The energy sector is uniquely positioned in terms of its communication requirements. Offshore operations, maritime integration and onshore offices are all elements within a tightly meshed chain. One link in the chain breaks and the integrity of the whole organisation can be seriously damaged.
You would be hard pressed to have made it through the past week without being drawn into the discussion about the EC225 offshore helicopters that are currently out of service – and with good reason.
Most companies understand the value of improving the health of their employees. It requires effective top down management including:
There are big changes happening in the world of well control training that are going to make it even easier for people to drive their careers in the oil and gas industry.
It is ironic that just as we are approaching the 25th anniversary of the Piper Alpha disaster when 167 men lost their lives and many were seriously injured, the Government has made a change which will remove the right to claim compensation based on breach of, among others, the very health and safety regulations introduced following Lord Cullen's report into Piper Alpha.
Few will need to be reminded that next month marks the 25th anniversary of the Piper Alpha disaster. As the world's worst offshore incident, it claimed the lives of 167 men and cast a dark shadow over everyone and everything connected to oil and gas for a long time afterwards.
A few years ago I did a study on oil prices for Christine Lagarde, then the French finance minister and now the head of the International Monetary Fund, writes Tony Mackay.
A new entrant to the top 10 of risks is IT security, specifically the threat to companies' operations of cyber attacks.
Brian Wilson on the rumblings of political point-scoring rhetoric cascading through the airwaves
More than 3,000 students took on the ultimate challenge in energy-efficient driving on the streets of Rotterdam last month.
It might seem odd choosing this issue of Energy to mark the 25th year since the Piper Alpha disaster of July 6, 1988, but we have taken our cue from the North Sea industry's three-day Piper25 conference on June 18-20.
When it was announced that BP, Shell, Statoil and maybe others we don't know about were being investigated by the European Union for potentially having manipulated the oil price I have to admit to not being at all surprised. Disappointed and concerned perhaps but not actually surprised.
A pioneering collaboration aimed at inspiring the next generation of much-needed petrophysicists into the energy sector has been launched at Aberdeen University.
A Scottish masters programme was Rachel Furlong's launch pad into the world of renewable energy.
The European Union is going through a difficult period, mainly because of the economic recession.
By the end of this year, it is likely that renewables will be the country's main source of electricity, providing more power than nuclear, coal or gas. Far from being "alternative energy", renewables is now a major part of our energy mix, and a significant part of Scotland's economy.
The "system" the government has set up isn't aimed at creating a renewables industry but developing mechanisms to achieve the various government policy aims on carbon emission reductions, percentage of electricity from renewable sources and so on and so forth, writes Dick Winchester.
It doesn't quite match Edinburgh Zoo's two pandas in its enclosure, but All Energy will have two elephants in the room, writes Brian Wilson
It is not just the UK where confusion reigns over providing affordable, low carbon energy - but the entire European Union, it seems, writes Jeremy Cresswell.
Many visitors to Scotland are somewhat astounded to learn that inventors from our country have created some of the most important devices to improve our life in the modern age . . . the telephone, television, refrigerator, penicillin and MRI scanner, to name just a few.
On 14 May, the ANP, Brazil’s national oil licensing agency released the results of its 11th bidding round for oil and gas rights, the first for five years.
Think of safety, remember Piper Alpha. Lord Cullen's groundbreaking report laid the foundation for a new era of safety in the oil and gas industry.
The old saying goes: "Everything is bigger in Texas" and that was certainly true at OTC this week.
There is a real feeling of optimism at OTC this year; reflecting the extremely robust outlook for the global oilfield service market.
The Herold report appeared during the dark days of the late 1990s when, of course, the jobs axe was being swung with some vigour on both sides of the North Atlantic.