Author: Rigs & Barge World

Halliburton and Sekal AS deployed the world’s first automated on-bottom drilling system with the integration of Halliburton’s LOGIX™ automation and remote operations, Sekal’s Drilltronics®, and the rig automation control system. The team delivered a well for Equinor on the Norwegian Continental Shelf with an integrated closed-loop control solution. This solution orchestrates autonomous directional drilling with automated wellbore hydraulics and dynamic surface drilling rig equipment control. The team is now able to optimize drilling parameters in real time and deliver precise well placement with the single push of a button through integrated automated rig controls. The system optimizes well…

This past July, a 20-year-old hiker and her father were descending the cables at Yosemite National Park’s Half Dome, a 5,000-foot-high unique rock formation, when she slipped in a sudden downpour. She fell about three-quarters of the way down the 400 feet of twin steel cables covering the most dangerous part of the climb, sustained a severe head fracture, and probably died during the fall. Father and daughter had hiked thousands of miles together. About 100 injuries occur every year on the route up and down Half Dome. At least ten others have suffered fatal falls from losing their grip…

Mikio Okumura, group CEO and president of Sompo Holdings Inc.Bloomberg | Bloomberg | Getty ImagesSompo Holdings, Inc., one of Japan’s biggest insurance companies, says it’s using artificial intelligence to help alleviate a critical shortage of workers needed to care for the country’s aging population.AI and other technology can replace tasks normally performed by people while simultaneously improving nursing care services, Group CEO Mikio Okumura told CNBC’s “Managing Asia.”He cited sleep measurement sensors as one example.”In the past, our caregivers [had to] visit each room to check sleep status … But instead of visiting, by caregivers, we set a sensor in…

The manufacturing sector is a huge contributor to waste in the UK, with the UK government estimating that in 2020, it generated around 40.4 million tons of commercial and industrial waste. This is an outstanding amount of waste produced, particularly with Plastics Europe finding that the annual waste production equates to almost 8.9 million tons. With this significant amount having a huge impact on the environment, a high priority for the sector is managing the waste and reducing the annual levels created. Scott Hawthorne from Skips & Bins, a provider of skip hire in the UK, has offered some industry-level…

Humans are inquisitive and try to explain things in order to have a rationale (explanation) for their occurrence or existence. It allows us to understand and function in our environment. This approach influences our relationships and daily interactions, in many ways. This phenomenon was first studied and discussed by Fritz Heider in the late 1950s to explain human acts and dispositions with The Psychology of Interpersonal Relations, which expanded on his creations of balance theory and attribution theory. Although there are some cultural and personal differences in the making of attributions, there seems to be a universality to the underlying…

Offshore Energies UK’s (OEUK) 2025 Business Outlook report shows that, under the right business conditions, half of the 13-15 billion barrels of oil and gas the UK is projected to need by 2050 could be produced at home, a release sent to Rigzone by the OEUK team stated. This would add up to GBP 150 billion ($193.7 billion) of gross value to the UK economy on top of the GBP 200 billion ($258.3 billion) from planned production, safeguarding energy security, jobs and lower carbon emissions alongside an acceleration of renewables, the release noted. “The independent Climate Change Committee estimates the…

Cairn Oil & Gas, part of Vedanta Group and India’s largest private oil and gas exploration and production company, has entered into a strategic alliance with TechnipFMC to accelerate the delivery of integrated subsea infrastructure for future deepwater projects in India. The collaboration will leverage TechnipFMC’s integrated Engineering, Procurement, Construction, and Installation (iEPCI™) execution model, driving efficiency and innovation in execution. This alliance positions Cairn to rapidly advance its deepwater exploration ambitions, tapping into TechnipFMC’s extensive expertise and cutting-edge technologies. The agreement also incorporates the use of integrated Front-End Engineering and Design (iFEED™), where early engagement optimizes project performance…

In a Stratas Advisors report sent to Rigzone by the Stratas team late Monday, the company revealed that, “for the upcoming week”, it thinks the price of Brent crude “will move higher and will test $73.00” per barrel. Stratas Advisors outlined in the report that oil prices “will get support” from several factors. “Seven members of OPEC+ reached an agreement to address previous oversupply with monthly cuts between 189,000 barrels per day and 435,000 barrels per day through June 2026,” the company noted in the report, highlighting one of these factors. “Additionally, the countries agreed to frontload the compensatory cuts. The…

Oil edged higher as signs of tighter near-term supply-and-demand balances overshadowed an intensifying global trade war that threatens to crimp global energy consumption. West Texas Intermediate advanced 0.4% to settle just below $70 a barrel, continuing a three-week rally. A US government report on Wednesday showed the country’s stockpiles shrank by 3.34 million barrels last week to the lowest in a month, helping allay concerns of an oversupplied market. Oil has trended higher since early March as sanctions and tariffs from the Trump administration raise the potential for supply disruption from producers including Iran and Venezuela. Still, the Trump administration’s…

Exxon Mobil Corp. will shrink its UK headcount by about 250 positions as the Texas oil giant consolidates its operations in the country. Exxon’s longtime Leatherhead office south of London is due to shut in 2026 and employees at that site who will remain at the energy major are expected to relocate to Exxon’s refinery and petrochemical complex in Fawley, according to a statement from the company on Wednesday.  Amid this consolidation of its UK operations, Exxon will continue to hire new people at its London trading hub, which the firm has been trying to expand. “The UK is an…