West Polaris News


Valaris Drillship to Return to Egypt Under New $140M Contract with BP

Oct 13, 2025

Offshore drilling contractor Valaris has secured a five-well contract with BP’s subsidiary BP Exploration Delta for VALARIS DS-12 drillship in Egypt.The contract is expected to begin in the second quarter 2026 and has an estimated duration of 350 days…

TotalEnergies Names Senior Vice-President for Oil and Gas Exploration

Oct 06, 2025

TotalEnergies has appointed Nicola Mavilla as Senior Vice President Exploration.Effective November 1, 2025, Nicola Mavilla is replacing Kevin McLachlan, who held this position since 2015.Mavilla has 25 years of experience in the oil and gas…

Court Rules Biden Ban on Offshore Drilling Illegal

Oct 06, 2025

Former U.S. President Joe Biden exceeded his authority by withdrawing large areas along U.S. coastlines from future offshore oil and gas development, a federal judge in Louisiana ruled on Thursday.U.S. District Judge James Cain in Lake Charles…

TotalEnergies Sells Minority Stake in North Sea CCS Project to CarbonVault

Oct 02, 2025

TotalEnergies, through its affiliate TotalEnergies E&P Denmark, has sold part of its stake in the Bifrost carbon capture and storage (CCS) project to CarbonVault, the Danish affiliate of the German cement producer SCHWENK.Under this agreement…

TotalEnergies Sells Stakes in Three Mature Norwegian Fields to Vår Energi and Orlen

Oct 01, 2025

TotalEnergies EP Norge has signed an agreement for the divestment of its non-operated interest (39.89%) in the West Ekofisk and Albuskjell fields to Vår Energi and has also concluded an agreement with Orlen Upstream Norway for the divestment of its non-operated interest (20…

Eni Sells 30% Stake in Baleine Project off Ivory Coast to Vitol

Sep 25, 2025

Italian energy giant Eni has completed the sale of 30% stake in the Baleine project, located off the Ivory Coast, to energy and commodity trading company Vitol.The Baleine project is the West African country’s main offshore development and is now owned by Eni (47…

Ecowende, Van Oord Start Eco-Friendly Offshore Works at Hollandse Kust West

Sep 24, 2025

Offshore construction has started at the Hollandse Kust West wind farm, where Van Oord and developer Ecowende are installing eco-friendly scour protection designed to improve marine biodiversity.Van Oord’s subsea rock installation vessels Nordnes…

Hibiscus Petroleum Starts Drilling at Teal West Field off UK

Sep 19, 2025

Malaysian independent oil and gas exploration firm Hibiscus Petroleum has spudded a new well at the Teal West field in the North Sea, off the coast of the United Kingdom.The drilling operations is being done with Shelf Drilling’s Shelf Drilling Fortress jack-up rig…

Equinor’s North Sea Wildcat Well Yields No Oil and Gas

Sep 19, 2025

Equinor and its partners Vår Energi and Aker BP have drilled a dry exploration well in the North Sea.The wildcat well 34/8-20 S was drilled about 130 kilometres west of Florø, in the Narvi nord prospect.The well was first to be drilled in production license 554 E…

Astro Offshore Expands Fleet with Five New Vessels

Sep 17, 2025

Offshore vessel operator Astro Offshore, an Adani Group company, has acquired five offshore vessels en bloc, raising its fleet size to 49 ships and strengthening its presence in West Africa.The deal includes four platform supply vessels (PSVs)…

Petrofac to Stay on Duty for ONEgas in UK’s Southern North Sea

Sep 15, 2025

Oilfield services provider Petrofac has secured a contract extension from ONEgas West, a Shell UK-operated venture, for asset support services in the U.K.’s Southern North Sea.The contract scope provides services across ONEgas West’s Southern North Sea portfolio…

Australia Clears North West Shelf LNG Plant Operations Until 2070

Sep 12, 2025

Australia gave final approval on Friday for Woodside to operate the country's oldest and second-largest liquefied natural gas plant until 2070, while imposing 48 'strict' new rules in a bid to limit its environmental impact.The decision to extend…

Five-Well Drilling Campaign on BP’s Agenda for Mediterranean Sea

Sep 09, 2025

BP has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Egyptian government to evaluate opportunities for a five-well drilling program in the Mediterranean Sea.The program, at water depth ranging from 300 to 1,500 meters, is designed to accelerate…

Astro Offshore Enters West Africa with Acquisition of Two New PSVs

Sep 05, 2025

Offshore vessel operator Astro Offshore, an Adani Group company, has acquired two modern platform supply vessels (PSVs) and entered the West African market, expanding its global footprint.The vessels, Astro Rastaban (built 2020) and Astro Rigel (built 2023)…

TotalEnergies Gets Two Exploration Permits Offshore Nigeria

Sep 02, 2025

TotalEnergies, together with its partner South Atlantic Petroleum, have signed the Production Sharing Contract (PSC) for two exploration licenses offshore Nigeria.The PSC was signed for the PPL 2000 and PPL 2001 licenses, in which TotalEnergies is the operator with 80% working interest…

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