AI helping Equinor speed up seismic interpretation, well planning

Equinor has provided an overview of how it is using artificial intelligence (AI) to support its offshore operations.

Benefits include analyzing seismic data 10 times faster, planning wells and field development in new ways, and more efficient operations of facilities, said Hege Skryseth, Equinor's executive vice president for Technology, Digital and Innovation.

The company has also identified more than 100 new applications.

Currently, it is using AI to monitor performance of more than 700 rotating machines via a total of 24,000 sensors, including predictive maintenance. This, it claims, has brought safety improvements and more stable operations, with reduced risk of sudden shutdowns that can lead to a need for flaring.

AI-driven planning of the company’s wells and field developments is said to have generated thousands of improvement options. For the current Johan Sverdrup Phase 3 subsea development in the North Sea, AI is said to have come up with a solution that no one had previously considered, leading to a cost saving of $12 million.

For seismic analysis, AI is helping Equinor interpret more data and quicker, providing a claimed tenfold increase in interpretation capacity. AI can interpret greater data volumes over a larger area, supporting prospect analysis and improving overall understanding of that area and the Norwegian Continental Shelf as a whole.

Last year, the AI tool was used to interpret 2 million sq km.

“Our employees can use AI tools like copilots, chatbots and agentic AI to solve tasks and work in new ways,” Skryseth added.

Havtil deems use of Novos tech 'a serious breach' of regulations

Despite the advances, the Norwegian Ocean Industry Authority (Havtil) issued a new order to Equinor on Dec. 19, following an audit of technology development and the use of digital well planning, automated drilling and digital twins at the jackup drilling rig Askepott on the Oseberg field in the North Sea.

Havtil had previously conducted a two-week audit in spring 2022, which resulted in Equinor being ordered to draw up criteria for development, testing and use of the Novos ADC technology.

Novos at that point was in use on Askepott and the Askeladden, Deepsea Atlantic, Deepsea Aberdeen and Johan Sverdrup facilities. Three follow-up meetings took place during 2023, and on several occasions thereafter Havtil asked Equinor for clarification on the criteria it was using to qualify the technology.

Subsequently, Havtil found that Novos had been installed or was planned for various mobile rigs under contract to Equinor. This led to a further meeting with the company last September, with the investigating team quizzing Equinor representatives on whether technology qualification of Novos had been completed, and its assessed Technology Readiness Level.

The response was that the company had opted to keep Novos at TRL-4, “ready for first use,” and that the technology qualification was therefore unchanged from the time of the original audit and order.

Havtil says it deems the use of Novos on additional facilities, without the qualification having demonstrated that regulatory requirements can be met, as a serious breach of Norwegian regulations.

It has asked Equinor to demonstrate that applicable requirements can be fulfilled by using Novos, with reference to facilities and activities regulations before adopting Novos on further offshore facilities.

The deadline for compliance is June 1, 2026.

Archer, Equinor ink P&A contract for 30 subsea wells

In other news, Archer Ltd. has been awarded an integrated plug and abandonment (P&A) contract from Equinor for 30 subsea wells.

In March 2025, Archer announced Equinor’s award of a frame agreement for engineering and planning for the P&A of its subsea wells. With this contract, Archer has now been awarded the full planning and execution scope for the P&A operations. 

Archer says the contract will enable extensions to additional P&A projects across Equinor’s projects. The firm contract term is three years, including two options each of two years, with an estimated total contract value up to $140 million for the 30 subsea wells. About 50% of the contract value relates to services delivered by Archer’s alliance partners, the company said.

The fully integrated P&A program incorporates the planning scope, including project management, well and subsurface engineering, and the execution scope includes wireline, fishing and remedial services, downhole mechanical isolation, P&A services, cementing, fluids and mudlogging.