Noble Deploys Kinetic’s Stemless Gate Valve

Noble Corporation has installed a Stemless Gate Valve (SGV) on its Noble BlackHornet drillship, introducing a dedicated wellbore sealing system designed for managed pressure drilling operations.

The technology, developed with Kinetic Pressure Control, provides a dedicated means of sealing the wellbore during managed pressure drilling and was integrated with the rig's blowout preventer (BOP) system following technical evaluation and engineering work involving Noble, Kinetic and other industry specialists.

According to Noble, the project included assessments of the technology's reliability, installation requirements, maintenance considerations and compatibility with existing well control systems before offshore deployment.

Noble Deploys Kinetic’s Stemless Gate Valve

Nauticus Robotics has completed the first prototype of its next-generation electric manipulator, marking a milestone in the company's strategy to expand its portfolio of autonomous subsea intervention technologies.

Unlike conventional hydraulic manipulators, the modular electric system is designed to reduce maintenance requirements, improve reliability, minimize downtime and lower operating costs while supporting autonomous underwater intervention. The initial prototype features a three-joint configuration, which Nauticus plans to expand into five-joint and seven-joint versions capable of more complex subsea operations.

The manipulator is being integrated with the company's ToolKITT software platform, enabling it to autonomously identify work sites, locate intervention points, compensate for changing underwater conditions and perform precision manipulation tasks with reduced operator input.

CorPower C4 Clears DNV Certification Milestone

CorPower Ocean has been awarded the world’s first DNV Prototype Certificate for a wave energy converter (WEC), marking a major leap towards bankable, utility-scale wave energy.

The CorPower C4 has been certified by DNV under DNV-SE-0120, Certification of Wave Energy Converters and Arrays, following independent verification.

The CorPower C4 features a spherical composite hull measuring 9 meters in diameter, stands 18 meters tall, and has a mass of approximately 100 tonnes. The wave energy converter is installed in 45 meters of water around 4 km offshore Aguçadoura in northern Portugal.

It has been operating in ocean conditions since 2023 across three deployment cycles, including autonomous operation, power export to the Portuguese grid, and survival of Atlantic storms with waves of up to 18.5 meters during Storm Domingos in November 2023, a regional record according to the Hydrographic Institute of Portugal.

Fred. Olsen’s BRIZO Targets Exposed-Water Solar

DNV has completed an independent technical review of Fred Olsen 1848's BRIZO floating solar system, supporting the technology's progress toward project development, bankability discussions and future commercial deployment.

The BRIZO floating photovoltaic (FPV) system is designed to operate in inland, coastal and near-shore environments with more exposed wave conditions than conventional floating solar systems by using a flexible rope-mesh and tensioning system.

DNV said its review covered the system's design methodologies, hydrodynamic load assessment from physical model testing, structural behavior and testing procedures, drawing on knowledge from the development of its standards ST-E309, ST-C108 and RP-0584.

Trendsetter Vulcan’s Hercules TBOP Tackles Shallow Water

Trendsetter Vulcan Offshore (TVO) has deployed its proprietary Hercules tethered blowout preventer (TBOP) system to bring a shut-in well in the Gulf of America back into production, enabling a deepwater drilling rig to carry out a shallow-water workover operation.

The technology was developed to allow a deepwater floating rig equipped with a dynamic positioning (DP) system to operate safely in shallow waters, eliminating the need to mobilize a separate moored rig for well intervention activities.

According to TVO, its engineers modified the blowout preventer configuration to meet site requirements, rapidly designing and customizing the system and carrying out in-situ load testing, marking the first time such testing had been performed on site.

SMD Rolls Out Heavy-Duty Cable Plough

SMD has delivered the first of two heavy-duty power cable ploughs to Prysmian for deployment on the company's new-generation cable laying vessels (CLVs).

The second system is scheduled for delivery later this year. The ploughs will be mobilized on Prysmian Alessandro Volta and Prysmian Mona Lisa CLVs.

The systems are designed to bury conventional multi-core power cables, bundled two-pole power cables and quad bundles at depths of up to five metres below the mean seabed level.

SMD said the ploughs combine Prysmian's experience in submarine power cable design and offshore installation with SMD's cable handling and plough design capabilities.

ADNOC, SLB Scale Up AI Drilling Platform

ADNOC, in collaboration with SLB, has deployed an artificial intelligence (AI)-enabled Real-Time Operations Center (RTOC) platform across its fleet of more than 120 drilling rigs, aiming to improve drilling performance, reduce engineering effort and strengthen operational oversight across its onshore and offshore assets.

The platform, developed in the United Arab Emirates and powered by SLB's DrillOps intelligent well delivery and insights solutions, consolidates live drilling data from the company's rig fleet into a single operating environment, enabling business, asset and drilling teams to monitor operations, identify risks earlier and make faster decisions.

According to ADNOC, the RTOC replaces multiple tools and reduces engineering effort by 30-40%, allowing engineers to oversee two to three times more rigs while maintaining effective supervision.

AI-powered analytics and automated dashboards also shorten reporting cycles from several days to hours, while analysis of real-time drilling data helps identify potential issues before they escalate, reducing incident response times by 4-12 hours and helping avoid one to two days of rig downtime.

Clariant’s HYTREAT ECO Takes on Subsea Hydrates

Clariant Oil Services has deployed an anti-agglomerant low-dosage hydrate inhibitor technology in offshore fields in Norway and the United Kingdom that meets OSPAR environmental requirements for North Sea operations.

The company's HYTREAT ECO technology is designed to prevent hydrate particles from forming blockages in subsea oil and gas production systems while requiring significantly lower chemical dosages than conventional methanol or monoethylene glycol (MEG)-based treatment programmes.

Clariant said field trials in the North Sea used dosage rates ranging from less than 1% to 2% by volume on water, compared with higher volumes required by conventional treatment methods.

In Norway, the technology was used on a mature offshore asset to help manage increasing water production and reduce reliance on glycol regeneration capacity. Clariant said the technology enabled a successful well restart following a 24-hour shut-in within the hydrate stability zone and received a Technology Readiness Level of TRL7.

In the United Kingdom, HYTREAT ECO replaced subsea methanol injection in a gas condensate field operating under extreme subcooling conditions and delivered hydrate control during normal operations and cold restart scenarios.

ADNOC Drilling’s AD-300 Automates Island Drilling

ADNOC Drilling has delivered and received acceptance for AD-300, its first AI-enabled, fully automated walking island rig, nearly three months ahead of schedule.

Standing 50 meters tall and weighing about 2,000 tonnes, the rig combines automation, digital systems and hybrid power capability, with the option to connect to the grid.

Its automated walking capability allows it to move between well locations without being dismantled, while systems including automated pipe handling and AI-enabled monitoring are designed to reduce personnel exposure in complex operating environments.

ADNOC Drilling said integrated data systems on the rig provide real-time operational insights for performance optimization and predictive maintenance.