Equinor NEWS

Equinor has claimed a “world-first” with the use of a drone to deliver lifeboat system parts offshore. A drone flew from the Mongstad base to the Troll A platform in the North Sea. The flight spanning around 80 kilometers to the Troll field took about one hour, at an altitude of approx. 5000 feet. The flight was a test, the world’s first of its kind.

Equinor is set to cut jobs significantly in the United States, Canada and Britain to compensate to a fall in oil prices They plan to cut employee numbers in those countries by about 20% and contractor numbers by around half. Equinor will also not drill any new unconventional wells this year in the United States, where it has claims in the Bakken and Marcellus shale formations.

Equinor has appointed Anders Opedal as its new Chief Executive as the Norwegian oil and gas group looks to speed up a move into renewable energy. The new CEO, who had been Equinor’s head of technology, projects and drilling and is the first engineer to lead the company, replaces Eldar Saetre who will retire after more than 40 years at Norway’s biggest company. Opedal’s appointment is effective from Nov. 2.

Equinor on Friday reported a drop in second-quarter operating profit but a strong performance from its refinery and trading business helped to counter the drop. Equinor’s three ventures, E&P Norway, E&P International and E&P USA, made losses, but profits increase at its refinery and trading division. The Norwegian government has imposed oil output limits from June-December this year, backing efforts by the OPEC+ and others to support prices.

The Norwegian engineering firm, Aker Solutions has developed a new workover system to enable safe well access for subsea installation and completion. The system vouches to enable faster and cost-effective planned well interventions. The company noted that the new workover concept will first be applied to Norwegian firm Equinor’s Visund field in the northern part of the North Sea. The field has a water depth of 335m.

The OOC Oil & Gas Blockchain Consortium has concluded a blockchain pilot with Data Gumbo for automating water management at the Bakken shale field in North Dakota. The trial was able to reduce process workflow to less than a week, down from 90-120 days. The OOC Consortium consists of ten prominent oil and gas players namely Chevron, ConocoPhillips, Equinor, ExxonMobil, Hess, Marathon Oil, Noble Energy, Pioneer Natural Resources, Shell and Repsol.

Italian firm Saipem has signed a two-year frame agreement with Norway’s Equinor covering engineering services worldwide. The frame agreement includes assistance for Equinor’s upcoming onshore, offshore and floating wind sector projects, as well as feasibility and conceptual studies, detailed engineering and related support for R&D activities. The scope of the frame agreement extends to offshore trunklines and routing design for products such as umbilicals, cables, static flexibles and power cables.

Equinor, Total and Shell intend to set up a joint-venture company and initially invest close to NOK 6.9 billion (USD 682.3m/EUR 629.4m), with some 57% of the amount going to Norwegian contractors. Northern Lights is part of the Norwegian full-scale CCS project which will include capturing carbon dioxide (CO2) from up to two industrial plants.

Equinor’s shareholders, dominated by the Norwegian government, rejected all climate resolutions proposed at their annual general meeting on Thursday. One of the resolutions was proposed by “Follow This”, a group that represents about 5,400 green-minded shareholders in oil and gas companies, called for adjusting Equinor’s climate targets in line with the 2005 Paris Agreement on global carbon dioxide (CO2) emission reductions. Their efforts rendered futile.

Offshore drilling contractor, Maersk Drilling has landed drilling work contract for Maersk Intrepid from Equinor at the Martin Linge field, offshore Norway. Made for carrying out work in ultra-harsh environments, the jack-up rig will commence work in September this year and will drill three wells and plug one on the Martin Linge field. The contract also involves managed pressure drilling (MPD), slop treatment, cuttings handling and tubular running services.

Subsea contractor, Ocean Installer has contracted Island Offshore's Island Victory deep-water installation vessel for work in the Barents Sea. The vessel will carry out development programmes on Askeladd and Johan Castberg fields, owned by Equinor. The work at Askeladd field includes the installation of subsea manifolds, apart from conducting surveys and other subsea activity. At Johan Castberg, the work includes the installation of a mooring system including suction anchors and chain.

Equinor has discovered oil at its Monument exploration well in the Gulf of Mexico. The company said that further drilling is still required to establish its size. A statement from Equinor read, “We are pleased to have proved an accumulation of movable hydrocarbons in the Monument exploration well. However, determining the full potential of the discovery will require further appraisal drilling,”. Equinor holds a 50% stake at the prospect.

Sweden-based Coor has landed a contract extension from Norwegian energy major, Equinor for offshore facility management. The contract extension is a direct continuation of Coor's March 2015 contract. Coor has been delivering facility management services to five Statfjord and Snorre oil platforms for 5 years. The contract agreement is estimated to cost Equinor ~$19.8m each year and the latest extension will come into effect from July, 2020.

Norwegian oil major, Equinor has been aiming to cut around $3 billion in investments, exploration drilling and operating costs in order to navigate through coronavirus crisis and low oil prices. In a statement, Equinor affirmed that the new measures will allow its operations to be cash-flow neutral in 2020 at an average oil price of around $25 per barrel. Equinor has already terminated a $5 billion share buyback program.

In a first for an offshore platform, a worker aboard Equinor’s Martin Linge offshore facility has been diagnosed with COVID-19 and is being kept in isolation. The Norwegian oil major yesterday said, “The activity on the field will be reduced today. Personnel remain at the installations they are already located on. Equinor is continuously evaluating further measures,”. The infected person had a recent travel history to Austria.

In a first for an offshore platform, a worker aboard Equinor’s Martin Linge offshore facility has been diagnosed with COVID-19 and is being kept in isolation. The Norwegian oil major yesterday said, “The activity on the field will be reduced today. Personnel remain at the installations they are already located on. Equinor is continuously evaluating further measures,”. The infected person had a recent travel history to Austria.

Norwegian energy major, Equinor has dropped the idea of a downscaled ship-to-ship oil transfer terminal for the Johan Castberg field, attributing higher economics as the reason. Equinor undertook a study of ship-to-ship oil transfer from the Barents Sea by a quay in Finnmark county in March 2018. Equinor will now export the oil from Johan Castberg directly to the market. The Johan Castberg is operated by Equinor, where Var Energi and Petoro are partners.

Norwegian oil major, Equinor has awarded its subsea inspection, maintenance and repair (IMR) services contract to Dutch subsea services provider DeepOcean. The contract terms require Deepocean to carry out subsea remotely operated vehicle (ROV) operations that include IMR activities on Equinor’s assets on the Norwegian Continental Shelf (NCS) including associated project management and engineering services. Deepocean will deploy its subsea vessel Normand Ocean on the project.