Norwegian oil company Statoil has completed a 19-month exploration drilling program offshore Newfoundland, Canada, the aim of which was to increase the robustness of the Bay du Nord project and to test new areas of the Flemish Pass Basin. The company drilled nine wells using the Seadrill-owned West
Italian oilfield services provider and drilling contractor Saipem has been awarded several new drilling contracts and extensions to existing contracts. The contracts of a combined value of around 150 million euros, are for work in Portugal, Norway, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, Kazakhstan and Latin America
Global drilling and engineering contractor, KCA Deutag, has sold its jack-up drilling unit, the Ben Rinnes, to an integrated energy and services company for an undisclosed sum. Built in Clydebank, Scotland in 1973 and acquired by KCA Deutag in 2005, the Ben Rinnes was under contract offshore Angola
The Norwegian Petroleum Directorate has granted Lundin Norway a drilling permit for well 7220/11-3 AR, in the Barents Sea. The well 7220/11-3 AR will be drilled from Ocean Rig’s Leiv Eiriksson semi-sub drilling rig in production licence 609. Lundin and Ocean Rig signed a drilling contract for a mini
Norwegian oil company Statoil has completed the drilling of wildcat well 30/11-13, located offshore Norway. The well proved to be a minor gas/condensate discovery. Statoil, the operator of production licence 272 in the North Sea offshore Norway, started drilling the wildcat well in May. The well was
Maersk Drilling, a Danish offshore drilling contractor, has shared a photo of its fourth XL Enhanced jack-up rig taking shape at the DSME shipyard in South Korea. The driller said through social media that its XLE-4 rig, designed for ultra-harsh environment drilling, will become ‘the biggest and mos
Offshore driller Pacific Drilling has regained compliance with the New York Stock Exchanges’s continued listing requirements. The drilling company previously announced that it received a notice from the NYSE on January 13, 2016 that Pacific Drilling did not satisfy the $1.00 minimum share price stan
Quadrant Energy has set the timing and location of the Roc-2 well in WA-437-P, offshore Australia. Quadrant is the operator of the exploration permit with 80% interest, and Carnarvon Petroleum is its partner. Carnarvon said on Wednesday that the well has been designed to appraise and test the Roc-1
Oilfield services provider Baker Hughes reported on Tuesday that the international offshore rig count for May 2016 was up by nine rigs sequentially and down by 55 rigs year over year. This is the second month in a row that the international offshore rig count is exhibiting similar behavior as Baker
Independent Oil and Gas (IOG) has scheduled the appraisal well on the Skipper oil discovery, which lies in the Northern North Sea, to be drilled in July 2016. In January, IOG postponed the drilling of the Skipper well, that lies in Block 9/21a in licence P1609, due to low oil price and bad weather i
The Norwegian Petroleum Directorate (NPD) has granted Engie E&P Norge a drilling permit for well 36/7-4, offshore Norway. The well 36/7-4 will be drilled from the Transocean Arctic drilling rig after the rig concludes the drilling of wildcat well 31/7-1 A for Faroe Petroleum Norge in production lice
Japan’s Inpex has started drilling an exploration well offshore Japan. The well was spudded on Sunday, June 5. The drilling operations are part of a project commissioned by the Agency of Natural Resources and Energy of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) of Japan for the agency’s “Hei
Offshore drilling contractor North Atlantic Drilling could set up a joint venture company with a Singapore shipyard. Namely, the Seadrill subsidiary on Tuesday said it would extend its standstill agreement for the delivery of the West Rigel semi-submersible drilling rig from Jurong Shipyard in Singa
Seadrill, an offshore deepwater drilling contractor, has reached a safety milestone offshore Congo. Seadrill stated via social media on Monday that its jack-up rig the West Ariel has marked its eighth straight year without lost time injury (LTI). The KFELS ‘B’ class, independent jack-up rig, was bui
