In case you missed them, Energy Voice’s Friday Five
Each week Energy Voice pulls together the Friday Five. Click below to see the site’s most read and engaged with copy of the week.
Insights
Opinion: Oil will make or break the Buhari Presidency in Nigeria
President Muhammadu Buhari’s decision to control Nigeria’s oil industry emphasises the significance that the sector has for the country.
Opinon: Why culture, collaboration and communication are crucial to the UKCS
The North Sea has continued to make headlines over the summer; mostly for the wrong reasons. But amid the doom and gloom of media reports lamenting the terminal influence of a low oil price, there have been glimmers of good news.
Sidelined: Oil industry’s denial cost it a voice in climate change debate
The U.S. energy industry missed an opportunity to help shape the Obama Administration’s climate change policy. Big producers like Exxon Mobil and Chevron have largely shunned efforts by their European counterparts to develop a common stance on climate change that could influence policy.
Opinion: Winter is coming…
Well it is official, summer is over, autumn is here and winter is coming.
Opinion: Women in STEM – we need to rebrand the image of our industry
The news that so many girls growing up in Scotland don’t think they are smart enough or too weak to pursue a STEM career is a wake-up call for everyone involved in helping these young women make choices about their future.
Opinion: Women in STEM – Real-life role models cannot be underestimated
At St Margaret’s School for Girls we read the article which showed a quarter of girls in Scotland aged between 11 and 16 do not think they are clever enough to become a scientist with great interest. In girls’ schools across the country it has long been acknowledged that building confidence and self-esteem in girls is key to their success in the classroom, particularly with regard to the uptake of science and maths. The number of our girls pursuing STEM subjects at university continues to be high and is in stark contrast with the figures released by EDF Energy today.
EV Insights:DECC’s Energy Trends report reveals North Sea production hike
Figures have revealed an increase in oil and gas production in the UK has increased by more than 14% since last year - the highest quarterly increase since 1999. The findings, in the latest edition of Energy Trends by the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC), shows indigenous UK production of crude and natural gas liquids was boosted in the second quarter of the year.
Opinion: Shell leaves Arctic for now
The news of Shell’s departure from its Arctic offshore project has been greeted by a mixture of nodding heads, wrinkled brows, and, in some quarters, elated arm-waving.
Opinion: WWF -Shell’s Arctic ‘misadventure’ makes low carbon case
Last week, I was in a small tent on the vast Greenland ice sheet with a leading British glaciologist investigating and documenting the alarming rate of ice flow and melt as a result of climate change.
EV Insights: Shell’s battle for the Arctic
As oil major Shell pulls out of its Arctic campaign off the coast of Alaska, Energy Voice looks back over the past year. The company said it would cease exploration activity in the region for the “foreseeable future”, amid high costs and a “challenging and unpredictable” regulatory environment. Take a look at our gallery below.
In case you missed them, Energy Voice’s Friday Five
Each week Energy Voice pulls together the Friday Five. Click below to see the site’s most read and engaged with copy of the week. Energy Voice Insights is sponsored by EV
Opinion: Time for flexibility?
An estimated 14.1 million people in Britain want flexibility in their working hours or location, equivalent to almost half the working population, the consultancy and jobs site Timewise says. As businesses continue to look to ways in which they can reduce their cost base other than simply by reducing headcount, one stone that is often left unturned is flexibility. It is commonly held that flexibility costs money, be it in management time for administering a complicated flexible working programme or by having to add more people to the mix to get the work done. In 1998, certain major oil and gas operators led the way by allowing employees to have every second Friday off of work (The 9 Day Fortnight or Alternative Working Week) – on the basis that they worked their contractual hours over 9 days. Competitors scrambled to put in place similar schemes in order to ensure that they retained their staff and to try and prevent them from being lured away by the competitors.
Opinion: Taxation only part of UKCS solution, must convince investors
The latest research from the University of Aberdeen provides detailed independent financial confirmation of the constant refrain in industry – that without meaningful and sustained cost reduction the UKCS basin will not be economical in the short to medium term and maximising economic recovery will not be achieved. It is an important contribution in illustrating the impact of costs on returns in our industry.
Opinion: MPs’ lukewarm tax support is a ‘sad irony’
There is a sad irony in the fact that the Westminster Parliament, which has benefited in excess of £300 billion in tax revenues from the North Sea should be so reluctant to offer the support needed to protect jobs and preserve a huge contributor to the UK economy.
Opinion: The challenges of flying at lower altitude
Last year’s catastrophic drop in the price of crude was followed recently by signs of a ‘respite’, when prices appeared to be levelling out around the $60-$65 mark.
Deflation in IT: The benefit to the oil and gas industry
In recent years, the oil and gas industry has had both highs and lows. With prices fluctuating and various market conditions being hit by external forces, there’s no doubt the industry has been a turbulent one.
It was 50 years ago today……BP made its first North Sea discovery
It's 50 years to the day since BP found hydrocarbons in the North Sea. We’ve gathered a small snapshot of the hundreds of BP headlines that have featured in Energy Voice in recent years. Click through to see some the triumphs, challenges and industry insights for the North Sea major.
Oil and gas sector must court alternatives to litigation
Given the expectations of greater co-operation and collaboration after the Wood Report and implementation of the maximising economic recovery strategy, the North Sea oil and gas industry must reconsider its approach to resolving disputes.
In case you missed them, Energy Voice’s Friday Five
Each week Energy Voice pulls together the Friday Five. Click below to see the site’s most read and engaged with copy of the week. EV Insights is sponsored by EV
Opinion: Turbines and tourism can co-exist
After a survey conducted by anti-windfarm campaigners revealed the developments were driving visitors away from Scotland, Energy Minister Fergus Ewing explains why he believes turbines and tourism can co-exist. A successful tourism industry is absolutely vital for Scotland's economy. In 2014, there were 15.7 million overseas and domestic visits, up 10% on the previous year, with tourists spending nearly £5billion. As both energy and tourism minister I warmly welcome the great work being done in this area and we will work to ensure this success story continues.
EV Insights: The reporter who struck black gold
“A new source of raw materials opens up as an old and famous one closes”. This was the headline which made the Press and Journal's Ted Strachan famous as he heralded the end of Aberdeen's quarry and the start of the North Sea oil and gas industry. More than 40 years ago the industrial reporter raced against time to scoop a Norwegian publication about the Ekofisk oil discovery.
Opinion: Saudi Arabia oil and gas – The eye of the storm
A year is a long time in the oil and gas industry and that has been especially true for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), caught in a maelstrom of geo-political, economic and market factors. In August 2014, Saudi Aramco announced US$40 billion a year of spending for the next 10 years on capital programmes. The year ended with the Saudi government projecting a US$40 billion budget deficit in 2015 and then came last month’s announcement of US$27 billion of bond issues by the end of this year to bolster the national finances even after a string of project cancellations and postponements. Over this period, the country has been locked in a struggle to regain market supremacy over US shale production while dealing with the West’s improving relations with Iran, its regional challenger, a royal succession and a spate of terrorism attacks.
Opinion: Black marks for Black Elk – Too little too late?
In Texas, there’s an expression for action that comes too late: it’s like closing the barn door after the horses have run away. I found myself thinking of the term as I read the recent indictment of Black Elk Energy Offshore Operations. In this case, the barn is the Gulf of Mexico, where Black Elk operated for years despite regulators’ repeated warnings about safety violations by the company. The horses are Black Elk executives who left the company a year ago and sold off Black Elk’s shallow water operations long before the indictment came down. None of the executives were named in it. The indictment stems from a Nov. 16, 2013 explosion at a Black Elk rig in the shallow waters of the Gulf of Mexico. Three workers died and several others were severely burned, including Renato Dominguez, a maintenance worker assigned to the rig.
Opinion: Oil price and UEFA
A few days ago, while reading my newspaper, I found myself surprisingly absorbed with the further decline of the oil price, but even more with the wave of redundancies announced by major oil and gas companies. A few pages on, in a more interesting for me landscape, I was reading through the major transfers made this summer in the Premier League, when it occurred to me that in fact the two sectors share similar characteristics and that the current football industry could be a forewarning to the current oil crisis.