As a proven technology with high availability and the promise of additional Government support, biomass energy is attracting the attention of a growing number of power utility companies and is set to play an increasingly significant role in Europe's energy generation mix.
The global recession and oil-industry slowdown are biting deeper into the North Sea as the number of rigs drilling exploration and appraisal wells has dropped by three since the April WellSlot.
During the Offshore Supplies Office's early years, one of the few causes for optimism about the UK economy was the prospect of substantial North Sea oil production.
The Iraqi ministry of oil has recently completed the pre-qualification stage of the second bidding round. This process is relevant to the reserves in the southern part of the country.
As the memory of the Mumbai attacks fades - it was almost six months ago, after all - have security concerns lessened? Has there been a longer-reaching impact on business travel, and should there have been?
GRADUATE students on the University of Oklahoma's new MBA Energy programme may aspire to designer suits and trading energy-futures contracts, but first they have to get their hands dirty - on the drill floor - while on the course. It is an initiative that UK universities such as Aberdeen, Robert Gordon, Strathclyde and Heriot-Watt will find hard to emulate because of the nature of the North Sea industry. But perhaps it is something to consider, bearing in mind the Weatherford test, training and accreditation facility in Aberdeen.
Finding an effective way of splitting water into hydrogen and oxygen, driven by sunlight, is one of the most important challenges facing science today.
AN ASTONISHING hi-tech material capable of soaking up huge quantities of hydrogen has been developed by US researchers.
It goes without saying that health and safety is of paramount importance in any industry, not least the oil&gas industry.
THE Aberdeen section of the Pipeline Industries Guild (Pig) staged its 15th annual black-tie dinner at the city's Marcliffe Hotel, hosted by section chairman Garry Millard.
THE Aberdeen office fit-out and relocation company, ASM, whose clients include BP and ExxonMobil, held a reception at Aberdeen Art Gallery.
A competition at the University of Texas in Austin is focusing on making campus buildings more energy-efficient. Given that this is the Offshore Technology Conference - Houston edition of Energy, we decided to take a look at it.
Despite many advances in drilling technology, the method routinely used to monitor the weight and viscosity of drilling fluid has remained unchanged since the 1950s.
We are told by Deloitte that the number of exploration wells being drilled in the UK North Sea collapsed 78% in Q1 this year compared with the same period in 2008. On top of this, Oil & Gas UK thinks that the total amount of UK North Sea drilling could fall by nearly 70% this year.
THIS is a difficult time for the oil&gas industry. Demand is falling because of the recessions in many countries, oil prices are currently about one-third of last year's near $150 per barrel peak and capital investment has fallen dramatically.
Perhaps I was hoping for too much. Leaving aside the poorly researched piece that was prattled in a Sunday newspaper just days before the UK's 2009 Budget and unjustifiably raised hopes, I had higher expectations of Chancellor Alistair Darling than the measures announced and largely trailed beforehand.
The global economic crisis has developed with such rapidity and intensity that some of its likely consequences have virtually escaped comment.
GAS producer BG Group has seen its first-quarter profits squeezed around 14% in the wake of lower oil prices.
NORWEGIAN company Electromagnetic Geoservices has secured a multi-client data-licensing contract with a major international exploration and production operator for Clearplay 3D electromagnetic (EM) data from the eastern Gulf of Mexico. The deal is worth about $5.8million.
SIMMONS & Company International Limited has appointed Ken Murray as a non-executive adviser.
NATIONAL Oilwell Varco has acquired oilfield equipment manufacturers and suppliers ASEP Group Holding and Anson.
NORWAY has stood back from potential conflict with other Arctic territorial claimants such as Russia by defining its continental shelf to end in deep waters 550km south of the North Pole.
SEVAN Marine of Norway has signed a technology licence agreement with Eni Norge for the Sevan 1000 floating production, storage and offloading vessel (FPSO) which will be used for exploitation of the Goliat field in the Norwegian sector of the Barents Sea. It will be renamed Sevan Goliat.
CHINA National Offshore Oil Company (CNOOC) has launched the first batch of offshore blocks in its 2009 licensing round, with 17 blocks in the South China Sea open to bidding by foreign operators.
STX Norway Offshore has been contracted to construct three North Caspian capability icebreaker tugs for JSC Circle Marine Invest.