Cairn Energy has wrapped up its 2010 exploration drilling campaign offshore Greenland and released both the Stena Forth and Stena Don rigs, the company said 26 October 2010.Cairn suspended the Alpha-1S1 exploration well to allow possible re-entry to sidetrack or deepen the well at a later date鈥
Conventional solids control methods are inadequate to manage low-gravity solids smaller than 8-10 microns. M-I Swaco鈥檚 Rich Cook discusses a new solution, recently successfully employed in West Africa, that helps manage these solids while keeping excess rig space to a minimum鈥
The risks associated with placing complex open hole completions across the reservoir are increasing. Deep Casing Tools鈥 Mark Presslie explains why and describes how a new tool assists the first-time placement of liners or completions.--Over the past two decades鈥
Making more sense of pipe handlingNorway's TTS Sense has developed an advanced pipe handling machine named SmartRacker, following the award to the company of a contract to supply an entire drilling package to two advanced newbuild jackups鈥
Weather is a major factor when planning offshore drilling campaigns. Asbjørn Stålesen of FMC Technologies says the company's Real Time Operating Limits system has allowed it to increase the time available for carrying out drilling work.The biggest鈥
The scheduled 2012 lease sale offshore Virginia will proceed, even without the environmental impact studies necessary to allow oil & gas exploration in place, according to MMS director Liz Burnham.The sale 鈥 the first on the US Atlantic OCS鈥
The oil & gas industry and analysts greeted President Obama鈥檚 offshore drilling plan as a step in the right direction. But subsequent events surrounding the Deepwater Horizon disaster (see Heavy losses in Horizon tragedy ) could complicate matters鈥
Two recently published reports point to a speedy recovery for offshore E&P. The deepwater sector of the oil & gas business should recover quickly from the economic downturn and resume the growth the sector enjoyed before the recession, suggests a new report from Douglas-Westwood鈥
With well costs escalating to consume up to half of a project鈥檚 funding, operators are seeking ways to trim costs. During IADC鈥檚 Deepwater Drilling conference in Rio de Janeiro in March, operators discussed some of their strategies to trim costs鈥
Compact Azipod units promise the means of producing more efficient thrust for drilling vessels, saving fuel cost and cutting emissions. OE hears from developer ABB Marine.Bunker prices for the IFO380 grade fuel used by the majority of ships were on the rise at time of writing鈥
The importance of battery selection for demanding downhole electronics applications, in particular measurement-while-drilling tools, is discussed by Saft鈥檚 Wayne Pitt.As oil companies strive to reap the maximum potential from their prospects鈥
Drilling has long led the industry when it comes to technology, leaving completions with a need to catch up. During the IADC's Completions Conference 鈥 the first one the International Drilling Contractors Association has organized devoted solely鈥
