Merger and acquisition activity in the US oil & gas sector picked up steam 3Q 2010, despite ongoing uncertainty about business in the Gulf of Mexico, reported PricewaterhouseCoopers.For the three-month period ending 30 September, there were鈥
The overhaul of the reservoir model of the giant Forties oilfield 鈥 from data management to full field simulation 鈥 is described here by operator Apache North Sea鈥檚 Jeffery Pyle and Schlumberger鈥檚 Gordy Shanor.Production from the Forties field began in 1975鈥
With close proximity to the offshore Cantarell and Ku-Maloob-Zaap fields, the inland Gulf of Mexico port of Villahermosa is a major operation center for Mexican state oil company Pemex. Last month the city again played host to the Petroleum Exhibition & Conference of Mexico (PECOM)鈥
Worldwide utilization for the mobile offshore drilling fleet averaged 72% over the last month. Of late the global utilization rates for semisubmersibles have held steady at approximately 83% while rates for drillships have bounced around the mid-to-low 80% range鈥
McDermott picked up a Bentley Systems innovation in construction award at the infrastructure software provider鈥檚 recent 鈥楤e Inspired鈥 gathering in Amsterdam for the early delivery of the Su Tu Vang central processing platform at the Cuu Long project offshore Vietnam鈥
Things are stirring on the UK continental shelf if the attendance at last month鈥檚 Pilot Share Fair in Aberdeen is anything to go by. More than 1000 people, including Meg Chesshyre, turned out to hear from major operators and contractors about their strategies for future North Sea projects鈥
Global upstream capital spending should rebound this year, according to IHS Herold director Nicholas Cacchione, author of the research firm鈥檚 2010 Global Upstream Performance Review, released last month. 鈥業n North America, E&P investment increased 30% in the first half of 2010鈥
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 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
