As drilling costs keep coming down for land-based wells in unconventional plays, offshore drillers face increased pressure to lower their costs. A key focus area: maintenance budgets for marine drilling risers. Instead of the traditional five-year, calendar-based inspection interval for risers, can drillers use a condition-based monitoring (CBM) methodology to extend the interval to beyond... Continue Reading →
ExxonMobil strikes 15th oil discovery offshore Guyana
Just a few days after making history with producing Guyana’s first ever oil at its Liza offshore field, ExxonMobil has announced another oil discovery near the field. The U.S. major on Monday said it made an oil discovery offshore Guyana at the Mako-1 well southeast of the Liza field, marking the 15th discovery on the... Continue Reading →
Mature Fields and Royalties
December 19, 2019 Royalties are the most traditional form of taxation of mineral resources in the world. It is compensation for the exploitation of a mineral resource designed to ensure that future generations enjoy the benefits that exploitation of the non-renewable natural resource provides to the current generation. In the Brazilian case, according to Law... Continue Reading →
Buzios will receive one third of E&P investments
Dec 18, 2019 Petrobras plans to invest U$ 49.5 billion in production development projects between 2020 and 2024 The Buzios field, in the Santos Basin pre-salt, will receive the largest volume of investments foreseen in the Petrobras 2020-2024 Strategic Plan. The projection is that the asset will absorb U$ 18 billion over the next five... Continue Reading →
Equinor Signs Global Deal with ABB
Industrial automation giant ABB has signed a new frame agreement to deliver safety and automation systems across Equinor’s installed base and greenfield projects worldwide, helping minimize cost, schedule and risk. The frame agreement continues more than three decades of collaboration, with ABB supporting Equinor to consider innovative opportunities in an era of greener, cleaner energy... Continue Reading →
Enabling AI in E&P
Oilfield services company Schlumberger and software firm Dataiku have teamed up to enable the exploration and production (E&P) industry to build and deploy their own artificial intelligence (AI) solutions across the full breadth of their upstream workflows within the DELFI cognitive E&P environment. Under an exclusive technology agreement, the partners will deliver new capabilities to... Continue Reading →
Subsea Tech’s ‘March of Miniaturization’
Smaller remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) and smaller autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) are growing in number and in turn driving smaller technologies that support them. The result is a few new kids on the block and what you could call a rising march of miniaturization. They span from vehicle manufacturers to acoustic and optical sensor system... Continue Reading →
Nanotechnology: Petrobras invests in increasing oil production efficiency
Dec 10, 2019 Petrobras is developing nanotechnology solutions to increase production in its oil fields. Using nanotechnology for use in Advanced Oil Recovery may make it possible to extract more oil and gas than conventional techniques already used. The company has invested R$ 21.3 million in this technology in recent years, using financial resources from... Continue Reading →
Petrobras Formally Approves AFGlobal ACD
AFGlobal announced on Monday that its Active Control Device (ACD) has been approved by Petrobras for use on its wells in Brazil. This approval follows rigorous testing review at the AFGlobal’s Advanced Technology Center in Houston, the company said. “This is a pivotal milestone for AFGlobal, and we are very proud to have our technology... Continue Reading →
2G Robotics Launches ROV Micro Inspection Skid
2G Robotics has officially released the Micro Inspection Skid, a new laser survey skid for Inspection Class ROVs developed in partnership with iXblue and Nortek. The Micro Inspection Skid is available for vehicles including the Saab Seaeye Falcon and the Seatronics VALOR. The plug-and-play design comes fully calibrated and only requires mounting and connection to... Continue Reading →