By Michael Stoneham, partner and head of energy and infrastructure finance, Brodies LLP
Green finance has been a hot topic over the last few years. Although opinions differ as to exactly what sort of financial activity falls into this sphere, generally any provision of debt or equity funding to take forward a project or product that is expected to reap an environmental benefit could be said to be green finance. Financing of renewable energy projects and climate change mitigation initiatives are usually referred to as key aspects of green finance.
It is an exciting time for cloud technology as it matures to become a driver of strategic business decisions. The IT industry is evolving rapidly, with cloud computing leading transformational change in organisations. IT executives no longer see cloud solutions as isolated IT projects but as part of holistic approach that must sit in line with the organisation’s strategy for the year ahead.
By Celine Delacroix, , Associate Partner, EMEIA Oilfield Services at EY
As companies have continued to consolidate during the oil and gas market downturn, Céline Delacroix, Associate Partner, EMEIA Oilfield Services at EY, explains how this activity is creating investment and growth opportunities in the oilfield services sector.
The announcement of a publicly-owned Scottish Energy Company to take on the fat-cats and send prices tumbling served its immediate, and perhaps only, purpose – i.e. it had last October’s SNP conference whooping and cheering.
By Roland Bruce, Senior Vice President at NES Global Talent
Following four consecutive years of global job losses, NES Global Talent conducted a major piece of research which shows that for the first time since 2014, the oil and gas industry expects more new jobs to be created than lost over the next 12 months.
By Ian McPherson, Director at Anderson Anderson & Brown LLP
When you’re spending a lot of money, let’s say, a new kitchen, how much time do you spend agreeing the specification and the price? A lot, and you probably spend a lot of time making sure that the work has been done properly and that you have been charged the right amount. You care…it’s your money!
By Maureen Watt, MSP for Aberdeen South and North Kincardine
This week the first minister began her visit to China by discussing trade deals and witnessing the agreement between Aberdeen-based Triton Marine & Engineering Consultants and China Offshore Oil Engineering Corporation (COOEC) being signed.
It seems a long time since there was last a significant strike during hook-up operations for a new UK North Sea development and that tells me that there’s something wrong out there in the Mariner field.
Kevin Stickney, managing director of Erda Energy, asks why we’re lagging on decarbonising heat in the UK and argues it’s time for the industry to up its game.
By Douglas Rankin, Partner at Marks & Clerk’s Aberdeen office
Digitisation and data are undoubtedly driving transformative change throughout the oil and gas industry, providing UK companies with a world of opportunities for further innovation and growth.
Not many days ago, the International Renewable Energy Agency (Irena) put out a statement saying that it is going to “help deliver” a low carbon Winter Olympics in China in 2022.
By Richard Power, partner at global law firm Clyde & Co and Gordon Nardell QC of 20 Essex Street Chambers
Claims against EU Member States by disappointed energy sector investors have been a major growth industry in recent years. As regular readers will know, Spain alone has faced more than 30 claims under the Energy Charter Treaty (ECT) by investors in its renewables sector who lost out following the government’s abrupt about-turn on generous rewards for solar generation. All these claims – some running to billions of Euros -- have been taken to international arbitration under ECT Article 26. But increasingly the European Commission has challenged the jurisdiction of arbitral tribunals in intra-EU investment disputes – that is, where an EU investor claims against an EU Member State – on the basis that these claims are incompatible with EU law.
Oil prices seesawed at the start of the week before jumping close to multi-year highs on geopolitical concerns, with Brent hitting $70 and WTI at $65. However, geopolitical pressure is only able to influence oil prices to such a degree because the market is fundamentally getting tighter.
I’m concerned. I follow a large number of UK and overseas university and energy related research institutes both on Twitter and directly. It helps keep me up to speed on what the latest research work is and where it’s going on.
Last week’s report from the Air Accidents Branch of the Department of Transport has raised fresh questions for the oil and gas industry in the North Sea and demonstrated double standards by the trade union Unite.
Hydrogen has been closely associated with key aspects of the new energy transition for many years. Its properties as a storage medium and energy carrier make it a key point in any serious discussion about energy storage, and its consequent role in increasing renewable penetration in energy generation, transmission and distribution. Hydrogen fuel cells are also high on the agenda for expanding the number of light electric vehicles on the road.
As many EV readers may be aware I have repeatedly asked Government Decommissioning Agencies to provide the taxpayer with the societal, environment and economic motivation that supports the current decommissioning plans. I have had no success in receiving a straight answer, so I wrote to Beis under the freedom of information banner.
Climate change will have some very unpleasant consequences, unless we cut our dependence on fossil power. Generating electricity from the wind is clean and increasingly cheap. So it's ascent looks assured, whatever ornithologists and President Donald Trump might think.
By Barry Menzies, managing director MIDEL Dielectric Fluids Global
Through much of the developed world, we have come to rely on a steady flow of electricity as we have a steady flow of air. Power outages have become as unlikely as they have disruptive – we have become so used to reliable supply that most of us can no longer remember a time when we didn’t have it.
By Tom Baxter, Senior Lecturer, Chemical Engineering, Aberdeen University
I read with dismay recent coverage of the decommissioning fringe event at the Dundee Labour Conference. Organised by Jenny Marra, the speakers at the conference, including ex Energy Minister Brian Wilson, bemoaned the missed job opportunity that onshore dismantling and recycling could deliver.
