Aug. 8 (Bloomberg) -- BP Plc, ConocoPhillips and Statoil ASA are among oil explorers investing at least $3 billion in wells off Angola next year in the country’s biggest deepwater drilling campaign, Wood Mackenzie Ltd. said. The companies will drill 20 wells beneath a layer of salt about 3 miles (5 kilometers) under the seabed at a cost of about $150 million each, … [Read more...]
Rowan Drilling is Going Deep in 2013
By Alison Sider HOUSTON--Shallow-water driller Rowan Drilling Company (RDC) is stepping in the deepwater, a move that it expects will boost profits and make it a long-term player in the hottest oil fields in the world. Rowan will get its first four ultra-deepwater drillships later this year, with at least three more to come in 2014 and 2015. In a way, timing couldn't be … [Read more...]
Carnival announces newbuild hat trick – And you thought YOUR cruise was expensive?
Carnival's newest ship, Carnival Breeze, is to debut in June 2012. Image courtesy Carnival Carnival Cruise Lines announced today that it will be building three new cruise ships for two of its European brands at a price tag of OVER $2 BILLION. The vessels, one 132,500-ton vessel for its Costa Cruises brand and two 125,000-ton ships for its AIDA Cruises brand, will be the … [Read more...]
Rowan Sells Land Rigs to Bolster Offshore Expansion
HOUSTON -(Dow Jones)- Rowan Cos. Inc. (RDC) on Wednesday said it will sell its fleet of land rigs to Ensign Energy Services Inc. (ESI.T, ESVIF) for $510 million, a deal that reshapes the Houston company into a purely offshore driller and highlights the growing value of rigs positioned in booming U.S. basins. In May, Rowan sold its manufacturing arm LaTourneau Technologies … [Read more...]
Statoil gets drilling permit approved, Transocean drillship returning to the Gulf
The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management reported on Friday that they had approved a deepwater drilling permit for Norwegian oil company Statoil. This is the 6th deepwater drilling permit issued since exploration drilling operations had been halted in the Gulf of Mexico last summer. Transocean's Discoverer Americas, a 6th Generation drillship, had been on contract with Statoil … [Read more...]
Transocean Executives Discuss 3rd Quarter Results
Transocean's CEO Steven Newman; Ricardo Rosa, Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer; Ihab Toma, Senior Vice President of Marketing and Planning; and Terry Bonno, Vice President of Marketing discussed Transocean's 3rd Quarter financial results in a webcast on Thursday. A few brief excerpts from this conference call: from Steven Newman, Chief Executive … [Read more...]
New Ban on Deepwater Drilling Issued
The U.S. Department of Interior today has issued yet another moratorium on deepwater drilling on the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS), saying that the suspension is nesessary to ensure adequate safety measures are in place to reduce the risk of future blowouts. The suspension does not include shallow water drilling activities. A press release issued by the U.S. Deptartment of … [Read more...]