The harsh-environment semisubmersible Scarabeo 8 will begin a six-well contract with Wintershall Dea in the Norwegian sector of the North Sea in Q4 2021. The rig will operate in direct continuation with operations previously committed for other companies.

The Transocean Barents harsh-environment semisubmersible and Transocean Norge harsh-environment platform rig were each awarded contracts for work offshore Norway. The contracts, which have a combined total value of $116 million, are both scheduled to begin in Q1 2022. 

The Shelf Drilling Tenacious jackup will begin work for Chevron subsidiary Cabinda Gulf Oil in January 2022. The contract is for one year, but it contains multiple option periods. Financial terms were not disclosed.

The European oil majors – Shell, BP, TotalEnergies, Eni and Repsol – benefitted dramatically from elevated oil and gas prices in Q1 2021 as income returned to near pre-pandemic levels, according to GlobalData.Daniel Rogers, Senior Oil and Gas Analyst at GlobalData, commented: “So

Well 34/6-5 S, drilled by Seadrill's West Hercules semisubmersible in production license 554, marks Equinor's fifth on the Norwegian Continental Shelf in 2021. Recoverable resources are estimated at between 8 and 23 million BOE.

The technology, developed by PaleBlue and used to train astronauts traveling to the International Space Station, enabled Neptune personnel to make virtual "visits" to the facility. Neptune said the technology will reduce the need for offshore travel, lower costs and associated emissions.

Stena Drilling has announced its acquisition of a 30% stake in Intebloc, a specialist digital lifting technology solutions provider focused on improving the safety and productivity of offshore lifting operations.

Drilling at Longtail-3 encountered 230 ft of net pay, including newly identified, high quality hydrocarbon bearing reservoirs below the original Longtail-1 discovery intervals. The discovery adds to previous recoverable resource estimate of approximately 9 billion BOE in the Stabroek Block.

The contract for the Valaris DS-18 drillship covers work in the US Gulf of Mexico. It is expected to commence in Q1 2022, in direct continuation of the rig's current contract. The Valaris DS-18 is currently working for Chevron in the Gulf under a 320-day extension that began in March 2021.

As part of the project, Siemens Energy will deliver pressure and temperature sensors for a subsea production system, electrical distribution equipment including flying leads, umbilical terminations, connectors for subsea modules, and multi-leg harness assemblies.