In the eight months since Energy Voice launched, our team has been working ceaselessly to keep you updated on the latest news from across the industry. The video platform allowed us to bring you an even fuller picture of the most recent happenings in the sector; and so, we got face-to-face with companies’ bosses, attended major industry events for those who could not make it, and covered the latest developments in offshore and onshore safety, technology and business. However, a few themes stood out as particularly attention-grabbing and their popularity surprised even us.
As part of our end-of-year roundup, below we present Energy Voice’s most-viewed video stories of 2013, in reverse order.
Dana’s Western Isles FPSO development
Our interview with Dana Petroleum’s chief executive Marcus Richards in May has drawn in more than 2000 visitors, curious to find out about the progress of the £1.8billion Western Isles project. The joint venture between Dana and Japanese exploration company Cieco for the development of Harris and Barra fields, included a commission for a floating production, storage and offloading vessel (FPSO), designed to produce and store around 40,000 barrels of oil a day from the North Sea by 2015. We have been following the construction of the vessel at Cosco fabrication yard in China in our online gallery.
Other interviews with major companies’ bosses have proved highly popular; most significantly, our chat with Bob Keiller about Wood Group PSN’s core values and Nicholas Gee from Weatherford on the future potential of the North Sea.
Piper Alpha survivor recalls tragic night
In June oil and gas representatives from across the world met in Aberdeen to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the industry’s worst offshore tragedy– the Piper Alpha disaster. Health and safety was the key topic of the three-day Piper25 conference, including presentations by Lord Cullen, HSE’s Judith Hackitt and union leader Jake Molloy, all of whom also spoke to Energy Voice. However, it was our interview with Harry Calder, a Piper survivor, that was the most viewed video from the event,..
The Energy Ball
The Press and Journal’s celebration of the energy industry, the Energy Ball, broke all records in its sixth outing with nearly 1,500 guests raising thousands of pounds for charity. Our highlights video captured the luxurious atmosphere, spiced up by the legendary Kid Creole and the Coconuts, and was eagerly watched both by those who attended the event, as well as those who could not make it.
Offshore safety a major issue for workforce
Reflecting the current state of the industry, our health and safety-related stories were highly popular, particularly the launch of Unite’s Back Home Safe campaign. The scheme highlighted the lack of workforce confidence in helicopter safety following the return of contested Super Pumas into force. Our timeline of helicopter incidents in the last few years was also a popular click.
But it was the recent spell of bad weather that shot our viewing ratings up the roof. Offshore workforce was recalled as installations went into shutdown before Hurricane Xaver hit the North Sea generating waves up to 20 metres high – all caught on camera by a Scottish oil worker.
Subsea 7’s take on Africa
As we conduct our regular search for niche energy stories, inevitably a surprising find puts a smile on our faces – before we decide to share it with our readers and see what happens. The Subsea 7 crew’s video cover of Toto’s song Africa proved not only a hit in our office, but became an internet sensation generating headlines around the world.
The idea, albeit highly entertaining, was not unique to this particular energy firm; as we have learnt, Statoil has been celebrating the nearing of Christmas in a similar way for the last eight years – and we bluntly featured their take on 2013 hit by Ylvis, What does the fox say? – to a popular delight of our readers.
And to further prove that energy is not just hard work and no play, our other most viewed videos included Seal-Tite’s breaking of ice cream making record during Offshore Europe and the gravity-defying performance at Interwell’s workshop by top stunt biker Duncan Shaw.
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