The three Norwegian offshore service companies, Bergen Group, Semco Maritime, and Apply Rig & Modules, have joined forces to setup a new partnership, Hanøytangen Rig Services, to meet the growing rigging service market. According to a statement from the three companies…
An appeal by Greenpeace against Statoil’s plans to drill in the Barents Sea has been rejected, but the group is defending its right to occupy the location the rig is due to drill at. Activists scaled the Transocean Spitsbergen semisubmersible drilling rig on Tuesday…
Greenpeace activists who boarded the semisubmersible drilling rig Transocean Spitsbergen (pictured) 300km offshore Norway are now in the hands of Norwegian police, says Statoil. But, Greenpeace's ship, the Esperanza, has moved to the location where Statoil plans to drill…
Fairmount Marine's tug Fairmount Expedition has towed jackup rig Naga 3 from the PV Marine Shipyard in Vung Tau, Vietnam, to the RD-19X Block 15-2 oilfield offshore Vietnam. Last month the tug towed the rig from Singapore to the shipyard…
Rosneft is to take a 'significant equity stake' in drilling firm North Atlantic Drilling (NADL) as part of an agreement between NADL and its majority owner Seadrill, as the Russian firm looks to ramp up its offshore exploration efforts. The agreement…
Houston-based Hercules ƶijϻ has signed a five-year drilling contract with Maersk Oil North Sea UK for a newbuild jackup rig to be owned and operated by Hercules ƶijϻ. The new Friede & Goldman JU-2000E design jackup will be built…
Brazilian independent HRT Participacoes em Petroleo SA announced plans to focus on the offshore Polvo field, in the Campos basin. HRT operates the field with 60% interest along with partner Maersk (40%). In 4Q 2013, the National Petroleum Gas and Biofuels Agency (ANP)…
A subsidiary of Genel Energy is preparing to start drilling the Hagar Qim-1 well offshore Malta after the rig for the program was accepted under contract. The Noble Paul Romano (pictured) set sail for Block 7, in Area 4 offshore Malta…
Drilling rig giant Transocean says it has picked up new contracts worth about US$953 million since 17 April. Giving its fleet update report, the firm said other highlights include: Dhirubhai Deepwater KG1 drillship - Awarded a three year contract offshore Brazil at a dayrate of $440…
UK-based drilling rig operator Awilco says the UK North Sea floating drilling rig market is close to sold out until mid-2015. Announcing its Q1 results, the firm said due to the sustained “high” oil price and increased operator financial discipline…
CIMC Raffles at Yantai delivered the jackup rig Gulf Driller No.1 to ship owner COSL, the company announced 10 May 2014. CIMC Raffles said the jackup is expected to set out for the Bohai gulf. The Super M2 jackup rig was designed by…
Oerlikon Fairfield will market two new jacking drives, its S1500 and its S500, at the ƶijϻ Technology Conference (OTC) May 5-8 at Reliant Park in Houston, Texas. With the addition of these two models, Oerlikon Fairfield now has a…
Three newbuild jackups based on the XL Enhanced design will hit the market in 2014, 2015, and 2016. Photo from Maersk Drilling. A number of rig providers are increasing their fleet with builds over the next three years…
Drydocks World has completed a major repair and refurbishment of National Drilling Company’s (NDC) jackup drilling rig Al Ittihad. The company has carried out maintenance work on several of NDC’s rigs and the numbers have increased over the years…
Boskalis said that salvage work to remove a capsized jackup from shallow waters near Angola's new liquefied natural gas (LNG) export plant should be completed by March 2015. The three-legged Perro Negro 6 jackup drilling rig (shown at…