Offshore articles from February 2002

Offshore archives from February 2002

Level 3 multilateral wells increase production sixfold in Canada. (Oilfield Bulletin).(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... Increased production from steam-soak radial wells convinced Shell Canada to expand the Peace River project to include Schlumberger RapidTieback (*) multilateral technology as the preferred method of developing the reservoir. The benefits of...

Level 6 multilateral system installed onshore Brazil. (Oilfield Bulletin).(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... RapidSeal (*) technology is a symmetrical dual-leg TAML Level 6 multilateral system that optimizes the lateral branch diameters while providing excellent mechanical integrity The legs of the junction section are compressed prior to installation...

The passing of a friend. (Comment).(editor Leonard LeBlanc)(Brief Article)(Column)
February 1, 2002... There is a long-standing policy at Offshore Magazine that we are not to speak in the first person. Leonard LeBlanc would not tolerate personal opinions appearing in a technology magazine. However, I think it is important that we make a one-time...

Global data.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
February 1, 2002... Global Data Rigs under contract by area This Month Last Month Last Year Eastern Canada 4 3 4 U.S. Gulf of Mexico 120 123 176 Latin America ...

Amerada Hess Corporation. (Africa).(Oveng oil prospect offshore Equitorial Guinea)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... Amerada Hess Corporation recently completed the initial appraisal of its Oveng oil prospect in Block G offshore Equatorial Guinea, confirming a significant discovery. The Oveng-2 appraisal well was drilled a mile southeast of the Oveng-1...

Shell Petroleum Development Company. (Africa).(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) in Nigeria recently awarded a contract of the Forcados Yokri offshore development in the Niger Delta to Stolt Offshore S.A. The project includes expanding and refurbishing existing shallow-water...

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. (Americas).(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... In January, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez announced a new oil law that came into effect early in the year. This new law gives the state increased control over the petroleum industry. Chavez is optimistic about the law, which imposes a...

Terra Nova oil project off Newfoundland missed its yera-end. (Americas).(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... The $1.8 billion Terra Nova oil project off Newfoundland missed its year-end target for first oil, but was rescheduled to reach that milestone in January. The Terra Nova Field is the second largest offshore the Maritime Provinces, with...

Unocal Corp. (Asia/Pacific).(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... Indonesia has plans to tender 17 areas for oil exploration, including 14 new blocks. Offshore blocks on offer include six blocks in the Arafura Sea, two in the Seram Sea, two off the northern part of East Kalimantan, one in the Natuna Sea, and...

ONGC. (Asia/Pacific).(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... ONGC announced an offshore oil and gas discovery near Bombay at a depth of 1,775 meters near the Bombay High offshore field, which accounts for two-thirds of India's annual output. Preliminary estimates put recoverable reserves at about 35...

ExxonMobil Exploration and Production Malaysia Inc. (Asia/Pacific).(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... In December, ExxonMobil Exploration and Production Malaysia Inc. announced first oil and gas production from the first of five small, remotely operated platforms recently installed in its fields offshore eastern Malaysia. These small platforms...

McDermott International Inc. (Central Asia).(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... Late in December, Bouygues Offshore signed a contract worth $163 million to supply offshore structures for the Azeri field, 120 km southeast of Baku. This award, Phase I of the Azeri, Chirag, and Gunashli field development project, covers...

Repsol YPF SA. (Europe).(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... Repsol YPF SA expects to get the government go-ahead soon to explore for oil offshore the Canary Islands. Traces of oil were discovered in the area, and Repsol YPF applied for permission to explore the waters a year ago. The hold-up seems to be...

West Greenland offshore. (Europe).(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... Originally scheduled to take place in December, the West Greenland offshore licensing round is expected to be announced in April 2001. Impediments to opening the round are being resolved, with the government of Greenland reducing company...

TotalFinaElf. (Middle East).(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... Iran began, in late December, to exploit phases two and three of the Persian Gulf's South Pars Gas field, which Iran shares with Qatar. These two phases are being managed by a consortium led by TotalFinaElf (TFE), which includes Petronas and...

FPSO conversion on track. (New Vessels & Rigs).(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... Prosafe's conversion of the floating production, storage, and offloading (FPSO) vessel Espoir Ivoirien is on schedule. The vessel was renamed at Keppel's Singapore yard in October and departed for Cote d'Ivoire in November. Final connection and...

Atlantia builds TLP. (New Vessels & Rigs).(Tension Leg Platform)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... Atlantia has contracted to supply TotalFinaElf with engineering, procurement, construction, and installation of the Matterhorn Surface Completion SeaStar[TM] TLP in 2,800 ft water depth. The facility will be able to support up to nine surface...

GlobalSantaFe readies jackups for Africa. (New Vessels & Rigs).(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... GlobalSantaFe received a letter of commitment from TotalFinaElf subsidiary Elf Petroleum Nigeria Limited for two-year contracts for the Glomar Adriatic I and Glomar Baltic I jackups. They will work on the Amenam/Kpono field offshore Nigeria....

Sonsub gets ROV support vessel. (New Vessels & Rigs).(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... In mid-November, Sonsub announced the acquisition of the HOS Dominator, a newbuild 240-ft Class 2 dynamically positioned vessel outfitted with a 3,000-meter Innovator ROV. The vessel will begin working for Sonsub this month under a three-year...

Hornbeck-Leevac gets supply vessel. (New Vessels & Rigs).(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... In late November, Hornbeck-Leevac Marine Services, Inc. took delivery of the BJ Blue Ray, a 265-ft. class deepwater offshore supply vessel that will work primarily in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico. The BJ Blue Ray Ray began service under a...

Bollinger delivers supply/utility vessels. (New Vessels & Rigs).(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... Bollinger Shipyards, Inc. delivered the Seacor Eagle and Seacor Hawk, two 145-ft supply/utility vessels to Seacor Marine, Inc., Houston, Texas in 4Q 2001. Both vessels have 2,800 sq ft of aft deck space with a maximum deck load of 390 tons....

Multi-purpose tower. (New Vessels & Rigs).(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... Cal Dive's Q4000 was recently outfitted with Huisman's "New Look" multi-purpose tower. The tower is a fully integrated system for replacing an offshore derrick and hoisting equipment.

Global Industries upgrade. (New Vessels & Rigs).(Global Industries Ltd.)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... Global Industries, Ltd. is upgrading the Titan 2, adding a dynamic positioning system that will be installed by this spring, and increasing the hotel capacity to accommodate 350 persons. The heavy lift vessel is under contract to Global for 10...

AMEC builds FPSOs for Africa. (New Vessels & Rigs).(Floating Production Storage and Off-loading)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... AMEC is providing both Shell's Bonga and ExxonMobil's Kizomba FPSOs for Nigeria and Angola, respectively. The Bonga hull was floated out of drydock in November by Samsung. The internals of the hull will be outfitted before it is towed to the UK...

FPSO conversion for Amerada, Bergesen. (New Vessels & Rigs).(Floating Production Storage and Off-loading)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... Amerada Hess Corporation and Bergesen DY Offshore AS announced the completed conversion of an FPSO that will work in the Ceiba Field off Equatorial Guinea. The Sendje Ceiba will replace the Sendje Berge FPSO working on the Ceiba Field. The...

TotalFinaElf spuds well off Nigeria. (West Africa).(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... TotalFinaElf has spudded the Ebipre prospect in deepwater Block OPL 246 offshore Nigeria. The block holds the huge Akpo structure (>500 MMbbl), which is now under development. The fourth well on that structure, Akpo-4, encountered 64 meters net...

ExxonMobil and Phillips pull out of Nigeria. (West Africa).(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... In December of last year, ExxonMobil announced that it had withdrawn operatorship of Block OPL 214. At the same time, Phillips Petroleum pulled out of OPL 318. This decision might be attributable in part to the Nigerian government's decision to...

Shell goes ahead for Kudu gas. (West Africa).(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... Shell has resumed active work in the Kudu field off Namibia, after a three-year hiatus. The semisubmersible rig Ocean Whittington was due to arrive from Brazil on January 5 to commence drilling four wells around the Kudu main structure. The...

ExxonMobil postpones first well off Angola. (West Africa).(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... ExxonMobil has postponed the first of two wells planned on Block 33 in deepwater Angola. The well, Funge-1, was programmed to spud in December 2001 with the newly built semisubmersible Leiv Eiriksson, a Bingo 9000 type rig. Leiv Eiriksson is a...

Ocean Energy expands position in Angola. (West Africa).(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... In early January, independent Ocean Energy, Inc. acquired a 1.2 million-acre interest in Block 10, offshore Angola The block covers varying water depths to 1,500 ft at the deepest in the Benguela Basin, a sub-basin of the Kwanza Basin. Block 10...

ChevronTexaco to put Tubu on stream. (West Africa).(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... ChevronTexaco plans to increase its 450,000 b/d production in Nigeria by 25,000 b/d when the Tubu field comes on stream in the last quarter of this year. Ray Wilcox, the recently departed Managing Director for Nigeria/Mid Africa for...

Agip adds volume in Nigeria. (West Africa).(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... Ten months after the service contract was signed with the leaseholder, the Italian giant Agip has put the Okono Field on stream. The field, located in OML 119, in the prolific shallow waters off southeastern Nigeria, is flowing 17,000 b/d from...

Pipeline moves oil from Timor Sea. (Asia/Pacific).(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... Australia and East Timor came to terms in late December on an agreement that will allow Phillips Petroleum Property Ltd. to pipe gas from the Bayu-Undan gas field to Australia. Phillips had tabled plans for the pipeline five months prior...

Santos awarded permits in Arafura Sea. (Asia/Pacific).(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... Santos Ltd. secured a petroleum exploration permit from Australia's federal government and the Northern Territory in the Money Shoal Basin in the Arafura Sea in late November. The permit borders the Evans Shoal gas field, where Santos has a 40%...

Oil find offshore Western Australia. (Asia/Pacific).(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... Roc Oil Company Ltd.'s oil find offshore Western Australia belies the region's reputation as one that contains only gas. Roc's Cliff Head-1 well found oil in WA-286-P in relatively shallow water at the end of December, confirming the field as a...

Shell ups Pohokura investment. (Asia/Pacific).(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
February 1, 2002... Shell Todd Oil Services announced plans for the Pohokura gas field that could cost up to $378 million. At a minimum, field development will include three unmanned platforms, more than 20 production wells, an onshore production plant, and a...

New Zealand opens bidding. (Asia/Pacific).(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... Six near-shore blocks will be on offer in New Zealand's 2002 Onshore and Near-shore Taranaki Exploration Permit Bidding Round, for which applications will be accepted through April 30. Many of the blocks on offer are located adjacent to...

Bohai Bay sees exploration activity. (Asia/Pacific).(CNOOC Ltd to start oilfield production)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... China's state-owned CNOOC Ltd and its partners plan to start production from three oilfields in 2002 with a combined output of 140,000 b/d. WC 13-1/13-2 is in the western South China Sea. It is due onstream in the first half of the year...

First exploration for Taiwan Strait. (Asia/Pacific).(Chinese Petroleum Corp. and CNOOC jointly exploring)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... Taiwan's Chinese Petroleum Corp. (CPC) and CNOOC announced the finalizing of the first contract for joint exploration in the Taiwan Strait in January. At the end of October, CNOOC finalized negotiations for the 50/50 production-sharing contract...

Find offshore Vietnam. (Asia/Pacific).(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... Vietsovpetro discovered new reserves in the South White Tiger area, 120 km off Ba Ria-Vung Tau province. Test drilling at Well 16 found commercial reserves near Vietsovpetro's production area in 165 ft water depth, a much more shallow depth...

New JV makes exploration plans. (Asia/Pacific).(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... In early January, a joint venture among the national oil companies of Malaysia, Indonesia, and Vietnam signed a contract to explore and develop oil and gas in two blocks offshore Vietnam. Two exploration wells are to be drilled on the blocks...

Japan pursues Philippine interests. (Asia/Pacific).(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... Japan Petroleum is looking into E&P opportunities offshore the Philippines. The company has expressed interest in securing an exclusive geophysical survey and exploration contract for a site offshore the Visayas region. If this request is...

Brunei open to increased international investment. (Asia/Pacific).(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... Two consortia of international oil companies submitted bids for two deepwater blocks in Brunei's Exclusive Economic Zone, opening a 10,000 sq km area to foreign investors. One consortium includes Shell, Mitsubishi Corp., and Conoco. The other...

Norway restricts license acreage. (Offshore Europe).(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... Following advice from the Norwegian Pollution Control Authority, the Nordland VI fishing waters off mid-Norway have been excluded from the country's 17th licensing round. Thirty-two blocks have been tabled in the Norwegian Sea, some in...

Kristin to Aker. (Offshore Europe).(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... Aker Stord has won the main contract for the sole major project on Norway's books this year, Kristin. The NKr5 billion order covers design and procurement of the semisubmersible plaform hull and the topsides, including the utilities, process...

Beryl hub emerging. (Offshore Europe).(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... Some operators are looking to Norwegian field tiebacks to sustain their UK North Sea facilities -- Marathon's Brae and Shell's Brent are in this band. ExxonMobil's Beryl, however, is emerging as a hub for new developments on the UK side of the...

Halfdan sustaining Danish production. (Offshore Europe).(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... Danish North Sea production is set to decline over the next three years, but not to the extent previously foreseen. In its latest update, the Danish Energy Agency predicts a drop from 125.8 million bbl this year to 114.5 million bbl in 2005. By...

UK investment holding steady. (Offshore Europe).(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
February 1, 2002... Britain's Energy Ministry insists UKCS production could hold steady at 4 million BOE through 2005, despite analysts' warnings of a decline. Its forecast is based on a survey last summer of the investment intentions of 30 oil and gas producers....

Dutch gasfield development quickens. (Offshore Europe).(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... Wood Mackenzie's latest review of The Netherlands sketches a relatively sound development picture. Ten new offshore projects are in progress, with combined reserves of 2 tcf. Another 12 could be initiated over the next two years, with a...

Sonsub concludes Banjo work. (Gulf of Mexico).(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... Sonsub completed offshore activities for Coflexip Stena Offshore's Banjo and Seahawk project in the Gulf of Mexico. Sonsub's HOS Innovator spread, consisting of the DP II HOS Innovator vessel and the Innovator[R] 9 ROV, worked on this project...

Hawkes, Timber Wolf wells P&A'd. (Gulf of Mexico).(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... ExxonMobil completed the Hawkes and Timber Wolf exploration wells in the Mississippi Canyon area of the Gulf of Mexico. Both wells, about 20 miles northwest of the Crazy Horse discovery, discovered hydrocarbons in Miocene reservoirs. ...

TGS buys out survey partners. (Gulf of Mexico).(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... TGS-Nopec Geophysical Co. acquired 100% ownership of more than 14,600 sq km of 3D seismic data, 435,000 km of 2D seismic data, and all associated derivative and interpretation products in the Gulf of Mexico in a $32 million deal. While...

Magnolia development blossoms. (Gulf of Mexico).(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
February 1, 2002... Conoco and Ocean Energy will develop the Magnolia field in nearly 4,700 ft water depth in the Gulf of Mexico. Initial estimates call for the $600 million deepwater development project in Garden Banks 783 and 784 to deliver 150 million BOE....

Torch buys Smit Express. (Gulf of Mexico).(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... Torch Offshore bought the Smit Express from Smith International for $9.75 million. The 520-ft vessel was slated for conversion to a DP-2 offshore construction vessel. It will be renamed the Midnight Express, and it should be delivered into the...

Progress at Llano. (Gulf of Mexico).(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... Drilling and evaluation of its fourth well at the Llano Field in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico is complete, PanCanadian Energy said. Glomar Arctic I drilled Garden Banks 385 No. 1 to a measured depth of 24,813 ft. Logging results confirmed 400...

Independents going deep in Gulf. (Gulf of Mexico).(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... Independents need to combine information and technology to give themselves the best opportunity for success in the Gulf of Mexico, said Spinnaker CEO Roger Jarvis. "The average well has gotten deeper, it's gotten more expensive, and it's...

MMS reviews annulus monitoring subsea. (Subsea/Surface Systems).(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... While the US Minerals Management Service is known as an ally of offshore E&P, the service is considering new regulation that could have a dramatic impact on the cost, design, and offshore installation of subsea trees. Currently MMS requires...

INTEC Engineering acquires Fuel Subsea Engineering. (Subsea/Surface Systems).(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... Smit Land and Marine Engineering Ltd., a UK subsidiary of SMIT International, and INTEC Engineering (UK) Ltd. have completed an agreement allowing INTEC to acquire Fuel Subsea Engineering, headquartered in Woking, Surrey. Fuel has expertise in...

Tieback to Ursa increases hub production. (Subsea/Surface Systems).(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... Shell E&P's Crosby and Einset subsea fields are now online and sending production to their hub platforms. The three-well Crosby development is the first subsea tieback to Ursa. Crosby is located in Mississippi Canyon Blocks 898 and 899 of the...

Teamwork ensures successful completion for Nile Project. (Drilling & Production).(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... BP has successfully performed the industry's first completion from a dynamically positioned (DP) vessel. The success of the completion, on BP's Nile project in the Gulf of Mexico using the DP Transocean Enterprise, was critical not just because...

Ultra-deepwater record: 9,727 ft. (Drilling & Production).(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... Unocal Corporation's Trident prospect in Alaminos Canyon, Block 903, in the Gulf of Mexico set a new ultra-deepwater record in 9,727 ft water depth. The success of the cementing, drilling fluid, directional drilling, logging-while-drilling...

Methodology designed to optimize drilling. (Drilling & Production).(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... An Aberdeen-based engineering company Innovative Engineering Systems Ltd's (IESL) well construction system, GeoDRILL is to be used by Canadian Natural Resources CNR subsidiary, Ranger Oil Cote d'Ivoire SARL, on wells in two fields off the Ivory...

Perforation Flow Laboratory. (Drilling & Production).(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... A new Perforation Flow Laboratory has been developed that can simulate a wide range of well conditions and flow measurement options to accommodate low permeability hard rock and high permeability unconsolidated sand samples. Designed to address...

Ocean circulation. (GEO Sciences).(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... The Offshore Drilling Program (ODP) continues to contribute significantly to the understanding of the Earth's history. Recently completed ODP Leg 199 drilled through Eocene sediments at eight sites approximately halfway between Hawaii and...

Contourites. (GEO Sciences).(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... Most of the new offshore petroleum reserves are being found in sand deposits, usually deepwater channel bodies or fans of various types. These concepts build on earlier deltaic models and the sediment-cycle work of Bouma and others. It is...

Caspian survey. (GEO Sciences).(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... Caspian Geophysical announced that BP has awarded the company a marine seismic services contract in the Azerbaijan sector of the Caspian Sea. Under the contract, Caspian Geophysical will supply towed streamer and 3D-4C seismic services within...

New capacity. (Technology).(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... Compagnie Generate de Geophysique (CGG) installed 100 terabytes (TB) of MetaStor(R) E4600 storage from LSI Logic Storage Systems as part of Europe's first two-gigabit-per-second Fibre Channel SAN. Four systems were added to CGG's existing 20...

Satellite services. (Technology).(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... COMSAT Mobile Communications (CMC) launched Mobile Packet Data Service (MPDS), a mobile satellite data service. MPDS provides remote users with Internet protocol (IP) capability over satellite. CMC claims the new service will provide portable,...

Strong growth forecast in West African subsea activity: Region will account for 14% of global subsea capex. (West Africa).(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... To date, the bulk of West African offshore production has been achieved through the "conventional" fixed platform/surface completion approach, but this is set to change in the near future. Since the start of offshore development in this...

Flowline bundles, riser towers resolve Girassol flow dilemma. (West Africa).
February 1, 2002... Early last December, production commenced from the Girassol Field, marking the start of ultra-deepwater field developments in Angola Girassol, which has been developed by TotalFinaElf, is a 725 MMbbl oil field located in 1,350 meters water...

Mauritania drilling campaign indicates emerging deepwater province: New surveys, drilling shed light on potential. (West Africa).(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... Woodside's Chinguetti discovery off Mauritania last year may trigger a bout of deepwater drilling off North West Africa. Representatives from the oil companies concerned (mainly Australian) outlined their view of progress to date at IBC's West...

Equatorial Guinea providing platform for Energy Africa to triple production. (West Africa).(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... Africa's leading independent, Energy Africa, is pinning its expansion hopes on frontier plays. Equatorial Guinea has transformed its production capability. Now it is aiming for similar returns off Congo-Brazzaville and Namibia. The Cape...

Rotary steerable drilling proves more efficient than conventional, steerable drilling methods: Activity has shown 50% or better growth. (Horizontal/Extended Reach Drilling).(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... Rotary Closed-Loop Steerable (RCLS) drilling continues to grow in popularity, especially in the UK North Sea, despite overall downturn in drilling programs. There are two main drivers, which facilitated this growth; the industry's need to...

Invert gravel-pack carrier fluid system designed for density without solids: Option to conventional gravel pack fluids. (Gravel Packing).(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... Invert fluids and all-oil and synthetic drilling fluids are being used in high-angle wells, which can be excellent candidates for gravel packing. The practice has led to a need for a complete fluid system to drill and gravel pack the reservoir,...

Atwood drilling units getting low noise, vibration mud pumps: Fabricated crankshaft the key. (Drilling Technology).(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... A new mud pump is being designed around a crankshaft that is fabricated from tempered steel, a departure from the traditional crankshaft made from a casting. As an addition to the process of building the new pump design, LeTourneau Ellis...

Deepwater tendering projected to cut 30% off dry tree drilling capex: Retrofitting existing units for hubbing. (Drilling Technology).(Statistical Data Included)
February 1, 2002... Tender assisted drilling strategies can potentially decrease the capital expenditure prior to first oil by 50% and the overall investment by 30%, compared to current dry tree development programs. These numbers translate into a substantial...

Step changes in completion isolation valves overcome early prototype problems: Overcoming debris and fluid loading. (Flow Assurance).(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
February 1, 2002... Completion isolation valves (CIVs) were developed originally in the mid-1990s as a solution to a number of problems associated with high-angle sand-face completion operations. Specifically, they were designed to curb fluid loss in which the...

How 'deep' was the late Jurassic Gulf of Mexico? 'Halokinetic subsidence' of shallow-water source rocks proposed. (GEO Sciences).(Statistical Data Included)
February 1, 2002... Large magnitudes of "subsidence" of rumoured Upper JURASSIC shallow water sediments to much deeper marine settings in the US (and presumably Campeche Gulf of Mexico deepwater slope margins) may have been caused by latest Jurassic or earliest...

Maintenance functions sought for AUV that can now survey and hover: Preparing for ultra-deepwater. (AUV/ROV Technology).(Statistical Data Included)
February 1, 2002... Engineering contractors are looking to autonomous underwater vehicles (AUV) to overcome the limitations of remotely operated vehicles (ROV) in ultra-deepwater operations. The key area of concern is the extra payload created by tethers up to...

Dealing with the 'hourglass' paradigm. (Subsea Production).(Design and operational practices of HP/HT subsea equipment and systems, part 1)(high pressure/high temperature)(Statistical Data Included)
February 1, 2002... Part I: This is Part I of two-part series. Part I focuses on wellhead and downhole space limitations for HP/HT wells. Part II, which will appear in a subsequent issue, will feature selected areas of concern. Design and operational...

Liftboats go international with ten-fold jump in business. (Equipment/Engineering).(Statistical Data Included)
February 1, 2002... Liftboats, once limited to the confines of the Gulf of Mexico (GOM), have gone global. Liftboat service companies report a major increase in business driven by international customers from as far away as China and Nigeria. "(We have seen)...

Water mist technique less harmful for turbines, replaces halon systems.(Statistical Data Included)
February 1, 2002... High pressure water mist systems are being used to safeguard platforms in the Far East and North Sea against fire damage. The technique, developed by Fogtec (Germany), involves dousing a wide area with minimal amounts of water by means of...

Ifremer institute conducts numerous activities in offshore exploration and production: Institute critical component to Brest offshore industry. (Equipment/Engineering).(Statistical Data Included)
February 1, 2002... Ifremer, is the French research institute, located in Brest, dedicated to the exploitation of the sea. Ifremer has both industrial and commercial objectives. The institute has been asked to develop and manage both technology and equipment for...

Planning and installing intelligent wells in sand producing environment: Two groups combining forces. (Intelligent Completions).(Statistical Data Included)
February 1, 2002... As intelligent completion technology matures, the field of application continues to expand to increasingly challenging environments, such as the poorly consolidated, high permeability, high productivity, clastic reservoirs common to the Gulf of...