Offshore NEWS

The U.S. dropped three rigs week on week, according to Baker Hughes’ latest rotary rig count, which was released on July 1. Baker Hughes’ latest count showed that the U.S. dropped four land rigs and added one offshore rig week on week. The total rig count in the U.S. is now said to be 750, comprising 730 land rigs, 17 offshore rigs and three inland water rigs. Of the 750 total, 595 are classified as oil rigs, 153 are classified as gas rigs, and two are classified as miscellaneous rigs. Canada’s weekly rig count increased by 12, according to Baker Hughes’ latest rig figures, which showed that the country’s total rig count now stands at 166. Of this total rig figure, 109 rigs are classified as oil rigs and 57 rigs are classified as gas rigs. North America’s total rig count now stands at 916, Baker Hughes’ count highlights.

India's offshore wind sector has gained momentum as a result of the Prime Minister's announcement of net-zero targets at the last UN climate change summit(COP26). At the summit, India also announced its increased ambitions of installing 500 GW of non-fossil-fuels-based power generation capacity by 2030, inclusive of 30 GW offshore wind capacity.

China National Offshore Oil Corp. said it will increase spending on clean energy so that its carbon emissions peak by 2028, while also bringing forward its net-zero deadline to 2050, according to the company’s climate action plan released Wednesday. The offshore oil and gas giant’s spending on renewable energy will account for 10%-15% of its total over 2026-2030, from a range of 5%-10% announced last year for the period through 2025. The emissions counted will only be the company’s own, and won’t include those generated by the customers of its fossil fuels.

To provide grid integration and related infrastructure to serve the quickly expanding offshore wind business, grid automation solutions company Hitachi Energy has partnered with Jersey-based international service Petrofac. To enable the decarbonization of power networks and produce sustainable energy, the collaboration leverages the complementary core technologies and offshore wind industry knowledge of both firms. Both high-voltage alternating current (HVAC) and high-voltage direct current (HVDC) systems are covered. The growing pipeline of offshore wind projects will be targeted for Hitachi Energy’s HVDC Light and modular HVAC grid technologies and solutions, as well as Petrofac's engineering, procurement, construction, and installation capabilities for offshore platforms and offshore and onshore civil works.

Global renewable energy player Siemens Gamesa has announced that it has signed a MOU with Doosan Enerbility to investigate strategic cooperation within offshore wind power activities on several Korea-focused fronts. They are related to collaboration on large-scale offshore wind turbines, sharing of major services including construction of new Korean production facilities, the supply of wind turbine parts, offshore wind turbine installation, and turbine maintenance, among others.

Equinor and its partners in the Troll and Oseberg oil and gas fields in the North Sea are looking into possible options for building a one-gigawatt floating offshore wind farm, the Norwegian energy firm said on Friday. The project, named Trollvind, could provide much of the electricity needed to run the Troll and Oseberg fields through an onshore connection point, Equinor said. "Power from Trollvind could make a solid contribution towards electrification of of oil and gas installations, accelerate offshore wind development in Norway, and deliver extra power to the Bergen region," it said in a statement.

EPC tender for further development of Daman field off the west coast could be tendered in May

Oil Minister Hardeep Singh Puri dedicated the two major projects to the nation at Western offshore on April 23. He was accompanied by chairman Alka Mittal, Director (T&FS) O P Singh and Director (Offshore) Pankaj Kumar.

Guyana’s government has granted permission for American supermajor ExxonMobil to develop a fourth offshore oil and gas field, and the company said on Monday it has made a final investment decision on the US$10-billion project aimed at producing up to 250,000 barrels per day.

Britain will be forced to import almost all its gas and most of its oil from overseas suppliers unless billions of pounds are invested in new North Sea exploration and production facilities, according to a stark report from Offshore Energies UK.

Tie-up will also see UK oil major will establish a local offshore wind development team in Tokyo

TotalEnergies has made a discovery of light oil with associated gas in the offshore Orange Basin in Namibia following the drilling of the Venus 1-X well in block 2913B, Petroleum Exploration Licence 56 (PEL56).

The taxation regime for gas production in Romania has become even more uncompetitive, significantly above the European average. This puts pressure on investments in Romania, endangering the supply [of local consumers] from domestic natural gas production.

Abu Dhabi's state-owned oil and gas company announced Thursday the discovery of between 1.5 to 2 trillion standard cubic feet of gas in an offshore area located in the emirates's northwest.

"The sale of offshore oil and gas leases on more than 80 million acres in the Gulf of Mexico was canceled by a U.S. judge who ordered regulators to take a harder look at the impact on climate change. U.S. District Judge Rudolph Contreras in Washington, D.C., vacated the lease sale in a 67-page decision, issued Thursday.

OVL had registered a major gas discovery in 2019 in its deep offshore block BM-SEAL-4, Brazil, located in the Sergipe Alagoas Basin.

A Petronas-led joint venture is analysing the results of the Bacalar-1 offshore exploration well in Mexico. The Malaysian national oil and gas giant has a 60% operated interest in Block 12, with Indonesia's Medco Energi and Thailand's PTT Exploration and Production on 20% each. Medco said in its latest exploration update that post-drill analysis was under way as part of the well evaluation process. Bacalar-1, which is understood to have spudded in August 2021, has so far cost US$52.2 million, added Medco. Petronas had a one-well contract with US-based offshore rig owner Pacific Drilling to use the drillship Pacific Khamsin for an exploration programme in Mexico starting in the third quarter last year.

South Korea shipyard says this is the first time it has won offshore orders for two years in a row since 2014