By: David Carter Shinn Brazil won’t save the deepwater market, but it’s going to help it. Petrobras will resolve their rig deficit, and IOCs will develop new acreage. That means more drilling. The Brazilian offshore rig market will probably never see a return to its halcyon days of 2012. But these d
Norwegian offshore safety body, the Petroleum Safety Authority (PSA), has given Aker BP a consent to use the Songa Enabler rig for well intervention on three wells on the Skarv field offshore Norway. The wells, designated 6507/5-A-3, 6507/5-B-6, and 6507/5-B-8, are located on Skarv field in the Norw
Eni Norge has hit dust in the Goliat Eye wildcat well (7122/10-1 S) in the Barents Sea, offshore Norway. The Norwegian Petroleum Directorate said on Wednesday that the primary exploration target for the well was proving petroleum in Middle Triassic reservoir rocks (Kobbe formation). To remind, the P
Aquamarine Subsea Solutions has been awarded a contract to upgrade Diamond Offshore’s Ocean Valiant semi-submersible drilling rig currently operating in the North Sea. Aquamarine said that the company would upgrade the 18 3/4” subsea stack. The company will also supply engineering design, fabricatio
Helix Energy Solutions’ new semi-submersible well intervention vessel Q7000 is set to undergo sea trials. Posting one of the first photos of the vessel online, Helix on Monday said its newest DP3 well intervention vessel would start sea trials in the South China Sea “this week.” “The Q7000 is an evo
After having arranged the sales of Maersk Oil and Maersk Tankers, Danish conglomerate Maersk is now looking to offload its offshore drilling division, Maersk Drilling. According to a Bloomberg report on Monday, Rowan Companies, a U.S. based offshore driller and the owner of 29 offshore drilling unit
Offshore driller Transocean is set to retire six of its ultra-deepwater floating rigs. The rigs in question are GSF Jack Ryan, Sedco Energy, Sedco Express, Cajun Express, and Deepwater Pathfinder, and the deepwater floater Transocean Marianas. The rigs will be classified as held for sale and will be
Brazilian oil company Petrobras and offshore drilling contractor Sete Brasil have initiated an out of court mediation over an offshore rig order dispute. Sete Brasil was established in 2011 to build, own and operate a series of ultra-deepwater drillships and semi-submersibles to develop the pre-salt
By: David Carter Shinn Rig owners’ aversion to consolidation creates a barrier which slows progress toward efficiency. Competition is vital to a well-functioning market. As we’ve seen throughout history, when there are too few players, prices rise and freedom of selection decreases. When there are t
South Korea’s Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering, DSME, is set to appeal against an arbitration tribunal ruling from July in a rig dispute with offshore driller Songa Offshore. DSME, which built four Cat D semi-submersible drilling rigs for Songa Offshore, in 2015 launched arbitration procee
U.S. oil major Chevron has decided to terminate a contract with Transocean for the Discoverer Clear Leader drillship. According to the drilling contractor, the California-based oil company has exercise its contractual option to terminate the drilling contract effective November 2017, prior to its ex
Offshore drilling contractor Awilco Drilling has received a letter of award from UK oil firm Alpha Petroleum Resources for one of its two semi-submersible drilling rigs – the WillPhoenix. Awilco said on Thursday that the UK oil company plans to drill 18 development wells on the Cheviot Field in the
Atwood Oceanics has agreed to a four month extension on the jackup rig Atwood Orca with Mubadala Petroleum for drilling operations offshore Thailand, keeping it busy at least until August 2018. The driller said the new contract is at an undisclosed day rate that is higher than the current day rate,
The Norwegian offshore safety body, Petroleum Safety Authority Norway, has given a nod to Wintershall to drill an exploration well in the Norwegian Sea. In a statement on Tuesday, the PSA said Wintershall would drill the exploration well 6604/5 in a prospect named Balderbrå. Wintershall Norge AS, a
