Author: Rigs & Barge World

Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources, Karim Badawi, met with Randy Neely, CEO of Capricorn Energy PLC, and Eleanor Rowley, the company’s Managing Director in Egypt, in the presence of Salah Abdel Kerim, Chairman of the Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation (EGPC). The meeting discussed the company’s activities in its concession areas in the Western Desert of Egypt and its future plans to intensify upstream activities. During the meeting, Badawi stated that the petroleum sector is implementing an intensive research and exploration program in cooperation with its foreign partner companies operating in Egypt, with the aim of increasing oil and natural…

Oil demand forecasts were revised sharply downwards this week as the trade war between the world’s two largest economies, the US and China, escalates. The ‘reciprocal tariffs’ announced by US President Donald Trump on 2 April have wreaked havoc on oil prices, with Brent closing below $68/B on 17 April, down from the mid $70s at the start of the month. And despite this week’s price respite, fears remain that tariffs and counter-measures are set to slow economic activity, potentially stoking a global recession. The IEA, the energy arm of the OECD club of mostly rich nations, on 15 April…

Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources Karim Badawi met with bP’s Executive Vice President for Gas and Low Carbon Energy, William Lin, along with other bp officials, to talk about the company’s business progress, investments plans in Egypt, and the development of its new two major discoveries in the Mediterranean region. Furthermore, Badawi discussed with Lin cooperation efforts and the steps necessary to accelerate the King Mariout and Fayoum 5 discoveries. Lin emphasized bp’s interest in the swift development of the two discoveries, expressing his desire to enhance the joint efforts with the Egyptian oil and gas sector to achieve…

Norway, Denmark and Greenland are to build up a joint knowledge base on mineral activity on the seabed. The photo shows Kjersti Dahle, Director technology, analysis and coexistence at the Norwegian Offshore Directorate hodling a a sulphide sample. Photo: Arne Bjørøen. 15/04/2024 This cooperation involves an MoU – Memorandum of Understanding – with the aim of acquiring additional knowledge on seabed minerals. In February of this year, the Norwegian Offshore Directorate entered into an “MoU” – Memorandum of Understanding – with the Greenland authorities, the Greenland Institute of Natural Resources and GEUS (Geological Survey of Denmark…

*Egypt hiked road fuel prices for the first time in six months on 11 April, raising all three grades of gasoline by an average of 13% while the price of diesel was increased 15%. With Brent crude prices falling from an average of $85/B for 2Q 2024 to average $74.5/ between October last year and Q1 this year and continuing on a downward trend to trade at below $70/B in recent weeks, this should help the country reduce its subsidy bill. *“Although Brent crude oil and international prices have declined recently, this has only slightly reduced the cost of one…

Moataz Atef, the Undersecretary for Minister’s Technical Office and Official Spokesperson of the Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources (MoPMR), held a press conference with petroleum journalists and reporters form various mass media outlets. The conference aimed to affirm the cooperation and vital role of the petroleum media in showcasing the sector’s efforts and delivering the media message professionally and responsibly. The meeting covered several key issues and developments in the petroleum and mining sectors. Atef answered media inquiries and provided full information on preparations for the summer season, as well as core components of the integrated executive plan with…

Torgeir Stordal at the Barents Sea conference. (Photo: Kjersti Dahle/The Norwegian Offshore Directorate) 17/04/2024 The Johan Castberg ship will soon be heading north. With the ship in place, the plan is to have three producing fields in the Barents Sea by the end of the year. “It took a lot of good decisions to get where we are today in the Barents Sea, and we now have the opportunity to lay a good foundation for further development of this part of the Norwegian shelf,” said Torgeir Stordal, Director General of the Norwegian Offshore Directorate,…

An Egyptian-Chinese joint venture (JV) signed a package of contracts to execute the preliminary designs for the first phase of the Red Sea Petrochemicals Complex project at Ain Sokhna. The agreement was signed between the Red Sea National Petrochemicals Company, China National Chemical Engineering Co. Ltd. (CNCEC), ENPPI, and Petrojet, in the presence of Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly and the Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources, Karim Badawi. The complex is located in the Suez Canal Economic Zone (SCZone), just 10 kilometers from Ain Sokhna Port. It is designed to produce a range of petrochemical products through an advanced oil…

Drill string design Calculations are made to help you select items from a list of ready-made Drill string components, not deciding what an individual component will look like. The objectives of our design efforts should be to: Keep the maximum stress at any point in the drill string less than yield strength derated by a design factor. Select components and configure assemblies to retard fatigue as much as economically practical. Provide equipment that is resistant to hydrogen sulfide if H2S is expected. This Article covers simple drill string design steps for vertical and directional wells. Loads applied by tension, torsion, combined tension and…

The International Maritime Organization (IMO), as part of the United Nations, is normally known for grindingly slow procedure. And when decisions are adopted, they are almost always unanimous and do not rock the collective boat. But the 11 April approval of a two-tier tax on emissions from global shipping has all but sunk the organization’s reputation for consensus before a final vote in October. Shipping makes up around 3% of global emissions on a tons of CO2-equivalent basis according to the IMO. And the tax aims to incentivize shipowners to reduce emissions from the sector. Since the announcement, industry bodies…