The legal challenges facing the development of offshore windfarms largely fall into two categories, the first concerning whether the planning and connection regimes are adequate to deliver offshore wind capacity on the scale envisaged by the Scottish and UK governments.
The time has never been better for Aberdeen to engage with the renewables industry, and it is critical that it does so: both for the local economy and the effective deployment of renewable, especially in the maritime environment.
I was disappointed, but not surprised, to learn that, once again, this country had let a potentially large commercial opportunity in the renewables sector slip away.
Scotland's Minster for Enterprise, Energy and Tourism, Jim Mather, insists that real momentum is gathering within the renewables/sustainable energy sector north of the border.
A massive market that should soak up the capacity of several UK offshore fabrication yards and create thousands of long-term jobs in the manufacture of offshore wind-turbine substructures is there for the taking.
NATIONAL Oilwell Varco has acquired oilfield equipment manufacturers and suppliers ASEP Group Holding and Anson.
NORWAY has stood back from potential conflict with other Arctic territorial claimants such as Russia by defining its continental shelf to end in deep waters 550km south of the North Pole.
SEVAN Marine of Norway has signed a technology licence agreement with Eni Norge for the Sevan 1000 floating production, storage and offloading vessel (FPSO) which will be used for exploitation of the Goliat field in the Norwegian sector of the Barents Sea. It will be renamed Sevan Goliat.
CHINA National Offshore Oil Company (CNOOC) has launched the first batch of offshore blocks in its 2009 licensing round, with 17 blocks in the South China Sea open to bidding by foreign operators.
THE best ways to improve energy security, mitigate global warming and reduce the number of deaths caused by air pollution are blowing in the wind and rippling in the water, not growing energy crops on a grand scale or glowing inside nuclear power plants, says Mark Z. Jacobson, a professor of civil and environmental engineering at Stanford University in the US. He says that currently fashionable "clean coal" - which involves capturing carbon emissions and sequestering them in the earth, and which is currently flavour of the political month here in Britain - is not clean at all.
STATOIL is mounting a massive North Sea campaign this year that will necessitate 21 production shutdowns on the Norwegian Continental Shelf. The shutdowns will allow for required maintenance and inspection, and many of its installations will be upgraded to expand capacity, implement technical improvements and extend their economic life. All this will be accomplished during the planned shutdowns, says Statoil.
STATOIL is calling it a day with the Lufeng field after more than 12 years of production.
MAERSK Olie has made what is described as a significant gas discovery in the Danish sector of the North Sea on block 9/06.
The global financial crisis has, without question, taken its toll on upstream investment.
ELECTROMAGNETIC Geoservices (EMGS) of Norway has signed a global frame agreement with Shell for the provision of electromagnetic (EM) services for the next year, with optional extensions for two additional years. Most of the EM services will centre around EMGS's 3D capabilities.
IN NORWAY, Grenland Group has picked up a contract worth about $5.4million from FMC Technologies for the construction of Troll B gas-injection subsea structures.
AKER Solutions has been awarded a £34.7million contract by StatoilHydro for the delivery of a complete work-over system for subsea trees at the challenging Kristin field in the Norwegian Sea.
SAUDI petroleum minister Ali al-Naimi has warned that a "premature shift" to renewable energy sources could jeopardise investment in the oil sector and significantly slow global economic recovery.
DET Norske Veritas (DNV) has been chosen by the European Commission to facilitate a process to shorten the time from policy-making to industry implementation of carbon capture and storage (CCS).
SHELL says it will no longer invest in any alternative energy technology that is not economically viable.
IN 1985, worldwide production was a little over 60million barrels and yet there was about 10million bbls spare capacity. There was a real cushion in the market.
AS FOR whether or not NOCs need IOCs when main contractors are perceived as possessing so much of the capability needed, Peter Robertson is very clear - NOCs need IOCs for a whole bunch of reasons.
So are IOCs' days numbered? The CEO of Italian energy conglomerate Eni, Paolo Scaroni, believes that is the case and has said so in open forum on several occasions.
STATOILHYDRO and its partners in north-west Europe's largest offshore gas field, Troll, have chopped some of the further investment planned due to cost inflation and the slump in hydrocarbons prices.
ENI Norge has submitted the plan for the development and operation of the Goliat field in the Norwegian sector of the Barents Sea to Norway's Ministry of Petroleum and Energy for its approval.
