The publishing of gender pay gaps by employers has been expected, although the prospect of sector-based league tables has come as more of a surprise. Now the pressure is on businesses to get their act together and meet this challenge head on.
Since the so-called Implementation Day, the 16th January 2016, Iran has been firmly back on the agenda.
The global energy agenda is moving quickly, and COP 21 last year was evidence that real progress can be made within the industry, with all countries pledging to pursue measures to keep the earth’s temperature rise below two degrees. Looking forward to the World Energy Congress in October this year, discussions to ensure long term energy equity, sustainability and security for the future will be vital to support the future development and innovation across the globe. In the margins of the Congress, a special session dedicated for the discussion of the future of e-storage is being planned with the attendance of sector leading tech companies.
Sometimes MSPs have to keep asking the same question, and I’ve long since lost count of the number of times I’ve asked how many jobs have been lost In Scotland since the oil jobs crisis began over a year ago.
Yet again, oil and gas job losses are hitting the headlines, with BP being the first major UK player this year to announce thousands of redundancies, hot on the heels of the biggest job losses experienced in the sector for decades throughout 2015.
As Scotland’s oil and gas sector faces the difficult road ahead, a refresh of the Industry Leadership Group (ILG) strategy gives us renewed hope and focus for the future.
Each week, Energy Voice pulls together the Friday Five. This week, guest editor Neil Gordon, chief executive of Subsea UK chooses his top stories from the past five days.
Fracking continues to divide opinion in the UK with recent figures published by the Department of Energy & Climate Change suggesting that, among those people who claim they know a lot about fracking, 53% of them are definite in their opposition to the controversial process, while 33% actively support it.
We know we need to be more clever with our data, especially when you look at the cost of traditional enterprise storage.
Innovation has always been key to the oil & gas industry and recent years have seen some exciting developments, particularly in subsea technology. For example, autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) . . . independent robotic, programmable vehicles . . . have highly advanced capabilities so they may be more cost effective than alternatives, or allow access to previously unreachable areas.
Our national broadcaster ran a headline recently that said “UK car manufacturing hits 10-year high in 2015”. Other outlets said similar things and one included some comment about the fact that Jaguar Land Rover was now outperforming Nissan.
The announcement last week that £504million of public sector money will be invested in support of the Aberdeen City Region Deal is very welcome news for the north-east of Scotland.
The oil price collapse is dominating the current news cycle, with Brent dropping below $28 a barrel for the first time in over 12 years. This continuous dramatic fall spanning 18 months has raised concerns over the future development of many offshore oil & gas fields.
Much of this issue is given over to subsea oil & gas and the crisis that it faces. As the big subsea contractors watch their backlogs shrink and doubtless cringe at the thought of taking delivery of the next seagoing “Swiss Army Knife” ordered during the boom and as firms further down the food chain wonder if they’ll still be in business three . . . six months from now, necessity becomes the mother of invention.
I got a call from a London TV crew last week. They wanted to know where the best shots were to capture the essence of a “ghost town” called Aberdeen.
In a law case from 1884 − Regina v. Dudley and Stephens − the accused were found guilty of murdering their ship mate Richard Parker in a lifeboat. It was decided by five judges in the Royal Courts of Justice in London, “that one must not kill one`s shipmate in order to eat them no matter how hungry one might be”. It may come as a surprise that right up until 1884 stories of cannibalism in lifeboats were not uncommon. The drawing of lots was often used to decide matters − noble sacrifice or murder, either way there was a level of consent to the unfortunates’ departure. By now many will have seen the feature film “In the Heart of the Sea” about the fate of the survivors of the Essex, a Nantucket whaling ship lost in 1820.
There is an army of oil analysts out there, constantly predicting that a day of reckoning is coming, but wisely omitting details about which day that will be. There are the broken-clock forecasters, always predicting an oil price collapse, and anxious to take credit when right – once a decade or so.
Iran is one of the most significant producers of crude oil and natural gas in the world. According to the OFAC Annual Statistical Bulletin 2015, Iran has proven crude oil deposits equating to 157,530 million barrels and natural gas reserves of 34,020 billion cubic/meters. While subject to comprehensive international sanctions, the Iranian natural resources sector had severely limited access to international markets both for export and inward investment.
The oil and gas crisis has left thousands of people out of work. Allan Gardner, financial services director at Aberdeen law firm Aberdein Considine, highlights some of the financial implications of losing your job.
Despite the best efforts of some politicians, it’s obvious to everyone working in the UK’s Oil and Gas sector that we have seen better days. We are in a crisis and when adversity strikes we will be measured on how we respond. We can duck the issues by making cuts and laying off employees or we can challenge and push the boundaries as the current climate potentially becomes the norm.
Since the falling price of oil started to bite in the north-east, it has been clear that the energy sector needs urgent support to protect the tens of thousands of jobs that are at risk.
Saudi Arabia may not have the grip over oil prices that it once did, but it still knows how the prime the market. Earlier this month, Saudi’s deputy crown prince, Muhammad bin Salman, floated the idea to The Economist of a stock offering for Saudi Aramco, the state company that controls Saudi Arabia’s massive oil reserves.
A North Sea skit as imagined by Professors Alex Russell and Peter Strachan of Robert Gordon University on behalf of the North Sea oil industry.
At a time when many North Sea Oil workers are losing their jobs, ludicrous suggestions that the sector should be wound down and those that work offshore can be left to find alternative employment as lumberjacks or whatever are both ill-advised and insensitive.
As an economist, I find the Scottish Greens' suggestion that we could shut down the North Sea oil industry and move to industries such as sustainable forestry rather misguided.