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
Energy Jobs Taskforce: Industry will endure
Scotland’s oil and gas industry has a vibrant future. Yes, there’s a sharp reduction in investment, in jobs and in projects but the strength of skills and experience built up over the decades will sustain the industry and ensure it remains a significant contributor to the Scottish economy for decades to come. It’s now six months since the First Minister announced the creation of an Energy Jobs Taskforce to help support Scotland’s oil and gas sector through the current challenging period.
Opinion: Bristow redundancies -A good pointer to the future of the UKCS?
It’s not much longer than a year ago that the offshore helicopter operators were expressing real concern over the lack of experienced pilots being attracted into the industry. At the time this problem was being blamed on the smaller number of trained personnel leaving the armed forces. That particular problem has now solved itself but not – sadly - in a good way. The announcement that Bristow is to reduce their staff levels by 130 personnel which includes around 66 pilots implies a rapid reversal of fortunes for that operator and I’m sure others will eventually follow suit.
EV Insights: See the dramatic shift in the global oil price
Mexico licensing round: Infographic-how the numbers break down
Mexico is gearing up for the first auction of new licences to private investors in almost 80 years. Here’s how the numbers break down.
Opinion: What do the OGA powers really mean for oil and gas firms?
The eagerly awaited Energy Bill was published on Friday, setting out the proposed new statutory powers anticipated by the Oil and Gas Authority (OGA) Framework Document published in April of this year. The Bill sets out the details of the tools that the OGA will use to implement the MER UK Strategy, working in conjunction with other governmental departments and the oil and gas industry. Undoubtedly it is the new powers to be conferred on the OGA – rather than simply the transfer of existing powers from the Secretary of State – that will be of particular interest to those in the sector.
Poll: More than 90% of voters believe Budget did not do enough to support North Sea industry
More than 90% of readers who took part in an exclusive Energy Voice poll believe Chancellor George Osborne still has more to do in supporting the North Sea oil and gas industry. When asked the question ‘Did the Chancellor do enough to support the North Sea this Budget’ only 6% of voters agreed he had. However 93% of participants echoed sentiment from the sector that the Chancellor could have gone further.
Opinion: Can the industry say hand on heart the next generation are being inspired?
Twelve months ago, the Wood Commission report ‘Education Working for All’ set out in front of parliament, the need for closer links to be forged between educational establishments and businesses to ensure a future for the country’s young people and ultimately strengthen the economy. Led by Sir Ian Wood, among the issues the document identified was the significant change required by schools, colleges and employers to challenge the cultural misconception that vocational training is less important than a purely academic route. The Commission prescribed the need for long term partnerships to be established between secondary schools and employers within three years. And by 2020, it recommends that the quality of both work experience programmes and career guidance should be increased significantly and made available to every pupil.
Poll: Is Shell right to drop the word ‘oil’ from the name of its US unit?
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.
Bob Keiller: Why I Give (and Get) the Best Career Advice from a Playlist
Many of us are old enough to remember buying vinyl albums. After you bought a new one, you would study every detail of the cover, and, then, you would play it repeatedly until you knew every track. Not only that, you knew the order of the tracks. I find good music inspirational. Some of you will already know that I write a weekly message on Core Values to my employees, and I always use a musical reference as a hook. So today, I want to share my playlist for leading in difficult times.
EV Insights: How the Baker Hughes rig count looks now
The Baker Hughes rig count showed promise as it was revealed the figures have risen slightly overall from the previous month. The rig estimate, which has been in force for more than 50 years, is used to show the count overall worldwide, as well as internationally and in the US and Canada.
Fergus Ewing: Budget neglects exploration opportunity
The UK Government’s decision to widen the scope of the investment allowance in the Summer Budget is a positive measure, and something which the Scottish Government has previously called for – however, this Budget represents a missed opportunity for the North Sea. As the First Minister outlined at the Oil & Gas UK Conference last month in Aberdeen, and as I reiterated in my letter to the Chancellor, further action is still required to incentivise exploration, promote stability across the industry and boost investor confidence. The Scottish Government’s latest summary of the oil and gas sector identified the North Sea as the largest oil producer in the EU by a considerable margin and the second largest gas producer in the EU after the Netherlands, supporting around 200,000 jobs and with a supply chain with international sales of more than £11billion.
Opinion: Conservatives’ sentiment confirmed for UK oil and gas sector
Yesterday’s Summer Budget – the first wholly Conservative Budget in almost two decades - had no surprise announcements for the oil and gas sector, however the Chancellor highlighted that measures announced in March would be going ahead. This included a new “simple and generous” tax allowance for investment and a rate cut for both Petroleum Revenue Tax and the Supplementary Charge.
Opinion: Budget leaves UK oil industry on the brink
Prior to the last general election, George Osborne would have scoffed at the possibility of being able to deliver the first Conservative budget in two decades.
Budget 2015: Effective fiscal measures must be in place by 2016
With continued signs that investment in the UKCS is falling rapidly, it is vital the scope of the Investment Allowance, announced in the March Budget, encourages all forms of productive investment if it is to provide the strongest engine for growth. We are pleased to note the Government has taken steps to extend this allowance as they previously proposed and eagerly anticipate the required legislation by the end of the summer. In addition, the announced two per cent cut in corporation tax over the next five years, will support companies throughout the sector’s supply chain and help its competitiveness.
Skills academy supports oil and gas industry
In February last year, the formal launch of OGAS (established 2012) took place at the Scottish Parliament, where its fresh-out-of-the-box director, Rulzion Rattray, outlined the potential and new opportunities made available through the formation of the academy.
Opinion: Next year we will be millionaires!
As the balloon bursts in Brazil and the party is over a lot of companies will be hit.
Opinion: North Sea could get caught in fallout from Iran nuclear deal
As intense negotiations continue in Vienna with the world's superpowers (Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and the US) Iran has still to conclude a deal that ensures absolute transparency on its nuclear plant activities that should prevent it acquiring nuclear weapons.
Pilot union fights Super Puma ruling
A ruling that investigators should hand over flight safety data from a fatal North Sea helicopter crash to Scotland’s leading prosecutor is being challenged.
The demise of onshore wind subsidies is no surprise
The onshore wind industry faces great uncertainty following the announcement by energy and climate change secretary Amber Rudd that its place in the so-called Renewables Obligation will end in 2016.
Opinion: Working towards North Sea efficiency
Last month, Oil & Gas UK held its Annual Conference – with the aim of bringing the industry together, to recognise the challenges that face us and to focus on the way ahead.
Jeremy Cresswell: “PwC comparisons just don’t wash”
I wasn’t going to write about the North Sea in this month’s eye. Rather, I was contemplating having a go at offshore wind, in large part because of the manner in which the UK’s unquestionably leading offshore presence in terms of turbines planted out there in UK territorial waters has been achieved.
BALPA considers appealing black box decision for Sumburgh’s Super Puma crash
A pilots' union is considering whether to appeal a landmark legal decision to release the black box recorder from the Super Puma which crashed off Sumburgh in 2013 killing four oil industry workers. The British Airline Pilots' Association (BALPA) is due to announce this week whether it intends to try and block the release of the recordings to prosecutors. Earlier, Lord Advocate Frank Mulholland successfully argued at the Court of Session that the black box should be released to the Crown Office in order to speed the investigation into whether any criminal proceedings should be brought in connection with the crash. Sarah Darnley, 45, from Elgin, Gary McCrossan, 59, from Inverness, Duncan Munro, 46, from Bishop Auckland and George Allison, 57, from Winchester died when the Super Puma crashed two miles off the coast at Sumburgh, in August 2013.
Loren Steffy: Can BP Move Beyond Macondo’s Legacy?
The record $18.7billion Deepwater Horizon settlement is, first and foremost, a victory for BP. The company’s shareholders clearly recognize this. After the settlement was announced Thursday, giddy investors sent the company’s shares up more than 5%, adding more than $5billion to its market value.