Tuesday, 25 August 2026

Equinor Energy AS, Aker BP ASA and Vår Energi ASA have set up a joint exploration alliance on the Norwegian continental shelf (NCS) aimed at high-impact oil and gas prospects, Oil & Gas Journal reported.

The three partners are lining up 20-25 exploration opportunities over the next 4-5 years, according to Oil & Gas Journal.

The drilling ambition attached to that pipeline is about five high-impact exploration wells a year.

The stated purpose of the tie-up is to keep NCS production going beyond 2035.

Specific prospects were not named. Oil & Gas Journal reported that financial terms, operatorship arrangements and equity interests for future prospects were also left out.

Vår Energi chief executive Nick Walker called the arrangement "a transformative step" for future high-impact exploration on the shelf.

Spirit Energy has finished a USD 55 million decommissioning campaign in the UK North Sea, plugging and abandoning three subsea wells and lifting out more than 234 tonnes of subsea infrastructure, according to Offshore Engineer OEDigital.

The work ran between April and July in the UK Southern North Sea, OEDigital reported. It covered the Seven Seas and Grove G5 production wells along with the Grove Deep exploration well.

Seven Seas and Grove G5 delivered a combined 56 billion cubic feet of gas across their producing lives, per the same report.

The offshore programme absorbed more than 114,000 hours of work, according to OEDigital. Tugs, a rig and a construction support vessel were deployed alongside remotely operated vehicles.

Spirit Energy said 100% of the recovered subsea materials are to be reused or recycled in UK yards.

Gas began flowing from the Troll Phase 3 Stage 2 subsea development in the North Sea on August 22, feeding the Troll A platform and the Kollsnes processing plant, according to Offshore Engineer OEDigital. The start-up came ahead of the original plan, which had targeted production towards the end of 2026 at an estimated cost of USD 1.32 billion (NOK 12.3 billion).

The development is built to accelerate output of 55 billion standard cubic metres of gas from the Troll West reservoir, Offshore Engineer OEDigital reported.

Drilling explains much of the schedule gain. An eight-well campaign was finished in five and a half months with Odfjell's Deepsea Aberdeen rig, supported by services from SLB and Baker Hughes. Trond Bokn, senior vice president for project development at Equinor, said the campaign was completed 25% faster than planned.

Equinor operates the Troll partnership with a 30.55% interest. Petoro holds 55.93%, Shell 8.19%, TotalEnergies 3.69% and ConocoPhillips 1.64%, according to Offshore Engineer OEDigital.

The field's weight in supply terms is set out in the same report: Troll holds around 40% of the gas reserves on the Norwegian continental shelf, and gas from the field covers around 10% of Europe's demand. The Troll A platform receiving the new subsea volumes is 30 years old.

Eni is working with BP plc and Egyptian Petroleum Corporation (EGPC) to reach a final investment decision within the next few months on Denise West, a recently discovered gas field offshore Egypt, according to Offshore Engineer OEDigital.

Eni said first gas from the discovery, announced last April, could come in less than two years.

The timetable emerged around a meeting in Cairo, where Eni Chief Executive Claudio Descalzi saw Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi on Tuesday, Offshore Engineer OEDigital reported.

Descalzi and El-Sisi also reviewed the Cronos gas development offshore Cyprus, another Eni project. Gas extracted at Cronos is to be liquefied at Egypt's Damietta LNG plant, according to the same report.

That routing ties Cypriot upstream volumes to Egyptian liquefaction capacity, placing Damietta at the centre of how Eni plans to monetise its eastern Mediterranean gas. Eni said Cronos will play a role in developing Egypt's position as a Mediterranean energy hub.

No decision has yet been taken on Denise West. The partners' timeline puts the commitment ahead of the point at which production could begin, on Eni's own less-than-two-years guidance for first gas.

Halliburton has secured an integrated drilling services contract from bp for the first appraisal campaign at the Bumerangue field offshore Brazil, according to World Oil. The operator is moving to further evaluate its deepwater discovery there.

The scope includes deployment of Halliburton's LOGIX automation and remote operations technology during the campaign, World Oil reported.

Halliburton did not disclose the value or duration of the contract, according to World Oil.

Francisco Tarazona, senior vice president, Latin America at Halliburton, said the award reflects the company's ability to execute complex deepwater projects through a combination of digital solutions, integrated service delivery, and local expertise.

Sri Lanka's upstream petroleum regulator has opened bidding on 33,964 km² of Mannar basin acreage, split across four blocks, under a round designated SL2026-01. The launch date was Aug. 25.

The Petroleum Development Authority of Sri Lanka (PDASL) is the body running the tender. The four tracts carry the designations 2026-MB-01, 2026-MB-02, 2026-MB-03 and 2026-MB-04. World Oil reported that the acreage is on offer to international oil and gas companies.

Block sizes are uneven. The smallest covers approximately 5,689 km² and the largest approximately 11,728 km², according to World Oil. Water depths across the offered area run from approximately 100 m to 3,000 m.

Dr. Neil DeSilva, director general of PDASL, said prior work in the area has "demonstrated the presence of a working petroleum system in the Mannar basin".

A data room carrying geological and geophysical information opens Sept. 1 for prospective bidders.

Sri Lanka reworked its upstream regulatory framework through the Petroleum Resources Act of 2021, the statute that set up PDASL as the country's upstream petroleum regulator. The current round follows those changes.

Equinor is aiming for 950,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day of equity production outside Norway by 2030, up from 750,000 boed in the second quarter of 2026, according to World Oil.

The target rests on a narrower asset base. Equinor is concentrating investment in a smaller international portfolio led by the U.S., Brazil and Angola, World Oil reported.

That portfolio is expected to deliver approximately USD 20 billion of free cash flow between 2026 and 2030, according to World Oil.

The U.S. is Equinor's largest producing country outside Norway, at 433,000 boed of equity production in Q2, World Oil reported. On the company's forecast cited by World Oil, Brazil equity production approaches 200,000 boed by 2030, making it another major source of growth.

In Angola, Equinor and operator Azule Energy sanctioned the Greater PAJ development in June, comprising the Palas, Astrea and Juno discoveries, according to World Oil. The project is expected online in 2029 and will unlock approximately 250 million bbl of resources.