It is perhaps the biggest social and economic challenge of the world today: how will China acquire sufficient energy resources, of oil and perhaps even more important, natural gas, over the next several decades? China鈥檚 energy makeup is still quite primitive: 70% of China鈥檚 energy comes from coal鈥
Aker Solutions has started a six-month integrated operations pilot with Danish operator Dong on the Trym field, an industry briefing in London heard recently. Meg Chesshyre reviews the status of this and other developments on the Aker technology horizon鈥
With future subsea applications expected to employ a wider range of optoelectronic technologies, FMC has established a dedicated R&D group that focuses on building and expanding a wide range of integrated sensing solutions. Daniel McStay explains why鈥
With the increased complexity of today鈥檚 subsea production systems giving mooring solutions providers much to think about, Viking Moorings chief executive Wolfgang Wandl discusses how his company is rising to the challenge.The global mooring鈥
The ocean energy industry is still at a nascent stage, but burgeoning support in a few key markets, diverse resource potential and maturing technology are boosting the industry鈥檚 prospects for growth. That鈥檚 the verdict of a new IHS emerging energy research market study鈥
The US lifted the six-month moratorium on deepwater exploration in October, while codifying new rules governing drilling safety and well control. Russell McCulley looks at what the new regulations could mean for oil & gas companies doing business in the Gulf of Mexico鈥
There were echoes of the UK鈥檚 Dragon鈥檚 Den and its US reality TV brethren Shark Tank when the great and the good of the private equity world gathered in Aberdeen last month to sample the wares of would-be oil & gas sector high fliers.The occasion鈥
In his think piece for OE鈥檚 July issue, consultant Ian Fitzsimmons drew parallels between the Deepwater Horizon tragedy and the earlier Titanic, Ixtoc-1, Piper Alpha, Comet and Challenger disasters in terms of their presumed design infallibility鈥
Litigation continues in US courts over the Obama administration鈥檚 Gulf of Mexico deepwater drilling moratorium, despite the early lifting of the six-month drilling ban in October. In a 19 October decision, US District Court judge Martin Feldman鈥
Long used in deepwater mooring, synthetic ropes are increasingly being employed in deepwater heavy lift operations. Russell McCulley talks to Samson's Dennis Sherman and Offspring International director Dave Rowley about the technology advances that are changing techniques鈥
By ensuring optimal hole size, well designs using solid expandable tubulars have a far-reaching effect on drilling, evaluation, completion and life-of-well solutions. Enventure Global Technology鈥檚 Kevin Waddell, Jerry Fritsch and Kristaq Mitrushi鈥
First Subsea and Offspring International, the worldwide agent for the offshore division of Lankhorst Ropes, have introduced the LankoFirst series of fiber rope connectors for deepwater moorings that the companies say are stronger, lighter, smaller鈥
All alarms exist for a reason, but in many offshore assets too many alarms can be worse than too few. Amor Group鈥檚 Brendon Glass explains why.In today鈥檚 automated plants or platforms, thousands of alarms have been configured into the control system鈥
Energy and climate wars: How naïve politicians, green ideologues, and media elites are undermining the truth about energy and climate. Peter C Glover & Michael J Economides. Continuum International Publishing Group, 2010.The lengthy subtitle鈥
Ageing FPSOs present naval architect with GL 鈥 installed March 2000 in 90m potential safety challenges that the oil & gas industry is only now coming to terms with, according to GL Noble Denton. 鈥楾here have been over 200 floating production system deployments鈥
