Throughout the twists and turns of 2008 - and, let's face it, there have been many - the UK oil&gas industry has continually sought to secure a constructive partnership with the Government department responsible for energy.
2008 began as a year of tremendous promise. Commodity prices were on a steep upward trajectory and showed no signs of slowing down, global economies were growing and there was an unbridled sense of optimism and that it really was different this time.
As the push to control carbon emissions intensifies so the number of oil&gas people engaging in the battle grows. One such person is Tom Baxter, unit director of Genesis Oil & Gas Consultants in Aberdeen.
Five students from the University of Aberdeen have been awarded the first round of engineering scholarships from Petro-Canada, which has put up a purse of £140,000 over four years to fund 20 scholars.
For the energy sector, 2009 could, for many reasons, be a watershed year. The economic downturn - the recession or depression - will be in full swing and will be accompanied by a further fall in energy demand.
Welcome to 2009 - a guaranteed roller-coaster of a year, of that one can be sure. It will be a case of fasten seatbelts and prepare for a rattling. I regularly harp on about Opec and the criticality of its decisions to the non-Opec community, of which the North Sea is clearly a member. Well, in recent weeks, Opec decided to make two major output cuts.
The hijack of the Saudi-registered supertanker, Sirius Star and the taking captive of its crew, including a Scot, brought the issue of piracy to the fore, highlighting to those for whom such an issue is not an everyday concern that the scourge of piracy is not just a historical threat, but a very real one, alive and thriving today.
The cathartic financial events of recent months have exposed a great many naked emperors - not a pleasant sight, particularly in Edinburgh, where some had been entrusted with running Scotland's major banks.
2008 was an exceptional year for the Industry Technology Facilitator in terms of the numbers of projects launched, levels of funding secured and technology implementations. This has been achieved despite a backdrop of gloomy economic forecasts, oil-price crash and banks reluctant to lend to businesses.
The Europe and Canada head of one of the world's top subsea contractors believes the offshore industry will successfully weather the credit-crunch storm as oil fundamentals are in its favour, even though global demand for this critical commodity is plummeting.
NORWEGIAN company Electromagnetic Geoservices (EMGS) reports the successful launch of the world's first purpose-built EM survey vessel in order to enhance hydrocarbon exploration across the world.
Looking around the room as I stood up to present at a recent Scottish Renewables Forum event in Aberdeen, I was disappointed but, frankly, not surprised by the lack of subsea oil&gas industry people.
THE Institution for Mechanical Engineering (IMechE) wants a £40million fund set up to help enable the secure anchoring of marine renewables in Scottish waters.
In the latest Ernst & Young Scottish ITEM Club economic forecast, it is predicted that Scotland is entering its first services sector-led recession, with its weakest performance since the early-1980s.
The offshore supply chain is peppered with lots of small companies that, at first glance, seem unremarkable. They quietly get on with their job and rarely, if ever, make the headlines. Moreover, they are invariably privately owned.
THE North Sea is a mature oil&gas basin and the supply chain serving it is equally mature. The marketplace, with one or two key exceptions such as drilling operators, is also very competitive.
HOW many times do we wish we could convert hindsight into foresight? My hindsight is generally 20:20, and I am sure yours is, too. However, I can't help thinking that, in the current climate, we could do with a solid dose of hindsight conversion.
It was all systems go for the network of Young Engineering and Science Clubs (YECS) in the north-east on November 25.
SCIENTISTS in Finland and Vietnam are working on the idea of manufacturing biodiesel from fish waste, funded by the EU to the tune of 5million euros.
The results of a study that aims to identify the realistic potential for microbially enhanced oil recovery (MEOR) have just been published and point to rather mixed results - some good, but others poor.
Christmas is a time for family and friends to get together and enjoy festive meals. It is also an opportunity for those offshore to briefly break their routine and celebrate. However, it's also a time when food poisoning can readily show its ugly face.
WITH little over a month to go before 2008 wraps, 68 exploration & appraisal wells have been started to date and, discounting sidetracks, the spuds already exceed 2007's tally by one well - the highest count since 1997.
ABERDEEN company Drillers.com, which is behind an online resource for oilfield personnel, has just been awarded a West Africa contract with Rodeo Development, an exploration and production junior.
PETROBRAS insists it is on schedule with its programme to recruit 40 deepwater mobile drilling units despite being late with publishing its five-year plan from 2009.
BOUTIQUE upstream venture capital fund Epi-V is moving into hydrocarbons exploration and production after committing to invest £10million to appraise two existing onshore gas discoveries in northern England.
