Noble Energy, a U.S.-based offshore exploration company, has failed to find commercial hydrocarbons at its exploration well in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico. The company on Friday said its Silvergate exploration well, drilled on Mississippi Canyon Block 339, was being plugged and abandoned. Noble Energy o
Norway’s offshore safety watchdog, the Petroleum Safety Authority (PSA), has revealed the results of its investigation of a fatal incident on board the COSLInnovator rig that occurred in December 2015, offshore Norway. At the time of the incident, the COSL Innovator, built in 2011 and owned by COSL
Danish oil company Maersk Oil has extended a contract for the accommodation jack-up Haven, offshore Denmark. The current contract for the use of the accommodation jack-up Haven has been extended with two months. The total value of the extension is approximately $4.5 million. The oil company previous
The Norwegian Petroleum Safety Authority found several safety breaches during an audit of Rowan’s jack-up rig Rowan Viking, carried out in February 2016. During the audit, the rig was located on the Edvard Grieg field in the North Sea, offshore Norway. The objective of the audit was to verify compli
Sembcorp Marine, a Singapore-based rig builder, has yet to resolve a contractual dispute which began in November 2015, when its client, Marco Polo Drilling, broke off a rig construction deal. At the time, Marco Polo said it would terminate the $214 million rig construction deal it had signed in Febr
Oilfield services provider Baker Hughes announced on Thursday that the international offshore rig count in March 2016 was down by more than one hundred offshore rigs year over year. The international rig count includes rigs from Latin America, Europe, Africa, Middle East and Asia Pacific. According
Norwegian oil and gas company Statoil has received consent from the Petroleum Safety Authority (PSA) to drill two exploration wells in the North Sea using the Songa Delta semi-sub. According to the safety authority, drilling of the two wells, 30/11-12 S and 30/11-12 A, is estimated to last for 45 da
Norwegian Petroleum Safety Authority (PSA) has given Statoil the go-ahead to use the Stena Don semi-submersible rig for well drilling and completion in the North Sea. The Norwegian oil and gas company will use the DP3 class rig for work on wells 35/11-B-22 and B-13 located in the Fram field. The Ste
Hercules Offshore has received a notice from Saudi Aramco extending the contract for one of its jack-up drilling rigs operating in Saudi Arabia. According to the drilling contractor, the contract for the jack-up Hercules 266 was extended until June 30, 2016. Further, the dayrate for the Hercules 266
OMV Norge, operator of production licence 537, is in the process of completing the drilling of appraisal well 7324/7-3 S on the 7324/8-1 (Wisting) oil discovery, located in the Barents Sea. The well was drilled about 310 km north of Hammerfest by Transocean Spitsbergen semi-submersible drilling rig.
Awilco Drilling, a UK based drilling contractor that owns two semi-submersible drilling rigs, has informed that the yard stay for the WilPhoenix rig is taking longer than anticipated and in the meantime the rig remains berthed at Hartlepool on zero dayrate. The WilPhoenix semi-sub drilling rig, equi
The number of drilling rigs is on a downward spiral, both for the onshore and offshore units, according to the latest Weekly Rig Count, report issued by Baker Hughes. BHI Rig Count: U.S. -14 to 450 rigs U.S. Rig Count is down 14 rigs from last week to 450, with oil rigs down 10 to […]
Offshore driller Hercules Offshore, which in November last year emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy, expects, as all of its peers, a difficult business environment ahead. As it has been repeatedly but accurately said, the offshore drillers have been impacted hard by a perfect storm of low oil prices,
China’s rig builder CIMC Raffles completed the mating of the upper and lower hull for Frigstad Deepwater’s second ultra-deep-water semi-submersible drilling rig, Frigstad Kristiansand, in Yantai Shipyard on Wednesday, March 30, 2016. CIMC Raffles noted that this was the 13th mating time for its Tais
