You can’t help having noticed a flurry of corporate acquisitions and investments reported recently.
The timing is no coincidence. The school holidays are upon us. Most deal timelines start with an ambitious 10 week plan from when the heads of agreement are signed. There is a lot to do, five types of due diligence to complete, seemingly hundred of documents to agree and a bank to get on board.
That’s alongside numerous egos to stroke, and contract realities to explain.
The eyes of the world are on Brazil now for sporting reasons, currently with the Football World Cup and then, two years later, the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.
It is a measure of how precarious our electricity supply industry has become that National Grid has put in place precautionary measures to protect us from the possibility of black-outs in the months ahead.
Over the past five years, the wealth creation in the Scottish north-east has been conspicuous. This said, the UK is facing a crisis due to reduced production and major cost increases which is simply killing the industry.
I recently had an e-mail from a friend of mine containing a link to an article which said "UK R&D funding is strikingly below rivals such as the US and Germany and could be increased by up to 50% to match them".
In developing the Oil and Gas Commission report, it very quickly became clear that current high levels of investment are hiding an undercurrent of reduced investment. Low production efficiency, limited enhanced recovery projects and a reduced backlog of new projects for development point to significant under recovery of UKCS resources.
It’s often said that we measure success by counting failures. It’s the same with safety. Whether it’s the number of hydrocarbon releases or lost-time incidents, we tend to count and measure what’s gone wrong rather than what’s gone right.
Just a few weeks ago, Oil & Gas UK hosted its first Oil & Gas UK Annual Conference – the largest of its kind for the UK oil and gas sector in 2014. Now, as summer approaches, like many organisations in the offshore oil and gas sector, we’re working hard to plan and prepare in anticipation of a busy autumn period.
Last May it was reported that the percentage of women in the offshore oil industry had dropped to a new low, despite long running efforts to make it more attractive to the women.
Energy Voice spoke to David Bell, Professor of Economics at University of Sterling, about how the Iraq crisis can realistically impact global prices of oil - including those at the pumps.
There is on the PolicyMic website some marvellous old British Pathe footage of Iraq during the 1950s. It paints a picture of an ancient land once called Mesopotamia and people aware of their heritage.
On the Obama side of the Atlantic, several rounds of opaque negotiations have been going on since July 2013 in order to father a USA-EU transatlantic trade and investment partnership, or “TTIP”.
Overcoming a challenge without tapping into the knowledge and information that already exists within a culture or community is one of the oldest human follies.
In the energy world, the battle to win and keep the best workers is well and truly underway. New job vacancies appear every day, the number of skilled workers is declining and in their desperation to recruit the brightest and best talent, companies offer fat pay cheques, bumper benefits and the opportunity to travel to far-flung locations.
And in order to stop employees from succumbing to external temptations, employers offer even more: more zeros on a pay cheque, a corner office, the promise of promotion, luxury business travel – the list goes on.
As the North Sea enters the next phase of its life, we will make sure it continues to provide jobs and wealth throughout the UK. North Sea oil and gas can work alongside wind, solar, tidal and nuclear power to cut expensive foreign imports and help keep our lights on with British-produced energy. The broad shoulders of the United Kingdom is unlocking the power of Scotland to take its place as one of the world’s great energy hubs – generating energy and generating jobs.
Forty-five percent of oil and gas firms recently surveyed claim that the Scottish referendum on independence is impacting their investment plans (so says Aberdeen & Grampian Chamber of Commerce’s 20th Oil and Gas Survey sponsored by Bond Dickinson).
Extracting and using fossil fuels is fundamentally embedded in industrial society. But carbon dioxide emissions from these cause climate change, sea level rise and ocean acidification.
