Energy Voice has teamed up with Shell to celebrate 40 years of Brent. This promoted series will examine the people, milestones and technology that helped make this historic North Sea find possible. It will also analyse what lies ahead for the breakthrough discovery. Happy 40th Brent!
As a song from the memorable show and movie Cabaret reminds us: “Money makes the world go round” and it is certainly crucial for the future health of the UK North Sea.
Workforce denied the opportunity to move into offshore renewables unless they undertake what they claim is unnecessary, expensive safety training. Jeremy Cresswell investigates.
Generations to come will grow to loathe Britain’s love affair with nuclear power ... an infatuation that started in the 1950s and which hangs over these islands like a curse.
More re-engineering of the UKCS fiscal regime may be necessary before a possibly significant slice of known and potential oil & gas resources in the North Sea can be pursued and developed, according to new research.
The boss of the largest offshore drilling contractor in the world claimed that “unbelievably” this has been a good year for Transocean.
It’s not my job to be Mr Popular and my “postbag” can be quite interesting after some of the observations I have made on the Energy Voice.
New generation UK independent Siccar Point Energy, a joint venture owned by Blue Water Energy and funds managed by Blackstone Energy Partners, has confirmed its acquisition of an 8.9% interest in the Greater Mariner Area from JX Nippon Exploration and Production (UK).
Transocean is due to placate the Outer Hebrides communities impacted by the grounding of the dead rig Transocean Winner.
It is surely sad when an industry gets to such a parlous position that workers resort to the threat of industrial action and ultimately strike over pay and conditions.
This week Talisman Sinopec formally became Repsol Sinopec Resources UK, reflecting the big changes that have happened in the company over the past couple of years or so. And in the hot seat through much of the transition has been highly experienced Bill Dunnett.
It seems that “mindfulness-based stress management” is in vogue across the oil & gas industry as the sector apparently responds to a rise in mental health awareness among its workforce.
Hard lessons learned but not retained? Jeremy Cresswell looks at a twelve-year old report which shows how little the sector’s attitudes and culture have changed and how nearly identical the identified solutions are, regardless of which major oil price crisis one considers. Corporate memory is very short.
Local content has for long been a major issue in the UK oil & gas industry. It has become one with renewables too.
This has been an especially dire few days for the upstream industry!
At 2am this morning Aberdeen company M2 Subsea, “pushed the button on setting up in Houston”. The ROV operations firm, incorporated on December 7 last year, sees the US Gulf of Mexico as a key market for its services and is said to be very close to landing its first contract in the region, possibly within days.
A joint industry project led by DNV GL has come to the view that wind-powered water injection is a viable alternative to conventional, energy intensive systems offshore.
Engie is in flux, busily rebalancing its portfolio including putting the exploration & production arm under review. So these are tough times for E&P’s chief executive, writes Jeremy Cresswell
Doubling the share of renewables in the global energy mix by 2030 is feasible, but only with concerted action to jump-start their use in transport, building and industry. Bioenergy is seen as being a critical component to achieving this objective. And if it is, then the sector could “sustain 24.4million jobs worldwide” just 15 years from now.
Last month, the total US drilling rig count fell to a record low since Baker Hughes began tracking the data in 1949.
The overall estimate for decommissioning oil & gas production infrastructure has risen sharply in recent years, the very latest pointing to a median gross figure of around £58billion.
A new generation UK oil & gas junior is in the final stage of buying its way into the Mariner heavy oil field having agreed to purchase a chunk of JX Nippon Exploration & Production UK’s 28.89% stake.
Exploration in British waters has absolutely crashed and is now at its worst ever in the entire history of our still strategically vital offshore oil & gas industry.
Norwegian boutique shipping and offshore specialist law firm Wikborg Rein warns in a commentary that Chinese yards that grabbed a stack of drilling rig orders prior to the current oil price crash now face terrible times.
