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The Norwegian Ministry of Petroleum and Energy announced that it will grant Equinor eight production licenses in the North Sea and nine licenses in the Norwegian Sea. Equinor will act as operator for 10 of those licenses.

Industry continues efforts to advance remote technologies to improve drilling, geosteering and wireline operations, unlock greater efficiencies from the rig site By Stephen Whitfield, Associate Editor As the oil and gas industry navigates difficult economic terrain and seeks systems for improving efficiencies, remote systems and real-time operating centers (RTOCs) may be at the center of a paradigm shift. However, in order to realize greater operational efficiencies, operators and drilling contractors will likely have to invest in tools that can enable greater collaboration. At Helmerich and Payne (H&P), remote operations have been an area of focus for years, and Trey Adams, Vice President of H&P, said they are critical for drilling contractors seeking to drill consistent, high- quality and lower-cost wells. “As ...

Nabors’ Miguel Sanchez: Pandemic accelerated industry’s appetite for digitalization and automation, but companies must remain disciplined with investments  By Linda Hsieh, Editor & Publisher Miguel Sanchez is Vice President of International Operations for Nabors. He also served as IADC’s Division VP International Onshore from 2019-2020. Nabors has a large international fleet operating in multiple markets around the world. So when you look at that rig fleet, what do you see as the biggest challenges that you face today as a drilling contractor? When it comes to challenges, the biggest one is uncertainty around the oil price. We know it fell to very low levels last year because of the pandemic and its repercussions on energy consumption, plus the price war ...

Noble’s Robert Eifler: Automation, digitalization, and collaboration between operators and contractors offer best opportunities for performance improvement By Stephen Whitfield, Associate Editor Robert Eifler is President and CEO of Noble Corp.  Looking across your entire rig fleet, what do you see as the biggest challenges that you face as a drilling contractor? Certainly, 2020 was a year where we faced several major challenges, some more near-term and others more long-term. COVID-19 has been an unbelievable challenge for our business and our industry. For one, you have to deal with the logistical challenges of trying to run a global business in the midst of this pandemic. We have, by and large, kept our rigs running, but it’s taken a Herculean effort ...

Deep Casing Tools, alongside its regional partner EFTECH, has successfully ran three more of its Turborunner tools with Shell Sarawak, despite challenging conditions heightened by COVID-19...