Gas Wellhead News

UK-based Red7Marine Offshore Ltd announces the award of a number of new contracts for 2013. Cable protection work has recently been awarded on the Paimpol-Brehat Tidal Energy Converter project, Brittany, France. The scope of work includes the installation of more than 100 concrete mattresses to provide additional stabilisation of the export cable connecting tidal energy devices to the shore. The scope includes a number of supporting operations with site work due to commence summer 2013. The company’s subsea cable installation expertise also continues to expand with the recent award of the export cable installation for the Biscay Marine Energy Platform project near Bilbao, Spain.

Average crude oil prices for July were little changed from June. The West Texas Intermediate (WTI) spot average for July was $30.75 per barrel compared to $30.66 in June. EIA’s Outlook is for prices to remain firm through the rest of 2003, or at least until autumn, when OECD oil inventories may rebuild above observed 5-year lows. Once inventories have been rebuilt, WTI oil prices may slide gradually to $26 per barrel during 2004, as Iraqi oil exports return to near pre-war levels. U.S.

Discussions around our office and with various clients usually entail an exchange of anecdotal information believed to explain the current situation with the quest to predict when things will turn around. There are a host of different viewpoints, most seemingly relevant, but no one satisfactory answer. In previous downturns in the offshore service sector, there was usually a fairly clear understanding embraced by most of why things were slow. This downturn is more difficult to understand. Back in 1998 when the Asian financial crisis impacted oil prices, it was easy to see why E&P fell. This downturn also affected most oil fields around the world about the same. The price of oil was too low to drill new wells and upgrade production at a profit.