In light of Turkey’s continuation of illegal drilling activities and a few days after the second Turkish drill ship arrived off Cyprus, the European Council announced some preliminary sanctions against Turkey. Among others. the Council decided to suspend negotiations on the Comprehensive Air Transport Agreement.
Too many shipboard safety drills have become meaningless reminders of procedure. Capt. Yves Vandenborn says good drills should reflect the roller-coaster ride of real-life emergencies. The problem with many safety drills today is that nobody takes them seriously.
Further escalating tensions among the EU and Turkey, the Turkish ship ‘Yavuz’ arrived Monday night off the island of Cyprus and it is set to drill for oil and gas, triggering a strong protest from Nicosia the EU. This comes less than a month after EU leaders warned Turkey to end its gas drilling in waters around the island.
According to Demirören News Agency, Turkey announced that it will establish naval and air bases in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, aiming to ensure its security in the Eastern Mediterranean. The announcement followed a visit to Northern Cyprus by a team from the Turkish Navy, which held talks with diplomatic and military officials in the north of the island before returning to Ankara.
Greece and Cyprus called on the European Union to take punitive measures against Turkey amid escalating tensions in the eastern Mediterranean over offshore energy reserves. After Ankara announced it would expand exploration for potentially lucrative gas resources in the region, the Greek prime minister, Alexis Tsipras, appealed to the EU to unreservedly condemn the illegal actions of Turkey.
India’s Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Limited (ONGC) has moved a record high 35 offshore drilling rigs to new locations ahead of the Indian monsoon season. Aqualis Offshore, the international marine and offshore engineering consultancy announced that it assisted the offshore rigs’ transmit.
Wells drilled horizontally into tight oil and shale gas formations continue to account for an increasing share of crude oil and natural gas production in the US, according to EIA. In 2004, horizontal wells accounted for about 15% of US crude oil production in tight oil formations.
Westwood Global Energy Group, a market analytics for the oil and gas industry, launched a study concerning the exploration drilling in Norway concerning the last five years, and also examined the possible future activity. Into 2019, 15 high impact wells are planned, representing a dramatic increase in high impact drilling, up 67% from 2018.
In April Safety Digest, UK MAIB focuses on a multi-national crew which was conducting drilling operations, when a deck cadet’s fingers became caught under the fall wire, which resulted in two of his fingers being traumatically amputated. The cadet was immediately provided with first-aid onboard, and was then transmitted ashore to the local hospital for emergency treatment.
The Norwegian Petroleum Directorate has granted the Norwegian oil and gas company Equinor Energy AS a drilling permit for well 16/5-7, to be drilled from the Transocean Spitsbergen drilling facility. The drilling programme for 16/5-7 relates to the drilling of a wildcat well in production licence 502.
