Norwegian energy company Statoil said Friday it awarded a drilling contract to oil services company Schlumberger for the vast Mariner field in the North Sea. Discovered in the early 1980s, production at Mariner was delayed because of technological limitations in extracting the denser type of oil. Statoil said it was bringing its experience in Canada and elsewhere to Mariner to facilitate heavy oil development. The British government expects the field to produce around 55,000 barrels of oil per day, about 5 percent of the country’s current output. Statoil said Schlumberger, for an undisclosed sum, will conduct all of the main drilling and well services for the Mariner field. “We will work side by side to meet the challenges in the market, driving […]