By John Benny Oct 15 (Reuters) - Battered oil and gas drilling companies are finally seeing piecemeal signs that the prices they charge for offshore rigs are bottoming out with Brent crude selling for more than $80 a barrel and some are forecasting a full turn in the market by 2020. At the depths of a global slide that took oil below $27 a barrel in early 2016, daily rates … [Read more...]
Shipwrecks Found in Greek Waters Tell Tale of Ancient Trade Routes
By Vassilis Triandafyllou and Idyli Tsakiri FOURNI, Greece, Oct 11 (Reuters) - Archaeologists in Greece have discovered at least 58 shipwrecks, many laden with antiquities, in what they say may be the largest concentration of ancient wrecks ever found in the Aegean and possibly the whole of the Mediterranean. The wrecks lie in the small island archipelago of Fournoi, in the … [Read more...]
U.S. Oil Firms Restoring Operations in Storm-Battered Gulf of Mexico
HOUSTON, Oct 11 (Reuters) - Major oil producers and drillers, including Chevron Corp and BP Plc, on Thursday began returning crews to more than 90 offshore facilities in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico that were evacuated this week as Hurricane Michael moved through the Gulf. Production shut-ins that had temporarily halted 42 percent of Gulf oil output and nearly a third of natural … [Read more...]
Offshore Driller Ensco to Buy Rowan in $2.38 Billion Deal
By John Benny and Shanti S Nair Oct 8 (Reuters) - Deep-sea oil driller Ensco Plc said on Monday it would buy smaller rival Rowan Cos Plc in an all-stock deal valued at $2.38 billion, to take advantage of a nascent recovery in the sector fueled by strengthening oil prices. Offshore drilling, the worst hit during the 2014 slide in oil prices, is set to benefit as recent … [Read more...]
U.S. Interior Department Relaxes Offshore Drilling Safety Rules
WASHINGTON, Sept 27 (Reuters) - The Trump administration on Thursday eased safety rules on offshore oil and gas production put in place after the deadly 2010 BP Plc Deepwater Horizon disaster, as part of its effort to slash regulations and boost the energy industry. The Interior Department revised the 2016 oil and gas production safety systems rule, part of a series of … [Read more...]