One of the new offshore vessels being developed for the expected upturn in offshore decommissioning activity is to be targeted at the North Sea.

London-listed Regal Petroleum says it has spudded its latest exploration well in Romania in its 100% operated Barlad concession area in the country's northeast.

Norwegian Seatrench has bagged a deal for burying a pipeline offshore Lebanon.

London-listed Mediterranean Oil and Gas says it hopes exemptions will allow it to continue development of its Italian shallow-water Ombrina Mare asset despite a decree banning offshore exploration and production there.

Lundin reported net income for the six months to June at US $390.1 and for the second quarter at $365.6 m.

Lundin's production is better than anticipated, according to the company's quarterly report.

French oil giant saw adjusted net income surge 72% in the second quarter to hit €3 Bn or 60% in dollar terms to US $3.8 Bn.

Further drilling in the Black Sea offshore Bulgaria has paid off for London-listed Melrose Resources which has hit more gas pay with its Kavarna East 1 well.

Marine installation contractor OMM has bagged a deal with a German power operator to install new North Sea cabling.

Oslo-listed Dockwise has announced the sale of the transport ship M<V Enterprise as part of a fleet-optimisation strategy.

Marine heavy transport group Fairstar has suggested the market will remain tough for the foreseeable future because too many vessels are chasing too few jobs.

French contract giant Technip took in €1.485 Bn in revenue for the second quarter this year – down 14.3% from last year – but with more than half of the revenue derived from subsea operations.

British based Petrofac landed a deal to provide production enhancement services to Romania's Petrom.

European Energy Commissioner Gunther Oettinger is due to provide a debrief to his colleagues in the European Council early next week to discuss his proposal for a North Sea drilling ban.

European Energy Commissioner Gunther Oettinger is due to provide a debrief to his colleagues in the European Council early next week to discuss his proposal for a North Sea drilling ban.

A European Union official has called for a temporary drilling ban in the North Sea to be imposed until the exact cause of the Deepwater Horizon disaster in the US Gulf of Mexico is uncovered.

Egypt's Burullus Gas Company – the joint venture between BG Group, Petronas and the Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation– has awarded Technip an EPIC deal for an extension to the West Delta Deep Marine gas project in the Mediterranean Sea.

Germany's Siemens has taken a share with Dong Energy in a company specialising in offshore wind farm installation work.

France's EDF is to joint the South Stream pipeline with Eni and Gazprom with the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding to take a 10% stake in the company controlling the project.

Denmark's Vestas has selected automotive gearbox maker ZF to supply drive trains for wind turbines from the US.

Germany's Siemens and Italy's Prysmian have landed a deal to supply and install cabling on two new North Sea offshore wind farms.

East European explorer Europa Oil and Gas says a test on its Voitinel gas well  northern Romania which has been subjected to a fraccing operation could produce a rates up to 6 Bcf or 1 m boe in its first year of production.

Heritage Oil has started talks with drilling contractors with the aim of spudding a well offshore Malta towards the end of this year.

Germany's E.ON has brought onstream a new wind energy plant in southern Portugal with 50 Megawatts of generating capacity.

Hess and Toreador Resources have formed a partnership to carry out an exploration programme in the Paris Shale basin in France with up to 1 million gross acres to investigate.

France's seismic group CGG Veritas says the survey market is strengthening with increasing demand as it published its first quarter results but reported an 18% slide in revenue.

Talisman Energy in the North Sea said its UK production slumped by a fifth or 20% in the first quarter this year falling to 86,000 boe/d compared with the first quarter last year and down 7% compared with the fourth quarter last year.

Italy's Eni along with the US-based  Massachusetts Institute of Technology has opened a new energy research centre focused on solar power.