Opinion: The importance of employing a talented workforce through apprenticeships
James Gregg, director at Motive Offshore Group takes a look at the importance of training the talent of tomorrow.
Opinion
Opinion: OPEC cutbacks are diluted by oil’s long bloat
The good news for oil bulls is that US stockpiles of the stuff, while still bloated, are now firmly back inside the historical range. The bad news is that all that bloating means the average isn't what it was.
Opinion: Transocean must lead way in thinning out global fleet post-Songa takeover
Transocean, known as RIG on Wall Street, has pulled off a deal that has been on the cards for some months and, at a stroke, has boosted its already market-leading backlog by 40% to around $14billion.
Opinion: Preserve to conserve – maximise the value of cold stacking
Last June the North Sea market was on track for the steepest first half year slump in more than 20 years. The price of oil has dropped to a 10 month low so key players continue to redirect investment away from production in an effort to stay profitable.
Opinion: From Connolly to collaboration
Billy Connolly has been in the news a lot recently with his 75th birthday and when I read some of the stuff that comes out of our various industry bodies and quangos I’m reminded of one of his lines about the Queen thinking the world smells of paint because everywhere she goes there’s a man five feet ahead of her with a paintbrush! “Who are these people?” is another Connollyism which springs to mind when listening to industry talking heads speak of collaboration like it’s something that is actually happening in our industry.
Opinion: Tech guru unveils new battery to challenge lithium-ion
The rise of electric vehicles and the quest to find solutions to energy storage for the renewables industry have created a breeding ground for tech experts to develop battery technologies.
Opinion: From siloed data to integrated capabilities
How technology is helping Ballard Petroleum save 300 hours on field activities every month keeping downtime to a minimum.
Opinion: There’s life left in the oil and gas industry yet
We are all aware of the significant change that has occurred in the oil and gas market since late 2014, but how many have recognised it as a paradigm shift and responded with an equivalent level of sustainable fundamental change in how they operate and contract?
Energising cyber security
Cyber security and related security breaches are an increasing problem generally. The energy sector, with its complex and critical infrastructure, is however particularly at risk and needs to be extra vigilant both in its defences against an attack and its plans for responding to an incident.
Opinion: Time to decide on fracking, not delay
Blanket bans – otherwise known as moratoria – offer an effective, short-term way of avoiding hard decisions. It is convenient for politicians to say grandly: “Well, we can’t really discuss whether this is good or bad, right or wrong, because there is a moratorium in force.”
Opinion: Supporting diversification from oil and gas to renewables
Our main objective has always been to develop and build a sustainable local renewables industry. This includes transferring existing and well advanced offshore oil and gas supply chain skills and know-how into offshore renewables as well as attracting inward investment in Aberdeen, Scotland and the UK.
Opinion: Diversification secures future
The sound of industry continues to ring out from our workshop and into the late summer evenings.
Dick Winchester: Is Scottish Enterprise enterprising enough?
Four years ago I wrote a position paper on “Future Fuels” for the Scottish Government’s Energy Advisory Board of which I am a member. One element of that paper included a proposal that Scotland should look at using bio-kerosene produced from a plant called Camelina as a bio heating oil.
Les Linklater: North Sea helicopters – just like Groundhog Day
The announcement last month that the Civil Aviation Authorities in Norway and the UK plan to lift their restrictions on the Super Puma aircraft has been met with an unsurprising and completely understandable outpouring of emotion, outrage and opinion.
Opinion: How oil and gas can follow Wimbeldon’s lead
Wimbledon in full swing at the time of writing this and with the nation enjoying the annual spectacle of tennis, strawberries and cream, it is interesting to compare and contrast what was playing out at Wimbledon with the efforts of the UK oil and gas industry.
Jeremy Cresswell: The UK oilco that never grew up
Shares in explorer Premier Oil rocketed by almost a third mid-July after the company said it had made a world-class oil discovery offshore Mexico.
Opinion: This oil price really has reached its limit
Last week, crude oil rallied the most so far this year, gaining more than 8 percent, or $4 per barrel. Oil traders are much more optimistic than they were just a month ago, and the market is on the upswing. However, the rally could run out of steam in the not-so-distant future, a familiar result for those paying attention to the oil market in the last few years.
Opinion: Data ending up in graveyards, not cutting downtime as it should be
In the world of the operator, safely driving productivity and efficiency is at the top of the priority list.
Opinion: Force of law needed to crush gender inequality in oil and gas
I have for many years pondered the sheer stupidity of the gender imbalance problem and not just in the context of the energy industry.
Opinion: New digital resource can reduce risk in an age of fewer workers, longer hours
On July 6, 1988, an explosion and resulting fire destroyed Piper Alpha, killing 167 people. That was 29 years ago, but the legacy from Piper Alpha lives on today. Many lessons have been learned, however, the real dangers of oil and gas offshore operations are still very real. The industry needs to assure colleagues, friends and families that safety and the environment are still its number one focus.
Opinion: Dirty, difficult, and dangerous – why Millennials won’t work in oil
Like many industries today, the oil industry is trying to sell its many job opportunities to the fastest growing portion of the global workforce: Millennials. But unlike any other industry, oil and gas is facing more challenges in persuading the environmentally-conscious Millennials that oil is "cool".
Opinion: Oil majors taking sustainable energy tech seriously, at last
Firstly people look at an exciting new technology and ask ‘what is it?’ When it works, they scramble to answer: ‘how can we make money from it?’ Then established industries get nervous and wonder: ‘what does it mean for us?’
Opinion: Accountant urges firms not to ignore Norwegian tax demands
UK companies have worked in Norway for years due to its geographical proximity and links with the oil and gas industry.
Opinion: The technical failure that could clear oil glut in weeks
OPEC exports have come under pressure this week from technical threats to oil fields, with Saudi Arabia's Manifa problems grabbing the headlines.
Opinion: Big Irish Atlantic hopes riding on Druid, Drombeg probe
Irish independent Providence Resources has finally spudded exploration well 53/6-A on the FEL 2/14 licence in the southern Porcupine basin located to the west of Ireland.