Norwegian Oil News

MHWirth, a subsidiary of Norwegian oil services investment firm Akastor, has received an arbitration award issued by a tribunal in a dispute with Seatrium’s subsidiary Jurong Shipyard over the termination of four drilling rig unit contracts.As part of the ruling, MHW has been awarded an amount of $101 million as payment of termination fees.In addition, MHW has been made eligible for the reimbursement of legal costs and certain suspension costs (totaling about $7 million), as well as interest.Although the drilling rig unit contracts are held by MHW…

Norwegian oil companies resumed helicopter flights to offshore oil and gas fields on Friday following Wednesday's deadly crash off the country's west coast, operator Equinor and airports said on Friday.On Thursday helicopter traffic was halted to oil and gas platforms following the crash in which one person died and five were injured. Norway said it was considering grounding Sikorsky's S-92A aircraft model while investigating the accident."Based on dialogue with the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA)…

Several liquefied natural gas (LNG) vessels have changed their courses in recent days to avoid the Red Sea region amid maritime attacks by Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthis on the world's main East-West trade route.The Red Sea is linked to the Mediterranean by the Suez Canal, creating the shortest shipping route between Europe and Asia, and is connected to the Gulf of Aden by the Bab-el-Mandeb strait between Yemen and Djibouti. About 12% of world shipping traffic transits the canal.But attacks in recent days on ships along the route have led companies such as oil major BP…

Norwegian oil company Aker BP has restored production at Alvheim field, causing an oil spill during the process of starting up the production vessel located in the central North Sea. The downtime resulted from a malfunction in new equipment installed during maintenance activities in the previous quarter, causing a deferral of approximately one month in the production from the Alvheim area, Aker BP said. The oil spill from the Alvheim production vessel on November 29 occurred in connection with starting up the field following an unplanned production shutdown, where one well was producing.

A new report shows that deliveries to exploration, operation and modification of Equinor-operated fields and onshore plants in Norway exceeded 93 billion NOK in 2022, an increase of approximately 13% from the previous year.The report was presented at Equinor’s autumn conference by the company’s executive vice president for Exploration and Production Norway (EPN), Kjetil Hove, together with the five trade unions in Equinor: Industri Energi, SAFE, the Norwegian union of managers and executives (Lederne), NITO and Tekna.“Our activities create substantial national and local ripple effects.

Subsea services company DeepOcean and the Norwegian oil and gas company Aker BP have agreed to "pioneer" the use of an unmanned surface vessel (USV) for subsea inspection, maintenance, and repair (IMR) and survey work.The first USV is planned to be ready for offshore operations from 2025, when it will go on an eight-year charter agreement with DeepOcean from specialist provider USV AS."Aker BP and DeepOcean already cooperate under a frame agreement for subsea IMR and survey work, and Aker BP has contributed to the development of the USV.

Floating LNG solutions provider Höegh LNG and the Norwegian oil and gas firm Aker BP have entered a strategic partnership to develop a "fully comprehensive carbon transport and storage offering for industrial CO2 emitters in Northern Europe.""The agreement combines the companies’ respective strengths, expertise, and technologies to establish a strong value chain for CCS on the Norwegian Continental Shelf that includes gathering, transporting and securely injecting CO2 for permanent storage in subsea reservoirs…

The Norwegian oil and gas company Equinor has given a longer-term charter to the Island Commander offshore supply vessel.The vessel, which is owned by Island Offshore, is currently on spot assignment for the same company.The 2009-built offshore vessel will now stay on a charter with Equinor for another seven months. Equinor will have two two-month options to extend the contract further.Island Offshore says that with this contract, it now has two offshore supply vessels and one walk-to-work vessel working for Equinor. Battery packs have been installed on all three vessels. In addition, Island Offshore said it was working with Equinor to assess the possibilities for modifying the LNG-powered vessel Island Crusader to use ammonia as fuel.Earlier this week…

Norway police on Friday investigated reports of a drone flying over the Kaarstoe [Kårstø] gas plant in southwest Norway on Thursday, while in Arctic Norway a Russian-Israeli citizen was arrested when police found two drones in his car.The Norwegian military Home Guard has been posted at Kaarstoe and other major energy export facilities since authorities boosted security at Norwegian oil and gas installations after the Sept. 26 Nord Stream leaks.At 2130 local time (1930 GMT) on Thursday…

Equinor, a Norwegian oil company, said on Friday that it had recently awarded six offshore vessel contracts to five shipowners. The total value of the contracts, including options, is estimated to be more than NOK 2.5 billion ($235,6 million). The six platform supply vessels will be managed by Simon Møkster Shipping AS (Stril Luna & Stril Mar vessels), Island Offshore Management AS (Island Crusader vessel), Eidesvik AS (Viking Avant vessel), Remøy Shipping AS (Rem Hrist vessel) and P/F Skansi Offshore (Kongsborg vessel).

Norwegian police on Thursday responded to a threat made by telephone against the Nyhamna gas processing plant, one of Europe's largest energy export facilities, and later said the incident had been resolved. The threat came amid heightened concerns about the security of oil and gas infrastructure following suspected sabotage of Russia's Nord Stream gas pipelines to Europe, though plant operator Gassco and offshore producers Shell and Equinor said output had not been interrupted.

Norwegian oil and gas company Equinor has exercised an option to extend the contract for Solstad Offshore's Normand Ferking AHTS vessel for one more year to November 2023.Equinor has the option to extend the contract for a further one year after the expiration of the current contract. Normand Ferking has been on contract with Equinor since 2007 and will continue to support Equinor's activities on the Norwegian Continental Shelf.

Norwegian oil and gas company Aker BP has awarded offshore shipowner Eidesvik Offshore a three-year contract for the platform supply vessel Viking Prince.The contract for the 89,6 meters long Viking Prince will begin after the completion of the vessel’s ongoing contract with Equinor. Financial details were not disclosed. The Viking Prince was built in 2012 and has a deck area of around 1 050 m². Gitte Gard Talmo, President & CEO of Eidesvik commented: “Aker BP is an important client for Eidesvik and our collaboration reaches beyond vessel contracts.

Norwegian oil and gas company Aker BP has chartered Solstad Offshore's large platform supply vessel Normand Arctic.The platform supplier will be used to support Aker BP's activities on the Norwegian Continental Shelf.According to the shipowner, the contract is expected to start during the fourth quarter of 2022. The contract is for a period of 15 months. Financial information was not disclosed.Earlier this week, Solstad Offshore said that it expected that the Russian 'tragic'…

Norwegian offshore vessel owner Eidesvik Offshore has secured a charter deal for its platform supply vessel Viking Prince.The 2012-built, LNG-powered platform supply vessel will support the drilling operations of the Norwegian oil company Aker BP."The contract is awarded under the current Frame Agreement for a drilling campaign indicated for a period of approximately 100 days, with the start August 2021," Eidesvik Offshore said.AIS data from MarineTraffic.com show the Viking Prince's last destination was Aker BP's Valhall field.

Norwegian oil and gas company Equnior has made a final investment decision for the development of the Bacalhau field offshore Brazil.The development of the field located in the Santos Basin will cost around $8 billion. Arne Sigve Nylund, Equinor’s executive vice president for Projects, Drilling, and Procurement said: "This is an exciting day. Bacalhau is the first greenfield development by an international operator in the pre-salt area and will create great value for Brazil, Equinor, and partners.

Norwegian offshore vessel operator Island Offshore, mostly known for its offshore vessel services in the Norwegian oil and gas industry, has recently won a walk-to-work contract with Vattenfall in the offshore wind sector in Germany.Island Offshore said the contract was an important one and will see its vessel Island Diligence deployed at Vattenfall-operated DanTysk and Sandbank offshore wind farms in the German part of the North Sea.Island Diligence will provide accommodation and transfer of technicians via the vessel’s gangway solution, to the wind turbines.

Norwegian offshore shipowner Havila Shipping has won a contract with Equinor for one of its platform supply vessels.The company said Thursday the PSV Havila Clipper would start working rot the Norwegian oil giant in direct continuation of the existing contract."The contract is for a firm period of 70 days with options for 20 days," Havila Shipping said. It did not provide details on the value of the contract.Equinor in February awarded an 8-month contract for the vessel, with four…

Norwegian oil and gas giant Equinor last year said that the delivery of an FPSO, being built for the Johan Castberg field development in the Barents Sea, would be delayed after the company discovered issues with the weld quality of the hull of the FPSO under construction in Singapore.In an update on Monday, Equinor said that, following the initial findings, an in-house investigation team from Equinor had studied the deviation in quality of welding and inspection of the Johan Castberg FPSO…

Classification society ABS announced Tuesday it has updated its Shuttle Tanker Advisory, offering insights on shuttle tanker design and operation all over the globe, with particular focus on Brazil, the North Sea and the Gulf of Mexico.The Advisory explains how ABS optional notations complement class and statutory requirements to fulfill varying regional and operational requirements. As well as exploring new technologies having an impact on the sector, the Advisory identifies…

South Korean shipbuilding giant Samsung Heavy Industries must pay $411 million to offshore drilling contractor Stena Drilling, a London arbitration tribunal has ruled.The spat between the two companies began after Stena Drilling in 2017 terminated the order for the construction of the harsh environment semi-submersible drilling rig Stena Midmax.Stena Drilling had ordered the rig in June 2013, with the delivery expected in March 2016. Citing excessive delay, Stena Drilling on June 1, 2017, terminated the rig order.

Classification society ABS said it has awarded AET the SMART (INF) Notation for the 152,700 DWT DP2 shuttle tanker Eagle Passos, which was built and delivered by South Korean shipbuilder Samsung Heavy Industries Co., Ltd. (SHI).The first shuttle tanker to be granted an ABS Smart Notation, which recognizes the vessel’s data communication and network infrastructure, Eagle Passos will also be granted the Operational Performance Management (OPM) and Crew Assistance and Augmentation (CAA) class record comments in recognition of the optimization…

Aker Horizons has signed a Letter of Intent with Statkraft and Yara with the aim to establish "Europe's first industrial-scale green ammonia project in Norway, enable the hydrogen economy, and accelerate the energy transition." The company said the first project in the partnership will be to electrify Yara's existing ammonia facility in Porsgrunn, "which has the potential to be one of the largest climate initiatives in Norwegian industrial history."The partners will further target green hydrogen and green ammonia opportunities within shipping…