Opus Offshore-owned drillship, the Opus Tiger-1, has completed its second sea trial in China. The drillship will be managed by a joint venture company between Songa Offshore and Opus Offshore, named Songa Opus Offshore Drilling Pte Ltd. The Opus Tiger-1 drillship was built by Shanghai Shipyard and t
The weekly U.S. offshore rig count is up from last week, Baker Hughes has informed through its Weekly Rig Count reports. BHI Rig Count: U.S. -2 to 698 rigs U.S. Rig Count is down 2 rigs from last week to 698, with oil rigs down 2 to 536, and gas rigs are unchanged from […]
Dear readers, as you are probably aware by now 2015 has been one of the toughest years ever for the oil and gas industry, with oil prices reaching eleven year lows, thousands of workers laid off, hundreds of vessels stacked, and dozens of rigs scrapped. However, thanks to you, our readers, the year
The Petroleum Safety Authority Norway has decided to investigate a fatal incident that occurred on the COSL Pioneer drilling rig at the Troll field on Wednesday, December 30, 2015, when one person was killed and two others injured. As previously reported, a big wave hit the living quarters of the CO
Songa Endurance semi-submersible drilling rig has started drilling operations under its contract with Statoil in the Norwegian sector of the North Sea. The rig’s owner Songa Offshore broke the news on Thursday, saying that the rig “is now on operating rate”. The Songa Endurance is on an eight-year d
Gulf Marine Services (GMS), a provider of liftboats for the international oil and gas industry, has signed a contract with Abu Dhabi Ports to create a facility at Zayed Port where GMS will construct and maintain its offshore support vessels. Zayed Port in Abu Dhabi city will lease the new facility t
Oil giant Shell has terminated a rig contract with Transocean, for the Polar Pioneer semi-submersible drilling unit. The oil company had used the rig for its drilling campaign offshore Alaska, but in September it said it would stop its Alaskan operations for the forseeable future, citing bad drillin
This year, the offshore oil and gas industry has had to come to terms with the worst downturn for more than a decade. With commodity prices plummeting to an eleven-year low in December, it is time to reflect on the year gone by and consider the outlook for the year to come, Douglas-Westwood, an ener
Norwegian oil company Statoil has won a court case initiated by Diamond Offshore Drilling for a termination of a drilling contract in 2014. Namely, the Norwegian oil giant in June 2014 terminated the contract for the Ocean Vanguard semi-submersible drilling rig “due to technical aspects of the rig.”
Baker Hughes Incorporated has posted Weekly Rig Count reports to its Investor Relations website according to which the number of offshore rigs has remained unchanged when compared to the last week’s count. BHI Rig Count: U.S. -9 to 700 rigs U.S. Rig Count is down 9 rigs from last week to 700, with o
Drydocks World, the international oil and gas service provider, has completed the yard’s first Rig Integrity Assurance Program (RIAP) on the National Drilling Company-owned jack-up rig Diyina. This was also the first engineering, procurement, construction & commissioning (EPCC) concept rig project t
The Norwegian authorities have granted OMV, an integrated oil and gas company, their consent for drilling in the Barents Sea, offshore Norway. The Norwegian Petroleum Directorate (NPD) granted a drilling permit to OMV for the well 7324/7-3 S located in the Barents Sea. In addition, OMV received cons
Stone Energy, an independent oil and natural gas exploration and production company, has announced that its Amethyst well, in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico, will come online in January 2016. According to Stone’s operational update from Monday, the Ensco 8503 deep water drilling rig concluded completion op
Lundin Petroleum has completed the Rolvsnes exploration well 16/1-25 S, in the North Sea offshore Norway, as an oil discovery. The well was spud in October 2015. It is located in PL338C south of the Edvard Grieg field in the central North Sea sector of the Norwegian Continental Shelf (NCS). The well
