Despite the devastating downturn of 2020, most global majors held up quite well during the market turmoil, a Rystad Energy comparative analysis reveals after measuring key upstream performance metrics. Total outshined all other peers, as the French company not only exceled in financial and operational performance, but also was the only major to replace all of the year’s produced resources.

The UK Chamber of Shipping, the voice of the UK shipping industry, has joined global industry and human rights leaders, including A.P. Møller - Mærsk, BP, BW, Cargill, COSCO, DOW, Euronav, MISC, NYK, Rio Tinto, Shell, Trafigura, Unilever and Vale, in signing the Neptune Declaration on Seafarer Wellbeing and Crew Change in a worldwide call to action to end the unprecedented crew change crisis caused by COVID-19.

Subsea 7 has been awarded a sizeable⁽¹⁾ contract by Equinor for the Northern Lights project.  

On-board, berthed, and on the marina, smart technologies are driving widespread digitalization – a process which has the potential to guide shipping processes into the future. 

Equinor has decided to write down the book value of its Tanzania LNG project (TLNG) on the company’s balance sheet by 982million USD. This will be reflected in adjusted earnings for EPI division in fourth quarter 2020 results to be reported on 10 February 2021.

While progress has been made in recent years on the commercial framework for TLNG, overall project economics have not yet improved sufficiently to justify keeping it on the balance sheet.

The TLNG project has an anticipated breakeven price well above the portfolio average for Equinor and is, at this time, not competitive within this portfolio. Equinor will continue to engage with the Government of Tanzania in negotiations on a commercial, fiscal and legal framework that may provide a viable business case for TLNG in the future.

Equinor maintains an attractive portfolio of project development opportunities in oil and gas as well as renewables. This portfolio requires strict prioritization, ensuring capital is allocated towards projects yielding the most competitive returns. As shown at the Capital Markets Update in February last year, Equinor’s oil and gas projects with expected start-up by 2026 have an average breakeven below $35/bbl based on today’s estimates. Similar for non-sanctioned oil and gas projects with expected start-up within this decade, the average breakeven is below $40/bbl.

Equinor has been present in Tanzania since 2007 when the company signed a Production Sharing Agreement (PSA) with the Tanzania Petroleum Development Corporation (TPDC). Equinor is the operator with a 65% participating interest, along with ExxonMobil’s working interest of 35%. TPDC has the right to participate with a 10% interest. Equinor made nine gas discoveries in Block 2 offshore Tanzania with estimated volumes of 20 Tcf of gas in place.

International Submarine Engineering Ltd. (ISE) has successfully completed the second stage in the autonomous dock prototype project. This project is a joint project between Dalhousie University and ISE with funding provided by Innovation for Defence Excellence and Security (IDEaS).

The Johan Sverdrup field is expected to increase its daily production capacity up to 535,000 barrels of oil by mid-2021. This is around 100,000 barrels more than the original basis at start-up in October 2019.

On January 15, Damen Shipyards Group handed over a new, next-generation, Damen RSD Tug 2513 to Tug Malta, Malta’s leading tug operator. Named Senglea, after the nearby, historic city of the same name, she joins a fleet that already has a number of Damen ASD tugs, but is the first RSD tug to operate in the region.

UK floating offshore wind could reach “subsidy-free” levels by the early 2030s, according to a study completed by the Offshore Renewable Energy (ORE) Catapult’s Floating Offshore Wind Centre of Excellence (FOW CoE).

Damen Shipyards Group has placed an order with VEEM – the Western Australia-based market leader in marine stabilization products – for a VG1000SD Gyrostabilizer.

DeepGreen Metals, which is exploring for deep-ocean polymetallic nodules as a lower impact and more cost-effective alternative to terrestrial mining, has announced an upward revision to the nodule resource reported within the NORI-D exploration contract area held by its subsidiary, Nauru Ocean Resources, Inc.

Inmarsat, a world leader in global, mobile satellite communications, has secured a fleet-wide agreement with offshore support vessel major Tidewater to advance its digitalization strategy by upgrading the majority of its active fleet to Fleet Xpress.


Wallem has signed an agreement with the Ocean Technologies Group to implement its recently launched OCEAN Learning Platform.
 

Following a successful delivery of deepwell pump systems for six VLECs, Samsung Heavy Industries and Hyundai Heavy Industries have signed Svanehøj as the pump supplier for an additional four vessels.    

Damen Shipyards Group’s revolutionary Fast Crew Supplier (FCS) 7011 has been launched into the water at Damen Shipyards Antalya, Turkey.


Odfjell Drilling will retrofit its newest deepwater, semi-submersible drilling rigs in the North Sea’s Norwegian sector with the system. The upgrades will be carried out on Deepsea Atlantic and Deepsea Nordkapp, with the opportunity to include Deepsea Stavanger, Deepsea Aberdeen, and Deepsea Yantai at a later stage.