The Norwegian Petroleum Directorate (NPD) has granted a drilling permit to Wintershall for a wildcat well in the North Sea. Wintershall Norge, Wintershall’s Norwegian subsidiary, will use the Borgland Dolphin drilling rig to drill the well 35/8-6 A located in production license 248. According to the
Saipem’s semi-submersible drilling rig Scarabeo 5, built at the Fincantieri Shipyard in Italy in 1990, will have to wait some more before it starts working for Statoil again. Namely, Norwegian oil and gas company Statoil reportedly decided to prolong a suspension period for Saipem’s semi-sub drillin
Irish oil and gas company Providence Resources has requested a temporary suspension in trading of its shares on in London (AIM) and (ESM) in advance of a final court decision regarding a dispute with Transocean. The oil company in 2014 won a case against Transocean Drilling UK Limited, related to ce
Statoil is in the process of completing the drilling of wildcat wells 30/11-11 S and 30/11-11 A, offshore Norway. One well is dry, the other proved to be a minor oil discovery, and both will be permanently plugged and abandoned. Statoil is the operator of production licence 035/272, Krafla, located
UK-based offshore drilling contractor Ensco has initiated arbitration proceedings against Brazilian oil company Petrobras and South Korean shipbuilder Samsung Heavy Industries in connection with a drilling contract for Ensco’s drillship DS-5. In January 2016, Petrobras cancelled its contract with En
The Petroleum Safety Authority (PSA) has carried out an audit of how Statoil is meeting regulatory requirements relating to the use of a new method for drilling and well intervention at Gullfaks C, in the North Sea. The PSA in December 2015 carried out an audit of Statoil’s planning and execution of
Offshore drilling contractor Songa Offshore has informed that the Songa Encourage rig started drilling operations on April 11, 2016, under its eight-year drilling contract with Statoil on the Norwegian continental shelf. According to Songa, the rig is now on operational dayrate and working on the Sk
Offshore drilling contractor COSL Drilling has said that the Petroleum Safety Authority’s investigation report into a fatal incident on board the COSLInnovator rig will have consequences for many of the rigs on the Norwegian continental shelf. The offshore safety authority published its investigatio
Noble Energy, a U.S.-based offshore exploration company, has failed to find commercial hydrocarbons at its exploration well in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico. The company on Friday said its Silvergate exploration well, drilled on Mississippi Canyon Block 339, was being plugged and abandoned. Noble Energy o
Norway’s offshore safety watchdog, the Petroleum Safety Authority (PSA), has revealed the results of its investigation of a fatal incident on board the COSLInnovator rig that occurred in December 2015, offshore Norway. At the time of the incident, the COSL Innovator, built in 2011 and owned by COSL
Danish oil company Maersk Oil has extended a contract for the accommodation jack-up Haven, offshore Denmark. The current contract for the use of the accommodation jack-up Haven has been extended with two months. The total value of the extension is approximately $4.5 million. The oil company previous
The Norwegian Petroleum Safety Authority found several safety breaches during an audit of Rowan’s jack-up rig Rowan Viking, carried out in February 2016. During the audit, the rig was located on the Edvard Grieg field in the North Sea, offshore Norway. The objective of the audit was to verify compli
Oilfield services provider Baker Hughes announced on Thursday that the international offshore rig count in March 2016 was down by more than one hundred offshore rigs year over year. The international rig count includes rigs from Latin America, Europe, Africa, Middle East and Asia Pacific. According
Norwegian oil and gas company Statoil has received consent from the Petroleum Safety Authority (PSA) to drill two exploration wells in the North Sea using the Songa Delta semi-sub. According to the safety authority, drilling of the two wells, 30/11-12 S and 30/11-12 A, is estimated to last for 45 da
