Industry News

Valaris recorded new contracts and multiple extensions for two floaters and two jackups in its latest fleet status report, released 30 April. These with other contract announcements have added roughly $480 million in value, increasing the company’s total backlog to approximately $4 billion.ExxonMobil exercised a six-month priced option for the VALARIS DS-9 drillship, slated to begin in January 2025 in direct continuation of the existing firm program.Meanwhile, Equinor exercised a 60-day priced option offshore Brazil for the VALARIS D-17 drillship. Work is expected to begin in May 2025 in direct continuation of the existing firm contract. The dayrate, including MPD

Equinor received consent from the Norwegian Ocean Industry Authority (Havtil) to use the Transocean Enabler semisubmersible for production drilling, completion and drilling of the exploration segment at the Johan Castberg field in the Barents Sea.Johan Castberg is 100 km northwest of the Snøhvit field, with a water depth of 370 m. The three discoveries it consists of, Skrugard, Havis and Drivis, were proven between 2011 and 2013.The discoveries will be developed together, and the plan for development and operation (PDO) was approved in June 2018. The development concept is a production, storage and offloading vessel (FPSO) with additional subsea solutions,

Petrobras has awarded SLB three contracts for completion hardware and services for up to 35 subsea wells in the development of Petrobras’ Buzios Wave II oilfield, offshore Brazil. The contract includes SLB’s fullbore electric interval control and electric subsurface safety valves. The award is a catalyst toward full production system electrification for Petrobras, improving production availability via more reliable completions.By converting to electric completions, Petrobras can control a more sophisticated system in the subsurface reliably. Full electrification of completions enables maximum production control across multiple reservoir drains, potentially requiring fewer wells and limiting heavy workovers during the productive life of

Sinopec has completed drilling China’s deepest geothermal exploration well, the Fushen-1 well in Hainan, with a depth of 5,200 m. The milestone revealed the deep geothermal formation and enrichment in South China. The breakthrough in hot dry rock in terms of demographic region and depth is of great significance to enhance the large-scale development and utilization of geothermal resources in South China and aid the energy structure adjustment.The drilling goal of Fushen-1 was granite dated 250 million years ago. Since the exploration launched in August 2023, Sinopec has adopted multiple independently developed innovative technologies, including the combination of dual-drive drilling

Aramco has awarded engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contracts worth $7.7 billion for a major expansion of its Fadhili Gas Plant in the eastern province of Saudi Arabia. The project is expected to increase the plant’s processing capacity from 2.5 bscfd to up to 4 bscfd.This additional 1.5 bscfd of processing capacity is expected to contribute to the company’s strategy to raise gas production by more than 60% by 2030, compared to 2021 levels. The Fadhili Gas Plant expansion, expected to be completed by November 2027, will also add 2,300 metric tons per day to sulfur production.“The award of these

Vaalco Energy announced all partners signed the final documents, and the government of Equatorial Guinea has approved the joint operating agreement related to the previously approved Venus-Block P plan of development (POD).The production sharing contract provides for a development and production period of 25 years from the date of approval of the POD.“With final documents for Block P signed, we are very excited to proceed with our plans to develop, operate and begin producing from the discovery in Block P offshore Equatorial Guinea over the next few years. We will now proceed with our Front-End Engineering Design (FEED) study. We

CNOOC has made a major oilfield discovery of Qinhuangdao 27-3 in the Bohai Sea, adding over 100 million tons of oil equivalent proved in-place volume.The Qinhuangdao 27-3 oilfield is located in the north-central waters of the Bohai Sea, with an average water depth of approximately 25 m. The main oil-bearing play is the Minghuazhen Formation of Neogene, and the oil property is medium-heavy crude.The discovery well QHD27-3-3 was drilled and completed at a depth of 1,570 m, which encountered a total of 48.9 m oil pay zones. The field has been tested to produce approximately 742 barrels of crude oil

CNOOC has made a major oilfield discovery in the deepwater area of the South China Sea, Kaiping South, adding over a hundred million tons of oil equivalent proved in-place volume.The Kaiping South oilfield is located in the eastern South China Sea, with an average water depth of approximately 500 m. The main oil-bearing plays are Zhuhai Formation, Enping Formation and Wenchang Formation of Paleogene, and the oil property is light crude.The discovery well KP18-1-1d was drilled and completed at a depth of 3,462 m, which encountered a total of 100.6 m oil and gas pay zones. The well was tested