North Sea workers to be priority Covid-19 tested at Aberdeen drive-in site
North Sea oil and gas workers are to be given priority Covid-19 testing places alongside emergency service and critical staff.
Insights
UK North Sea platforms ‘face production shut-ins’ as oil storage fills up
Offshore platforms in the UK North Sea “face the risk of production shut-ins” due to oil storage constraints, according to leading analysts.
TechnipFMC records loss of £2.59bn in first quarter
Hefty impairments plunged TechnipFMC into the red in the first quarter of 2020 as the energy services firm felt the impact of the oil price slump and Covid-19 outbreak.
Offshore industry seeks clarity on social distancing measures on board North Sea oil rigs
The oil industry has called for “clarity” on social distancing guidelines on oil rigs following claims firms are confused about how workers should behave when offshore.
Updated: Baker Hughes posts £13bn loss as price rout, Covid-19 bite hard
Energy services firm Baker Hughes sank deep into the red during the first quarter as the oil price rout and Covid-19 pandemic took their toll.
Saipem’s ‘outlook good’ but sinks to red as offshore drilling assets take £228m write-down
Italian energy services firm Saipem said its outlook is “good” but the recent deterioration of the oil market sunk the company to a loss in the first quarter of the year.
Oil extends recovery from selloff but angst over glut remains
Oil extended its recovery from Monday’s plunge below zero but remained under intense pressure from a swelling global supply glut.
Equinor slashes dividend 67% to weather oil market crash
Equinor ASA, Norway’s biggest oil company, cut its dividend by two thirds as it grapples with an historic rout in the crude market.
Norway decision on production cuts looms
Norway has said it will soon decide whether to cut its oil production to help support plummeting prices.
Nigeria faces involuntary output cuts
Nigeria is moving towards production cuts as a result of a lack of local storage and inability to sell cargoes.
International benchmark Brent oil drops to 21-year low
Oil in London tumbled to the lowest in almost 21 years as the global benchmark was sucked into the rout that sent U.S. futures below zero for the first time ever this week.
North Sea firms see shares slide as FTSE 100 closes deeply in the red
Oil majors BP and Shell were among the fallers as the FTSE 100 Index slid by 171.80 points, or nearly 3%, to 5,641.03 yesterday.
North Sea can weather oil market storm, tax expert says
The UK North Sea offshore industry can weather a raging storm in global oil markets, a leading expert said yesterday.
Aberdeen’s global oil hub status could reduce as firms protect against Covid-19 restrictions
Aberdeen’s importance as a global oil hub may reduce as firms take steps to protect against multiple waves of Covid-19, according to an energy consultancy.
‘Cataclysmic’ event needed for Brent Crude oil to go negative like US benchmark
A leading petroleum economist has said it would “require something cataclysmic” for the international oil benchmark to follow that of the US into negative pricing.
Turning negative oil positive
Unprecedented, unbelievable, ‘off-the-scale’ can’t really sum up what happened to oil prices in North America on Monday April 20. Both WTI (West Texas intermediate) and WCS (Western Canadian Select) plunged to below $0 per barrel and recorded an oil price of minus $38 per barrel for the first time in history. Although there has been talk about negative oil prices for months, nobody really predicted anything on this scale.
Coronavirus pandemic recovery must tackle climate crisis
The recovery from the coronavirus pandemic must put the world on track to a greener future, it has been urged, as online events mark Earth Day.
IEA calls for deeper cuts
The International Energy Agency (IEA) has called for the OPEC-led group to take more production offline and faster than previously agreed.
Highland wind farm trust partners up to produce PPE for local medical services
A community-owned wind farm charity has partnered with a local college to produce personal protective equipment (PPE) for local medical services.
Backwardation and contango: Demystifying market structure
As the oil market collapse has taken WTI into the uncharted and “impossible” territory of negative prices, there has been considerable attention not only on where prices might be going, but also what is happening to the forward curve, and what it means. Even in more normal markets, the structure of the forward curve “backwardation” and “contango” is a source of confusion – mystery even.
US crude price slump a ‘body blow’ for oil industry, OGUK chief says
The descent of US crude prices into negative territory is a “body blow” to a creaking oil and gas sector, an industry leader has said.
US oil price rebounds from record wipeout with prices edging above zero
Oil rebounded in Asian trading, after plunging below zero for the first time in history amid rapidly filling American storage tanks, as the U.S. benchmark’s May contract entered its final trading session.
US oil spirals below zero in ‘devastating day’ for global industry
The day started like any other gloomy Monday in the oil market’s worst crisis in a generation. It ended with prices falling below zero, thrusting markets into a parallel universe where traders were willing to pay $40 a barrel just to get somebody to take crude off their hands.
The oil industry shed 51,000 US jobs in March
The oil and gas industry shed nearly 51,000 drilling and refining jobs in March, a 9% reduction that is likely to get worse as futures prices fell into negative territory Monday.
Key workers: ‘Significantly reduced’ Shell team still landing UK’s gas at St Fergus
A “significantly reduced” Shell team is still managing to land gas at one of the UK’s major terminals in Aberdeenshire, despite the Covid-19 outbreak.