The six-month US moratorium on deepwater drilling following the Deepwater Horizon tragedy, along with tougher regulations and higher liability costs likely to follow, could put the squeeze on independent operators in the Gulf of Mexico . . .

BP in late August was in the final stages of permanently plugging the deepwater Gulf of Mexico Macondo exploration well, which spilled nearly 5 million barrels of oil between the 20 April blowout that destroyed the Deepwater Horizon rig and mid-July ...

Drilling at the Peró and Ingá prospects in block BM-C-40 and the Santa Helena prospect in BM-C-31 has turned up hits for Brazilian relative newcomer OGX . . .

The pre-salt Tupi field may claim most of the interest when it comes to oil activity offshore Brazil, but plenty is going on along the large country’s coastline . . .

Worldwide utilization for the mobile offshore drilling fleet continues to hover in the 74-76% range. The recent softness seen in utilization, approximately four percentage points below a year ago . . .

Andrew McBarnet suggests that the major marine seismic players are favourites to win in a crowded market . . .

On the heels of strong 2Q earnings, including a revenue boost of 11% from international markets, Halliburton executive Tim Probert talks to OE about oilfield technology trends, the Deepwater Horizon disaster and how ‘Big Red’ is positioning itself a...

Shell’s solution for dealing with the heavy oil at the low-energy BC-10 concession offshore Brazil – caisson separator electrical submersible pumps - is working ‘outstandingly’ well according to the field’s project manager . . .

A new world benchmark for hydraulic skidding was established this June in Geoje-Si, South Korea, with the loadout of the 19,400t deck for an Arctic class semisubmersible destined eventually to serve on Russia’s Shtokman gas field . . .

Finally, some sanity has surfaced in Europe on the subject of climate change and it is from a real scientific heavyweight to boot. Rarely have I found . . .

The effect of the continuing credit crunch last summer meant that North Sea field development activity was down last year, but the steadying of the price this spring has led to projects being dusted off in both the UK and the Norwegian sectors . . .

For more than 20 years, the UK’s Civil Aviation Authority has led various initiatives to reduce the risks to helicopters operating to moving platforms in the North Sea. Dr Athena Scaperdas and Dr Paul Gallagher of Atkins describe one such project . ....

When the ideal coiled tubing string for a sleeve-shifting operation was too heavy for the platform crane, the string was split and then rejoined offshore. BJ Services’ Godwin Effiong and Greg Dean explain how they kept the job safe . . .

The risks associated with placing complex open hole completions across the reservoir are increasing. Deep Casing Tools’ Mark Presslie explains why and describes . . .

Conventional solids control methods are inadequate to manage low-gravity solids smaller than 8-10 microns. M-I Swaco’s Rich Cook discusses a new solution . . .