GE and Maersk Drilling announced a partnership today to collaborate on a data analytics pilot project to increase Maersk’s drilling vessels’ productivity and to possibly reduce maintenance costs by up to 20%. The two companies have collaborated to deploy SeaStream Insight, GE’s new marine asset performance management program, powered by Predix. The pilot project will be carried out on one of Maersk Drilling’s...

The Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) announced the expansion of the SafeOCS program beyond near miss reporting to now include the confidential collection of equipment failure data in an effort to further reduce the risk of offshore incidents.

Exxon Mobil Corporation has announced a significant discovery with a potential recoverable resource of between 500 million and 1 billion barrels of oil (BOE) on the Owowo field offshore Nigeria...

Norway’s Petroleum Safety Authority (PSA) is updating its barrier management guidelines to include organizational and operational barriers, in additional to technical barriers. After PSA conducted studies and participated in a multinational audit on barrier management, the regulator concluded there is a need for a more systematic approach to barrier management. Such an approach is needed...

Although the downturn is forcing drilling contractors to stack rigs and make necessary budget cuts, the industry must maintain well control competence as a top priority, Claus Hemmingsen, CEO of Maersk Drilling, said. Mr Hemmingsen, who also serves as Group Vice CEO of A.P. Moller-Maersk A/S, gave a keynote address at the 2016 IADC Well Control Europe Conference in Copenhagen on 19 October. “We must take any opportunity we can to learn from each other and take advantage of the broader industry performance, including the mistakes that we make, to ensure that we will not repeat those mistakes and expose people, environment and economic interest to accidents,” Mr Hemmingsen said.

Human factors have traditionally been overlooked in the drilling industry, but recognition is growing that human factors are critical to ensuring that employees complete their tasks safely and efficiently. “Clearly, our industry depends greatly on deep understanding of technical knowledge and rigorous adherence to operation procedures. Yet, more often than not, it is the human factors that define our success or failure in this industry,” Rob Saltiel, President and CEO, Atwood Oceanics, said at the 2016 IADC Human Factors Conference in Galveston, Texas, on 5 October.

In hindsight, the indicators of an impending downturn were clear back in 2014 or even earlier. Still, when it hit, the downturn caught most of the industry by surprise. This has caused massive disruptions as companies realized that their assumptions and projects were flat wrong, Thomas Burke, President and CEO of Rowan Companies, said at an IADC Houston Chapter luncheon on 11 October. Further, Mr Burke, who also serves as 2016 IADC Chairman, pointed to the difficulties that drilling contractors face in planning for their business. “When you have to make investments in expensive assets that are going to last a long time, it takes a lot of capital, and you have to make assumptions about what’s going to happen,” he said. “We have to make long-term decisions based on short-term oil prices.”

The offshore drilling market remains in turmoil, but the industry’s efforts to improve safety performance are carrying on without disruption. “We cannot and we will not allow market conditions to dictate how we care about our people or the environment,” Angela Durkin, COO of Maersk Drilling, said in a keynote address at the 2016 IADC Drilling HSET Europe Conference. “We will continue to work together and learn from each other and learn from other industries to avoid making the mistakes from the past,” she said to conference attendees in Amsterdam on 21 September.

The Netherlands Oil and Gas Exploration and Production Association (NOGEGA) has been working to prepare for the implementation of the Offshore Safety Directive, with old NOGEPA guidelines now transformed to NOGEGA standards. New standards have also been created on well control and integrity and verification, Gert-Jan Windhorst, Secretary Operations Health & Safety/Deputy Secretary General for NOGEPA, said at the 2016 IADC Drilling HSET Europe Conference in Amsterdam on 21 September. In this video from the conference, Mr Windhorst speaks with DC Managing Editor Linda Hsieh about challenges related to the directive’s implementation process. Watch the video for more information.

Tullow Oil announced that drilling and testing of the Cara prospect in license 636 in the Norwegian North Sea has been completed. The well was drilled to a total depth of 2,702 m in 349 m of water, 6 km northeast of the Gjøa field.