It was predicted to be the year of mergers and acquisitions (M&A) (Wood Mackenzie Things to Look for in 2017 report) and so far, 2017 has seen a flurry of activity in the North Sea energy sector.
Innovation within oil and gas companies has played an incredibly important role for the industry by driving down operating costs and enabling production within challenging fields in the North Sea. However, due to the most recent challenges that the industry has faced, many innovative projects have been placed on the back burner, and several North Sea operators are either actively undertaking or planning decommissioning activities earlier than previously planned. Many industry leaders are unaware decommissioning activities include innovations that are eligible for funding and other innovation incentives support. Greater awareness of the options available can help maximise economic recovery from the UKCS and deliver the best value for companies during decommissioning.
In the upstream oil and gas industry, standardisation has long been an effective way to make operations safer and more sustainable. Increasingly, the principle of establishing global standards to all aspects of operations – including purchasing – is helping to tackle the universal problems of escalating project costs and expanding schedules.
Households could save an average £270 a year on energy bills in 2035 with policies to drive more investment in efficiency measures such as insulation, experts said.
Britain’s electricity supply could be hit if the Government leaves Euratom without new measures being put in place, a leading industry body has warned.
I’m often asked about the role of the OGA, ‘collaboration’, the use of regulatory powers and the impact the authority has made.
Since the 2014 Wood Review, Maximising Economic Recovery has been the remit of the Oil and Gas Authority. To achieve this, data transparency was a key aim, and in late 2016 the OGA delivered a 'Small Pools' dataset. Here, free data packages were provided for undeveloped resource on the UKCS.
Decommissioning is not the dark cloud over the UK oil and gas industry it has sometimes been portrayed to be. While it does present significant and inevitable challenges, none of these are insurmountable and if tackled in the right way there is a huge opportunity to drive further value from the UK Continental Shelf (UKCS) whilst also maximising economic recovery provided. However, this will require detailed and co-ordinated decommissioning strategies to be implemented across the industry.
The North Sea economy has seen dramatic change in the last 36 months, from a period of frenzied activity on the back of unprecedented highs in the commodity value of oil followed by frantic measures to cut spend to reflect a falling unit price. This roller coaster ride has now been followed by a period of extended soft recovery where the industry grapples with the lower for longer scenario of present day oil economics.
Stork is showcasing its unique caisson management portfolio at this year’s Offshore Europe, stand 2C100, taking place in Aberdeen, UK.
Attend any industry conference and signs that the wider oil, gas and chemicals industries are starting to embrace digitalisation will soon become apparent. The audience is moving from predominantly information technology (IT) personnel interested in the bits and bytes of data, to that of production engineers or management keen to know exactly and practically how digital can save the day.
The negative effects of the Oil & Gas downturn continue to be evident, but more positively, we are also experiencing the benefits of becoming much more efficient in managing and running all aspects of our businesses.
Lloyds Register has opened a new 100,000 sq foot facility.
South Korean warships have conducted live-fire exercises at sea as Seoul continued its displays of military capability following US warnings of a “massive military response” after North Korea detonated its largest-ever nuclear test explosion.
British universities have fallen victim to hundreds of successful cyber attacks by criminals feared to be targeting scientific, engineering, medical and defence research, it has been reported.
Houston’s mayor has insisted that America’s fourth-largest city is “open for business”, but with areas under water, people not yet in their homes, and billions in damage to repair, major disasters that Hurricane Harvey created are by no means resolved.
As Aberdeen welcomes delegates from more than 140 countries to the city for an intensive week of stimulating debate, fact-packed presentations and networking at Offshore Europe, Oil & Gas UK looks forward to sharing its update on where our UK offshore industry is heading next.
With the opening of SPE Offshore Europe 2017 and the industry showing signs of recovery, it is time to shed some positive light on the future of our industry. The past three years have been extremely tough, but we have also learnt a lot. We have seen a few initiatives from industry stakeholders that have resulted in a 50% reduction of operating costs in the UKCS since 2014.
As we approach Offshore Europe 2017, it’s worth considering the progress that the oil and gas sector has made in the UK since the previous conference in 2015.
World energy demand is expected to plateau from 2030, according to DNV GL’s inaugural Energy Transition Outlook.
In sitting down to write this article with another Offshore Europe looming, I was struck by the conference theme of embracing new realities and what that might mean for safety in our industry. So, I thought I’d share the backbone of a speech given at an Institute of Petroleum in September 1996 that led to the launch Step Change in Safety just one year later, at Offshore Europe in 1997.
A live-fire exercise simulating an attack on North Korea’s nuclear test site was carried out to “strongly warn” Pyongyang over its claimed test of a hydrogen bomb, Seoul’s Joint Chiefs of Staff have said.
Holyrood’s four opposition parties have united in a bid to force the Scottish Government to take tougher action on fuel poverty.
Adoption of a holistic digital strategy is imperative for the global oil and gas industry to be able to deliver the cost-savings needed to remain competitive in a lower-for-longer oil price climate.
A major in-depth labour market analysis of the oil and gas industry is to be carried out to forecast the expected job roles required over the next 20 years.
