Var Energi ASA NOK

Odfjell Drilling has received a letter of award from Vår Energi for deployment of the Deepsea Bergen rig, with an estimated contract value of $518m, or Nkr4.81bn. The three-year award is due to begin in early 2028, after the unit completes its current contract, and the value includes mobilisation fees but excludes annual escalation, integrated services, performance bonuses and fuel incentives. The award extends Deepsea Bergen's firm contract backlog to the first quarter of 2031. CEO Kjetil Gjersdal said the terms allow both Vår Energi and Odfjell Drilling to invest in a long-term partnership arrangement, and that the company was pleased to secure a long-term contract for the unit less than 12 months after acquiring it. The rig is built to the CS 60 E harsh environment specification and has a conventional mooring spread for water depths from 70m to 500m, with a loading capacity of 7,500t in all operating conditions.

TechnipFMC announced on August 11 that Azule Energy awarded it a significant contract, valued between $75 million and $250 million, to supply flexible flowlines and risers for the West Hub Tails project offshore Angola, with the order to be booked in third-quarter 2026. This follows a similar Azule contract for the Greater PAJ development and other awards from Vår Energi, Eni, and Equinor, totaling billions in potential value. Despite the deal streak, total backlog fell 1.2% year over year to $16.44 billion, and Subsea backlog was flat at $15.83 billion, indicating new orders are replacing completed work rather than driving growth. Surface Technologies revenue dropped 13.3% to $276.2 million, with backlog down 27.4% to $606.8 million. Second-quarter revenue rose 10.8% to $2.76 billion, net income jumped 34.6% to $362.7 million, and adjusted EBITDA margin expanded to 21.1%, while hedge fund ownership declined from 58 to 47 funds.

Equinor, Aker BP and Vår Energi have agreed to form a strategic collaboration focused on exploration activities on the Norwegian Continental Shelf. The companies will pool their expertise, data, technology and exploration resources to pursue selected high-impact prospects, aiming to drill around five high-impact wells per year over the next four to five years, for a total of 20 to 25 exploration targets. The initiative seeks to identify major new discoveries that could lead to new stand-alone field developments, as output from the region is forecast to fall after 2035 without additional discoveries. Separately, Equinor and Aker BP discovered gas and condensate at the Linga prospect in production licence 782 S, with recoverable volumes estimated between 100,000 and 2.1 million standard cubic metres of oil equivalent. Equinor also signed a 15-year natural gas sales agreement with Uniper to deliver more than 30 terawatt-hours, or approximately 2.8 billion cubic metres, annually to Germany from 1 January 2027 to 31 December 2041.

Equinor has joined Aker BP and Vår Energi in a new exploration collaboration on the Norwegian continental shelf, targeting 20 to 25 higher risk, high impact prospects over the next few years. The announcement comes as Equinor's share price stands at NOK394.8, with an 11.75% return over the past 90 days and a 63.41% year-to-date gain. The most followed valuation narrative puts Equinor's fair value at NOK349.12, suggesting the stock is 13.1% overvalued, while its current P/E of 11.1x sits below the European Oil and Gas industry average of 14.7x.

Equinor, Aker BP and Vår Energi are joining forces to hunt for the next generation of major discoveries on the Norwegian Continental Shelf. The companies said Monday they will pool exploration expertise, seismic and subsurface data, technology and drilling capacity to pursue some of the largest remaining prospects offshore Norway. Over the next four to five years, they intend to mature and evaluate roughly 20 to 25 exploration opportunities, with a target of drilling around five high-impact wells each year. The collaboration marks a shift toward sharing the cost and geological risk associated with larger, more complex prospects, as Equinor said production from the shelf is expected to decline after 2035 unless sufficient new resources are discovered and brought into production. The companies have not identified the individual prospects included in the program or disclosed expected exploration spending.

Payments firm Stripe is in discussions to acquire the AI startup OpenRouter for about $10 billion, headlining a busy week of dealmaking across multiple sectors. IBM intends to acquire quantum-focused research and development institution HRL Laboratories to aid its quantum computing efforts. Brookfield Asset Management agreed to buy battery storage developer Aypa Power for $7 billion including debt, and separately partnered with the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board to acquire LXP Industrial Trust in an all-cash transaction valued at about $5.2 billion including net debt and preferred equity. TE Connectivity announced it is acquiring privately held Astrodyne TDI in a $1.4 billion deal, while Repligen and BioLife Solutions entered into a definitive agreement under which Repligen will acquire BioLife for a total enterprise value of about $1.5 billion, comprised of 64% in Repligen common stock and 36% in cash. Magnolia Oil & Gas agreed to acquire closely held WildFire Energy for $4.06 billion in cash and stock including debt, and raised its quarterly dividend 9% to $0.18 per share. Var Energi agreed to acquire European rival BlueNord in a cash and stock deal valued at about $1.3 billion, creating Europe's largest independent oil and gas producer, while Arcadis rose 12% in Amsterdam trading after a report that the Dutch engineering consultancy received takeover interest from bidders including Canadian peer WSP Global.

Vår Energi has agreed to swap North Sea assets with Equinor, acquiring a 32.5% interest and operatorship of the Peon gas discovery while divesting minority stakes in the Fram field and Grosbeak discovery. Peon, located about 60 kilometers northwest of the Gjøa field, is among the largest undeveloped gas discoveries on the Norwegian Continental Shelf, with estimated recoverable resources of between 105 million and 195 million barrels of oil equivalent. Vår Energi plans to develop Peon as a subsea tie-back to the Gjøa production facilities, extending the hub's economic life to around 2045. Production from Peon is anticipated to begin around 2030, contributing toward the company's long-term goal of producing more than 400,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day. The transaction remains subject to customary regulatory approvals, including approval for the transfer of operatorship.

TechnipFMC has secured a large integrated engineering, procurement, construction and installation contract from Vår Energi for the Ofelia and Gjøa Nord projects in the Gjøa area of the North Sea. The contract is valued between $500 million and $1 billion, making it one of the company's most important subsea awards in recent years. Most of the associated revenues will be recorded in the second quarter of 2026, with a smaller portion already recognized in prior quarters. The award follows a five-year strategic collaboration agreement signed in 2025 to accelerate subsea developments using TechnipFMC's integrated execution model across multiple offshore projects. The Ofelia and Gjøa Nord developments will leverage existing infrastructure to minimize capital expenditures and reduce development timelines.