After a comprehensive review and consideration of comments received from the public, stakeholders, and Federal and state partner agencies and tribes, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management today conditionally approved a Beaufort Sea exploration plan (EP) it received from Eni US Operating Co. Inc.

Statoil Brasil Oleo e Gas Ltda has awarded Seadrill rig contracts for exploration drilling in the BM-S-8 license in the Santos basin.

Shell, LLOG, Total, Marubeni, ConocoPhillips, Wild Well, Baker Hughes and Schlumberger are amongst the speakers who will be gathering at this year’s Offshore Well Intervention Conference on November 1-2 in Houston to discuss the critical challenges facing the Gulf of Mexico’s well intervention community.

Talos Energy LLC ("Talos" or the "Company") as operator, together with its joint venture partners Sierra Oil and Gas S. de R.L de C.V. ("Sierra") and Premier Oil Plc ("Premier"), is pleased to announce that the Zama-1 exploration well, offshore Mexico, has discovered oil. Talos holds a 35% participation interest with Sierra and Premier holding 40% and 25% participation interests, respectively.

Shell Offshore, Inc. announces that its affiliate, Shell E and P Offshore Services B.V., will exercise a contractual right to purchase the Turritella floating, production, storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel from SBM Offshore.

Xodus Group has won a contract with Cairn Oil and Gas of Vedanta Ltd to conduct exploration and appraisal work on its Rajasthan block in north-west India over the next two years.

Forum Energy Technologies, Inc. has announced a new contract that will see its market-leading pipeline and cable survey software installed on the world’s most advanced cable laying support vessel, the NKT Victoria.

Otto Energy Limited (ASX:OEL) (‘Otto’ or the ‘Company’) announces it has farmed into the South Timbalier 224 (‘ST 224’) lease in the Gulf Of Mexico shelf, for a 25% working interest.

Statoil and partners ENI and Petoro have made a small gas discovery in the Blåmann well, between the Snøhvit and Goliat fields in the Barents Sea. Recoverable volumes are estimated at 2-3 billion standard cubic meters (BCM), approximately 10-20 million barrels of oil equivalent (BOE).

SIMMONS EDECO, a leading supplier of wellhead and valve maintenance, asset integrity solutions and onshore drilling services to the global oil and gas industry, announced that it has been awarded a major contract by Maersk Oil.

Refining Challenges Remain the Focus of Latin American Product Markets

BOEM announces that they have completed an analysis of their royalty rates and have decided to set the royalty rate at 12.5 percent for leases located in water depths less than 200 meters in the proposed Gulf of Mexico (GOM) Sale 249.

Marsol International, a UAE-based global marine solutions provider focused on the offshore oil terminal market and related infrastructure, has signed a two-year contract with Oman Oil Company Exploration & Production LLC (OOCEP) for the provision and management of the marine and offshore activities related to the tanker loading, via the single point mooring (SPM) offshore marine terminal including maintenance works, vessels, equipment, and manpower.

JF Mimic, part of James Fisher and Sons plc, announces it has signed an agreement to supply its specialist Mimic condition monitoring software to Stolt Tankers B.V (Stolt) - which operates the world's largest and most sophisticated fleet of chemical and parcel tankers, to enhance operational safety and improve the technical reliability of its assets.

In 2015, the Department of Energy’s Wind Vision Report projected that the US offshore wind industry could support investment to reach a cumulative capacity of 3 GW by 2020, 22 GW by 2030 and 86 GW by 2050. These targets do look wildly unrealistic, but the prospects for growth in offshore wind still look strong even under a Trump presidency.

Statoil and partners have decided to develop the Snefrid Nord gas discovery near the Aasta Hansteen field in the Norwegian Sea. The discovery, scheduled to come on stream in late 2019, will be tied back to Aasta Hansteen.