The Abu Dhabi government's future energy initiative, Masdar, has set up the board of trustees for Masdar Institute of Science and Technology (MIST), and Master's programmes are scheduled to get under way in 2009.
A BUNCH of American scientists reckon they have come up with a "revolutionary" process for converting plant sugars into hydrogen which could be used to cheaply and efficiently power vehicles equipped with hydrogen fuel cells without producing any pollutants.
THERMAL energy is the total potential and kinetic energy associated with the random motions of the molecules of a material. OK, that's the definition, but what does it mean? Energy's editor first encountered thermal energy at the age of eight in New Zealand, where the family was living way back in the 1950s. Fairly near the town of Rotorua, which is famous for its hot springs and boiling mud pools, we travelled past what, as it later transpired, was the world's first thermal energy power station.
The first manned flights of a fuel cell-powered light aircraft have taken place in Spain. But the tiny plane is dramatically different from the passenger jets we're used to.
Electric submersible pumps (ESPs) located in production riser pipes as opposed to deep underground in wellbores offers a cost-effective means of extending field life, says Centrilift.
On April 8, StatoilHydro set a new world record by drilling and completing a well just short of 10km in length from a North Sea platform.
Fifteen exploration and appraisal wells were active in the UKCS, comprising six exploration and nine appraisal wells, at the time this was being written.
OSLO: Aker Solutions says its Aker H-6e drilling rig hull has sailed from the Drydocks Dubai yard on a 50-day voyage to the Aker Solutions yard at Stord, Norway.
LONDON: Workfox has taken delivery of the new-build jack-up drilling rig, Seafox 7, under an exclusive management agreement with Seafox Contractors.
HOUSTON: Ensco International has decided to build a fifth Ensco 8500 Series ultra-deepwater semi-submersible drilling rig at the Keppel FELS shipyard in Singapore at a cost of some $515million.
SEADRILL of Norway has won an unconditional letter of award from Petrobras for contracts with a total revenue potential of about $4.1billion over 18 rig years for three new-build deepwater drilling rigs, the West Eminence, West Taurus and West Orion.
I AM absolutely convinced that the UK oil&gas market remains a key and exciting place to invest.
Aberdeen company Nautronix has just delivered a NASNet acoustic positioning package to Wick in preparation for a pipeline bundle tow-out from Subsea 7's fabrication yard.
Danbor, an offshore logistics subsidiary of AP Moller Maersk, is quietly establishing itself in Aberdeen next door to Maersk Oil's UK HQ at Altens Industrial Estate.
A major decision about the surface facilities for the giant Barents Sea Shtokman development will be made this year.
Upstream oil & gas merger and acquisition (M & A) total transaction value in Europe slumped to just $171million in the first quarter of 2008 after more than doubling to $5.5billion in 2007, according to US analysts John S Herold.
Ron Clark has become a "weel kent" face in the Houston oil & gas community and always turns up at the Post Oak Hilton when the Scottish group makes its annual pilgrimage to the Offshore Technology Conference in Houston.
Aberdeen-headquartered subsea project management and engineering company CSL has opened in London and is planning to set up satellites in Houston and Stavanger, most likely before the end of 2008.
Michael Engell-Jensen has left Aberdeen to take on a new, highly strategic role at Moller Maersk - to create a team of CO specialists reporting to Maersk Oil & Gas.
ALL-ENERGY kicks off on May 21. While the renewables community has certainly taken note and the show has, as a result, expanded into two halls, it is not so sure that the oil & gas community is paying as much attention as it should.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change is to push ahead with a full assessment of renewable energy sources and climate change mitigation for completion in 2010.
Wood Group is an icon of the North Sea success story and an Aberdeen company that blazed a trail internationally, to boot, initially led by its founder and chairman, Sir Ian Wood and now CEO Allister Langlands.
If you are reading this article, that chances are that you are one of the 3.6million people in the UK who regularly work shifts. That includes the North Sea offshore industry.
As you read this, OTC will be in full swing - which reminds me of one of the more unexpected events at last year's Offshore Technology Conference in Houston.
IS YOUR company one of the FPAL suppliers with a "data flag" attached to its registration? If so, you will be aware that this shows purchasers viewing your record that the information stored has not been updated for 18 months or more.
