The Oil & Gas Technology Centre and the University of Aberdeen will create a new multi-million-pound Decommissioning Centre of Excellence to tackle current and future challenges with world-class research and development in partnership with industry.

Ampelmann’s A-type Enhanced Performance (A^EP) gangway system will transfer personnel from Wagenborg Offshore’s second Walk to Work Emergency Response and Rescue Vessel (W2W ERRV) Kasteelborg, to support gas production in the Dutch and UK sectors of the Southern North Sea.

In support of President Donald J. Trump's America-First Offshore Energy Strategy, Interior Assistant Secretary for Land and Minerals Management Joe Balash announced on March 21, that region-wide Gulf of Mexico Lease Sale 250 generated $124,763,581 in high bids for 148 tracts covering 815,403 acres in federal waters of the Gulf of Mexico. A total of 33 companies participated in the lease sale, submitting $139,122,383 in bids.

Eni and Sonangol have started oil production from the Ochigufu project, in Block 15/06 of Angola’s deep offshore. The field will add 25,000 barrels to the current production levels.

The Oil & Gas Innovation Centre (OGIC) has invested more than £300,000 into three new projects which have the potential to cut operational costs and improve efficiency in the oil and gas industry.

In an ongoing effort to increase responsible and efficient offshore energy operations, the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement has implemented a new quality assurance process for reviewing and assessing its permitting systems. The new process seeks to reflect on permits issued by the agency and helps inform best practices for offshore energy permitting.

Statoil and Total have completed their previously announced transaction whereby Statoil has acquired Total’s equity stakes in, and taken over the operatorships of, the Martin Linge field and the Garantiana discovery on the Norwegian continental shelf.

Total has signed two new 40-year concession agreements with the Supreme Petroleum Council of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi (United Arab Emirates) and the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC). In the frame of these agreements, Total is granted a 20% participating interest in the new Umm Shaif & Nasr concession and 5% in the Lower Zakum concession, effective March 9th, 2018, for a total participation fee of 1.45 billion dollars, which represents an access cost of around 1 dollar per barrel of reserves.

Decom North Sea has published a Decom Directory in conjunction with Scottish Enterprise and the Oil & Gas Authority, which provides details of companies which have the capability to service the UK/UKCS decommissioning sector.

Integrated systems manufacturers Ocean Scientific International Ltd are reporting high levels of interest in their Oil Spill Monitoring buoys following several recent installations in the Middle East and exposure at the world leading ocean technology and marine science exhibition, Oceanology International.

CGG has commenced acquisition of a large broadband 3D multi-client survey in the pre-salt area of the deepwater Santos Basin. Santos VIII is the most recent survey in CGG’s vast on-going pre-salt program that delivers ultramodern seismic data, enabling exploration companies to better evaluate pre-salt opportunities in advance of Brazil’s pre-salt licensing rounds.

Subsea 7 S.A. has announced the award of a substantial(1) contract by BP Exploration for the provision of subsea inspection, repair and maintenance (IRM) services on both the Azeri-Chirag-Gunashli (ACG) and Shah Deniz (SD) fields, offshore Azerbaijan.

UTEC, a global survey company in subsea services group Acteon, has delivered a bespoke Virtual Asset Management tool to an offshore Operator in Eastern Canada to allow its team to remotely access its Floating, Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO), from their desktop.

Statoil is awarding a contract for pipelaying to Subsea 7 and for marine operations to Ocean Installer in the Askeladd field development.

The LNG plant at Melkøya. (Photo: Ole Jørgen Bratland)

"The Askeladd project is being developed in a period of several key milestones for Statoil in North Norway. The Aasta Hansteen field in the Norwegian Sea will come on stream at the end of the year. The Johan Castberg development began in earnest after it was recently sanctioned. In addition, Statoil’s drilling campaign in the Barents Sea is being pursued this year," says Torger Rød, Statoil’s senior vice president for project development.

Subsea 7 will lay a 44-kilometre-long and 20-inch-wide pipeline that will tie Askeladd to the Snøhvit field.

Support activities for the operations will be based in Hammerfest and other locations. Starting immediately, the work will continue throughout 2019. The installation will be performed in the summer of 2019.

Installer will install two subsea templates in 2019. A 42-kilometre-long umbilical, a 35-kilometre-long MEG (mono-ethylene glycol) pipeline and two manifolds will be installed in 2020. In addition, Ocean Installer will fabricate and install four spools and protective structures and carry out tie-ins and ready-for-operation activities. The operations will mainly be mobilized from Hammerfest, and will give spinoffs for local suppliers.

Both Subsea 7 and Ocean Installer have previously been awarded similar contracts for the Johan Castberg development. There will be synergy effects between the two projects that are key developments for the Norwegian continental shelf and for North Norway in the years ahead. "Statoil’s activities in the north generate ripple effects and together with the collaboration partners we are actively seeking competitive suppliers in this part of the country," says Pål Eitrheim, Statoil’s chief procurement officer.

Together with the main Johan Castberg suppliers Statoil carried out a separate supplier day in Tromsø last week to look at common opportunities.

The Askeladd project was sanctioned in March with planned production start at the end of 2020. The development will extend plateau production at the Hammerfest LNG plant.

The Askeladd development will consist of three wells in two new subsea templates which are designed for adding any future wells. Infrastructure for tying the Askeladd development to the existing Snøhvit field installation will also be installed.

Aker Solutions has previously been awarded the contract for the two subsea templates.

Beginning April 1, the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) is increasing physical inspection time offshore, while reducing taxpayer burden by nearly $20 million over 3.5 years, providing significant cost-savings to the American public. Exploring ways to make inspections more efficient and reduce helicopter operating expenses, a team of BSEE leaders in the Gulf of Mexico Region developed the new approach.

Statoil and its partners have decided to invest just over NOK 5 billion in the further development of the Snøhvit field in the Barents Sea, which will provide feedstock for the LNG plant at Melkøya in Hammerfest.