A search is underway for a new chairman at Asco Group following the surprise departure of both the oilfield services firm’s chief executive and chairman.
The Aberdeen-based company remained tight-lipped last night over the details of why chief executive Derek Smith and chairman Billy Allan were exiting the business.
It said that Mr Smith was leaving to “pursue other opportunities”, while Mr Allan had “indicated his intention to step down”, but made no further comment.
We at Oil & Gas UK recognise that there will be changes in employment patterns, and these will affect employment across the sector.
It is worth pointing out the 9% decline in employment will be across the UK - not just Aberdeen or Scotland.
The forecast reduction in oil and gas industry jobs comes from an anticipated decline in capital expenditure over the next five years.
Oil and gas giant ConocoPhillips confirmed it will cut up to 230 jobs in its North Sea operations after completing a review of its business.
The Houston-based firm, which is poised to take over as the biggest oil producer in the North Sea in terms of production volume by the end of this year, said staff numbers in the UK would be cut from 1,649 staff and contractors to 1,419 my March of next year.
The cuts will fall predominantly on Aberdeen where the firm employs around 1,100, including 700 permanent staff and 400 contractors.
Construction workers upgrading the BP-run oil terminal at Sullom Voe in Shetland are to be balloted on industrial action over pay and conditions.
Around 500 staff are seeking improvements to their terms and conditions to mirror those afforded their counterparts working on Total’s new gas plant next door.
Concessions being sought include travel payments, compensation for getting stuck at the airport, harmonisation of terms and conditions for local workers, and a renegotiation of shift patterns.
Offshore industry chiefs have urged the UK Government to speed up measures to support the sector after coalition ministers unveiled radical plans to reward North Sea investment.
Tax regime changes aimed at making sure as much oil and gas as possible is extracted have been welcomed by operators.
But they want them implemented sooner rather than later because of the challenges posed by low crude prices and high exploration costs.
Highland MP and Chief Secretary to the Treasury Danny Alexander, and Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury Priti Patel, were both in Aberdeen yesterday to present their department’s financial review of the sector.
Europe moved a step back towards a plan to stigmatise Canada's tar sands as highly polluting on Wednesday, despite years of Ottawa's lobbying the EU bloc as part of its export drive.
European Parliament lawmakers put the plans back on the agenda by voting against the EU executive's proposal to abandon the scheme.
The veto vote was passed at committee level, meaning it still has to get through a full session of the European Parliament in the coming weeks in order to force the European Commission to come up with a new proposal. Getting plenary agreement would be much harder than clearing a committee.
Eyebrows were raised after it emerged that the incoming chairman of the new oil and gas regulator would enjoy a £100,000 pay packet for a job that requires just 2.5 days a week work.
The Oil and Gas Authority (OGA), formed on the recommendation of the Wood Review, is on the hunt for a chairman or woman after it recruited former BG Group boss Andy Samuel as its new chief executive.
Mr Samuel, who takes up his new job on January 1, will be paid £250,000 per year.
The UK oil and gas industry is missing out on a government funding pot worth more than £7billion because it has failed to sufficiently organise itself, a business leader warned yesterday.
Paul Warwick, boss of oil operator Talisman and a member of the government and industry-led Technology Leadership Board (TLB), said the sector has missed out on financial support for technology development from the Department for Business, Innovation & Skills (Bis) because it was “too complicated”.
He added that, until recently, the industry had not needed the help from government.
North Sea production and investment will face dramatic declines if oil prices remain at current lows, a new report has warned.
More than three billion barrels of oil and investment of over £80billion could be lost over the next 45 years if oil stays around the $70-a barrel price.
Oil fell to a five year low - below $68 - yesterday but rebounded to just over $72 as Professor Alex Kemp and Linda Stephen of the University of Aberdeen unveiled their latest evaluation of the impact of falling oil prices on the North Sea.
Maven Capital Partners has sold its stake in an Aberdeen firm it backed in a £10million deal five years ago.
A group of private investors has bought out Maven's stake in oil and gas control systems firm, EFC Group.
The sum was undisclosed but Maven said it generated a 3.8x multiple return for its client funds on the deal.
Energy giant SSE’s electricity network supports almost 2,000 jobs across the north of Scotland and is expected to have contributed £287million to the economy by the end of this year, research has revealed.
The Perth-based firm, which manages 77,000 miles of overhead lines and underground cables across the north of Scotland and through its network in the south of England, added that it has invested £126million this year in the Scottish network to increase its resilience.
Through its subsidiary, Scottish Hydro Electric Power Distribution (SHEPD), SSE operates its electricity distribution network from John O’Groats through Perth and Dundee, as well as 89 Scottish islands, according to the report by Big Four accountancy firm, PwC.
Energy services company Proserv has secured a major contract worth in excess of £13million with US oil major, Hess Corporation.
The Westhill-based company will provide a 12-well subsea control system along with associated topside and subsea interface equipment for Hess’s deepwater Stampede development in the Gulf of Mexico.
A Scottish renewables firm testing a wave power device on Orkney has gone into administration after failing to find a financial backer.
The board of Pelamis Wave Power, whose "sea snake" energy generator is undergoing tests at the European Marine Energy Centre (EMEC), said it had "reluctantly" called in administrators "to assess the options for securing the future for the business and employees of Pelamis".
Engineering and defence giant Babcock International lit a £330million fuse under its share price yesterday after revealing "good growth" in its core business and a profits boost from Avincis, the owner of North Sea helicopter firm, Bond.
The firm, whose largest customer is the Ministry of Defence (MoD), pleased investors when it said its operating profits in the first half of the year were boosted 39% to £239.5million with the helicopter business, rising 10% on like for like terms excluding the performance of Avincis.
Peter Rogers, chief executive, said the £1.6billion deal to acquire Avincis had strengthened the UK firm's international position.
He added: "We achieved strong organic growth in both revenue and profit, with all our existing core businesses continuing to move forward.
"Avincis made an excellent start under our ownership and has fulfilled our expectations at the time of acquisition."
Talisman Sinopec is splitting its North Sea business in two as it undertakes a “major transformation” of its operations in the face of spiraling costs and aging platforms and infrastructure.
The firm, which is a joint venture between Calgary-based Talisman Energy and Chinese state-owned Sinopec, said the company would be divided into an operations division holding some North Sea assets and a “late life asset division”.
A leading oil and gas company has cancelled Christmas parties for thousands of workers – because bosses fear upsetting colleagues who are losing their jobs.
Aker Solutions, which employs more than 2,000 people in Aberdeen, called a halt to its annual festive celebrations to show “sympathy” with hundreds of staff in Norway who have been affected by cutbacks. The company is shedding posts in Stavanger, Bergen, Alesund, Kristiansund and Trondheim, but not in Aberdeen.
Staff based in the north-east were reported to be upset at the decision to ditch the festivities.
The oil and gas services firm has gone all-out in recent years to celebrate the festive season, hiring specialist party planners to run a family fun day at Ardoe House Hotel.
Oil giant BP has launched a cost reduction exercise in the North Sea in line with rivals such as Shell and Chevron which have cut hundreds of jobs.
The firm, which recently announced a significant new discovery in the central North Sea along with partner GDF Suez, said that rising costs and toughening market conditions were to blame for the restructuring move.
The company declined to reveal the expected effects on its 4,000 North Sea workforce, saying that the company was in the “early stages” of the process.
An investment bank has slashed its forecast for the price of Brent crude next year and has warned prices could hit as low as $65 a barrel in January if the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) doesn't scale down production.
JPMorgan Chase & Co has become the most bearish bank on Wall Street after it downgraded its 2015 Brent price forecast by $33 to $82 per barrel, citing supply pressures in the Atlantic Basin and an apparent inability of OPEC member states to work cohesively to restrain production and rebalance the market.
The investment bank also lowered its 2016 Brent price forecast to $87.80 per barrel from $120, in a research note dated November 7.
The first ever National Oil & Gas Skills Week gets underway today, kick-starting a four-day celebration of one of the UK’s leading industries.
Fergus Ewing, Scotland’s Energy, Enterprise and Tourism Minister will launch the event at a business breakfast at the Aberdeen Exhibition and Conference Centre (AECC) in front of an audience of around 180 senior oil and gas leaders from across the north-east.
It will also see the unveiling of a new centralised portal for oil and gas skills information which has been created by the industry as part of HM Government’s Oil and Gas Industrial Strategy which seeks to maximise the economic production of the UK’s offshore resources
Talisman Energy boss Hal Kvisle has blamed problems in the North Sea as well as other issues for delaying his retirement.
The head of the Calgary-based firm said he has remained in the hot seat for more than two years longer than planned as the firm struggles to sell off its assets in the UK including its joint venture with China’s Sinopec.
Mr Kvisle had said earlier this year said he would like to step down by the end of 2014.
This week, Talisman reported its third-quarter earnings Tuesday, which revealed its North Sea production fell 37% in its most recent quarter, the result of planned turnarounds at Claymore, Piper, Buchan and the Bleo Holm FPSO.
Global testing, mechanical and materials firm Exova launched its new laboratory at the ABZ business park in Aberdeen yesterday after a multi-million pound investment.
The facility, which provides weld-testing and training services to the oil and gas industry, will become the newly-listed firm’s North Sea hub.
The purpose-built testing facility connects a network of 11 specialist laboratories for the industry in the UK, the Netherlands and Italy.
Grangemouth owner Ineos has leased two further shale gas ships, bringing its fleet of “dragon boats” to eight.
The ships will be used to transport ethane fracked in the US to be processed at Ineos’ “crackers” at Grangemouth and Rafnes, Norway, in an effort to combat higher prices of gas from the North Sea.
Fairfield Energy has awarded a £4million contract to Can Group to provide asset integrity services on its North Sea Dunlin platform.
The Aberdeen-based Can has also announced international expansion.
The three-year contract with Fairfield Energy will be led by Engteq, the group’s integrity engineering division, that will provide services such as inspection management and data analysis, with Can’s operations division providing inspection execution and ancillary services on the pressure systems and structures.
The Aberdeen-based Can has also announced international expansion.
The three-year contract with Fairfield Energy will be led by Engteq, the group’s integrity engineering division, that will provide services such as inspection management and data analysis, with Can’s operations division providing inspection execution and ancillary services on the pressure systems and structures.
Private equity giant Warburg Pincus has raised £2.5billion for an energy fund that will target exploration and production plays across the world, including the North Sea.
