BP and Emerson have signed a global agreement under which Emerson Process Management will provide automation technologies and aftercare services for BP’s upstream oil and gas operations.

The new 10-year deal extends the existing arrangement between the companies, allowing Emerson to provide an expanded scope of technologies and expertise that help ensure safe and competitive projects and support BP’s Field of the Future programme for enhanced operating efficiency and oil recovery.

Emerson will continue to supply automation system technologies, including distributed control systems and safety instrumented systems, but will now also provide valves and measurement instruments as well as technologies for supervisory control and data acquisition, asset management and machinery health monitoring.

Emerson is currently providing automation services to BP for an FPSO vessel for the Quad 204 (32/10) development and Clair Ridge (32/10) offshore platform, both in the North Sea to the west of Shetland, and for the Chirag (32/8) oil project and Shah Deniz Stage 2 (32/8) project in the Caspian Sea.

From Houston (BN): They’re not deepwater, but let’s hope they’re not a harbinger. Hercules Offshore, a shallow-water jackup driller prominent in the Gulf of Mexico (GoM), filed for Chapter 11 reorganisation, listing $546.3 million in assets and $1.3 billion in debts. The stock, over $38 as recently as 2009, fell to 7 cents on August 18. HERO got into difficulty during the 2009 recession and was nearly finished off when the 2010 BP oil spill halted GoM drilling.

Some analysts expressed optimism about its future when drilling recovered after the spill ended and oil prices soared past $100/bbl. But the stock never rose to $10 again, and plunging oil prices sent it spinning towards the drain again. HERO is getting debtor-in-possession financing, will keep operating and hopes to emerge from bankruptcy in the fourth quarter.

From the U.K. (SS): John Smith, one of the key management figures in the subsea contracting business over the last several decades, has resigned as chairman of newbie player Ceona as a result of ill-health.

Smith first made his name as CEO of Subsea 7, founded through the merger of Rockwater and DSND in 2002 and later expanded when it was taken over by Acergy by which time he was gone.

In 2007, he went down under to help revive Clough. Smith came back to this side of the equator and became chairman of Ceona in 2012. In the last several months, the company recently saw the departure of founding CEO Steve Preston.

Bill Smart has joined the Delmar Systems Inc. global business development team. Based out of Delmar’s engineering and subsea office in Houston, Smart will be focused on developing existing and potential new clients’ knowledge of Delmar’s subsea services capabilities.

From Australia (LB): Woodside Petroleum’s half-year profit has fallen 39% on the back of weaker oil prices, which slumped by almost half.

The Perth-headquartered company reported a net profit after tax (NPAT) of $679 million to the end of June, down from $1.1 billion achieved in first-half 2014.

NPAT was underpinned by half-year operating revenue of $2.5 billion, down 28% year-on-year, which Woodside attributed to lower commodity prices and to a lesser extent reduced sales volumes, predominantly arising from the planned turnaround work at Pluto. The company produced 42 MMboe, down 9.7% on first-half 2014.

Woodside CEO Peter Coleman acknowledged the impact of the fall in commodity prices over the past 12 months but went on to highlight some of the key milestones achieved.

“We have achieved some significant milestones this year, which are part of our strategy to transform the business,” he said.

“With the purchase of interests in Wheatstone, Balnaves and Kitimat we have substantially increased our reserves and production capacity while de-risking our future growth.

“The recent decision to move to FEED on Browse is a significant step towards developing this world-class resource.”

Coleman said, FEED for the Browse FLNG project was progressing well, with cost savings already having been identified in the projects upstream component. In parallel, Woodside has kicked off marketing for the project in hopes of bedding down firm marketing arrangements in 2016.

From Houston (BN): In Brazil, the Carwash scandal rolls on. A judge sentenced former top executive Nestor Cervero to 12 years in prison for money laundering and corruption in a scheme to bribe the speaker of Brazil’s lower house in congress.

Meanwhile, business continues. Petrobras reported 55% lower net income for first-half 2015, $2.03 billion vs. $4.51 billion. Looked at quarter-to-quarter, the picture is worse; second-quarter 2015 net income was $171 million vs. $2.23 billion in second-quarter 2014.

This decline comes despite producing more oil and reflects sharply lower oil prices, higher debt-carrying costs and a weakened Brazilian Real.

Executives in a conference call played down the impact of the bribery-and-kickback scandal on both profits and operations, while acknowledging the suspension of some contractors is causing a few delays.

For July, Petrobras reported average production of oil and natural gas in Brazil and abroad was 2.796 MMboe/d. That is 1.8% higher than in June and 3.6% higher than in July 2014.

On July 8, presalt output reached a new daily high, 865 Mbbl, helping monthly production average 798 Mbbl/d, some 6.9% higher than the record set in June.

Malaysia’s Barakah Offshore Petroleum is hooking up with Norwegian subsea service provider Ocean Installer.

Barakah’s PBJV Group has signed a memorandum of collaboration with the subsea specialist for an exclusive tie-up to provide deepwater installation of subsea umbilicals, risers and flowlines and related services in Malaysia.

“This collaboration will allow us to serve the full spectrum of the subsea installation market for Malaysia’s oil and gas industry and is a step up for Barakah to be involved in deepwater segment,” Barakah Deputy Executive Chairman Nik Hamdan Daud said.

ShawCor’s second-quarter revenue of $398 million was 10% lower than the $441 million reported in second-quarter 2014, the company said.

Revenue also decreased by 16% from the $472 million reported in first-quarter 2015.

The company said revenue and operating margins were negatively impacted by low levels of activity in the Asia-Pacific region and in North America where the severe decline in well completions had a detrimental effect on several of the company’s businesses.

Electromagnetic Geoservices (EMGS) made a net loss of $26 million in second-quarter 2015.

Revenues were $12.1 million in the second quarter, down from $32.3 million in the previous quarter and from $42.5 million in second-quarter 2014.

EMGS said the results were negatively affected by extraordinary costs related to the company’s cost-reduction programme.

Premier Oil’s profit before tax and impairments came in at $170.6 million in first-half 2015 compared to $194.4 million in the same period a year earlier.

Production averaged 60.4 Mboe/d in first-half 2015, down from 64.9 Mboe/d in the same period a year earlier.

Revenue in the six months to June 30 fell to $577 million from $844.7 million a year ago.

Premier said momentum is increasing across its sanctioned developments with first oil on the U.K. North Sea Solan project targeted for fourth-quarter 2015 and Catcher first oil on track for 2017.

Premier also is progressing the offshore Norway Vette project and Sea Lion off the Falklands for 2016 investment decisions, while it said ongoing engagement with the supply chain indicates significant potential for reduced costs.

From the U.K. (SS): This is not a subsea story nor even an upstream one, but just one with oilfield minutiae that shows why this is such a complex business.

For years, U.K. drivers with diesel cars have been the suckers of the motoring industry. Successive governments encouraged drivers to buy diesel cars because of the better miles per gallon figures, even though they knew that the particulates in the exhaust were worse for the environment—and people—than the exhaust from petrol engine cars.

At the same time, the refining of diesel fuel was becoming more problematic with major companies pulling out of the downstream business, leaving it to relative minnows, and safety incidents occurring at some of the refineries.

The result was that diesel at the pump was much more expensive—up to 8-10p/litre at one time—than unleaded fuel.

Scroll forward to the last month and the price of diesel has now fallen below the price of unleaded for the first time in decades. Why? Because the Saudis are apparently flooding the market with fuel refined in their own downstream complexes, the so-called “value-added” proposition that they have been trying to take advantage of for years.

This must be good, no? But the current Tory government has finally fessed up that diesel is responsible for growing air pollution and respiratory issues in the U.K. So now they are telling drivers to go buy petrol driven cars. You figure.

Offshore