North Sea oil and gas sector expects drop
Three-quarters of North Sea operators expect a reduction in activity this year, an oil and gas industry survey has revealed.
Oil & Gas
BP feeling effects of falling oil demand despite £18.1bn haul
A bigger-than-expected hit from steeply falling oil prices at the end of last year has weighed on BP despite annual profits soaring 39% to a record £18.1billion.
Positive reaction from Crieff bioenergy project
SCOTTISH Bioenergy Ventures (SBV) has successfully completed the first phase of a trial at Scotland's oldest working whisky distillery in which algae converts carbon dioxide into biofuels.
North-east group supports Subsea 7 tow-out on Machar
NAUTRONIX, an Aberdeen company providing marine technology services, said yesterday it had completed a North Sea project with Subsea 7.
No more job cuts planned for Aberdeen – Shell
Oil giant Shell is not planning any further job cuts among its Aberdeen workforce, the company said yesterday.
E&Y hoping for quick sale of ONS
All offers are now in from companies interested in taking over the operations of oil and gas firm Oilexco North Sea (ONS), which went into administration last month.
Fugro-Rovtech a growing global force
FUGRO-ROVTECH Ltd, created as a result of recent growth in the subsea sector, continues to benefit from Fugro's global strength and long-term approach to investment.
German outfit sees 100% Euro-renewables in 50 years
WIND and solar, accompanied by hydro power, biomass and geothermal energy, will pave the way to a 100% renewable power generation, "very probably within the first half of this century", according to Germany's Energy Watch Group. The organisation sees wind and solar as being particularly important vehicles to achieving this - and especially wind.
UK’s ETI doles out £20million to first tranche of renewable technology projects
The UK's Energy Technologies Institute (ETI) has decided to award its first tranche of funding to four maritime energy projects - three offshore wind and one tidal technology.
Scots engineers develop revolutionary offshore turbine installation technology
A Scottish company has developed an installation system that offers the potential to revolutionise the installation of wind turbines offshore. Two variants of the technology have been drawn up - one to handle steel monopile foundations, the other for the concrete gravity base equivalent.
Protecting your rights to payment and services
In the current economic climate, the risk of companies becoming insolvent is rising rapidly. The move of Oilexco into administration has sent shock waves through an industry that has rarely seen insolvencies among operators.
Great customers and suppliers make good business sense
RECESSION - it's official now. It seems we had better get used to using the "R" word as the crisis which originated such a short time ago in the financial sector quickly impacts on the whole economy.
Can changing global landscape lead to revised corporate tax regime?
Oil&gas companies are operating in a changed landscape, with a number of them no longer able to escape the effects of the global economic downturn and unprecedented market volatility.
So what was the OSO?
This is the first in a series of short articles about the OSO or, to give it its full title, the Offshore Supplies Office. It was an organisation that, at one time, had a fearsome reputation as it strove to ensure that British industry secured a fair share of the huge opportunities generated by the advent of North Sea oil.
Exploration key to the future
THE lifeblood of a company like Chevron is, of course, the resource it exploits and, in this case, this US super-major has a pipeline of billion-dollar-class project investments worldwide, especially offshore West Africa, in the US Gulf and Asia-Pacific.
Offshore industry rings true for Cambridge Bell
RICHARD Bell has been with Hallin Marine unit Prospect since joining as an engineering graduate in July, 2005. He is an example of the kind of talent that the North Sea industry is hungry for.
MEC secures £3million for school
A £3MILLION initiative - the so-called Midlands Energy Graduate School (MEGS) - has been launched in a bid to provide a pipeline of home-grown sustainable energy specialists, including people with practical engineering skills and a grip on new-generation energy technologies now coming forward. The graduate school, not a trace of which can be found on the internet beyond a single news story, will also pilot and develop new methods of training and research collaboration.
Termites may hold key to green fuels manufacture, say scientists
If any of you are fans of David Attenborough's wildlife programmes on the BBC then you might have seen his visit to a termite mound in Africa.
Windfarms and birds can co-exist, says British NGO
WINDFARMS pose less of a threat to farmland birds than previously feared, new research has found. A British Ecological Society study blows a hole in claims that birds and windfarms don't mix. Indeed, it may be that windfarms could help reverse dramatic declines in biodiversity on European farmland by offering havens to wildlife.
Smart, cheap, green energy
FOR many in Britain, central heating is part and parcel of normal life, but it is expensive to run and is a major drain on the Bank of Mum and Dad.
Listen here – if you can
It's a sobering fact that if you lose your hearing it's gone for good - time and quiet won't bring it back. Regardless of your age, if your working environment has dangerous levels of noise, you are in danger of permanently damaging your hearing.
$550,000-a-day C Kirk Rhein contract cancelled because Burgundy can’t pay
Transocean has cancelled a $550,000-a-day rig lease to Burgundy Global Exploration of the Philippines, the company having failed to lodge the required escrow.
2008 pretty good despite price seesaw
During a record year in which the oil price averaged around $100 a barrel overall, the UK sector saw the highest level of exploration and appraisal drilling for a decade.
West Aquarius and Maersk Resolve latest deliveries to Europe
SEADRILL has taken delivery of its seventh consecutive deepwater drilling unit in just 10 months. West Aquarius is a product of the DSME shipyard in South Korea.
Appraisal success for Lundin
LUNDIN Petroleum has successfully completed the first Luno appraisal well on production licence PL338 in the Norwegian North Sea, block 16/1.