The drillship Stena Carron has begun a deepwater well for BP west of Shetland on the North Uist prospect.

Repsol Exploracion Irlanda is set to become operator of Licensing Option 11/11 off southwest Ireland.

Britain’s Energy Minister Charles Hendry has given BP consent to drill the North Uist exploration well in block 213/25c, 125 km (78 mi) northwest of the Shetland Islands.

Statoil has awarded Aker Solutions a front-end engineering and design (FEED) contract for a spar platform in the Norwegian Sea.

Statoil has awarded Technip a lump sum front-end engineering design (FEED) contract for the proposed Luva field spar platform in the Norwegian Sea.

DNV has initiated a joint industry project to establish a unified safety approach for deepwater lifting.

ExxonMobil Exploration and Production Romania Ltd. and OMV Petrom have encountered natural gas in the first deepwater exploration well in the Romania sector of the Black Sea.

DNV has unveiled a new deepwater pipeline concept that it says can reduce the cost of a gas pipeline while maintaining the strictest integrity regime.

Statoil plans to develop the deepwater North Sea Luva field using a spar platform.