RenewableUK, the trade association representing the wind, wave and tidal energy industries, has strongly criticised the Chancellor’s budget announcement that he is retrospectively changing the rules governing the Climate Change Levy.
The Government has come under attack for its decision to curb onshore wind after a turbine factory announced plans for closure with the loss of 125 jobs. Steel manufacturer Mabey Bridge said it is proposing to close its renewables division in Chepstow, Monmouthshire, with the “uncertainty of market conditions for the UK onshore wind industry” in the longer term a contributing factor. The move follows a failure in exhaustive efforts to find a buyer for the business as a going concern, the company said. The news comes after the Government announced it was ending subsidies for new onshore wind farms a year early, to meet a pre-election pledge to halt the development of onshore wind. Juliette Stacey, chairman of Mabey Bridge, said: “The uncertainty of market conditions for the UK onshore wind industry in the longer term has been a contributing factor. A Welsh Government spokesman said: “This is bad news and clearly comes as a direct result of the UK Government’s recent announcement to end onshore wind subsidies. This has created uncertainty for the onshore wind industry and we warned of the possible consequences at the time.
Iraq’s self-ruling Kurds are threatening to bypass the country’s central government and sell oil produced in the neighboring Kirkuk region in a dispute over revenue from crude sales by OPEC’s second-largest producer.
A new 870 megawatt offshore windfarm is planned for the north Irish Sea
The largest producer of oil and gas in Oman is to build one the world's largest solar plants.
Savannah Petroleum has revealed increased potential prospective oil resources in the company's Niger assets.
Global Maritime has been awarded a contract to provide mooring and rig positioning services to the Australian oil and gas company Woodside.
In February last year, the formal launch of OGAS (established 2012) took place at the Scottish Parliament, where its fresh-out-of-the-box director, Rulzion Rattray, outlined the potential and new opportunities made available through the formation of the academy.
As the balloon bursts in Brazil and the party is over a lot of companies will be hit.
Shell has confirmed that its ambitious Brent Delta topside decommissioning programme has been approved by the UK Government.
Erin Energy is set to lift its first oil from two Nigerian wells by the end of July.
A bomb blast in Nigeria’s northern university town of Zaria has killed 25 people including a two-year-old, the Kaduna state governor reported. The incident is the latest in a string of deadly bombing and shooting attacks by the Boko Haram Islamic extremist group.
As intense negotiations continue in Vienna with the world's superpowers (Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and the US) Iran has still to conclude a deal that ensures absolute transparency on its nuclear plant activities that should prevent it acquiring nuclear weapons.
A ruling that investigators should hand over flight safety data from a fatal North Sea helicopter crash to Scotland’s leading prosecutor is being challenged.
Scots engineering group Weir has agreed to acquire US valve maker Delta in a $47million deal.
Testing and calibration specialist Exova has been awarded a contract to provide materials qualification testing for Maersk Oil.
Greece’s debt talks and ongoing Chinese market unrest led the price of oil to slip by almost 6% yesterday, although Brent Crude steadied at $56.98 a barrel today.
The UK’s largest energy suppliers will remain intact as the nation’s anti-trust regulator said it found no evidence to support breaking them up.
Energy giant Centrica has hit back at an official report that says millions of people are paying over the odds on their fuel bills.
The onshore wind industry faces great uncertainty following the announcement by energy and climate change secretary Amber Rudd that its place in the so-called Renewables Obligation will end in 2016.
Last month, Oil & Gas UK held its Annual Conference – with the aim of bringing the industry together, to recognise the challenges that face us and to focus on the way ahead.
It’s about safe and cost effective delivery of projects from exploration through to decommissioning, providing well management and performance improvement related activities
Tenaris has netted a contract to work on Statoil’s massive Mariner project in the North Sea which will lead to the creation of up to 20 jobs in Aberdeen. The tubing and casing manufacturer will provide connections as well as associated services from its UK base in Aberdeen. Last month, Statoil awarded Baker Hughes a contract for production chemicals and services for the Mariner field.
I wasn’t going to write about the North Sea in this month’s eye. Rather, I was contemplating having a go at offshore wind, in large part because of the manner in which the UK’s unquestionably leading offshore presence in terms of turbines planted out there in UK territorial waters has been achieved.
JDR has landed a deal with Siem Offshore Contractors for a North Sea wind farm.
