Map of Muriú prospectPetrobras makes 4th find off Sergipe-Alagoas Petrobras has made a fourth oil discovery in the ultra-deepwater Sergipe-Alagoas basin offshore Brazil, the company announced on 5 December 2012.Tests confirmed the presence of light oil in the Calumbi formation鈥
Petrobras cancels rig contract with Ocean Rig Petrobras has cancelled a leasing contract with Ocean Rig, the Brasilian NOC announced on 29 November 2012.Petrobras had announced in February that it planned to lease five drilling rigs鈥
Saipem has won new onshore drilling contracts worth approximately $500 million, the company announced on 23 November 2012.Saipem will utilize 13 rigs, three of which will be new purpose-built units, for work in Saudi Arabia, South America and Kazakhstan鈥
Thomas DiNapoliChevron has filed a complaint with the New York State Joint Commission on Public Ethics against state comptroller Thomas DiNapoli in connection with the company's ongoing litigation in Ecuador, Chevron announced 20 November 2012鈥
Global upstream spending ballooned by 47% in 2010, driven by substantial investments in the US and Latin America, IHS reported. In the IHS Herold 2011 Global Upstream Performance Review, the information service said capital spending among 221 oil & gas companies reached $558 billion in 2010鈥
Rolls-Royce is betting big on Brazil, where the company's energy business, recently bolstered by lucrative contracts with Petrobras, is setting up a $100 million-plus purpose-built gas turbine assembly and test facility. Russell McCulley reports鈥
Flexomarine is slated to deliver 44 hoses for Modec鈥檚 FPSO Cidade de Mangaratiba in November. A mix of the floating and subsea varieties, the hoses will be 10.7m long by 500mm in diameter and are meant for the pre-salt Cernambi Sul project in 2300m of water鈥
Francisco Villagran has been appointed to the new Inchcape Shipping Services role of regional operations manager, Americas, based in Chile.
Some notable heavy oil projects offshore Brazil are entering advanced phases to increase or maintain production. Russell McCulley reports from Rio de Janeiro on the latest developments at three Campos Basin fields 鈥 Statoil鈥檚 Peregrino, Petrobras鈥欌
Calixto Deberaldini has been appointed BDM and strategy adviser at Brazil鈥檚 Fluke Engenharia, reporting to MD Laurent Maubré. Deberaldini joins the Acteon group business unit from GE Oil & Gas where he served as the subsea division鈥檚 Brazil sales manager.
Amec is acquiring a 50% stake in Kromav Engenharia, a privately owned Brazilian engineering firm with over 400 marine and offshore projects to its credit. Based in Rio de Janeiro, Kromav has a team of some 200 people specialising in engineering services for offshore platforms鈥
Dutch offshore lifting and drilling solutions provider Huisman has begun the landfill works for a 15,000m2 production facility in southern Brazil alongside the Itajai-Açu river in Navegantes, Santa Catarina state. It is expected to be operational in 2Q 2013鈥
Swedish polymer and syntactic foam specialist Trelleborg officially opened its newly constructed facility in Macaé, Brazil, last month. The company also announced that it is planning to install 鈥榯he largest hydrostatic pressure testing vessel in the world鈥 at the new facility.
With massive investment and aggressive technology development required to match world energy demand in coming decades, South America鈥檚 鈥榮outhern cone鈥 will have a big role to play. Russell McCulley reports from Rio de Janeiro.Thanks in large part to Brazil鈥檚 pre-salt discoveries鈥
Oil seeps at Chevron鈥檚 Frade field nearly a year ago have led Brazilian regulator ANP to assess millions in fines against Chevron and ultimately halted output at the troubled Campos Basin field. In November 2011, Chevron P&A鈥檇 an appraisal well鈥
