CGGVeritas orders twin $420M, “X-Bow” boats Jul 2, 2007
Paris-based seismic outfit CGGVeritas has ordered two seismic vessels from Norwegian shipbuilder Eidesvik Offshore for a combined $420 million, with deliveries timed for 2010, when most of today's newbuild semi-submersibles begin exploring the seas.

Shell onto more gas at Onyx Jul 2, 2007
An appraisal well drilled by the West Alfa semi-subersible rig has proven more gas for Shell at the Onyx Soervest discovery of a year ago, the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate said at the weekend.

BP submits $5B Skarv plan for Norwegian nod Jun 29, 2007
Supermajor BP has sent Norwegian officialdom its plan to develop the 30-billion-kroner ($5-billion)  Skarv gas field using a “large production vessel”, subsea wells and an 80-kilometre, gas-export pipeline.

Total turns tap on 250,000 bpd offshore Angola Jun 29, 2007
Total has turned on the taps for Sonangol and partners at the two-year-long Rosa development, where the production of oil has begun 135 kilometres offshore the rebuilding African contry.

Statoil, Shell pull out of carbon project after industry warnings Jun 29, 2007
Statoil and Shell are pulling out of their large-scale carbon-dioxide injecton plan for the Draugen and Heidrun offshore fields offshore Norway, saying it’ll cost too much to capture and transport the globe-heating gas.
By WILLIAM STOICHEVSKI

Songa finds Libyan work for Nippon consortium Jun 28, 2007
A consortium of oil companies lead by Nippon Oil Exploration Ltd. has hired the Songa Saturn drill ship for work offshore Libya, in a $91 million work order for the rig contractor.

Ivanhoe invents efficient heavy-oil upgrader Jun 28, 2007
Heavy oil technology developer Ivanhoe Energy of California has performed a test on ConocoPhillips bitumen from Athabasca, Canada, showing the engineer sent by bankers that a lighter, more valuable crude is obtained by its trademark HTL process.

Circle cites N. African promise, as loss widens Jun 28, 2007
Ireland-based North Africa explorer Circle Oil has posted a near 60-percent greater loss for 2006 than the year before, a $2.78 million deficit incurred for the gain of “lower risk” exploration acreage.

Companies clear the air, as “carbon week” passes Jun 27, 2007
Opinion appears to differ on where to deploy and concentrate technology to curtail global warming and begin earning from the trade in carbon, judging by a week of declarations on carbon capture and storage, or CCS, from the North Sea.
By WILLIAM STOICHEVSKI

Hydro enlists Siemens in “floating wind” drive Jun 26, 2007
Hydro and Siemens Power Generation have entered into an agreement to cooperate on technology to develop floating wind turbines based on the Norwegian energy company’s Hywind concept.

BP joins £200M biofuels project Jun 26, 2007
Supermajor BP will build a “world scale” biofuels plant in the United Kingdom with mass-produced food groups Associated British Foods and Dupont, it was announced Tuesday.

Imperial strikes oil, pipeline contracts in Siberia Jun 26, 2007
Imperial Oil on Tuesday affirmed the oil industry’s 130-year-old fixation with Russia with an oil strike and the declaration of a $245-million pipeline project for wells expected to come on stream.

Baltic Oil accepts loss to grow plant, prospects Jun 26, 2007
Kaliningrad terminal owner and Western Siberian explorer Baltic Oil Terminals blamed costs and reported on Tuesday the widening of losses in 2006 by some £7.4 million over 2005 to £8.23 million, despite rising revenues.

ConocoPhillips ups U.K. carbon-capture ante Jun 25, 2007
ConocoPhillips has “passed the conceptual stage” and is in the early stages of engineering studies for a large-scale carbon-capture, “regassification” and offshore carbon-storage project for the industrial northeast of England at Immingham.
By WILLIAM STOICHEVSKI

ENI notches “no-show” in Norwegian Sea Jun 25, 2007
Italian oil company ENI has a dry well in the tough geology of the Norwegian Sea, where the promising Voering basin south of the Barents Sea keeps its sandstone secrets.