Energy supplier SSE will re-open a mothballed gas plant in England to ensure the lights stay on in the UK this winter. SSE said the 735MW gas-fired power station at Keadby in North Lincolnshire will re-open from Monday 9th November. This follows announcements earlier this year of its intent for the plant to return to service.
A company formed to commercialise technology that promised to make remote gas finds more economic to exploit has gone into administration.
The billionaire owner of Grangemouth made his first move into the North Sea buying up gas fields from a Russian oligarch just days before the sale breached a government-imposed deadline. Jim Ratcliffe, chairman and chief executive of Ineos, is thought to have paid up to £500million for 12 fields from Mikhail Fridman, who had been forced to sell the assets by the UK government. Mr Fridman’s firm, LetterOne Group (L1) had initially paid £3.8billion to buy Dea, the upstream oil and gas business of German utility RWE in a deal which closed in March.
The price of a barrel of Brent crude is expected to reach $60 by the end of the year - according to at least one economist. Carl Paraskevas, senior economist for the Bank of Scotland said the lender’s house view was that the price of a barrel of oil would start rising, driven by a fall in production of oil and gas. Speaking at an event in Aberdeen yesterday, Paraskevas added: “There has also been a marked pick up in demand,” he said. “Chinese imports of crude are up and seems relatively stable.”
After a senior economist said he expected a barrel of Brent crude to reach $60 by the end of the year - three experts give their view on whether this estimate is feasible.
Aker Solutions has confirmed it is set to axe up to 70 North Sea jobs. The Norwegian firm said the move, announced to staff at its Dyce offices this morning, was part of a wider cost cutting programme announced last month. Overall the company said it would cut 500 jobs across operations in Norway and 400 roles outside of the country.
Oil and gas firms are struggling to work together better in order to maximise recovery in the North Sea, a new report has found. Deloitte’s survey of oil and gas operators and oilfield services companies revealed that a lack of effective supply chain collaboration means companies are missing out on maximising the potential value from the region. While 74% of respondents said collaboration was an “integral” part of their day-to-day business, only 27% reported that their efforts have resulted in a successful outcome, the report found.
Over 100 jobs could be at risk in Aberdeen due to proposed cuts to the feed-in tariff for solar energy projects, a trade body has warned. The Solar Trade Association warned the jobs of up to 27,000 people employed in the solar energy sector and its supply chain are under threat around the UK, with as many as 2,400 of the 3,000 solar jobs in Scotland at risk. The Department of Energy and Climate Change (Decc) proposed at the end of August to cut the tariff paid for electricity generated by solar rooftop panels by 87% - from 12.4p to 1.6p.
The multi-billionaire founder of Microsoft has launched legal action against oil giant Petrobras as well as the Brazilian arm of big four accountancy, PWC.
A decision by Drax to pull out of a £1billion carbon capture and storage (CCS) competition means a rival project at Grangemouth should get a shot at the funding, an industry specialist has claimed.
Oil and gas skills body Opito has agreed to work more closely with the Engineering Construction Industry Training Board (ECITB) to avoid duplication of effort. The two engineering skills bodies have signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to deliver to their members a “common menu of skills solutions”, to collaborate on the collation of industry data around manpower trends and skills forecasting, as well as the creation of skills programmes that meet common industry needs. The collaboration will also build on work undertaken to date around the industry’s modern apprenticeship scheme.
Oil and gas industry veteran Jim Milne scooped a lifetime achievement gong at an awards ceremony in Aberdeen last night. Mr Milne, the founder and chairman of the Balmoral Group, was celebrated for his outstanding achievement to the north-east region at the annual Northern Star Business Awards. Another winner of one of the top awards on the night was CHC Helicopter West North Sea, which received the “overall business of the year” award.
Aberdeen hotels have been hit by an 18% decrease in prices since the collapse in oil prices started biting at the start of the year, new figures have shown. The Hotel Price Index on room prices across the UK found that the Granite City was the hardest hit in the six months to June compared to the same period last year. Aberdeen room rates fell to an average paid per night of £97 from £118. Dundee followed with a rates decrease of 8% to £83 from £90 per night last year.
Solar energy firms welcomed a boost in confidence for investors after the Scottish Government pledged to maintain levels of support for projects north of the border.
The North Sea business of CNR International booked pre-tax losses of £86million as production declined last year, figures filed at Companies House show. But the losses were an improvement on the £156million loss the firm made in 2013 as the firm felt the impact of outages on its Banff and Kyle fields in the Central North Sea about 200 miles east of Aberdeen. Production from Banff and Kyle was suspended in December 2011 when the FPSO was hit by sever storms that winter. Production on the fields started back in July 2014.
A 61-year-old man has been arrested and charged by police probing a multimillion-pound fraud spanning 13 years. Up to 180 investors claimed to have lost an estimated £9million after Midas Financial Solutions Scotland was investigated by a financial watchdog. Police then launched a criminal inquiry and sent hundreds of letters to potential victims.
Pressure has mounted on the Treasury to introduce further tax breaks for the oil and gas industry as new research reveals that cost-cutting may not be enough to ensure the North Sea is attractive to investors.
An Aberdeen oil and gas consultancy has said it has won £6million of new business this year despite being hit by the collapse of its owners into administration.
A wave power device tested at a marine energy centre in Orkney has been boosted by a £580,000 European grant. Edinburgh-based Aquamarine Power and the National University of Ireland, Maynooth (NUIM) have together secured a EU Horizon 2020 grant to improve the performance of Aquamarine Power’s Oyster wave energy converter. The company has already built and operated two full-scale Oyster machines at the European Marine Energy Centre (Emec) in Orkney.
Organisers of the Offshore Europe exhibition hailed its second best ever attendance despite the effects of the oil price crash casting a pall over proceedings. The Offshore Europe Partnership, a joint venture between Reed Exhibitions and the Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE), said attendance figures remained “very strong” at 55,947 with delegates drawn from 104 countries. This compares to 2013 when crowds hit a record 63,000. The organisation also said re-bookings for 2017 are looking “strong already”. This year the record hit by the four day exhibition was the 1,535 exhibitors from 44 countries, including 336 companies exhibiting at the event for the first time. Space available at the Aberdeen Exhibition and Conference Centre (AECC) was - it’s biggest ever - was sold-out.
The oil price crash is expected to usher in a “decommissioning glut” in the North Sea, new research has revealed. Delegates at Offshore Europe this week heard that there has been little evidence so far of early decommissioning of North Sea fields rendered uneconomic by the falling price of a barrel of oil. But research firm Wood Mackenzie has estimated that there will be 50 fields facing early shutdown and dismantling due to low oil prices over the next five years. This is above and beyond the estimated 139 fields what have been scheduled for dismantling as they reach the end of their natural lives.
The boss of a major oil and gas services firm has said operators could cut the cost of their North Sea projects in half if they embraced calls for standardisation.
As Aberdeen wakes up to another Offshore Europe week what are we hoping that “the oil Santa” will bring us?
Energy services firm Stork has spread its wings with the acquisition of a mechanical services firm in Australia for an undisclosed sum. Stork, which is owned by energy investor Arle Capital Partners, snapped up Sydney-based Giovenco Industries, including its £39million joint venture contract with Bechtel for work on Chevron’s Wheatstone project in Western Australia.
An Aberdeen “behavioural change” training firm has signed a deal to provide a series of workshops for employees of Apache North Sea.
