Vladimir Putin stole many of the top headlines in 2017 as rumours of Russia’s meddling in the US presidential election persisted all year.

The Russian president was a big draw for Upstream readers too, it seems, as a story about the Kremlin strongman taking a tour of Allseas’ giant construction and decommissioning vessel Pioneering Spirit was by far the most read Upstream story of the year.

Putin and Allseas boss Edward Heerema fended off competition for clicks from such blockbuster stories as rumours of a takeover at Aker Solutions, exclusives on Shell’s choice of contractors for the Penguins floater in the North Sea and Eni and Shell’s Nigeria plans at ZabaZaba and Bonga South West, respectively.

Catch all these stories and more as we round up the top 10 most read Upstream stories of 2017

1: Allseas boss joins Putin on Pioneering Spirit

Edward Heerema on hand to witness Russian President and Gazprom boss Alexei Miller start TurkStream work.

2: Aker Solutions a hot merger topic

WorleyParsons is latest player said to be in frame for possible tie-up as Halliburton interest apparently cools.

3: Trump puts a kink in US energy policy

Now the big question is what will flow from Trump's apparent bromance with Putin.

4: Shell nearing choice of yard for Penguins FPSO

Anglo-Dutch supermajor in the final stages of evaluating bids from two partnerships — TechnipFMC with Cosco and Fluor with COOEC.

5: Fluor and Technip slug it out for Penguins FPSO

Shell cuts the field of contractors from three to two in race to provide Sevan-designed cylindrical unit for North Sea field redevelopment.

6: Four chase Eni ZabaZaba FPSO job

A quartet of contractors is set to submit technical bids within weeks to supply a major floating production, storage and offloading vessel for Eni’s deep-water ZabaZaba-Etan project in OPL 245 off Nigeria.

7: Shell sets a course for Bonga South West FPSO tender

Contractors chasing prized deal to supply unit for revamped deep-water project off Nigeria.

8: Modec moves for yard space as it closes in on two FPSO deals off Brazil

Japanese contractor in talks with Chinese yards to firm up fabrication plans as confidence high it will scoop Libra floater now, as well as Sepia unit, for Petrobras pre-salt.

9: Shell picks a winner for Penguins

Anglo-Dutch supermajor lines up team to build floater for UK North Sea oilfield.

10: COOEC in talks to buy Aker Subsea

Top Chinese EPCI contractor tries to woo Norwegian player as competition for business unit heats up.

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Upstream