Halliburton Wins 5-Yr Drilling Gig in Mega-Giant Ghawar Field

Halliburton has been awarded the integrated turnkey drilling contract in South Ghawar. Located approximately 200 kilometers (124 miles) from the city of Dhahran, the Ghawar field is the world's largest oil field and the contract would involve work in Uthmaniyah, Haradh, Hawiyah and Shedgum.

The five-year contract, with an option for an additional five-year period, calls for the provision of drilling rigs, directional and horizontal drilling, logging while drilling, cementing, mud engineering, wireline logging, completion, perforating, and other well construction activities, including engineering and management of the entire drilling operations. The project is expected to utilize three to four rigs, and will involve between 153 and 185 oil production, water injection and evaluation wells.

This contract is Saudi Aramco's first-ever award for an integrated turnkey drilling contract and is an important part of Saudi Aramco's plan to explore new avenues of collaboration with major oil field services providers.

Ahmed Lotfy, Halliburton's Eastern Hemisphere president, said, "Our selection by Saudi Aramco for yet another project of this magnitude demonstrates its continued confidence in our ability to successfully execute complex and challenging operations. This contract award includes a full range of Halliburton's integrated technologies and services and provides a platform for future successes."

"This award builds on the success we delivered on the Khurais mega-project, reflecting our leading technologies and solid performance," added Gasser Badrashini, Halliburton's Middle East and North Africa regional vice president.

Halliburton has performed thousands of service operations for Saudi Aramco, delivering solutions for the state-owned oil company of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for nearly 70 years. From well construction to fluid systems and from drilling and formation evaluation to production optimization, Halliburton has worked in a multitude of different reservoirs and wells, ranging from basic to complex, with customized solutions for Saudi Aramco's Drilling and Workover and other Exploration and Production departments.

Largest cruise ship squeezes under Danish bridge

KORSOER, Denmark – The world's largest cruise ship cleared a crucial obstacle Sunday, lowering its smokestacks to squeeze under a bridge in Denmark.

The Oasis of the Seas — which rises about 20 stories high — passed below the Great Belt Fixed Link with a slim margin as it left the Baltic Sea on its maiden voyage to Florida.

Bridge operators said that even after lowering its telescopic smokestacks the giant ship had less than a 2-foot (half-meter) gap.

Hundreds of people gathered on beaches at both ends of the bridge, waiting for hours to watch the brightly lit behemoth sail by shortly after midnight (2300GMT; 7 p.m. EDT).

"It was fantastic to see it glide under the bridge. Boy, it was big," said Kurt Hal, 56.

Company officials are banking that its novelty will help guarantee its success. Five times larger than the Titanic, the $1.5 billion ship has seven neighborhoods, an ice rink, a small golf course and a 750-seat outdoor amphitheater. It has 2,700 cabins and can accommodate 6,300 passengers and 2,100 crew members.

Accommodations include loft cabins, with floor-to-ceiling windows, and 1,600-square-foot (487-meter) luxury suites with balconies overlooking the sea or promenades.

The liner also has four swimming pools, volleyball and basketball courts, and a youth zone with theme parks and nurseries for children.

Oasis of the Sea, nearly 40 percent larger than the industry's next-biggest ship, was conceived years before the economic downturn caused desperate cruise lines to slash prices to fill vacant berths.

It was built by STX Finland for Royal Caribbean International and left the shipyard in Finland on Friday. Officials hadn't expected any problems in passing the Great Belt bridge, but traffic was stopped for about 15 minutes as a precaution when the ship approached, Danish navy spokesman Joergen Brand said.

Aboard the Oasis of the Seas, project manager Toivo Ilvonen of STX Finland confirmed that the ship had passed under the bridge without any incidents.

"Nothing fell off," he said.

The enormous ship features various "neighborhoods" — parks, squares and arenas with special themes. One of them will be a tropical environment, including palm trees and vines among the total 12,000 plants on board. They will be planted after the ship arrives in Fort Lauderdale.

In the stern, a 750-seat outdoor theater — modeled on an ancient Greek amphitheater — doubles as a swimming pool by day and an ocean front theater by night. The pool has a diving tower with spring boards and two 33-foot (10-meter) high-dive platforms. An indoor theater seats 1,300 guests.

One of the "neighborhoods," named Central Park, features a square with boutiques, restaurants and bars, including a bar that moves up and down three decks, allowing customers to get on and off at different levels.

Once home, the $1.5 billion floating extravaganza will have more, if less visible, obstacles to duck: a sagging U.S. economy, questions about the consumer appetite for luxury cruises and criticism that such sailing behemoths are damaging to the environment and diminish the experience of traveling.

It is due to make its U.S. debut on Nov. 20 at its home port, Port Everglades in Florida.