THE next few months herald an exciting time for FPAL. Members have been advised through other communication channels that the FPAL system, which has provided the backbone of oil & gas supplier selection, is set for an upgrading process, including a new look and feel.
Martin Anderson is in a hurry, or at least one could be forgiven for thinking he is. For sure, Triton Group's CEO is a man with a mission - to take the famous Perry Slingsby brand and really make something of it.
As I write this, Brent crude is trading at about $130 per barrel. The price has doubled over the last year and quadrupled over the last three.
Located in of one of the fastest-growing regions in the world and spurred on by increasing global oil demand, record commodity prices and the demands of a rapidly growing population, Saudi Arabia is experiencing an unprecedented programme of economic development.
ELECTRICAL Engineering and Renewable Energy Systems (B.Eng/M.Eng) is a new programme that starts autumn 2008 at the University of Nottingham. While it may be too late to apply for the 2008 diet, this new programme may be worth considering for a 2009 start.
THINK of Cranfield and many of us might think of an MBA; somehow that's what this UK institution is best known for, even if that might not be the case.
It's milk-run time, with thousands of graduates about to come on to the marketplace, with many doubtless looking for careers that have fat salaries attached.
UNDERGROUND mine - a mine where coal is produced by tunneling into the Earth to the coal bed, which is then mined with underground mining equipment such as cutting machines and continuous, long-wall and short-wall mining machines. Underground mines are classified according to the type of opening used to reach the coal - that is, drift (level tunnel), slope (inclined tunnel) or shaft (vertical tunnel).
SPACECRAFT could one day traverse the universe using an electric solar wind sail developed at the Finnish Meteorological Institute. Developed two years ago, it is apparently fast becoming a reality.
BIOFUELS based on ethanol, vegetable oil and other renewable sources are increasingly popular with Government and environmentalists as a way to reduce fossil fuel dependence and limit greenhouse gas emissions.
Hundreds of pupils from schools across Aberdeen City and Shire are being given the chance to explore the world of oil & gas at an innovative, interactive careers event to be staged at Aberdeen Exhibition and Conference Centre.
NORWAY'S Rieber Shipping has, through a private placement, acquired 40% of the shares in Bluestone Offshore, a Singapore-based company specialising in deepwater geotechnical analysis. This is a strategic deal designed to reinforce Riebar's position in this increasingly important services sub-set.
BMT Fleet Technology has won the contract to carry out the definition, engineering, logistics and management support contract for the Canadian Arctic Offshore Patrol Ship project.
UK COMPANY Corac Group is looking for new participants to join an ongoing JIP that will further develop its innovative Downhole Gas Compressor (DGC) technology.
StatoilHydro has teamed up with Chevron and Petrobras to develop a new compact deepwater separation plant for seafloor installation known as Tordis.
The innovative and progressive nature of the global energy industry inevitably means that companies have to send employees to work all over the world.
UNLESS one is getting a bit long in the tooth and very British, the chances are that most of us are aware of the "high-five" greeting. The writer has a toddler who uses it a lot.
THE increase in UK E & A (exploration and appraisal) activity continues; 32 well starts so far in 2008, and 18 sidetracks. Of these, 22 are exploratory and 10 appraisal. This represents an increase of 85% over the same period in 2007; 63% increase for exploration and 150% for appraisal. Fifteen rigs are currently active, and May starts include Valiant's 9/22-3 (Globe/Roebuck), IOC's 15/13a-9 (Hood), Oilexco's 16/21b-34 (Delta), Nexen's 19/4-2 (Full Moon), Maersk's 22/25a-9 (Culzean) and RWE's 49/2a-6 (Topaz). BG's Jackdaw 30/2a-7 and ConocoPhillips' Jasmine/North Terrace 30/6-7 appraisals are now more than seven months into their respective programmes, the last named on its third sidetrack.
SAIPEM has picked up two new offshore contracts in Egypt and Angola totalling $600million. The Egypt work is with Burullus Gas, covering the subsea development of the Sequoia field, which straddles both the Rosetta and West Delta Deep Marine Concessions offshore the Nile River Delta about 130km north-east of Alexandria. The contract encompasses the engineering, procurement, installation and commissioning (EPIC) of the subsea development system of the Sequoia fieldand of a new 22in gas-export pipeline.
ABERDEEN-BASED oil & gas industry services company Project Design & Management Services has been acquired by Wilton Engineering Services of Teesside.
TV NEWSREADER Jackie Bird was the guest presenter at the annual safety awards ceremony of the North Sea chapter of the International Association of Drilling Contractors.
SAFETY offshore 20 years after the Piper Alpha disaster in the North Sea in which 167 people died was the keynote theme at the seventh annual dinner of the North of Scotland branch of the Safety and Reliability Society (Sars).
PRIVATE equity fund Epi-V is investing £4.5million in what it claims is the only "independent" supplier of advanced well intervention tools to the global oil industry in return for a "significant" slice of the firm.
IN APRIL, the Press and Journal and Munro's Travel Group of Aberdeen launched their first Middle East oil&gas conference and exhibition initiative, and we are pleased to report that this is attracting considerable interest.
ITALIAN energy major Eni expects that it will cost at least $5billion to develop its Norwegian Barents Sea Goliat field, based on first oil around 2012.