North Sea Reporter

Published by KL ENERGY PUBLISHING LTD.

North Sea Reporter is an established and respected weekly publication which provides

in-depth news and analysis of the NW European offshore oil and gas industry. 

Rig market

Noble Corporation, in a second-quarter results statement, reported adding around $200 million in new contract value since its last fleet status report, published in April. The additions include a six-well contract for the drillship Noble Viking and a three-well contract for the semi-submersible drilling rig Noble Claus Bachmann. As a result, the contractor’s backlog stands at $6.8 billion. Contract drilling services revenue for the second quarter of this year totalled $679 million, compared with $743 million in the previous three months, with the sequential decrease driven primarily by the operational suspensions affecting the drillship Noble Faye Kozack and semi-submersible drilling rig Noble Courage in Brazil (comprising around $43 million), as well as the conclusion of the drillship Noble Globetrotter I’s contract in the Black Sea. Noble’s fleet of 24 marketed floaters was 61% contracted in the second quarter, compared with 68% in the first three months of the year. Recent contract awards since the last quarter have added around 16 months of new floater backlog.

Drilling

Equinor has found oil in the Skrugard North Tubåen prospect, in the Barents Sea. Exploration well 7220/5-EC2H (PL532) is around 6 km north of Johan Castberg discovery well 7220/8-1, drilled in 2011. According to the Norwegian Offshore Directorate, preliminary estimates put the size of the discovery at 1.2-1.7 MMcm of recoverable oil equivalent, which corresponds to 7.6-10.5 million boe. Partners are now considering whether a tieback to Johan Castberg may be possible. The well encountered 41 metres of sandstone indicating good to very good reservoir quality in a primary Lower Jurassic Tubåen formation with a total thickness of 68 metres. The oil:water contact was encountered at 1,474 metres subsea. Well 7220/5-EC2H, which will be permanently plugged and abandoned, was drilled with the Transocean Enabler to a TD of 1,521 metres. Partner interests in PL532, which also covers blocks 7219/9, 7220/4, 7220/7 and 7220/8, are Equinor (operator) 46.3%, Vår Energi 30% and Petoro 23.7%.

Mediterranean/Africa briefing

Eni and TotalEnergies have made a final investment decision (FID) for the development of the deepwater Cronos gasfield, in block 6, off Cyprus. The field, discovered in 2022 and appraised in 2024, will be developed with four subsea wells. The gas will be transported by pipeline to Egypt, where it will be liquefied at the Damietta LNG terminal before being exported to Europe. Production is expected to start in 2028, with a plateau of around 500 MMcfd, or about 2.8 million tonnes per year of LNG. TotalEnergies, in a statement, said that following the signing of a host government agreement in February 2025, the main commercial and contractual agreements necessary for the development of the project have been signed. The agreements cover the terms of use of the offshore facilities in the Zohr field, the transit of gas in Egypt, liquefaction at Damietta LNG and the sale of gas in the form of LNG. The project may also make it possible to develop, in the long term, other resources in block 6 that will be assessed during future campaigns.

Weekly coverage includes:

  • Rig Market - contracts, dayrates and utilisation
  • Drilling – a round-up of North Sea activity 
  • Construction and engineering
  • Field development and production
  • Contract awards
  • Company news
  • Data tables of industry activity
  • Mediterranean & W. Africa briefing
  • News briefs