Redundancy for ad hoc caterers as work dries up offshore
Catering firm Entier is making "ad hoc" offshore staff members redundant due to a “significant reduction” in demand for its services on oil rigs.
Insights
Unions to resist ‘crazy’ plan to scrap key North Sea workforce deal
Trade union bosses have vowed to “resist” oil and gas service companies’ “crazy” plans to scrap a UK North Sea collective bargaining agreement.
Scores of north-east workers face redundancy at Schlumberger subsidiary
Scores of workers are facing redundancy at a subsea equipment firm in Aberdeenshire following a drop off in work.
OGUK seeking quarantine exemption for North Sea workers flying to UK
Oil and Gas UK (OGUK) has confirmed it is to seek an exemption for offshore workers to a new 14-day quarantine on flight arrivals to the UK.
UK maintenance spending to reach lowest on record, Rystad says
Western Europe’s maintenance, modification and operations (MMO) market will likely take a major hit in 2020 a Rystad Energy impact analysis has revealed, thanks to severe spending cuts and Covid-19 transportation restrictions. Spending in Norway is expected to fall to $3.4 billion this year – an 18-year low – while UK spending is on track to fall to $2.9 billion, the lowest level seen since at least 1990.
Bilfinger UK confirms more than 150 furloughed workers face redundancy
More than 150 workers at Bilfinger UK could face the axe as the company confirmed it has begun redundancy consultation for staff currently on the Covid-19 furlough scheme.
Offshore survival training firm to cut UK workforce by more than a third
Offshore safety training provider RelyOn Nutec could cuts its UK headcount by more than a third due to a drop in demand.
COVID-19 and the new normal; radical technology to achieve net zero
There is a certain irony in the coincidence of two recent major events that together, focused minds on how exactly the huge upheavals caused by COVID-19 may affect our efforts to achieve net zero carbon.
Why do good science if findings won’t be used?
The INSITE Programme was conceived in 2012 to produce independent science leading to a greater understanding of the influence of man-made structures on the North Sea ecosystem.
Producers may need to kill their old, loss-making FPSO’s in this downturn – Rystad
The swift oil price crash caused by the Covid-19 pandemic will reduce the combined free cash flow of FPSO fields, which have produced above three quarters of their original resources at just $2.20 per barrel this year. This is a jaw-dropping decline from 2019’s $11.10 per barrel, a Rystad Energy impact analysis reveals.
Can oil recover from coronavirus? An industry debate is underway
When the pandemic is all over will society go back to driving cars and hopping on planes with nary a worry as it did just two short months ago?
Archer cutting 12-15% of global workforce and pays millions for UK redundancies
Drilling contractor Archer is to cut between 12-15% of its global workforce of 5,000 as a result of the oil price crash and Covid-19 pandemic.
Oil won’t get a post-virus lift from public transport
There’s one hope for oil market bulls facing into the abyss of the 9.3 million barrels-a-day demand slump from the spread of Covid-19: The aftermath will see a renaissance in car-driving.
SSE awards more than half of £1m Covid-19 support fund
Energy firm SSE has awarded more than half it's £1 million support fund to communities across the UK and Ireland as part of the firm's Covid-19 response.
UK decommissioning ‘up in the air’ amid Covid-19 pandemic
The dust might be starting to settle on some issues around Covid-19, but the impact it may have on North Sea decommissioning is very much up in the air.
Scotland ‘fleshing out’ support actions for oil sector following crisis talks
Scotland’s energy minister said work to “flesh out actions” to protect jobs and accelerate the transition to low carbon fuels is underway, following the first of several industry crisis talks.
Critical national infrastructure still needs supporting
It’s extraordinary to think that when we should have been gearing up for the main global oil and gas event of the year, instead we are mostly staying indoors for the foreseeable future. This doesn’t mean however that we down tools.
How Iqarus is keeping offshore workers safe
Having assisted clients during previous health challenges such as Ebola, Zika virus, SARS, avian flu and the H1N1 2009 influenza pandemic, global healthcare provider Iqarus has approached Covid-19 using its wide-ranging medical expertise and experience to support its clients with additional services and expert solutions.
Will the coronavirus pandemic have a lasting impact on the way we work?
In the 12-month period from January to December 2019 the Office for National Statistics reports that an estimated 1.7million people worked mainly from home, a mere 5% of the workforce.
Scotland ‘must have the proper infrastructure’
Going through old papers, as one does at times like these, I came across a story I wrote in the mid-1970s about the prospects for an oil refinery in Easter Ross. How time flies.
FM admits ‘long way to go’ before home testing for North Sea offshore workers will pass muster
Nicola Sturgeon has admitted there is “a long way to go” before the standard of home testing for offshore workers meets expectations.
Multiple workers evacuated from Valaris North Sea rig with suspected Covid-19 symptoms
A group of workers have been evacuated from a Valaris drilling rig working in the North Sea due to concerns over an outbreak of Covid-19 onboard.
Equinor’s profits crash by 98% due to oil price slump
Norway’s Equinor saw its profits slide by 98% - a drop of £3.8billion – year-on-year as the Covid-19 pandemic and oil price crash took effect.
Oil workers facing redundancy urged to seek financial advice
Workers facing redundancy are being urged to seek independent financial advice to plot the best road ahead.
Furlough scheme rollback would be ‘absolutely disastrous’ for North Sea workforce, union boss warns
Any moves to scale back the UK Government furlough scheme would be “absolutely disastrous” for the North Sea oil and gas sector, an Aberdeen union boss has warned.