Reliance said to revive offshore gas project by end-2017

Reliance Industries Ltd. is preparing to restart work in four offshore oil and gas blocks, including one of India’s biggest natural gas discoveries, as it seeks to revive development activity stalled for seven years by disputes with the government, according to people with knowledge of the plan. More »

GE Oil and Gas to use robotics and 3D printing in futuristic plant

GE Oil and Gas has inaugurated two new high-tech component production lines at its plant in Talamona, Italy. More »

Vallourec inaugurates new Asia-Pacific facility

Vallourec Tube-Alloy, a wholly-owned Vallourec subsidiary, has announced the opening of its new plant in Singapore, to be known as Vallourec Tube-Alloy Asia-Pacific. More »

Murkowski presses Interior on mismanaged efforts to clean-up NPR-A legacy wells

U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, sent a letter to Interior Secretary Sally Jewell asking for more information surrounding mistakes reportedly made by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) in the cleanup of legacy wells in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska (NPR-A). More »

Parker Drilling customer extends Sakhalin OandM contract, adds new rig

Parker Drilling announced Thursday that its customer has awarded an extension and additional rig to its operations and maintenance (OandM) contract on Sakhalin Island, Russia. More »

Shell awards Parque das Conchas subsea pump contract to Sulzer, FMC

Sulzer and FMC Technologies have received a subsea multiphase boosting pump contract to upgrade one of the pumping modules in Shell’s Parque das Conchas, a deepwater field off the coast of Brazil. More »

CGG GeoSoftware releases Jason 9.5

CGG GeoSoftware has launched Jason 9.5, the latest version of its reservoir characterization software that adds new capabilities including depth inversion, broadband reservoir characterization and anisotropic inversion. More »

Battle inside OPEC eases as Saudi oil strategy finally pays off

Saudi Arabia has been fighting with fellow OPEC members since the oil rout started two years ago. For the first time next week, it can argue convincingly that its strategy of squeezing rival producers is succeeding. More »

Saudi Aramco boosts oil output to record in fight for market

Saudi Arabian Oil Co., the world’s largest crude exporter, increased production to an all-time high last year while keeping its reserves unchanged as the kingdom battles for market share. More »

Trump says he'd approve Keystone XL for a share of profits

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump said he would approve TransCanada Corp.’s proposed Keystone XL oil pipeline, but he wants a “better deal.” More »

Cyprus to receive new offshore natural-gas bids in July

The Cypriot government will receive bids on July 22, under the latest round of licensing for offshore oil and natural-gas exploration and expects any agreements with companies to be struck by early next year, Energy Minister Georgios Lakkotrypis said. More »

Oil’s brief $50 breach doesn’t mean much unless it sticks around

NEW YORK and LONDON (Bloomberg) -- For the oil industry, $50/bbl is a nice start. The big question is what comes next. More »

Oil-infrastructure damage cuts output further in South Sudan

Oil output in South Sudan declined to as little as 120,000 bpd, because of damage caused by a 2 1/2-year civil war to production facilities, Petroleum Minister Dak Duop Bischok said. More »

Seadrill drops as CEO says drillship firesale was overpriced

The offshore drilling market is in such bad shape that when a rival recently bought a rig for less than a 10th of its new-build cost, it probably overpaid, according to Seadrill Ltd. CEO Per Wullf. More »

Trump to make energy policy pitch in shale country

Donald Trump is poised to give his first substantive energy policy speech in North Dakota, a state eager to hear how he can help the industry recover from the worst downturn in a generation. More »

SOCAR and BP sign agreement to explore Block D230 in Absheron basin, Caspian Sea

The State Oil Company of the Azerbaijan Republic (SOCAR) and BP signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to jointly explore potential prospects in Block D230 in the North Absheron basin in the Azerbaijan sector of the Caspian Sea. More »

Sasol commences drilling of Mozambique PSA license

Sasol's field development plan (FDP) for the production sharing agreement (PSA) license in Inhambane province, Mozambique, reached an important milestone with the commencement of the first well. More »

Exxon, Chevron shareholders defeat anti-drilling proposals

Big Oil investors voted to continue doing the thing that has defined the industry since the 19th century: drilling for crude. More »

Amec Foster Wheeler awarded FEED contract by Kuwait Oil Company

Amec Foster Wheeler has been awarded a front end engineering design (FEED) contract by Kuwait Oil Company (KOC) to upgrade Oil Gathering Center GC-24. More »

Apache awards Bibby Offshore North Sea contract

Bibby Offshore has secured a substantial contract with Apache North Sea Ltd to provide subsea construction, ROV and diving services at the largest oil field in the North Sea. More »

Pre-OPEC meeting said to have no discussion of oil-output limits

The final preparatory gathering of officials from the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries before the ministerial meeting on June 2 didn’t discuss any limits on crude output, the latest signal that the group will stick to its current strategy of letting low prices eradicate a supply glut. More »

Brent tops $50 for first time in six months as U.S. supply drops

Brent crude rose above $50/bbl for the first time in more than six months as a decline in U.S. stockpiles accelerated a rebound from a 12-year low. More »

Santos reports first LNG from GLNG train 2

Santos said Thursday that GLNG train 2 has started producing liquefied natural gas (LNG) on Curtis Island, Queensland. More »

Oil climbs to seven-month high as U.S. crude supply, output decline

Oil rose to the highest level in more than seven months in New York, after a government report showed that U.S. crude inventories and production declined, easing a glut. More »

Shale oil seen stifling OPEC's historic market-balancing role

The surge in the global supply of shale oil has curbed OPEC’s ability to balance crude markets, a former Qatari energy minister said. More »

Packers Plus cemented system reduces completion cost, risk for STACK operator

Packers Plus Energy Services has announced the successful completion of a "multi-cluster" stimulation in a cemented system, which simulated plug-and-perf operations in the Meramec formation within the STACK play of Oklahoma. More »

TGS announces new multi-client 3D program in Newfoundland-Labrador

TGS announces the expansion of its multi-client library offshore Eastern Canada, with plans to acquire approximately 2,000 km² of 3D seismic data, in partnership with PGS. More »

Oil industry headed for record third straight year of cutbacks

Global crude supplies will start to dwindle in as little as two years, boosting prices, as the industry cuts investment to weather the worst market collapse in a generation, according to Statoil ASA. More »

BP boosts Thunder Horse production with water injection project

BP has started up a major water injection project at its Thunder Horse platform, extending the production life of one of the biggest deepwater fields in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico. More »

Chevron, Shell said among bidders to operate Qatar oil field

Chevron, Royal Dutch Shell, Total, ConocoPhillips and Maersk Oil Qatar submitted bids to operate Qatar’s biggest offshore oil field, according to two people with knowledge of the matter. More »

TGS announces new multi-client 3D program in Newfoundland-Labrador, Canada

TGS announces the expansion of its multi-client library offshore Eastern Canada, with plans to acquire approximately 2,000 km² of 3D seismic data, in partnership with PGS. More »

UK set to pioneer decommissioning globally as low oil price takes toll

The UK oil and gas industry is set to become a pioneer in decommissioning activity globally and has the opportunity to become a leader in this field, according to Wood Mackenzie. More »

Technip awarded umbilical supply contract by Statoil in Norway

Technip’s wholly-owned subsidiary Technip Umbilicals Ltd. has been awarded a contract by Statoil ASA to supply the umbilical to the Oseberg Vestflanken 2 field offshore Norway. More »

DJ basin beats Bakken, Permian, Eagle Ford on commerciality of fraclog

The heart of the DJ basin, Weld County, exhibits the most commercial fraclog with an average completion cost per barrel of $4.70, according to a study by Rystad Energy. More »

Aqualis Offshore secures third ONGC contract

Aqualis Offshore has been reappointed by United India Insurance Company to provide marine warranty services to Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Limited’s (ONGC) assets offshore India. More »

Oil extends gains near $50 as U.S. crude stockpiles seen falling

Oil extended its advance to near $50/bbl as weekly U.S. industry data showed crude stockpiles declined, easing a glut. More »

Norway wants Statoil, Lundin to stay rivals as ties tighten

Norway’s government, which has called for greater competition in the country’s oil industry, wants Statoil and Lundin Petroleum to remain rivals after the two companies deepened ties this month. More »

Shell cuts 2,200 more jobs to withstand lower-for-longer oil

Royal Dutch Shell will cut 2,200 more jobs, taking the total tally of losses to 12,500 from 2015 to 2016 as the world’s second-biggest oil company continues to adjust to the slump in prices. More »

Chinese company searching for billion-dollar oil deals in Texas

China’s Yantai Xinchao Industry Co. is pursuing U.S. oil acquisitions worth as much as $1 billion in the Permian basin, and it won’t be satisfied letting others run the show, according to the head of the company’s U.S. subsidiary. More »

InterAct awarded contract for well integrity services in California

InterAct, an Acteon company, has been awarded a contract with a major West Coast operator to provide well integrity management and engineering services for three gas fields in California. More »

Sparrows Group seals inspection contract with Stena Drilling

Sparrows Group has been awarded a 20-month inspection services contract to cover Stena Drilling’s global fleet of drilling vessels. More »

JDR awarded steel tube contract by GE

JDR, a UK-based supplier of subsea umbilicals and power cables to the offshore energy industry, has been awarded a contract by GE Oil and Gas, on behalf of operator ONGC, for the Vashishta and S1 project. More »

U.S. Silica acquires additional reserves at Ottawa

U.S. Silica Holdings has completed the purchase of a fully permitted, 327-acre parcel of land adjacent to its existing silica sand mine and plant in Ottawa, Illinois. More »

World better forget about $100 crude coming back, Norway says

The oil market is rebalancing, but don’t count on ever seeing prices at $100 a barrel again: that’s the clear message from Norway’s petroleum and energy minister. More »

Oman Block 36 wildcat disappoints for DNO

DNO’s Hayah-1 exploration well in Oman's Block 36 failed to encounter hydrocarbons other than minor gas shows and will be plugged and abandoned, the company said in a statement. More »

Parsley Energy acquires mineral rights in Southern Delaware basin

Parsley Energy has entered into an agreement to acquire mineral rights under approximately 30,000 acres consisting of Parsley leasehold and other adjacent properties in Pecos and Reeves Counties, Texas, in the Southern Delaware basin for $280.5 million in cash. More »

Conventional discoveries outside North America at lowest since 1952: IHS

Volumes for conventional oil and gas discoveries made outside of North America have continued their multi-year decline, and the results are dramatic—just 12 Bboe of estimated recoverable resources were discovered in 2015, a record low since 1952, when discoveries reached just 7.8 Bboe, according to new analysis from HIS. More »

Statoil awards master services agreement to Wood Group

Statoil has awarded Wood Group an evergreen master services agreement (MSA) to support the life cycles of its offshore and onshore facilities. More »

Saudi Arabia’s new oil plan shows it’s just not that into OPEC

Saudi Arabia, one of the founders of OPEC, is sounding the group’s death knell. More »

Offshore drilling foes invoke 1953 law to prod Obama on U.S. ban

Environmental activists who dangled from bridges and paddled kayaks around an Arctic rig have a new strategy for stopping oil development off U.S. coasts: persuading President Barack Obama to use a 1953 law to bar offshore drilling permanently. More »

Oil’s recovery under threat as tankers run in circles off China

In late February, the tanker Jag Lok loaded oil from Equatorial Guinea in western Africa and set sail for the Chinese port of Qingdao, the gateway to the world’s newest buyers of crude, a journey of more than 12,000 nautical miles. More »

LNG: Gloomy now, brighter soon

THE WORLD wanted more liquefied natural gas; the market responded. The wave of new supply, expected for years, is upon us. Global LNG export capacity is now 352.54m tonnes a year (t/y) and will rise to 357.84m t/y by the end of 2016; and 452.11m t/y by 2020, according to Petroleum Economist's Interactive World LNG Map. Supply will have risen by almost 30% in the space of five years. More »

OPEC set for another meeting with no deal after Doha failure

After failing to reach an accord on oil supply in Doha last month, OPEC is poised to go another meeting with no agreement on how much crude to produce. More »

UK grants first fracing rights after ban as gas output sinks

Third Energy UK Gas Ltd. has been awarded permission to hydraulically fracture an existing UK natural gas well, surmounting last-minute protests and reviving a practice not used in Britain for five years. More »

Crude falls as Canada to resume oil-sands output after wildfires

Oil dropped for a fourth day as producers in Canada worked to resume operations after wildfires and Iran continued to increase exports. More »

AccessESP successfully replaces ESP using standard slickline unit

AccessESP, a leading provider of rigless electric submersible pump (ESP) conveyance solutions for the worldwide oil industry, has successfully retrieved and replaced an existing ESP for a major operator on the Alaskan North Slope using a standard slickline unit. More »

U.S. remains largest producer of petroleum and natural gas hydrocarbons: EIA

The United States remained the world's top producer of petroleum and natural gas hydrocarbons in 2015, according to U.S. Energy Information Administration estimates. More »

Statoil cancels rig contract with Seadrill

Statoil has, on behalf of the Aasta Hansteen licence, decided to cancel the contract with Seadrill for the West Hercules drilling rig. More »

Biggest LNG buyer pays lowest price since 2005 amid price slump

Japan, the world’s biggest buyer of LNG, paid the lowest price in about 11 years for the fuel last month amid a global oversupply. More »

Africa's busiest oil industry running hard to stand still

Algeria has more drilling rigs than the rest of Africa combined, yet oil production still isn’t recovering after years of decline. More »

Air Liquide completes acquisition of Airgas

Air Liquide has announced that it completed the acquisition of Airgas, Inc., a supplier of industrial gases and associated products and services. More »

COSL wins contract for 3D seismic acquisition in Arctic waters

Recently, China Oilfield Services Limited (COSL) was awarded a contract for 3D seismic acquisition, covering a total area of more than 4,000 km2 in Arctic waters, which has become COSL’s first great order for 3D seismic operations in Arctic waters. More »

Oil and Gas UK study identifies new technologies to improve asset integrity

In the critical area of offshore asset integrity, a new study published by Oil and Gas UK promises to broaden awareness of the array of technologies developed and deployed successfully by the industry and other sectors, which could be used to great effect in delivering safe and effective improvements in efficiency. More »

Wintershall Norge makes small discovery in the North Sea

Wintershall Norge AS, operator of production licence 248, has completed the drilling of wildcat wells 35/8-6 S and 35/8-6 A. More »