Petrobras, Exxon Mobil Corp. and Chevron Corp. have won exploration rights in Brazil’s Equatorial Margin, betting that the nation’s environmental regulator will finally open the promising offshore oil region for drilling after years of delay.
The 40 Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) federal leases, spanning approximately 1,000 km2 and located 175 to 330 km from shore, include 13 blocks located in the Walker Ridge area, 9 blocks in the Mississippi Canyon area and 18 blocks in the East Breaks area.
FourPhase, a solids and production performance specialist for the oil and gas sector, has announced a new agreement with Shell Trinidad and Tobago. The master service agreement (MSA) involves sand management and production optimization for Shell Trinidad & Tobago on its topside offshore oil and gas platforms in the Caribbean.
Oceaneering International, Inc. (Oceaneering) announced today that its Offshore Projects Group (OPG) segment has entered into a vessel services agreement with a major operator for use of the MPSV Harvey Deep Sea.
The studies – conducted by MJR Power & Automation and Oasis Marine – are the last of three commissioned by ScottishPower Renewables to investigate methods for lowering greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from offshore wind farm operations. The studies reinforced initial conclusions that utilizing battery-powered Service Operation Vessels (E-SOVs) for offshore operations is technically viable, allowing them to remain at sea for prolonged durations, ScottishPower Renewables said in a media release.
Guyana’s offshore oil industry is set to take a major leap forward as the One Guyana floating production, storage, and offloading (FPSO) vessel readies its first export cargo. According to Reuters, the inaugural shipment of the newly branded ‘Golden Arrowhead’ crude grade is slated for late August to early September, marking a critical milestone for the ExxonMobil-led consortium that includes Hess Corp. and China’s state-run CNOOC.
For 2025, the company lowered its production outlook and said it would keep capital expenditure at 2024 levels, but going forward, it said there were more record-breaking plans in production for the next two years. In 2025, the capital expenditure for exploration in China will mainly be directed to sustain crude oil reserves while expanding natural gas reserves, led by the construction of the three trillion-cubic-meters-level gas regions, CNOOC said in January, as it continues to follow China’s directive to state majors to boost domestic oil and gas reserves and supply.
TotalEnergies has signed an agreement with Shell to exchange its 20% non-operated interest in the Gato do Mato project for an additional 3% interest in Lapa, a producing offshore oil field. Upon closing, TotalEnergies will increase its stake in Lapa to 48% (operator), alongside Shell (27%) and Repsol Sinopec (25%).
A major Norwegian oil field is taking the industry’s use of drones for safety inspections to a new level, with a permanently installed aircraft that’s operated remotely from the shore.
From a control room in Norway’s oil capital of Stavanger, pilots are performing drone inspections of the Edvard Grieg platform some 180 kilometers out at sea. The technology is a step toward fully autonomous inspections, requiring fewer workers to be sent offshore, according to its operator Aker Solutions ASA.
Launched in August 2021, this new phase called “Mero-4” will connect 12 wells to the new Alexandre de Gusmão FPSO (Floating Production, Storage and Offloading) unit, with a production capacity of 180,000 barrels of oil per day (bpd). This project has been designed to minimize greenhouse gas emissions, with reinjection of the associated gas into the reservoir and zero routine flaring.