. Robust growth in China combined with the global fiscal and monetary stimuli resulted in the forecast cut in demand in 2009 being reduced from 2% to 1.6%. This was the first reduction in global oil demand since 1993.

Wintershall Noordzee has proved further oil in the Ravn field on the western edge of the Danish North Sea. Ravn was discovered in 1986, but a discouraging appraisal well the following year caused the previous licensee to pull out.

Dragon Oil has awarded Yantai Raffles Offshore, TSC Offshore China, and Momentum Engineering a contract for the lease and management of a new jackup rig.

Expro has named Sergio Zubelli as regional director, Latin America. In his new role, Zubelli is responsible for all aspects of the company’s business in South and Central America. The company has also appointed Hank Glansbeek as regional technical and business development manager for Brazil.

The annual Subsea Tieback Forum & Exhibition is scheduled for March 2 – 4, 2010, in Galveston, Texas, at the Moody Gardens Hotel & Conference Center. More than 2,500 attendees and 150 exhibitors are expected at this year’s conference.

Seabed boosting is alternative or complementary with other artificial lift techniques and can have advantages in production and field flexibility. Today, helicon-axial pumps have been developed, tested, and installed in numerous subsea field applications and are a proven technology.

The Criollo prospect exploration side track well in the Gulf of Mexico has reached a planned TVD of 31,145 ft (9,493 m) Cobalt International Energy says.

Dana Petroleum is preparing a wide-ranging program of exploration and development off northwest Europe, according to the company’s latest results overview.

Dana Petroleum has started drilling two wells offshore Egypt, and plans at least two further wells in its offshore concessions this year.

Peritus International has entered the global subsea and floating systems oil and gas engineering market.

AMEC has acquired Currie & Brown (Australia), an Australian cost and commercial management consultancy, for $32 million.

Bluewater Energy Services has awarded Hydrasun a contract for umbilicals and associated products and services for its global FPSO operations.

Afren, Oriental Energy Resources and Energy Equity Resources (EER) have are teaming up to explore and develop the OML 115 concession off southeast Nigeria.

Dragon Oil has contracted Yantai Raffles Offshore for lease and management of a newbuild Super M2 jackup.

Kiswire is building a new factory in Malaysia for construction of large wire ropes for the offshore and mining sectors.

ATP Oil has contracted Pulse Structural Monitoring to supply a real-time riser monitoring system for the ATP Titan platform to support the Telemark Hub field development in the Gulf of Mexico.

Adira Energy Israel has signed a farm-in financing agreement for its shallow water Gabriella license.

BP Oil International (BPOI) has agreed to provide offtake services to market and sell crude from the planned Bentley heavy oil development in the UK North Sea.

Saudi Aramco has opened a new branch of Aramco Overseas Co. in India.

Seismic Micro Technology (SMT) has appointed TengBeng Koid as president of its international team.

Aker Solutions is the lowest bidder for a four-year frame agreement to supply 61 subsea trees to Petrobras.

Gross oil production from the Zhao Dong C and D fields in China’s Bohai Bay averaged 14,678 b/d in the final quarter of 2009, according to operator ROC Oil.

Petrobras, BG Group, and Repsol have signed a Letter of Intent with the Schahin/Modec consortium for the construction and 20-year lease of an FPSO for the Guará pilot project in the BM-S-9 block in the Santos basin, offshore Brazil.

A subsidiary of Bowleven has awarded Plexus Holdings a contract for the supply of POS-GRIP wellhead systems and drilling services, offshore Cameroon.

Cairn Energy will drill an exploration well on the Louza block offshore Tunisia in the next few months, using the jackup Ensco 85.

A 2D seismic acquisition program is under way by TGS offshore West Papua, Indonesia.

Petrobras has acquired Devon Energy’s 50% participation interest in the Cascade field in the Gulf of Mexico.

Reservoir Exploration Technology ASA (RXT) has received a category 2 environmental license for operations offshore Brazil.

BPZ Resources has completed the 19D well offshore Peru with a sustained initial production rate of approximately 1,700 b/d of oil.

Nexen Petroleum UK has used a real-time system for monitoring sea state when moving the jackup Galaxy III alongside the Buzzard wellhead platform.

Leed Petroleum has signed a turnkey contract with Applied Drilling Technology to drill the Ship Shoal 201 A-6 well.

Britain’s Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) has unveiled the UK’s 26th offshore licensing round.

OGX has signed a preliminary strategic cooperation agreement with OSX Brasil for the charter of exploration and production units, related operation and maintenance services, and expected production targets for the short, medium, and long term.

All planned development wells have been drilled on the Jubilee field offshore Ghana, according to Tullow Oil.

Containental has been awarded contracts totaling $1.5 million from Baker Hughes, Schlumberger, and Portumo.

Development of the Papa Terra project offshore Brazil will proceed, according to Chevron Corp.

A sidetrack appraisal well on the Lucius discovery in the Gulf of Mexico Keathley Canyon block 875, encountered about 600 net ft (183 m) of oil and gas pay in subsalt Pliocene and Miocene sands, operator Anadarko reports.

DONG Energy and its partner Bayerngas will drill an appraisal well on the high pressure, high temperature Svane field in the Danish North Sea.

Aramco Overseas Company, as subsidiary of Saudi Aramco, has contracted Keppel FELS for a newbuild drilling jackup for use in the Middle East.

ENI has issued a Letter of Award to Bluewater Energy Services for an FPSO for the Kitan field in the East Timor/Australian Joint Petroleum Development Area.

Callon Petroleum has received a $44.7-million reimbursement from the US Department of the Interior’s Minerals Management Service (MMS) for overpayment of royalties at its Medusa field in the Gulf of Mexico.

The Norwegian energy ministry has awarded RWE Dea interests in exploration licenses PL552 and PL539.

Statoil has awarded Baker Hughes two-year extensions on two contracts in Norway.

Lundin Britain has awarded Technip a $30-million lump-sum contract for an augmentation pipeline at the Broom field in the UK North Sea

The FSO Endeavor has begun a one-year, $7-million contract extension on the PY-3 field offshore India after undergoing repair work paid by client Aban Offshore.

IBC Advanced Alloys Corp. has appointed Douglas Veitch as VP of business development.

Foster Findlay Associates (ffA) and TerraSpark Geosciences have agreed to explore parallel research and development programs.

Höegh LNG and Prosafe Production have signed an MOU for long-term cooperation on LNG FPSO projects.

OGX has identified an oil-bearing interval in the Albian section of well 1-OGX-5-RJS in the Campos basin.

Technip USA has extended its master service agreement with UTEC Survey Inc. by two years.

PETRONAS has awarded Global Offshore Malaysia an initial $70-million contract for transportation and installation of facilities, offshore Malaysia.

BHP Billiton has awarded DSI a contract to provide commissioning services for the Angostura brownfield gas export expansion project offshore Trinidad.

The Yellowglen-1 discovery well in the Greater Gorgon area in the Carnarvon basin has reached TD of 9,050 ft (2,760 m).

Forty three oil companies have nominated blocks for inclusion in Norway’s 21st licensing round, according to the Ministry of Petroleum Energy.

Oil & Gas UK has appointed Brian Kinkead as supply chain director.

Keppel Singmarine has delivered the platform supply geotechnical vessel Greatship Maya on schedule to Greatship Global Offshore Services.

Reservoir Group has appointed Malcolm Greener as MD of its XDT downhole drilling tools and services division.

Statoil has awarded FMC Technologies a $40-million contract for the design and supply of subsea equipment to support the Snorre field in the North Sea.

Valiant Petroleum is close to securing a rig to drill its Tybalt exploration prospect in the UK northern North Sea.

The Norwegian Petroleum Directorate (NPD) has granted Det norske oljeselskap a permit to drill an appraisal well in production license 001 B using the semisub Songa Delta.

Bowleven has a rig to drill its Etinde permit offshore Cameroon.

TAM International North Sea has expanded its offices in Aberdeen, Scotland.

Mercator Lines has signed a seven-year charter for a mobile offshore production unit and an FPSO through its wholly owned subsidiary in Singapore.

The MV Polarcus Nadia has begun acquisition of a 5,000-sq km (1,931-sq mi) 3D survey covering blocks 8 and 9, offshore Liberia.

Statoil is acquiring a 25% working interest in 50 ConocoPhillips leases acquired in the Chukchi Sea federal OCS lease sale in 2008.

Woodside Energy has awarded Technip and Subsea 7 a subsea installation contract for the Cossack Wanaea Lambert Hermes (CWLH) redevelopment project in the Carnarvon basin, offshore Australia.

Hardy Oil has re-started production from the PY-3 field in the Cauvery basin, after repairs on the loading hose.

Production has resumed from the Siri field, says operator DONG Energy.

The Noblige-1 exploration well in permit WA-404-P has indications of gas from measurement-while-drilling logs at several levels, including over a gross interval of about 300 m (984 ft) in the intra-Triassic primary target, says Woodside Energy.

Serica Energy has sold certain interests in Southeast Asia to KrisEnergy for $105.4 million.

Nord Stream has commissioned Europipe (Germany), OMK (Russia), and Sumitomo (Japan) to supply a total of 1 million tons (907,000 metric tons) of steel pipe for the construction of the second pipeline for the Nord Stream project.

Construction of the Pluto LNG project off northwest Australia is 83% complete, according to operator Woodside Petroleum.

Cargotec is delivering MacGregor offshore and subsea load handling systems to a deepsea research vessel to be built at Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Shimonoseki shipyard in Japan.

SOCO plans a 12-month drilling campaign on its blocks in the Cuu Long basin offshore southern Vietnam.

New Zealand’s Energy and Resources Ministry is inviting bids for six new exploration blocks across the Reinga basin off the country’s northwest coast.

Maersk Oil Qatar has issued a termination notice concerning a services contract for the FSO Africa.

Containental Offshore has completed a $200,000 contract to deliver custom-built workshops for a project offshore Azerbaijan.

Dragon Oil has achieved a new peak of 50,000 b/d from its oilfields in the Turkmen sector of the Caspian Sea.

Drillsearch Energy has surrendered Petroleum Exploration Permit WA-352-P in the Carnarvon basin to the government of Western Australia.

McMoRan has deepened the Davy Jones discovery well from 28,263 ft to 28,603 ft and has logged a new hydrocarbon bearing sand totaling 65 net ft (20 m).

Lundin Petroleum has budgeted $540 million for exploration and development in 2010, a 4% rise on last year’s sum.

SAMI Instruments has unveiled a new 20,000 psi 1-in. (2.5-cm) medium pressure needle valve.

An appraisal well on the deepwater Tweneboa discovery offshore Ghana has intersected a large hydrocarbon column, according to operator Tullow Oil.

BP’s latest development well on its North Shadwan Concession offshore Egypt, NS 377-5, has reached a depth of 920 m (3,018 ft), according to partner Beach Energy.

Agora Oil & Gas UK has agreed to farm into two Irish Sea blocks operated by Serica Energy.

The Department of the Interior’s Minerals Management Service (MMS) has appointed Mary Katherine Ishee as deputy director.

The Minerals Management Service (MMS) has awarded $67 million in grants to Alabama, Alaska, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas and their political subdivisions in 2009 through the Coastal Impact Assistance Program (CIAP).

GEMS Survey has awarded SEA a contract for the SWATHplus wide swath bathymetric sidescan system.

Petrobras has awarded FMC Technologies an $80-million subsea service contract.

Petroresurs has appointed Daniil Schedrov as general director.

Operator Det norske has awarded Sevan Marine a pre-FEED/FEED study contract for the potential application of a Sevan FPSO on the Froy field in the Norwegian North Sea.

Wood Group’s Alliance Engineering has signed a frame agreement with Statoil USA E&P to provide engineering and design services for Statoil's upcoming Gulf of Mexico prospects.

The deployment of the Nautilus acoustic positioning and streamer steering system on the vessel Alizé has increased production levels on the first project of a mega 3D seismic program currently being acquired for PEMEX in the Gulf of Mexico, according to CGGVeritas.

Scottish Highlands International has awarded Drydocks World – Southeast Asia a contract to build a 210-m (689-ft) ultra large multi-purpose offshore construction vessel.

AuDAX Resources has awarded Atwood Oceanics a contract to use the rig Atwood Southern Cross for operations offshore Tunisia.

ExxonNeftegas has completed drilling the first two extended-reach wells at the Odoptu field offshore Sakhalin Island.

Petroleum Safety Authority Norway has cleared ExxonMobil Exploration and Production Norway (Esso) to drill an exploration well in the North Sea using the mobile rig Aker Barents.

ExxonMobil Exploration and Production Ireland (Offshore) Ltd.vis offering an equity interest in the Dunquin blocks in the Porcupine basin off southern Ireland.

Detailed engineering is under way on the $970 million Gateway gas storage facility, due to be built in the East Irish Sea off northwest England.

The newbuild semisub Aker Barents is drilling the Storlakken prospect in the Norwegian North Sea for Det norske oljeselskap.

Polarcus has established Polarcus do Brasil, a new Brazilian subsidiary.

The National Offshore Petroleum Safety Authority (NOPSA) has provided a submission to the Commission of Inquiry into the Montara uncontrolled hydrocarbon release that includes a call for legislative change to improve the regulation of the integrity of offshore petroleum wells.

Noble Energy has awarded Technip a lumpsum contract for the Aseng field, in block I, offshore Equatorial Guinea.

The Songkhla B-01 exploration well on block G5/43 in the Gulf of Thailand has reached a total measured depth of 9,050 ft (2,758 m) and encountered oil-bearing sands in the Lower Oligocene formation.

Hurricane Exploration has signed a letter of intent with Dolphin Drilling to use the semisub Borgsten Dolphin for a two-well program, west of Shetland.

Subsea 7 has completed the Girassol pipeline repair project for Total E&P Angola.

A subsidiary of Ensco International has taken delivery of ENSCO 8502, the third of the company's seven ultra-deepwater semisubmersible rigs being constructed by Keppel FELS in Singapore.

ONGC and Cairn India have awarded Bergen Oilfield Services separate contracts for 3D surveys, offshore India.

The second production well at the Murphy Oil-operated Azurite field off Republic of Congo will come on stream in the next few weeks, according to partner PA Resources.

Drilling operations on Cirrus Energy’s latest well offshore Netherlands have been suspended, due to insurmountable problems with running casing.

Aegean Energy has brought on stream Epsilon, the first new field to be developed offshore Greece in 14 years.

Cathelco Brazil has developed a retrofit cathodic protection system for the Pride-owned semisub Pride South Atlantic.

Drydocks World – Southeast Asia’s Nanindah yard has delivered three offshore maintenance vessels for ESNAAD, one anchor handling tug (AHT) for Greatship (India), and one AHT for Swire Pacific Offshore Operations.

The semisub Songa Delta has spudded exploration well 6507/11-10 on the Frusalen prospect in the Norwegian North Sea.

Deepwater EU has created a cathodic protection design and project management center at the University of Surrey Research Park in Guildford, UK.

DNV has established a greater China offshore committee.

Phased reintroduction of new personal locator beacons (PLBs) by the UK offshore oil and gas industry is scheduled to begin in February.

KD Marine has agreed with Mermaid Offshore Services (MOS) to provide fully integrated saturation, air diving, daughter craft, and ROV services from the DSV Mermaid Endurer to the European market.

Premier Oil has virtually completed 3D seismic interpretation of the Tuna block offshore Indonesia.

Officials from Gazprom and Iran’s Petroleum Ministry have held talks concerning current and potential joint projects for developing the South Pars gas and condensate field in the Persian Gulf.

Gazprom’s management committee has been reviewing construction progress on the Dzhubga-Lazarevskoye-Sochi gas pipeline, much of which will follow an offshore route under the Russian sector of the Black Sea.

MEO Australia is looking for a rig to drill the Artemis gas prospect off Western Australia later this year.

UAE fabricator Lamprell has delivered its first newbuild tender-assist drilling barge, the BassDrill Alpha.

Afren’s latest appraisal well on the Ebok field off Nigeria has exceeded expectations.

Expro has named Sergio Zubelli as regional director, Latin America.

DOF Subsea has appointed Serge Geraud as operations and business development director based in Angola.

Technip has awarded UTEC Survey Construction Services a contract to provide survey and positioning services for the Jubilee field development, offshore Ghana.

Premier Oil expects to confirm by end-March the approved concept for the Huntington field development in the UK central North Sea.

ConocoPhillips Scandinavia has contracted Seawell for platform drilling and maintenance services in the Greater Ekofisk Area of the North Sea.

Exploration drilling on the UK shelf tailed off markedly last year, according to Deloitte’s latest North West Europe Review.

Mærsk Oil & Gas has discovered gas/condensate while drilling the Luke-1X (5504/6-6) exploration well in the Danish North Sea.

BHP Billiton (BHPB) has agreed to fund acquisition and processing of 1,000 sq km to 2,000 sq km (386 sq mi to 772 sq mi) 3D seismic program in SC55, offshore Philippines.

Vroon Offshore Services (VOS) has taken delivery of a new anchor handling tug supply vessel.

Proserv Offshore has acquired Twin Hills Wireline Services.

Eni Norge has awarded Sevan Marine a contract covering project and engineering management and early operation preparation services for the Goliat FPSO.

Kongsberg Maritime and Wellstream International have joined the National Subsea Research Institute (NSRI).

A “delicate recovery” is predicted for the global offshore E&P business going forward, according to Steven Kopits, MD of Douglas-Westwood/NY, speaking to the Society of Underwater Technology in Houston today.

The Department of Applied Mathematics at the University of Pau in France and the oilfield technical Website www.drillers.com are creating online tools using Mathcad worksheets coded with decision analysis techniques to help optimize drilling decisions.

PTTEP Australasia (Ashmore Cartier) has agreed with operator Woodside Energy and joint venture partners to acquire a 20% interest in petroleum exploration permits WA-378-P, WA-396-P, and WA-397-P, offshore Australia.

CPU has released the Omni 3000/6000, Cameron MC III, and Cameron Scanner 2000 protocol drivers for its Enterprise Flow Computer Archival System (eFCAS).

Fugro Gravity & Magnetic Services has introduced MagCUBE technology, which enhances geomagnetic referencing by increasing the accuracy of measurement while drilling (MWD) in directional drilling applications.

Apache Energy has awarded AGC Industries a contract for general and campaign services, and minor capital works at Apache’s Varanus Island facilities and offshore assets off the coast of Western Australia.

Siemens Netherlands and GustoMSC have partnered to offer electrically powered rack and pinion systems for jackup units.

CGGVeritas has begun the Three Corners extension 3D wide-azimuth multi-client survey in the western Gulf of Mexico.

Northern Petroleum has begun a two-month, 1,520 sq km (587 sq mi) 3D seismic survey in the West Sicily thrust belt covering licenses G.R17.NP, G.R20.NP, G.R21.NP, and G.R22.NP.

Electromagnetic Geoservices (EMGS) has started a multi-client 3D electromagnetic project in the Norwegian Sea.

flexlife has created a research and development facility specializing in flexible pipe projects and technological advances.

SGS and Halliburton have agreed to offer combined formation fluid sample acquisition and analysis services.

Petrofac has acquired Scotvalve Services, a UK-based services company, from Scotvalve’s management for $5 million.

DE Hydraulics has completed an upgrade project for Diamond Offshore Drilling (UK) onboard the semisub Ocean Guardian.

Shell Philippines Exploration has exercised its $3.6-million, 30-day option, which in May, for the continued use of the Safe Astoria accommodation support rig at the Malampaya shallow water platform, offshore Philippines.

Economic conditions have impacted UK offshore activity severely, according to analysts Wood Mackenzie.

A storm with potential for conditions similar to a minimal tropical storm, could affect oil production in the Gulf of Mexico this weekend, according to AccuWeather.com.

Chevron has completed its first deepwater scale squeeze treatment using the Cameron’s MARS (Multiple Application Re-injection System), on well LDN4 in the Lobito Tomboco field, Angola.

Black Marlin Energy has appointed Terry Nilsen as country manager for the Seychelles.

Sasol Petroleum Australia has signed a farm-in agreement with Finder Exploration to earn a 45% interest in exploration permit AC/P 52 in the Browse basin.

Houston air traffic controllers now are using the Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) system to separate and manage aircrafts flying over the Gulf of Mexico.

Grup Servicii Petroliere has won two contracts for support services in the Black Sea.

Operator Lundin Petroleum has drilled a second appraisal well, 16/1-13, on the Luno discovery in block 16/1 on the Norwegian continental shelf.

The FPSO Crystal Ocean and tanker Basker Spirit have returned to the Basker Manter Gummy (BMG) field in the Bass Strait, according to operator Roc Oil.

Marin Subsea and Jonny Marine-Mesco Engineering have formed Marin JMS, a joint venture offering bespoke manufacture of specialized tooling, containers, portable workshops, customized control vans, skids, control panels, and subsea deployment systems.

Marine Technical Limits (MTL) has completed a water ballast tank accelerated repair project on BP’s FPSO Schiehallion.

Enterprise Products Partners has appointed Mark A. Hurley as senior VP of the company’s crude oil and offshore business unit, effective March 1.

ION Geophysical has acquired an additional 28,000 km (17,398 mi) of regional seismic data covering Brazil's southern Santos, Pelotas, and northeastern Equatorial basins.

EOC has agreed with PetroVietnam Transportation Corp. (PVT) to incorporate an equally owned joint venture.

Ocean Specialists Inc. (OSI) has completed a turnkey submarine cable installation for an operator in the Gulf of Mexico.

ExxonMobil and Petrobras have signed an agreement with a Petrobras affiliate and the Turkish National Oil Co. (TPAO) to explore for hydrocarbons in the deepwater Black Sea offshore Turkey.

Neptune Marine Services has been contracted to provide diving, survey, and vessel support for the Gorgon LNG project, offshore Australia.

The FPSO Ningaloo Vision has arrived on station and commissioning activities are under way at the Van Gogh development in production license WA-35-L in the Exmouth sub-basin, offshore Western Australia.

CPC Corp., Taiwan, has signed a multi-year global access agreement with Paradigm.

The US Internal Revenue Service, in an attempt to collect unpaid taxes, is investigating the US filing compliance of foreign vessel companies and the US companies that hire them to work on the OCS.

Matrikon Inc. is building a real-time visualization (RTV) solution that will monitor Statoil’s Norwegian well and production facilities, including 35 offshore assets in the North Sea.

Ferguson Modular has won a $7.26-million contract to build an accommodation block for a project in the Kazakh sector of the Caspian Sea.

Wintershall plans to explore Qatar’s offshore block 4N later this year.

Vertec Engineering has completed a $2-million project to design, manufacture, and deliver a 170-metric ton (187-ton) variable speed drive (VSD) module for the Cascade and Chinook project in the Gulf of Mexico.

Intertek has acquired LGC’s petroleum geochemistry analytical services business.

KBR has appointed Mark S. Williams as group president overseeing KBR's government and defense, infrastructure and minerals, and power and industrial business units.

TETRA Technologies has awarded MS Industrial Services (MSIS) a two-year, $2.4-million contract to provide pit cleaning equipment and personnel to support the company’s Ghana operations.

Blackhawk Technology is supplying Neptune caisson sump pumps for an offshore gas platform now under construction in the Southern Hemisphere.

Process Pigging Systems has unveiled new pig detectors for the cleaning of pipeline systems.

Bredero Shaw has agreed with OOO ArkhTekhnoProm to establish a pipe coating facility in Russia’s Arkhangelsk region that will provide advanced concrete weight coating services to the northern Russia offshore pipeline market.

OGX Petróleo e Gás Participações has identified an oil-bearing interval in the Eocene section of well 1-OGX-4-RJS in the Campos basin’s BM-C-42 block.

Omron Oilfield & Marine is partnering with ALTA Rig Systems (ARS) to deliver automated control systems for its electric drawworks product line.

Kongsberg Maritime has opened Kongsberg Maritime China Jiangsu (KMCJ), a 2,880-sq m (31,000-sq ft) sensor production facility in Zhenjiang, China.

Saudi Aramco has awarded ARGAS, a Saudi Arabian joint venture owned by CGGVeritas and TAQA, two ocean bottom cable (OBC) 3D data acquisition contracts totaling $375 million.

Talisman Energy has budgeted $2.9 billion for exploration and development programs in the North Sea and Southeast Asia in 2010.

2H Offshore Engineering has merged its UK-based shallow water conductor and deepwater riser engineering teams into a single group.

Silverstone Energy/MCX Exploration (UK) have awarded CSL a $12-million lumpsum turnkey contract to decommission the Tristan North West development in block 49/29b of the UK southern North Sea.

Wildcat well 34/4-11 in North Sea has hit pay, says Petro-Canada Norge.

Addax Petroleum, operator of Nigeria/Sao Tome & Principe Joint Development Zone (JDZ) block 4, has finished drilling the Oki East well.

A deep well discovery in 20 ft (6 m) of water in South Marsh Island block 230’s Davy Jones prospect is reported by McMoRan Exploration Co.

Sky Petroleum has received notice that its interest in Mubarek field offshore UAE has been terminated.

Britain’s gas reserves play a critical role to in the nation’s energy supplies, says Oil & Gas UK.

DeepFlex has appointed Mark D. Kalman as VP of engineering.

RWE Dea Norge has signed a letter of award with Dolphin AS to use the semisub Bredford Dolphin on the Norwegian continental shelf.

Lincoln Electric has introduced the new Excalibur 10018-D2 MR low hydrogen stick electrode for all-position welding of carbon-manganese, chromium-molybdenum, and low alloy steels.

Flexitallic has launched the Flange Rescue Gasket (FRG).

Geotrace has completed an onboard data processing project for BP’s Sirt basin concession, offshore Libya.

Expro has installed its new large-bore Cableless Telemetry System (CaTS) in phase two wells on the Ormen Lange field, offshore Norway.

The Norwegian Petroleum Directorate (NPD) has granted Lundin Norway a permit to drill a wildcat well in production license 359 using the semisub Transocean Winner.

Ramboll Oil & Gas has acquired QA Consulting.

The Norwegian Petroleum Directorate has granted Statoil a permit to drill wildcat wells in production licenses 057 and 089 in the North Sea using the semisub Ocean Vanguard.

North Sea wildcat well 15/9-23 is dry, says operator Det Norske Oljeselskap ASA.

Searcher Seismic and DMNG have begun a 3,882-km (2,412-mi) 2D seismic survey in the South Halmahera basin, offshore Indonesia.

Chevron’s Australian subsidiaries and Nippon Oil have signed a heads of agreement (HOA) for delivery of 0.3 million metric tons per year of LNG for 15 years from the Chevron-operated Gorgon project in Western Australia.

Operator Origin Energy is preparing to sidetrack the Rockhopper 1 well in the Bass basin, offshore Tasmania.

The jackup COSL936 has arrived in Shenzhen, China, according to China Oilfield Services Ltd. (COSL).

RWE Dea has appointed Thomas Rappuhn as chairman of its management board.

The semisub Leiv Eiriksson has arrived in Turkey, according to Petrobras Oil & Gas BV Turkey and Turkish Petroleum Corp. (TPAO).

Bisso Marine has achieved ISO 9001:2008 certification of its quality management system after being assessed by ABS Quality Evaluations Inc.

The rig Borgland Dolphin is scheduled to begin drilling on the Skarv field on Jan. 5, according to BP.

Seismic Micro Technology (SMT), JewelSuite, and Computer Modelling Group (CMG) have formed the Seismic To Simulation (STS) Alliance, integrating the companies’ interpretation, modeling, and simulation technologies.

Electromagnetic Geoservices (EMGS) has appointed Dag W. Reynolds as executive VP of sales/marketing and business development.

Dynamic Positioning Services and ETS have invested in the Tiny Optical Gyro System (TOGS), the world’s smallest subsea gyrocompass.

Mustang has appointed Richard Seale as president of the company’s automation and control business unit.

Environmental Drilling Solutions (EDS) has named Adam Broussard as area manager for North Louisiana and East Texas.

Intergraph has acquired COADE Holdings Inc., a provider of CAESAR II, PV Elite, and TANK software for pipe stress, pressure vessel, and storage tank analysis, and the CADWorx plant design suite.

The last of four new multi-purpose risers for Statoil’s Veslefrikk field should be installed this spring, according to supplier NKT Flexibles.

TGS-NOPEC Geophysical Co. (TGS) has begun seismic acquisition for the Justice Wide Azimuth (WAZ) 3D project in the Gulf of Mexico.

Statoil has used a riserless mud recovery (RMR) system on the drillship Discoverer Americas for operations on the Krakatoa prospect.

ATP has completed installation of the topsides modules on the drilling and production platform ATP Titan along with all 12 mooring lines, with an aim for first production in late first quarter of this year.

Brude Safety and Ulstein Design have developed the Brude MES, a marine evacuation system (MES) for special purpose ships (SPS).

Global shipping, logistics, and marine services group GAC has merged its UK operations.

Hornbeck Offshore Services has introduced the HOS Centerline, a Jones Act qualified, 370-ft (113-m) multi-purpose support vessel (MPSV) to its fleet.

On Jan. 4, the FSO Asia was hooked-up at the Al Shaheen field, according to owners OSG and Euronav NV.

PathFinder Energy Services has acquired a contract with Petrobras representing an estimated $80-100 million of revenue over a three-year term and all of the directional drilling assets from San Antonio International do Brasil.

Cameron has a $ 230-million order from Chevron for subsea production systems for Stage I of the Jack & St. Malo development in the Gulf of Mexico.

Italy’s Ministry of Economic Development has awarded a production concession for the Guendalina gas field in the Adriatic Sea, operated by Eni.

Premier Oil is set to become operator of UK Central North Sea block 22/19c following a farm-in agreement with current license holder Serica Energy.

A well at the Nautilus prospect in the Gulf of Mexico has logged over 70 ft (21 m) of net pay, according to Contango Oil & Gas Co.

Chariot Oil & Gas has completed a 3D seismic program in Northern blocks 1811 A & B, offshore Namibia.

CompactGTL is on schedule to deliver a pilot gas-to-liquids plant to Petrobras.

The Bayou Companies (TBC) has appointed Jerry Shea as president.

Australia Pacific LNG has awarded Savanna Energy Services a workover rig contract for Australia Pacific LNG project.

Veripos has established reference station facilities in the Falkland Islands, extending its multi-source Differential GPS service for the South Atlantic and Southern Ocean regions.

The Cá R?ng Vàng well (07-CRV-01X) on block 07/03 offshore Vietnam is dry, says operator Premier Oil Vietnam South.

Aminex is integrating seismic acquired in 2009 to define the Kiliwani North discovery offshore Tanazania into reprocessed data, covering the remainder of the Nyuni licence.

The government of the Republic of Guinea has received Hyperdynamics’ relinquishment plan of 64% of its original offshore oil and gas contract area and its 2010-2011 work plan for the 36% it has selected to retain and explore.

MEO Australia’s drill/drop option over WA-359-P expired unexercised on Dec. 31 2009.

Keppel FELS has delivered the West Vencedor, the sixth of seven KFELS semisubmersible drilling tenders, to Seadrill.

Cairn has secured a second drilling rig for its exploration program offshore Western Greenland.

Due to rough North Sea weather, production from Siri field in the Danish North Sea is not expected to resume until later this month.

On Dec. 30, 2009, the Lolotoe-1 well in the Timor Sea reached a depth of 3,785 m (12,418 ft).

Qatargas has awarded Neptune Marine Services a subsea inspection contract for its platforms, offshore pipelines, and subsea connection facilities in the Arabian Gulf.

Operator Origin Energy is running wireline logs in the Rockhopper 1 well in exploration permit T/18P in the Bass basin, offshore Tasmania.

Songa Offshore SE has secured a one-well firm, plus one-well optional, extension agreement to its existing one-well contract from CNOOC Africa.

Brazilian national oil company Petrobras has been authorized to begin drilling a new exploratory well in an area contiguous with its existing lease in the northern Santos basin, with an eye toward adding the acreage to its portfolio.

Fugro-Geoteam has agreed with Statoil USA E&P Inc. to acquire and QC process data from a 2,400 sq km (924 sq mi) 3D marine seismic program around Statoil’s leases in the Chukchi Sea. The project is valued at approximately $26 million (€17 million), with an estimated duration up to three months. The survey is planned for early August into October 2010.

Helix Energy Solutions Group expects its new deepwater pipelay vessel Caesar to join the company’s subsea construction fleet in January. The vessel left a Chinese shipyard on Nov. 28, 2009, for transit to the Gulf of Mexico.

Petrobras has contracted Aker Solutions to supply eight more subsea boosting systems (Mobo) and one ESDV (emergency valve) for the Jubarte field, in north Campos basin offshore Brazil. Contract value is approximately $37 million.

An exploration well in Green Canyon block 490 has hit oil and gas pay, according Helix ESG subsidiary Energy Resource Technology GOM (ERT).

Aker Solutions has opened a new subsea test/construction hall at its yard in Egersund in western Norway. The 1,900-sq m (20,451-sq ft), 26-m (85-ft) high facility is designed to accommodate large, sensitive structures demanding high cleanliness standards.

Husky Energy has proved up further oil close to its producing White Rose field in Newfoundland’s Jeanne d’Arc basin. The North Amethyst E-17 well, drilled in fall 2008, encountered 55 m (180 ft) of oil-bearing reservoir in the Hibernia formation, below the Ben Nevis Avalon formation that generates White Rose’s crude.

Global Data

Just as the voyagers of the science fiction Starship Enterprise probed the outer reaches of space to reveal new worlds, oil and gas exploration teams, working in the real world, have boldly gone where no one has gone before to discover giant fields in the deepest reaches of the Gulf of Mexico. They have taken a peek at billions of barrels of potential reserves. The operators and service companies will have to deploy next-generation technologies, some still in design and development, to overcome the greatest risks the industry has encountered to date – challenges like extreme water and target depths, a seismically dense salt canopy, low-porosity and low-permeability reservoirs, and high-pressure/high-temperature (HP/HT) downhole conditions. Pramod Kulkarni, Contributing Editor, reports, beginning on page 38.

As the oil and gas industry moves into ultra deepwater, operators need to be prepared to overcome specific challenges inherent in this environment. Advanced technology created from the minds of innovative engineers is certainly a key to success. The immediate future calls for the industry to push itself to think bigger in order to go deeper.

ESR Technology has appointed Dr. John Evans as GM of its Aberdeen operations. Evans will be responsible for leading and managing the company’s Aberdeen oil and gas team and growing revenues in line with the company’s development plans for the North Sea region. He replaces Martyn Foote, who now leads ESR Technology’s Middle Eastern operations.

The use of synthetic components in deepwater mobile offshore drilling unit (MODU) mooring systems has become a viable option to extend the mooring capabilities of a MODU. To date, the use of synthetic components in MODU moorings has been limited mostly to polyester, with few exceptions. In a recent study, one alternative synthetic mooring component, high modulus polyethylene (HMPE), for use in deepwater MODU mooring systems is determined it can be engineered to perform similarly to a polyester system in deepwater applications, including survivability and with improved station keeping ability.

Deepwater drilling today – in the Gulf of Mexico and other basins worldwide – often involves drilling both salt and subsalt intervals. Over the past decade, the use of expandable concentric underreamers or “hole openers” in deepwater drilling has become widespread. An estimated 75% of the salt/subsalt sections in the GoM now use underreamers. There are various reasons to enlarge a hole, including to enhance equivalent circulating density, to reduce cementing pressures, and to counter salt creep so casing will reach bottom. Underreamers are especially important in deepwater wells that require numerous casing strings.

Enventure’s recent record-setting installation of solid expandable tubulars in ultra deep Gulf of Mexico (GoM) waters establishes a new era for technology once contained to contingency applications. Today, expandable tubulars are increasingly seen as an opportunity to reach oil and gas resources in reservoirs of extreme depth, pressure, and temperature.

The integration of multiple data sets enables a more robust subsalt interpretation and provides a new method to predict structural traps that are cored by deep allochthonous salt in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico.

The Deep Offshore Technology International Conference and Exhibition (DOT) returns to Houston Feb. 2-4, 2010, at the George R. Brown Convention Center with this year’s theme “Knowledge is Your Edge.” The theme indicates the critical role of technology in finding, developing, and producing oil and gas in deepwater and ultra deepwater regions around the world. For more than 22 years, DOT has been a forum for industry leaders to address technical issues, to introduce pioneering technology, and to share lessons learned about.

Just as the voyagers of the science fiction Starship Enterprise probed the outer reaches of space to reveal new worlds, oil and gas exploration teams, working in the real world, have boldly gone where no one has gone before to discover giant fields in the deepest reaches of the Gulf of Mexico. They have taken a peek at billions of barrels of potential reserves. There are no Klingons to battle, but the operators and service companies will have to deploy next-generation technologies, some still in design and development, to overcome the greatest risks the industry has encountered to date. The technology challenges include extreme water and target depths, seismically dense salt canopy, low-porosity and low-permeability reservoirs, and high-pressure/high-temperature (HP/HT) downhole conditions.

Drilling in the US Gulf of Mexico continued to decline in 2009 and is forecast to be flat this year; however, activity has been steady in deepwater, notably in water depths of greater than 3,000 ft (914 m). Operators in 2009 announced 13 deepwater discoveries, 10 of which are in greater than 3,000 ft of water and on pace with the previous two years. The 2009 deepwater discoveries, announced through end-November, represent nearly 1.4 Bboe, the most found in a single year in the GoM since 2002, according to Wood Mackenzie. One discovery, BP-operated Tiber, is estimated by Wood Mackenzie to hold about 600 MMboe of recoverable reserves, ranking it as one of the largest deepwater fields in the GoM.

Drydocks World has delivered the newbuild 3D seismic vessel Polarcus Nadia, the first of a series of four to be built at the yard.

Norway’s Petroleum Safety Authority has approved Statoil’s planned exploration drilling program in the Norwegian Sea with the semi-sub Ocean Vanguard.

Coastal Energy is mobilizing an Atwood-owned rig to drill the Songkhla B exploration prospect in the Gulf of Thailand.

CNOOC has started production from its JinZhou 25-1 South (JZ25-1S) and Caofeidian (CFD)18-2 oil and gas fields in Bohai Bay ahead of schedule.

Russia and Turkmenistan have signed amendments to a long-term gas purchase and sales contract established in April 2003.

Topaz Energy and Marine has sold its offshore support vessel TEAM Siam to Thailand-based Mermaid Offshore Services Ltd for $ 29.5 million.

Spring Energy is to acquire a 20 % working interest in Norwegian North Sea license PL 377S from operator Idemitsu Petroleum Norge.

The modification program on the Snorre field is the most extensive on the Norwegian shelf, according to operator Statoil.

Semco Maritime has delivered equipment for two oil tankers undergoing conversion into FPSOs at the Drydocks World yard in Dubai.

Topaz Energy and Marine, has closed a long-term financing deal valued at $42 million with Standard Chartered Bank, Dubai.

Germany has issued approvals for its section of the offshore route for the Nordstream gas trunkline from northern Russia.

The deck and four-legged hull of the Gjøa semi-submersible have been mated together in Norway, according to the field’s development operator Statoil.

The semi-submersible Bredford Dolphin has completed drilling of a dry well on the Skardkollen prospect in the Norwegian North Sea for operator Det norske oljeselskap.

Delek Drilling and Avner Oil Exploration have signed a letter of intent with Israel Electricity Corporation concerning the supply of gas from the Tamar Project in the Levantine Basin offshore Israel.

The Norwegian Petroleum Directorate has granted Det norske oljeselskap a drilling permit for wellbore 6507/11-10.

Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) announces that it has successfully carried out an assessment of the design capacity of the KG D6 deepwater gas production facilities on December 23, 2009.

The Browse Joint Venture participants have accepted renewal offers for Browse Basin retention leases.

Brazil’s largest independent OGX has found two hydrocarbon-bearing intervals in its 1-OGX-3-RJS well in block BM-C-41 in shallow waters of the southern Campos basin, the company says.

Frank’s Casing Crew & Rental Tools, Inc. announces three additions to its Board of Directors.

On Dec. 22, the drilling rig Transocean Legend was remanned at the Poseidon-2 well in WA-398-P, offshore Australia, following Cyclone Lawrence.

Ensco International’s stockholders have approved a plan to change the company's corporate structure.

Delmar Systems has installed its 100th OMNI-Max anchor in the Gulf of Mexico.

China Oilfield Services Ltd. (COSL) has taken delivery of the jackup COSL 937.

Energy XXI (Bermuda) has acquired Gulf of Mexico shelf oil and natural gas interests from MitEnergy Upstream.

OGX Petróleo e Gás Participações has hit pay with the 1-OGX-2A-RJS well in the block BM-C-41 in the Campos basin. OGX holds a 100% working interest in the block.

When the Chevron-operated Tahiti development began production in 2Q 2009 as the deepest field in the Gulf of Mexico, it secured a place on Offshore’s Top 5 projects list. The fact that the $2.7-billion first phase of the project consists of six subsea wells in two drill centers, including the deepest producing well in the GoM at more than 26,700 ft (8,138 m) connected to a spar floating production system, cemented the recognition.

GE Oil & Gas and Al Shaheen Energy Services have signed two partnership agreements, consolidating PII Pipeline Solutions’ presence in Qatar and the Middle East, and establishing a JV for aftermarket services of Turbomachinery equipment in Qatar.

San Leon Energy is closer to a merger with Island Oil & Gas.

Petroleum Safety Authority Norway has approved Lundin Norway’s request to drill exploration well 16/4-5 in the Norwegian North Sea using the semisubmersible Transocean Winner.

Det norske oljeselskap has completed its merger with Aker Exploration.

The Mahogany Deep-2 appraisal well offshore Ghana has confirmed the down-dip extent of the main Jubilee reservoirs and intersected two new light oil accumulations, Kosmos Energy says.

Dragon Oil has contracted Naftna Industrija Srbije (NIS) Naftagas for lease and management of a land rig for its operations in the Cheleken Contract Area offshore Turkmenistan.

ConocoPhillips Australia has awarded Neptune Marine Services a combined services contract for the Bayu-Undan gas recycle facility in the Timor Sea.

The editors of Offshore have made their choices for the winners of the Five Star Award – the top five offshore field development projects for 2009 -- and proudly announce the winners in this issue.

The projects are selected on the basis on best use of innovation in production method, application of technology, and resolution of challenges, along with safety, environmental protection, and project execution. In no particular order, the top five offshore field development projects for 2009 are:

BP Norge has awarded Aker Solutions an engineering, procurement, construction, and installation (EPCI) contract for a tieback from the Oselvar field to the Ula platform.

Noble Corp. has awarded Keppel FELS Brasil a $152-million contract to upgrade and repair a third Brazil-based drillship.

Reliance Industries Ltd. (RIL) has made its third successive gas discovery in block KG-DWN-2003/1 (KG-V-D3) in the Krishna basin, offshore India.

Devon Energy has agreed to sell its interests in three Lower Tertiary development projects in the Gulf of Mexico to Maersk Oil for $1.3 billion.

The Norwegian Petroleum Directorate (NPD) has issued Nexen Exploration Norge a permit to drill wildcat well 35/9-5 in production license 419 using the semisub West Alpha.

Wildcat well 6407/12-2 in the North Sea is dry, says operator GDF SUEZ E&P Norge.

The Petroleum Safety Authority Norway (PSA) has granted Det norske Oljeselskap consent to drill appraisal well 16/1-11 in the northern Norwegian North Sea using the semisub Songa Delta.

The FPSO Ningaloo Vision left Singapore on Dec. 18, and is now en route to the Van Gogh field, offshore Australia.

Island Offshore has awarded STX Europe contracts totaling $137 million for the construction of two platform supply vessels.

North Sea wildcat well 34/3-2 S is dry says operator BG Norge.

Shell Development (Australia) has signed an LoI with Songa Offshore to use Songa Venus for its 2010 exploration drilling campaign offshore Australia.

ONGC/OVL, in association with Hinduja Group and Petronet LNG, have agreed with Iranian authorities to develop gas fields and liquefaction facilities in Iran in return for a minimum 6 million metric tons of LNG per annum on long-term basis.

The Rogaland county public prosecutor has fined Statoil $4.2 million following the oil leak from the Statfjord A loading buoy on Dec. 12, 2007.

EnCore Oil expects to participate in wells on two exploration/appraisal prospects in the UK North Sea next year. Both programs would be supervised by well management group ADTI.

Australia’s government has approved award and transfer of interests in four permits in the greater Roebuck basin offshore Western Australia.

An undisclosed client has awarded Transocean a three-year contract for the moored deepwater semisubmersible rig GSF Celtic Sea.

Cairn has contracted the drillship Stena Forth for summer 2010 drilling operations in the Disko West area, offshore Western Greenland.

Petrobras has awarded Technip, in association with JGC Corp. and Modec Inc., a lump-sum contract for the front-end engineering design (FEED) of a proposed floating liquefied natural gas unit (FLNG) for the pre-salt reservoirs of the Santos basin, offshore Brazil.

Lloyd’s Register has acquired Scandpower, a provider of risk management services.

Seajacks International has signed a conditional amalgamation agreement with R/C Europe Offshore Investment Partnership (Riverstone).

Hess Corp. has acquired Shell's 28.09% interest in the Valhall field and its 25% interest in the satellite Hod field.

Wilhelmsen Ships Service has opened its 20th port office in Australia.

Petrobras, BG Group, Repsol, and Galp Energia, partners in the joint venture to build an onboard natural gas liquefaction unit (ONGU) for Brazil’s pre-salt area, have signed agreements with tender bidders to develop front-end engineering and design for the liquefaction unit.

The semisubmersible vessel Fjord has discharged modules for the EGTL project in Nigeria, according to Fairstar Heavy Transport NV (FAIR).

Moyno, Inc. has unveiled the Moyno Metering Pump, featuring new pumping elements and new, integral VFD/Motor Controls.

J. Ray McDermott (Norway) has acquired a 50% interest in North Ocean II, a 50% partnership interest in North Ocean II KS, and a 75% interest in North Ocean V from Oceanteam.

Total E&P Indonesia has awarded PT. Lerindro Internasional a three-year contract to supply casing annulus packers, port collars, and metal-to-metal seal HATCH packers.

Wintershall Noordzee has discovered further oil while appraising the 1986 Ravn discovery in the Danish North Sea.

Chrysaor has completed two successful appraisal wells on the Solan oil field west of Shetland, which should help expedite development in 2010.

Melrose Resources expects to drill the East Kaliakra gas prospect in the Bulgarian sector of the Black Sea next summer.

Shell has awarded Aker Solutions a $34-million engineering, procurement, construction, and installation (EPCI) contract for a produced water re-injection system on the Draugen field in the North Sea.

PA Resources has budgeted funds for 10 to 12 exploratory wells next year, on prospects with cumulative resources estimated at around 650 MMboe.

Oil and gas production companies in the UK are more positive about the economic outlook than at the turn of the year, according to a new quarterly business confidence index from Oil & Gas UK.

BP and Dolphin Drilling have settled a contractual dispute concerning the drilling rig Byford Dolphin.

Nord Stream has received a permit to construct the 123-km (76-mi) Russian section of its 1,223-km (760-mi) natural gas pipeline through the Baltic Sea.

Origin Energy Resources, operator of the BassGas joint venture, has made a final investment decision on the Yolla mid-life enhancement (MLE) project.

Flowserve Corp. and Italian valve manufacturer Valbart Srl have formed a joint venture called Flowserve/Valbart Flow Control.

Maritime Industrial Services Co. has appointed Dr. Karim El Solh as chairman of the board.

The US Minerals Management Service (MMS) has appointed David W. Cooke as regional supervisor for resource evaluation in the organization’s Gulf region office.

Strike Energy has secured an option to acquire an 80% interest in the Cadlao oilfield, offshore Philippines.

Hornbeck Offshore Services has awarded Marlink a contract to supply communications for the multi-purpose support vessels HOS Iron Horse and HOS Strongline.

Yantai Raffles Shipyard has completed the world’s heaviest commercial lift after lifting the deckbox of Saipem’s semisub Scarabeo 9 using its 20,000-metric ton (22,046-ton) crane Taisun.

MacDonald Energy has launched offices in Perth, Rio de Janeiro, and Houston.

Petrobras has signed a letter of intent with SBM Offshore for a 18-year lease and operate contract of the company's existing FPSO Espadarte on the Baleia Azul field, offshore Brazil.

R&M Energy Systems’ ERT technology is now available in a 2-7/8-in. power section.

2H Offshore’s online riser monitoring system on Chevron's Tahiti platform in the Gulf of Mexico passed its six month service mark at the end of November.

Petroceltic International has increased its participating interest in offshore Italy permit B.R268.RG, which includes the Elsa discovery, from 40% to 70%.

Reliance Exploration & Production DMCC has appointed Walter Van De Vijver as president and CEO.

Applus RTD UK has appointed David Whittle and Vincent Amu as senior business managers to consolidate and expand the company’s offering across the power and asset integrity sectors.

Foster Wheeler AG has appointed Robert Flexon as CEO, effective June 1, 2010.

Gasol has appointed Ewen Wigley as COO.

Stabil Drill has hired Iuri Valmorbida as a part of its international business development team for Latin America.

M-I SWACO has acquired UK-based Cyclotech.

exploratory well on the Itaipu prospect in the Campos basin, offshore Brazil, has hit pay, according to operator Devon.

Gardline has appointed Gary Thirkettle as business development manager for the company’s marine sciences metocean capability.

The Owowo South B-1 well offshore Nigeria has hit pay, according to operator Total Exploration & Production Nigeria.

Petrofac expects 2009 total production from the North Sea’s Don fields to reach 3 MMbbl.

Gazprom and Petrovietnam have signed a strategic partnership agreement.

InterMoor has received ISO 9001:2000 certification for its subsea services facility in Lafayette, Louisiana.

Shell Philippines Exploration has awarded Transfield Services WorleyParsons’ joint venture (TSWP) a seven-year contract to deliver integrated services to the offshore Philippines Malampaya gas facility.

Wildcat well 6507/3-8 in the North Sea has proved gas, according to Statoil.

ExxonMobil is preparing to re-start drilling operations from the Beryl Alpha platform in the UK Northern North Sea.

Chariot Oil & Gas has appointed Matthew Taylor as exploration director and Julia Kemper as senior staff geophysicist.

China National Offshore Oil Corp. (CNOOC) has signed a production sharing contract (PSC) with BG Group for block 63/16.

Wintershall Noordzee has awarded Plexus Holdings a two-year contract with a one-year extension option to supply POS-GRIP wellhead technology and mudline suspension systems for exploration activities in the Dutch North Sea.

Lundin Petroleum is acquiring Talisman's 10% interest in PL265 in the North Sea.

Acergy has acquired the pipelay vessel Borealis.

TSMarine Subsea is trading under a new name, Marine Subsea (UK) Ltd., after the company completed a management buy-out (MBO) with support from Marine Subsea AS in September.

BJ Services has completed pre-commissioning work for Helix Energy Solutions Group on an 18-well subsea production system on the KG-D6 field in the Krishna Godavari basin, offshore India.

ExxonMobil has awarded Petrolink a frame agreement for the provision of training, support, and operations services of process simulators for the Balder, Jotun, and Ringhorne fields off Norway.

The Mubarek H2 well offshore Sharjah, UAE, is back onstream, according to Sky Petroleum Inc.

COSCO (Dalian) Shipyard Co. has delivered a newbuild multi-purpose heavy lift carrier ADAM ASNYK to Chipolbrok, a joint venture between Chinese and Polish governments.

TDW Offshore Services (TDW) and Amserve Engineering have completed a pipeline pressure isolation operation in Malaysia on behalf of Malaysia LNG (MLNG).

Statoil has tested a new method that simplifies drilling operations in unstable formations on the Brage field.

AnTech has added a new derivative to its range of wellhead outlets.

Finnish utilities Fortum and Teollisuuden Voima (TVO) have entered into an agreement with Maersk Oil and Maersk Tankers to develop a joint carbon emissions abatement project in the area of Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS).

Petrobras has awarded Converteam a contract to upgrade control systems on ultra deepwater drilling semisubmersible P-XXIII.

Sand Monitoring Services (SMS) has been awarded two new contracts totalling over $2.4 million by two providers of well testing services.

Wood Group has opened a new office in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Zhejiang Shipbuilding Co. has awarded Noble Denton a contract for failure mode and effects analysis (FMEA) and trials for a ten-vessel newbuild program, due for completion in 2012.

The newbuild Well Enhancer has completed its inaugural well intervention project for Nexen Petroleum UK on the Buzzard S2 well in the North Sea, according to Helix Well Ops UK.

ESR Technology has appointed Dr. John Evans as GM of its Aberdeen operations.

Dalia Power Energies has agreed to purchase gas from the partners in the Tamar and Dalit Leases in the deepwater Levantine basin to fuel a proposed power plant on the Israeli mainland.

Installation of the Dzheitune (Lam) B platform has been completed in the Turkmen sector of the Caspian Sea, according to operator Dragon Oil.

Teekay Petrojarl Production has signed a frame agreement with Aibel for future modification projects on FPSOs in Norway, the UK, and Brazil.

Maersk Oil North Sea UK has awarded Plexus Holdings a three-year contract with a further two-year option clause to supply its HP/HT POS-GRIP wellhead technology, casing support, and mudline suspension services for exploration programs in the North Sea.

BP has awarded Technip two contracts for the Schiehallion field development in the North Sea, west of the Shetland Islands.

First Subsea has installed four diverless bend stiffeners for risers and umbilicals on two submerged turret loading (STL) buoys on the Neptune deepwater project North and South, off the coast of Gloucester, Massachusetts.

Production has begun from the Oyo field, offshore Nigeria, according to Allied Energy and Eni affiliate Nigerian Agip Exploration.

DOF Subsea has taken delivery of a deep-swimming ROV from Saab Seaeye.

DSV vessels Gulmar Eagle, Adams Arrow, and Boa Rover, which were working in Lake Maracaibo for maintenance of the oil and gas pipelines, have been released by Petróleos de Venezuela (PDVSA) and are now sailing to the US and Panama, according to Gulmar Offshore Middle East.

Litre Meter is supplying 44 positive displacement flowmeters for a joint venture project between PremierOil and PetroVietnam, in block 12W offshore Vietnam.

Ulstein Design has signed six ship design contracts with Brazilian shipowners Companhia Brasileira de Offshore (CBO) and DSND Consub totaling over $69 million.

Petrobras has awarded John Crane a three-year dry gas seal repair services contract.

Keppel FELS is on track to deliver the West Vencedor, the sixth of seven KFELS semisubmersible drilling tenders, to Seadrill before the end of the year.

Mustang has appointed Mike Dear as CFO.

Atwood Oceanics has appointed Robert J. Saltiel as president and CEO.

A consortium comprising DONG Energy, E.ON, and Masdar has awarded JDR Cable Systems a contract to supply subsea power array cables for the first phase of the London Array offshore wind farm.

SSP Offshore has completed global environment testing of its SSP320 and SSP Plus platforms at the LabOceano/Coppe testing basin in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Operator Chevron has made a natural gas discovery in the Carnarvon basin, offshore Western Australia.

Husky Energy is increasing its 2010 capital expenditure program and production guidance to $3.1 billion, an increase of 20% over 2009.

Afren has upgraded volumetrics for the Ebok field, offshore Nigeria.

The semisub Songa Venus has spudded the Cornea-3 well offshore Australia, according to operator Hawkestone Oil.

The Albacore-1 well is dry, according to operator Westech.

Chevron Australia has awarded Technip a front-end engineering design contract for the Wheatstone project’s offshore processing platform.

The service contract 54 block A (SC 54A) joint venture partners have approved development of the Tindalo oilfield, offshore Philippines.

Cairn Lanka has begun a 3D seismic acquisition in the Mannar basin offshore Sri Lanka.

Following the exercise of a right of first refusal by Sociedad Nacional De Combustiveis De Angola (SONANGOL), the company’s wholly owned subsidiary, Sociedad Pesquisa E Producao, has agreed to purchase a 20% undivided working interest in Angola block 32 from Marathon Oil.

Superior Energy Services has agreed to acquire Hallin Marine Subsea International.

Bardex has completed factory acceptance tests of the Prirazlomnaya rig skidding system.

Siem Offshore has awarded STX Europe contracts totaling $157 million to design and build two platform supply vessels.

Hyperdynamics has appointed Fred S. Zeidman to its board of directors.

Chevron Corp. has announced its capital and exploratory spending program for 2010, which includes $17.3 billion in total upstream expenditures.

InterOcean Systems has unveiled its Slick Sleuth oil spill detection and alarm systems.

Shell and Oceaneering International have set a new industry record in subsea well intervention by replacing a failed subsurface-controlled subsurface safety valve in the Gulf of Mexico using an openwater wireline technique at a water depth of 2,673 ft (815 m).

The Minerals Management Service (MMS) has accepted high bids valued at $111,385,124 and awarded 155 leases to the successful high bidders who participated in Western Gulf of Mexico Oil and Gas Lease Sale 210 held on Aug. 19, 2009.

Results from the Knotty Head appraisal well in the Gulf of Mexico Green Canyon block 512 are expected in 2Q 2010, according to operator Nexen. The semisub Ensco 8501 is drilling the well.

R.S. Platou (USA) Inc. has appointed Bob Donley as president.

Production has now hit over one million barrels of oil at the Parque das Conchas fields offshore Brazil, according to operator Shell.

Burullus Gas Co. has awarded Technip a $96-million lumpsum engineering, procurement, installation, and construction contract for the West Delta Deep Marine (WDDM) Phase VII development project.

New production well A-10A has lifted total output from the Varg field to more than 26,000 b/d from 11,600 b/d in the third quarter, according to operator Talisman Energy.

How a variety of factors affecting oil prices will play out in 2010 was addressed yesterday by Adam Sieminsk, chief economist, Deutsche Bank/Global Markets Commodities Research, at the 2009 Deloitte Oil & Gas Conference.

An “age of plenty” is predicted for natural gas in the United States in a survey released by Deloitte yesterday at its 2009 Oil & Gas Conference.

Siem WIS has tested and qualified its pressure control device (PCD) technology together with Statoil’s control system for managed pressure drilling (MPD).

Total E&P Angola has awarded DOF Subsea an $8-million contract to provide geotechnical survey services for the CLOV development field, offshore Angola.

On Dec. 9, the newbuild seismic vessel Polarcus Asima was launched to sea at the Drydocks World - Dubai shipyard.

Hunting has acquired the Welltonic Group of Companies, a provider of well intervention services.

Advanced Logistics has installed SAMMPreventer V3.0 marine and logistics management software on Genesis Offshore’s fleet.

Bhagwan Marine is rolling out the Mobilarm Crewsafe wireless safety system across its fleet of oil and gas marine vessels following successful installations in November.

The Lucius exploration well in Keathley Canyon block 875 in the Gulf of Mexico has hit pay, according to operator Anadarko.

ConocoPhillips (Browse Basin) has exercised its option to acquire an additional 9% interest in exploration permits WA-314-P and WA-315-P from Karoon Gas (Browse Basin).

BJ Services has set a world record for cementing the longest solid expandable tubular liner for an operator in the Gulf of Mexico.

Emas Offshore Construction and Production has awarded Keppel Shipyard a contract for the conversion of a Suezmax tanker into an FPSO.

Maersk Oil North Sea UK has awarded EnerMech a $1.6-million contract to provide flexible hose inspection and maintenance services for the GPIII, Gryphon, and Janice fields.

Britain’s oil and gas industry will give a mixed reception to new measures announced today by the government, according to Deloitte LLP.

Analox Sensor Technology has appointed Rob Cornish as head of commercial sales.

Vietsopetro has awarded Seadrill a one-year contract extension for the jackup rig West Larissa.

Esso Highlands Ltd. has awarded Saipem a contract for the PNG LNG offshore pipeline project EPC2.

The African Union (AU) will meet today and Thursday at its headquarters in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia for the second Conference of Ministers responsible for hydrocarbons.

Apache North Sea has extended its contract with flexlife.

The Loré-1 well in the Timor Sea contract area JPDA 06-103 has reached a total depth of 3,581 m (11,749 ft), according to operator Oilex.

Formations tests on the Iara well (1-BRSA-618-RJS or 1-RJS-656) in the Santos basin pre-salt, offshore Brazil, have confirmed estimated recoverable volumes of 3 to 4 Bbbl of light oil and natural gas.

Total’s Owowo South B-1 exploratory well earlier this year off Nigeria was an oil discovery, partner Nexen has confirmed.

Hercules Offshore has appointed Thomas Bates as chairman of the company’s board of directors, effective Dec. 31.

On Dec. 14, Otto Energy is scheduled to begin a 590-sq km (228-sq mi) 3D seismic data acquisition in SC55 in the south west Palawan basin, offshore the Philippines.

Husky has made a gas discovery on block 29/26 in the South China Sea.

Helix Energy Solutions has awarded Wood Group a contract to provide commissioning services and offshore personnel for the Helix Producer I, the first ship-shaped floating production unit (FPU) in the US Gulf of Mexico.

Over the last year, iicorr has supplied impressed current cathodic protection products for a retrofit on the Stena Tay deepwater drilling rig and for Diamond Offshore Drilling’s semisubmersible Ocean Winner.

The falling costs of building and operating upstream oil and gas facilities may be close to a reversal, according to a study by IHS Cambridge Energy Research Associates (CERA) just announced.

Quantapoint has promoted Matt Gastgeb to VP of operations and Pittsburgh site manager.

Total has acquired a 25% interest in the Guyane maritime permit from Hardman Petroleum France, an affiliate of Tullow Oil.

Bluewater Industries has contracted Clough to provide installation support services for the ATP Telemark Hub project in the Gulf of Mexico.

ExxonMobil and its co-venturers will start development of the Papua New Guinea (PNG) liquefied natural gas (LNG) project next year, following the completion of sales and purchase agreements with LNG buyers and finalization of financing arrangements.

Schlumberger has released its OPTICall thermal profile and investigation service.

Daily oil production from the Beatrice/Jacky development in the UK Moray Firth has set a new record of over 14,000 b/d, according to operator Ithaca Energy.

Dana Petroleum (E&P) has acquired a 23% participating interest in Hyperdynamics' oil and gas concession offshore the Republic of Guinea.

PPL Shipyard (PPL) has signed a contract to sell an under construction jackup rig to Vietsopetro, the national oil company of Vietnam.

New Zealand’s Ministry of Economic Development has awarded exploration permit PEP 51906 to Octanex NZ.

National Oilwell Varco has acquired Hochang Machinery Industries, a Korea-based manufacturing and fabrication business, and South Seas Inspection, a Singapore-based inspection, repair, and maintenance provider for $160 million.

Statoil has awarded Technip an engineering, procurement, construction, and installation lump sum contract for the Åsgard gas transfer project in the North Sea.

The Odum-2 appraisal well has confirmed the 2008 Odum oil discovery on the West Cape Three Points block, offshore Ghana, according to operator Kosmos Energy.

Aquatera has developed RADMAPP, a software solution that combines different datasets including the latest marine geographic information data from SeaZone.

UMW Oil & Gas and SWG Offshore International have formed UMW Deepnautic.

Norway’s Petroleum Safety Authority has granted Statoil consent to drill and complete up to four wells in two subsea templates on the Morvin field using the rig Scarabeo 5.

Schlumberger has released the EM Pipe Scanner electromagnetic casing inspection tool.

The Minerals Management Service (MMS) has approved, with conditions, Shell Gulf of Mexico’s exploration plan to drill three exploratory, information-gathering wells in the Chukchi Sea.

Repsol and Galp Energia have joined a venture to build an onboard natural gas liquefaction unit (ONGU) for blocks BM-S-9 and BM-S-11 in the Santos basin's Pre-Salt Pole, offshore Brazil.

Schlumberger has released the MaxCO₃ Acid degradable diversion acid system.

Meeting the world’s growing energy needs requires commitment and endurance by industries, governments, and people from all over the world, Rich Kruger, president of ExxonMobil Production Co., said in a keynote address at the 2009 International Petroleum Technology Conference in Doha.

Process Pigging Systems has unveiled a new line of pigs for cleaning sanitary tube process pipelines.

Dubai Petroleum Establishment (DBE) is using a new well integrity monitoring tool for its production operations offshore Dubai.

Senergy has established Senergy Software Ltd., an Aberdeen-based software division.

Well 1-OGX-2A-RJS in the Campos basin has hit pay, according to OGX.

Offshore Hydrocarbon Mapping has appointed Dr. Arthur Cheng as VP of research based in Houston, Texas.

The government of Indonesia has awarded Talisman Andaman the Andaman III license block.

Foster Wheeler has appointed Clive Vaughan as CEO of the upstream oil and gas group within the company's global engineering and construction group.

J. Ray McDermott has appointed Stephen M. Johnson as president and CEO, effective Jan. 1, 2010.

First Australian Resources (FAR) has received a one-year extension to the first renewal period under the contract for exploration and hydrocarbon production sharing covering the Rufisque and Sangomar and Sangomar Deep blocks, offshore Senegal.

Brazilian independent oil company OGX will spud its third well in the offshore BM-C-41 block in the Campos basin this month, company CFO Marcelo Torres said during a webcast.

Woodside Energy has contracted Clough AMEC for offshore maintenance services on the company’s Australian oil and gas assets.

Serica Energy has agreed to sell some of its Asia-Pacific E&P interests to KrisEnergy, a newly formed company based in Singapore.

The jackup Ensco-107 has spudded the Albacore-1 exploration well in the Taranaki basin, according operator Westech.

The drillship Belford Dolphin has left port in Mozambique to drill the first of four wells in the Rovuma Offshore Area.

DONG is working on a temporary solution to stabilize the water buffer tank of the Siri platform in the Danish North Sea, according to partner Noreco.

McDermott International (McDermott) is separating its operating subsidiaries, The Babcock & Wilcox Co. (B&W) and J. Ray McDermott, S.A. (J. Ray), into two independent, publicly traded companies.

Keppel FELS is on schedule to deliver the ENSCO 8502, the third of seven ENSCO 8500 Series semisubmersible drilling rigs, to Ensco International.

Tullow Oil has awarded Exceed a performance improvement contract to support offshore drilling operations on the Jubilee project, offshore Ghana.

Fairfield Energy has awarded BIS Salamis a contract for fabric maintenance services on its Dunlin assets in the North Sea.

Sakhalin Energy Investment Co. has appointed Andrei Galaev CEO.

The Norwegian Petroleum Directorate has granted Statoil a permit to drill a wildcat well in production license 057 using the semisub Ocean Vanguard.

Commissioning of the Kupe facilities has begun, according to operator Origin Energy.

The Canada-Nova Scotia Offshore Petroleum Board has issued Call for Bids NS09-1.

Chevron USA has awarded FloaTEC a contract for the front-end engineering and design (FEED) of the hull, mooring, and risers for the Big Foot development facility in Gulf of Mexico.

Ithaca Energy (UK) has selected EnergySys’ production reporting and hydrocarbon allocation software for the Beatrice field in the North Sea.

Sensorlink has contracted Kentron Systems to sell and distribute its pipeline and process plant corrosion monitoring products throughout Canada.

Fugro GeoServices has completed the fieldwork portion of a shallow hazards survey in Alaska’s Chukchi Sea for Shell Exploration and Production.

Dan-Loc Bolt & Gasket has appointed Jeffrey A. Spillane as senior VP and CFO.

Reliance Exploration and Production (REP) and Ecopetrol are farming into Borojo North block 42 and Borojo South block 43 offshore Colombia.

Origin Energy is farming into two offshore Vietnam exploration blocks operated by Salamander Energy.

Petroleum Geo-Services (PGS) has sold its onshore seismic data acquisition business and onshore multi-client library business to Geokinetics Inc. for $210 million.

Insurers have condemned the jackup West Atlas following a fire on PTTEP Australasia's Montara wellhead platform in November.

BG Group has appointed Mark Seligman as a non-executive director.

Expro AX-S Technology has signed a Letter of Intent with Cecon ASA to agree, subject to contract, a five-plus-five-year charter of its first newbuild VS4220 vessel.

SOFEC has awarded First Subsea a contract to supply the mooring connectors for the Plutao, Saturno, Venus, and Marte (PSVM) FPSO to be installed in the ultra deepwater development in block 31 offshore Angola.

Well 1-OGX-2A-RJS in BM-C-41 block in the shallow waters of southern part of the Campos basin has hit pay, according to operator OGX.

CAPE Group has developed a semi-automatic, remotely controlled orbital welding system to repair oil and gas pipelines on the seabed.

BP appears to have the upper hand in a dispute concerning a rig contract with Dolphin Drilling.

TDW Offshore Services has completed a low pressure isolation operation on an export pipeline riser in the North Sea.

Al Marakeb Boat Manufacturing Co. LLC has developed an unmanned surface vessel, the Interceptor, designed to patrol offshore and coastal waters.

SOF CONSEIL, a Paris-based safety and environmental risk management services company, has joined the DNV group.

Omron Oilfield & Marine is partnering with ALTA Rig Systems (ARS) to deliver automated control systems for its electric drawworks product line.

WesternGeco began acquisition of the E-Octopus VII survey in November.

SLP Holdings, the parent company of UK offshore fabricator SLP Engineering, has entered administration.

Delivery of the floating storage and offloading vessel FSO Asia to Maersk Oil Qatar has been further delayed.

Petrofac Energy Developments has run into problems with its latest development well on the Don Southwest field in the UK North Sea.

BP Norge has contracted Aker Solutions for hook-up of the new process and hotel (PH) platform at the Valhall complex in the southern Norwegian North Sea.

Saudi Aramco has issued an overview of measures taken to safeguard the marine habitats close to its shallow-water Manifa field development in the Arabian Gulf.

SBC, the management consultancy arm of Schlumberger, has launched four new offices in New Delhi, Rio de Janeiro, Beijing, and Abu Dhabi.

Noble Denton has provided marine warranty services for the transportation and installation of two offshore platforms on the Yuri Korchagin oil field for LUKOIL.

The Dabakan-1 well in the South Sulu Sea has hit pay, according to operator ExxonMobil.

The US Patent and Trademark Office has awarded Mogas industries’ John Williams and Vinh Nguyen a patent for a thermally compensated mounting flange.

Trident Risk Management has opened in Houston, Texas.

Tyco Telecommunications has deployed a new shore-end plow in a recent cable landing operation.

Woodside Energy has awarded AusGroup a $28-million contract for fabrication services in support of a maintenance program on its North West Shelf offshore facilities.

Total Exploration & Production has appointed Olivier Cleret de Langavant as senior VP of finance economics information systems.

BJ Services has promoted Dave Drysdale to area manager for Northern Europe and West Africa (NEWA).

Corrosion Resistant Alloys (CRA) has appointed Jerry Rubli as senior sales engineer.

ER Offshore has extended its long-term positioning services agreement with Veripos.

In advance of the opening of the next UK continental shelf round, anticipated in January 2010, Hannon Westwood has released its 26th Round Screening Study.

Cairn Energy has agreed to acquire the 9.99% interest Dyas owns in Cairn’s exploration-focused subsidiary, Capricorn.

Petrobras has awarded Solstad Offshore (SOFF) contracts for the PSVs Normand Vibran and Normand Trym.

The National Petroleum Agency (ANP) has granted Petrobras authorization to drill a well in the northern area of the Santos basin´s pre-salt, outside the boundaries of previously bid on blocks.

Wildcat well 25/4-10 A in the North is uncommercial, according to Marathon Petroleum.

Petrobras has contracted the PSV Far Supporter under a three-year contract with Farstad Shipping, beginning in 1Q 2010.

GE Oil & Gas has awarded Neptune Deeptech a contract for five subsea tree frames to be installed on the deepwater Kizomba satellites project, offshore Angola.

Discovery well A1-54/01, offshore Libya, has flowed at a rate of 27 MMcf/d of natural gas and 533 b/d of condensate on a 52/64-in. choke, according to operator Hess Libya Exploration Ltd.

The University of California at Berkeley, the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), and Statoil have signed a $580,000 collaboration agreement establishing P2SL Mega-projects Initiative at Berkeley.

Noble Energy Cameroon has contracted Polarcus to conduct a 3D seismic acquisition project.

Det norske and Norse Cutting & Abandonment Norway (NCA) have cut and removed a wellhead from a vessel instead of a rig, a first on the Norwegian continental shelf.

The Houston Chapter of the Business Marketing Association (BMA) has presented George Foster, founder and president of Foster Marketing Communications, with a lifetime achievement award at the recent Lantern Awards of Texas.

Petrobras has awarded Gertsen & Olufsen a contract to supply vibration compensators for four product tankers and five Eisa container ships.

London Marine Consultants (LMC) has designed the external turret mooring system for Eni’s Aquila field FPSO.

CGG Veritas has begun a 3D seismic acquisition program over blocks 1811 A&B, offshore Namibia, for Chariot Oil & Gas.

Drill String Services Inc. has received ISO 9001:2008 certification for its Louisiana facility.

CNR International (UK) has awarded Subsea 7 a contract for installation of replacement subsea control modules (SCMs) and flexible jumpers on the Tiffany and Banff fields in the UK sector of the North Sea.

Petroleum Geo-Services says it plans to accelerate deployment of its GeoStreamer technology ahead of its original schedule. PGS says half of its 3D fleet will have the streamers by the end of 2010.

All signs at the Louisiana Gulf Coast Oil Exposition (LAGCOE) in Lafayette, Louisiana, this October were that the US oil and gas service industry looks forward to modest recovery in 2010. The mood at the second largest oil industry expo in the US was buoyant, with an eye toward the Gulf of Mexico lease sale in March, 2010.

Within the last few weeks, Technip has won contracts for work in the Gulf of Mexico, offshore Ghana, and in the North Sea.

Norske Shell has found gas with its latest appraisal well on the giant Ormen Lange field in the Norwegian Sea, but the result raises more questions than answers.

Wood Mackenzie’s latest market overview predicts a revival in global upstream spending in 2011, with investments climbing thereafter to around $350 billion in 2012. This is still down on last year’s five-year peak of $370 billion.

GLOBAL DATA

An appraisal well to test a western extension of the Kaskida field has confirmed oil in Lower Tertiary reservoirs 5 mi (8 km) west of the Kaskida discovery well, according to operator BP. The well, drilled to TD of 32,500 ft (9,906 m), is in Keathley Canyon block 291.

The self-propelled rig Sevan Driller has completed sea trials off the coast of China and is en route to Brazil to begin a six-year contract with Petrobras. The rig has an expected transit time of 75-80 days including bunkering in Singapore and a crew change in Cape Town, South Africa.

Modec has awarded Schat-Harding a contract to supply lifesaving equipment for BP’s PSVM FPSO conversion project.

Lloyd's Register Group has appointed Tim Kent, currently marine strategy and planning director, as technical director designate, effective January 2010.

MicroSeismic (Canada) ULC has appointed Chris Heaver as sales manager.

Bureau Veritas UK & Ireland has appointed Paul Barry as CEO.

Verdande Technology has appointed Kevin Brady as GM for the Western Hemisphere.

DNV has appointed Transocean VP N. Pharr Smith as the chairman of its rig owners’ committee.

Hyperdynamics has appointed William A. Young as executive VP for commercial affairs.

Verdande Technology has appointed Ali K. Garkasi as operations manager for the Middle East and North Africa.

Clough has appointed Neil Siford as CFO.

EnerMech has joined an oil and gas industry steering group that is reviewing guidelines for flexible hose management.

 New Zealand Oil & Gas (NZOG) has appointed Peter Griffiths as a director of the company, effective from today.

The US Patent and Trade Mark Office has issued SGS a patent for its retro Positive Material Identification (PMI) inspection system.

EnCana Corp. has split into two energy companies: Cenovus Energy Inc., an integrated oil company, and EnCana Corp., a pure play natural gas company.

Opus has completed a separator upgrade project on the Montrose platform in the North Sea for Talisman Energy (UK).

Regulators around the world are taking ever increasing interest in the integrity assurance activities adopted by operators as they strive to ensure increased offshore safety and reduced environmental impact. In the past, prescriptive measures were typically accepted. However, following, and possibly as a result of, recent offshore incidents, there is a drive towards implementing a goal-setting regime where the operator is required to demonstrate it is operating safely. As a result, risk-based integrity assurance is finding greater acceptance, as it targets critical components providing justification for each inspection, monitoring, or mitigation activity based on the probability of failure and the consequence for not only personal safety and the environment but also asset availability.

Wai Gao Qiao shipyard has awarded AMOT a contract to supply nine thermostatic temperature control valves and one 12-in. (30-cm) pneumatic control valve for China National Offshore Oil’s under-construction semisubmersible Hai Yang Shi You 98.

Helix Energy Solutions Group’s new deepwater pipelay vessel Caesar has left a Chinese shipyard and is transiting to the Gulf of Mexico.

Hyperdynamics and Repsol have signed a letter of intent that gives Repsol exclusive negotiating rights to take a 37% share in Hyperdynamics' offshore Guinea concession for $31.5 million.

Corus Tubes has received an American Petroleum Institute (API) 5LD accreditation for the manufacture of corrosion resistant, clad pipeline at its Hartlepool, UK mill.

An exploration well in Green Canyon block 490 in the Gulf of Mexico has hit oil and gas pay, according to Helix ESG subsidiary Energy Resource Technology GOM (ERT).

The semisub Transocean Winner has spudded appraisal well 16/1-13 on the Luno discovery in the North Sea.

Engineers constantly strive to develop new technology and to find solutions to counter the obstacles set by large field developments, deepwater activities, high-pressure/high-temperature (HP/HT) reserves, long step-outs, and increased oil recovery demands. It is always challenging to design a product or system that fulfills the industry requirements while keeping in focus all the constraints.

Caesar Systems has appointed Ken Blott as chief strategy officer. He will develop the company’s strategy formulation, business planning, and decision-making information capabilities.

Associated gas can hinder investment in remote offshore oilfields for a host of reasons. If volumes are low, re-injection may be feasible, depending on the risk to reservoir integrity. But the added well construction costs may render the development uneconomic.

Drilling solid liners in place has had success in recent years, whether as a reaming application where a pre-drilled hole is present, or by drilling the borehole without a pre-drill. Drill-in solid liners are valuable in difficult drilling conditions such as weak matrix strengths, loss circulation zones, and tight pore pressure/fracture gradient windows.

December 2009 marks the 10th anniversary of deepwater oil production from Angola. Since oil started flowing from Chevron’s Kuito field in late 1999, deepwater production from the country has grown to around 1.5 MMb/d, eclipsing deepwater output from the US Gulf of Mexico and Nigeria, and sitting in second place behind Brazil in the global deepwater oil rankings – a position it is likely to retain through continuing interest and investment.

The 2009 Deep Offshore Technology International Conference and Exhibit, held Nov. 3-5 at the Grimaldi Forum in Monaco, brought together more than 1,100 oil and gas professionals from 48 countries with a common interest in the conference theme of “Rising to the Deepwater Challenges.” Since its inception 29 years ago, DOT has been held annually on five different continents, collectively attracting more than 30,000 attendees over its tenure.

Production started on July 13 at Shell’s multi-field Parque das Conchas (called BC-10 in its early days) project 110 km (68 mi) off Brazil’s southeast coast. Production is via the FPSO Espírito Santo in the BC-10 field in the Campos basin, according to the BC-10 Joint Venture, which is operated by Shell with ONGC Campos and Petrobras as partners.

The Thunder Horse project in the Gulf of Mexico was chosen for this year’s Top 5 awards as a major contributor to deepwater technology, and one of the most important new sources of US energy supply.

Statoil’s Tyrihans is the largest-scale new subsea development this year in the Norwegian sector. The project came onstream this July, on schedule, almost three and a half years after gaining government approval. It is the first tieback to the high-pressure/high-temperature Kristin complex in the Norwegian Sea, also making extensive use of the Aasgard export and injection facilities.

Located in approximately 1,200 ft (366 m) of water in block 14 offshore Angola, Chevron’s $3.8 billion Tombua-Landana development project is expected to achieve peak production of 100,000 b/d of crude oil in 2011.

An alternative development concept is under review for the Crawford field re-development in the UK northern North Sea, according to partner Stratic Energy.c

The 2009 Atlantic hurricane season officially ends today, marking the close of a season with the fewest named storms and hurricanes since 1997, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

NCA has completed a subsea wellhead recovery operation at 265 m (869 ft) water depth in the North Sea.

Norwegian Energy Co. (Noreco) has pre-qualified as an exploration operator for the Greenland 2010 Baffin Bay licensing round.

Apache Energy has awarded Neptune Marine Services a contract for a combined services project offshore Western Australia.

Petrobras has awarded Aker Solutions a contract to supply three plets, two rigid jumpers, tools, and accessories for the P-55 platform on the Roncador field, offshore Brazil.

EXS Subsea has acquired Oceanteam Subsea Services Ltd.

dGB Earth Sciences has unveiled the Open Seismic Repository, which offers free seismic survey data.

The Trefoil 2 well in the Bass basin has reached a total depth of 3,235 m (10,614 ft) intersecting several gas-bearing sandstones within the targeted Eastern View Coal Measures, Origin Energy reports.

AuDAX Resources has awarded Petroleum Geoservices (PGS) a contract to conduct a 3D seismic survey over the Sambuca prospect, Dougga field, and other leads in the Kerkouane permit offshore Tunisia.

Access to funding for oil and gas projects is slowly easing, according to David Phillips, an equity analyst with HSBC.

If the UK wants to sustain a reasonable level of self-sufficiency in oil and gas, it will have to do so by bringing on stream a conveyor belt of smaller fields, according to industry association Oil & Gas UK.

Caspian Drilling Co. (CDC), a subsidiary of Azeri state oil company SOCAR, has contracted Northern Offshore for drilling support services in the Caspian Sea.

Sembawang Shipyard and Kakinada Seaports are set to form a joint venture company, Sembmarine Kakinada Ltd. (SKL) providing outfitting support services to offshore and merchant vessels operating in Indian waters.

Falklands Oil & Gas Ltd. (FOGL) is looking to raise funds to cover its share of a series of wells planned next year off the Falkland Islands.

Bacton Storage Company (BSCL) has contracted ESR Technology for a range of services for its proposed offshore/onshore Baird gas storage facilities.

Beach Petroleum expects first oil from the BP-operated North Shadwan project offshore Egypt by next June.

Brazilian independent OGX Petróleo e Gás Participações has found a second oil bearing interval at well 1-OGX-2A-RJS, in the BM-C-41 block of the Campos basin in shallow water.

Helis Oil & Gas Co. has awarded Atwood Oceanics a contract for a one-well drilling program in the US Gulf of Mexico using the cantilever submersible Richmond.

Petroleum Safety Authority has issued its consent for four exploration wells on the Norwegian shelf.

An undisclosed client has awarded Rock Solid Images a $1-million contract for rock physics and seismic inversion projects offshore West Africa.

The newbuild semisubmersible rig Development Driller III has begun operations in the Gulf of Mexico for a subsidiary of BP, under a seven-year drilling contract.

Saudi Arabia’s Environmental Protection Department (EPD) and the Offshore Projects Division of the Saudi Aramco’s Northern Area Projects Department (OPD/NAPD) have sponsored a coral relocation project in the Arabian Gulf.

The vessel Polarcus Nadia is scheduled to acquire a 2,000 sq km (772 sq mi) long-offset 3D survey for TGS in December.

The Petroleum Safety Authority of Norway has granted Rowan Companies Inc. an acknowledgement of compliance (AoC) for the jackup Rowan Gorilla VI, enabling the rig to begin operations in the Norwegian Sector of the North Sea.

The Petrovskaya-1 exploration well in the Lagansky block in the Russian sector of the northern Caspian is dry, according to Lundin Petroleum.

The Petroleum Saftey Authority Norway has granted Gassco consent to carry out modifications at the Kollsnes natural gas processing plant in Norway.

Offshore operations and maintenance expenditure could total more than $330 billion over the next five years – with the largest share allocated to North America during that time, according to Douglas-Westwood’s Offshore Operations and Maintenance Management Report 2010-2014.

Petrobras Netherlands has awarded Keppel Offshore & Marine a contract for the pre-conversion of the FPSO P-58 for the Campos basin.

Ellis Patents is supplying Emperor trefoil cleats for the Peregrino FPSO.

Swiber Holdings has won its first pipeline installation contract offshore Myanmar.

Beach Petroleum is proposing to change its name to Beach Energy.

Chevron North Sea has extended an existing ten-year contract with BIS Salamis (M&I) for one year.

Omani and Iranian oil ministers have re-started talks concerning exports of gas from Iran, according to the country’s Petroenergy Information Network (PIN).

The Songkhla A-08 development well on block G5/43 in the Gulf of Thailand has struck oil, according to Coastal Energy Co.

Statoil has commemorated 30 years of production from its giant Statfjord field in the Norwegian North Sea.

Eni has awarded Saipem a $1.5-billion contract for the supply and operation of an FPSO vessel.

Faroe Petroleum has pre-qualified as an operator for the Greenland 2010 Baffin Bay licensing round.

J. Ray McDermott has extended its existing contracts with Fugro Survey (Middle East) by 3.5 years to cover the provision of survey, positioning, and ROV services in the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, India, and Saudi Arabia.

Aker Solutions has opened a new $7-million subsea facility at its yard in Egersund, Norway.

ConocoPhillips Norway has signed a frame agreement with Aker Solutions for future modification contracts on installations in the Greater Ekofisk area of the North Sea.

Petrofac and Zamil Group Holding are opening a new service center facility in Saudi Arabia.

Castrol Offshore has centralized its operations, moving its aviation, marine and energy lubricants divisions to its Global Technology Centre in Pangbourne, UK.

Amsterdam-based BigLift Shipping has appointed Scan-Trans Beijing as its commercial representative for China.

Nexen Petroleum UK has awarded RDS a contract for drilling facilities concept design services for the Golden Eagle development in the North Sea.

BGP has begun the S64 and S53 seismic surveys off Saudi Arabia.

GE Oil & Gas has delivered a fully modularized gas turbine power generation system for the world’s first gravity-based offshore LNG terminal.

Acteon has appointed Will Rowley as group analyst.

Kairiki Energy has appointed Dr. Mark Fenton as MD.

Peacock has agreed to stock, distribute, and support flow measurement systems from AW-Lake’s AW Gear Meters and SABRE Flow Turbines product lines across Canada.

Bontan Corp., through a wholly owned subsidiary, has acquired an indirect 71.63% working interest in two drilling licenses and one exploration permit in the Levantine basin, offshore Israel.

Subsea 7's ROV support vessel Normand Subsea has begun work on the Ormen Lange field in the North Sea under a long-term underwater services contract with Shell.

Neptune Marine Services has acquired Submersible Technology Services (Holdings) Ltd. (STS) for $27 million.

Pacific Asia Petroleum has signed a purchase and sale agreement to acquire CAMAC Energy Holdings’ (CAMAC) interest in the Oyo oilfield, offshore Nigeria.

Pritchard Capital Partners has appointed Brian Kerrigan as senior VP of investment banking and Jeff Spittel as research analyst.

FMC Technologies has appointed Bradley D. Beitler as VP of technology.

Dragados Offshore has awarded ITT C’treat a $2.6 million contract to supply potable and process water treatment systems for a platform in the Bay of Campeche.

PV Drilling has issued a letter of award to Keppel FELS for a tender assist rig using KFELS SSDT 3600E design.

Twenty-three engineers and technicians have graduated from the second Middle East intake of GE’s Oil & Gas University Program, an initiative aimed at providing leadership and technology training for oil and gas professionals in Abu Dhabi.

Energy XXI (Bermuda) has acquired certain Gulf of Mexico shelf oil and natural gas interests from MitEnergy Upstream for $283 million.

Husky Energy has discovered additional oil resources in the White Rose area.

The Viodo Marine 4 vertical appraisal well (VIM-4) in Marine XI block, offshore the Republic of Congo, has tested at a combined maximum flow rate of approximately 2,600 b/d of oil and 7 MMcf/d of gas following two drill stem tests, SOCO International says.

Transocean has appointed Rob Saltiel as executive VP and COO.

Bridon has appointed Jonathan Templeman as CEO. He will develop a vision and strategy that will provide a development framework for Bridon over the next five years.

Petrobras has awarded Aker Solutions a $37-million contract to supply eight Mobo subsea boosting systems and one emergency valve (ESDV) for the Jubarte field in the Campos basin, offshore Brazil.

Noble has awarded Keppel FELS Brasil contracts totaling $304 million to upgrade and repair the drillships Noble Leo Segerius and Noble Roger Eason.

Heerema Marine Contractors has awarded Schlumberger a contract to supply a real-time riser tension monitoring system for nine single leg hybrid risers (SLHR), offshore Angola.

Eni has awarded BJ Services a contract for well services off Italy.

Oceaneering has awarded Containental Offshore an $830,000 contract to design and deliver 65 tool room containers for an ROV build program.

The Wahoo No. 2 (also called Wahoo North) appraisal/exploration well in the Campos basin has encountered more than 90 ft (295 m) of high-quality net oil pay in the same pre-salt interval as the original Wahoo discovery, Anadarko says.

Exploration well 15-01/05 LDN-1X on the Lac Da Nau prospect has hit pay, according to Phu Quy Petroleum Operating Exploration and Production Co.

The jackup ENSCO-107 is scheduled to spud the Albacore-1 exploration well this week, according to New Zealand Oil and Gas.

The semisub Songa Mercur has spudded the Loré-1 well in contract area JPDA 06-103 in the Timor Sea, according to operator Oilex.

Weatherford Norge has rented a cabin from HB Rentals under a one-year contract.

The self-propelled rig Sevan Driller has completed sea trials off the coast of China and has started its voyage to Brazil to begin a six-year contract with Petrobras.

SMT has opened a sales and support office in Abu Dhabi, UAE.

Hoang Long Joint Operating Co. has contracted Bumi Armada Berhad and Vietsovpetro for an FPSO destined for the Te Giac Trang field development, offshore Vietnam.

PetroVietnam Exploration Production has exercised its pre-emptive right to acquire a 10% participating interest, out of the proposed 15% assignment, from Premier Oil Vietnam South’s farmout of block 07/03 to Pan Pacific Petroleum (Vietnam) (PPPV).

Enegi subsidiary PDI Production (PDIP) has acquired a 100% interest in the St. George’s Group play on Exploration License 1070 from Shoal Point Energy (SPE) and Canadian Imperial Venture Corp. (CIVC).