Passengers and crew from a helicopter which ditched in the North Sea have been taken to hospital.

  Further significant steps have been taken this week towards stopping the Elgin gas leak, including the installation of a key piece of equipment on the G4 well to divert leaking gas away from the wellhead platform. Known as a diverter, this specially manufactured device has been connected to the G4 wellhead and is now carrying the flow of leaking gas, via four flexible hoses, away from the wellhead and the platform. The fitting of this device ensures that there is no gas accumulating around the G4 wellhead or the platform. This reinforces the safety of the well intervention operation and helps alleviate restrictions on helicopter landings on the platform from now on.

Pacific Fibre and TE SubCom, a TE Connectivity Ltd. company and an industry pioneer in undersea communications technology, today announced the completion of their Californian and Australian landings Desk Top Study (DTS) and Californian permitting study for the 12,950km two-cable Pacific Fibre undersea cable system that will link Australia, New Zealand and the United States.

Clean up of the 20 December leak from the Bonga offshore oil field has now been completed successfully. Production resumed at Bonga on January 1 2012, following reinforcement of asset integrity and safety programmes.

Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company (SNEPCo) had shut down production from the field after a leak occurred on one of the three export loading lines as oil was being transferred from the floating production storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel to a loading tanker.

Clean up of the 20 December leak from the Bonga offshore oil field has now been completed successfully. Production resumed at Bonga on January 1 2012, following reinforcement of asset integrity and safety programmes.

Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company (SNEPCo) had shut down production from the field after a leak occurred on one of the three export loading lines as oil was being transferred from the floating production storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel to a loading tanker.

By Ross Davidson
Published: 03/01/2012

North-east oil and gas firms and workers who operate in Dutch waters could start paying millions of pounds more in tax after changes to the country’s social security regime.

North Sea oil and gas workers are getting younger. Oil & Gas UK says the average age is now 40.4 — the lowest since the industry body began compiling the data in 2006.

OGUK said it “dispelled any notion of an ageing workforce in our waters”.

North Sea offshore drilling activity has risen by a dramatic 133% in the second quarter of 2010, according to the latest oil and gas industry figures released by Deloitte.
The latest North West Europe Review, which documents drilling and licensing in the UK Continental Shelf (UKCS), reveals a total of 28 exploration and appraisal wells were spudded in the UK sector between April and June; 14 for each well type. This compares with a total of just 12 wells during the first quarter of 2010.

Research and Markets: the World Offshore Operations and Maintenance Market Report with Future Forecasts Through to 2014

Research and Markets has announced the addition of the The World Offshore Operations and Maintenance Market Report 2010-2014 report to their offering.

On April 20th, an explosion  on the Deepwater Horizon left 17 workers injured and 11 missing and presumed dead. Oil is spilling from a well 5000 feet below sea level, discharging approximately 200,000 gallons of crude oil a day according to the official estimate (though over 2 million a day, by private estimates).

Compare the current size of the spill with a major city.  Requires Google Earth Plugin.  Read more for Google Earth links.

Release date: 20 May 2010

BP today provided an update on developments in the response to the MC252 oil well incident in the Gulf of Mexico.

The U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) continues the search for 11 missing crewmembers from the mobile offshore drilling unit (MODU) Deepwater Horizon. Watchstanders at the U.S. Coast Guard District Eight command center here received a report at approximately 10 p.m. Tuesday of an explosion and fire aboard the Deepwater Horizon, approximately 42 miles Southeast of Venice, La. Updated reports indicate that there were 126 people on board the MODU at the time of the explosion.

A massive rescue effort has led to the recovery of 11 people who went missing in the Gulf of Mexico after an explosion and fire damaged an oil rig and critically injured seven people, The Times-Picayune reported Wednesday.

The newspaper cited a local official as saying that all of the offshore drilling platform's 126 workers were alive and safe. The Coast Guard told AFP that it was working to verify that all the workers had indeed escaped safely from the explosion.

USS ASHLAND, Gulf of Aden (NNS) -- At approximately 5:00 a.m. local time April 10, USS Ashland (LSD 48), was fired upon by a skiff manned by suspected pirates in the Gulf of Aden, approximately 330 nautical miles off the coast of Djibouti.
During the attack, Ashland received small arms fire on the port side from the six man crew of suspected pirates aboard the skiff. Ashland, in accordance with her rules of engagement, returned fire.

London UK, 10 February 2010: Global Marine Systems a leading provider of subsea power cable installation and maintenance services announced today its Energy Division, along with its project partner, Visser & Smit Marine Contracting has been awarded the contract to install four offshore export cables and installation and burial of 175 array cables as part of the building of the first 630MW phase of the London Array offshore wind farm in the Thames Estuary.