Drilling & production

Coal is surging ahead with the recovering economy, but many challenges lie ahead. Gordon cope examines how prospects for US coal are looking up.

Hays Oil and Gas have found that the majority of people do not believe that companies do enough to promote women into senior management positions.

Australia has reduced its forecasts for coal production and exports for the financial year ending June 2012 as its coal mining industry still reels from the effects of severe flooding at the beginning of the year.

BP today announced that it has reached agreement with Weatherford U.S., L.P. to settle potential claims between the companies related to the Deepwater Horizon accident.

South America is emerging as a growing world player in the oil and gas industry. With discoveries of new reserves across the continent, Brazil, Venezuela, Colombia, Chile, Peru and Argentina all look set to prosper.

Taryn Evans, AKE, takes a brief look at the differences between regions in terms of the threat posed to foreign personnel engaged in energy projects by kidnap and ransom.

Aker Solutions has secured a contract for subsea compression topside modifications of the Åsgard A and B platforms with Statoil. The contract value is approximately NOK 650 million.

Despite the risks, Russian oil is once more where the action is for Western firms, with a spate of high-profile deals inked in the first quarter of 2011.

Petrobras has awarded GE Oil & Gas a four-year service agreement to deliver repairs, maintenance and retrofits on Petrobras’ fleet of subsea equipment installed in the Campos Basin offshore Brazil.

North American gas companies have asked odour experts at Cardiff University to solve the potentially lethal problem of shale gas losing its smell.

Rio Tinto will move to compulsory acquisition of Riversdale Mining Ltd (Riversdale) after Tata Steel accepted all of its shareholding into Rio Tinto’s takeover offer for Riversdale.

Woodside Petroleum has been forced to delay its Pluto LNG project due to bad weather and unexpected delays, and this has had an impact on cost.

Mozambique, the East African country which has already proved its potential as a major contender for its oil and gas reserves, will be soliciting for bids to open up the area in the northern province for exploration.

Saudi Arabaia is breaking ranks from OPEC to offer increased supply to Europe, as Libya and Iraq struggle to protect production and processing facilities from the effects of civil unrest.

GE Oil & Gas has announced that its Wellstream business, acquired in March, has been awarded a long-term, flexible pipe and subsea equipment logistics services contract by Petrobras). The long-term contract is initially valued in excess of US$ 200 million.