Jun 7 2016 | News & Insight
Last year was a challenging year for the FPS market. The low oil price threatened the commerciality of numerous projects, delay announcements for FPS units under construction arrived regularly and overall only four orders were placed. So far in 2016, we have seen a similar trend, or arguably worse market conditions. No orders have been […]
More »As an indicator of the turmoil that has hit the US oil & gas services sector the Baker Hughes rig count is hard to beat. From 1,931 rigs drilling in September 2014 the count has declined to a total of 408, dramatically reducing activity and jobs for drillers, service companies and suppliers alike. Unconventional activity […]
More »Autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) have been in operation for a number of years and are an established part of underwater activity, particularly in research and military where they are utilised for activities such as mine clearance, hydrography and data collection. Despite widespread use, there is still potential for substantial growth – each new technological advance […]
More »Solar PV – deployed in Europe for over two decades – can hardly be called a new technology. However, in recent years we have seen the rapid adoption of solar PV throughout America and Asia – particularly in India, China and SEA. Solar is currently seen as a complementary source of power when compared to […]
More »May 17 2016 | News & Insight
Douglas-Westwood (DW) forecasts global oilfield equipment expenditure to total $622 billion (bn) between 2016 and 2020, despite a 3% year-on-year decline to 2020. Onshore growth will return from 2017 – with onshore spend expected to surpass offshore in the same year. Global Oilfield Equipment Expenditure Onshore/Offshore Split 2011-2020 The over-building of mobile offshore drilling units […]
More »The Middle East has been a relative bright spot for upstream activity during the oil price downturn. International land rig contractors, such as Saipem, are actively focusing their strategy and drilling campaigns on the region in the attempt to limit the negative impact of low oil prices. Looking at drilling activity, it is clear why […]
More »May 10 2016 | News & Insight
In recent years, the economic viability of numerous offshore projects has been questioned due to a relentless rise in Capex and Opex. The prolonged low oil price has placed additional pressure on operator budgets – resulting in deferred sanctioning and in some cases, cancellations of new projects. Prior to the downturn, various projects were under […]
More »The end of March saw a resolution reached between Kuwait and Saudi Arabia for the resumption of production from the Khafji field – located in the Arabian Gulf. The project was shut-in by the Saudis in October 2014 due to environmental regulation breaches, March’s initial agreement was backed by senior Riyadh officials. However, Deputy Crown […]
More »May 5 2016 | News & Insight
Douglas-Westwood’s (DW) new World Floating Production Market Report 2016-2020 forecasts that Capex for FPS units will total $58 billion (bn) over the period to 2020. This is substantially lower than expected last year, as result of plummeting oil prices over the second half of the year, but the value of the order book remains near […]
More »The Johan Castberg development has faced numerous challenges since inception. If production in the Barents Sea wasn’t difficult enough, Statoil has had to contend with changes to Norwegian Tax laws as well as disappointing drilling results. In May 2014, it was confirmed that of five exploration wells drilled in the area, only two yielded oil […]
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