Stena Drilling ups GHG abatement ante as 2024-built drillship gets DNV’s notation

February 5, 2026, by Melisa Cavcic

Scotland-headquartered offshore drilling contractor Stena Drilling has received DNV’s Abate (P+) notation for one of its drillships, underscoring the rig owner’s efforts to cut greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions across its operations.

Stena Evolution drillship; Source: Stena Drilling

Less than three years after the Stena DrillMAX rig was described as the first drillship to secure DNV’s Abate (P) notation, the 2024-built Stena Evolution unit became the first drillship globally to achieve the Abate (P+) notation, said to confirm defined design and control of the vessel’s power generation systems.

This notation is perceived to also affirm an emission and energy management system aligned with ISO 50001 principles and installed technical and operational measures to reduce power consumption and greenhouse gas emissions.

This is a seventh-generation enhanced ultra-deepwater DP3 drillship capable of operating in water depths up to 12,000 feet and drilling depths up to 40,000 feet.

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The award follows DNV’s document review and an initial survey verifying implementation on board. This notation is interpreted to support Stena Drilling’s wider programme of energy efficiency, data transparency and continuous improvement across its fleet.

Andrew Calderwood, Energy Performance Superintendent at Stena Drilling, commented: “The award of Abate (P+) notation to Stena Evolution is a significant milestone for our company and a proud achievement for our teams, both onshore and offshore.

“It reflects sustained engineering effort, data-driven optimisation, and close collaboration with our partners to deliver meaningful emissions reductions without compromising capability. We will continue to build on this platform, share performance insights, and scale proven solutions across the fleet.”

The rig owner’s examples of implemented measures on board entail closed‑bus operation in dynamic positioning (DP) of the drillship, freshwater generation systems, LED lighting upgrades, enhanced hull features, fuel‑use tracking and monitoring of power and fuel consumption through smart metering in Kognifai dashboards.

Lars Tore Haug, Head of Section, Offshore Safety and Systems at DNV, underscored: “DNV is pleased to award Stena Evolution the Abate (P+) notation. The Abate framework is designed to help offshore prove their emission‑management practices to their stakeholders and build confidence that the abatement measures are implemented in a structured and transparent way.

“We appreciate the constructive collaboration with Stena Drilling throughout the assessment and look forward to continuing our work together.”

The award of the notation follows the award of DNV’s Abate (Power+) notation to Transocean’s rig, which became the first semi-submersible to obtain such a notation after getting upgrades to curb its GHG emissions footprint during operations.