Bristow to cut North Sea jobs
Bristow Helicopters has launched a consultation with North Sea staff over job reductions. The total number of workers facing potential job losses stands at 130 - including up to 66 pilots, in jobs
Aberdeen
Petrofac hit with HSE notice after North Sea gas leak on Kittiwake platform
Petrofac has been issued an improvement notice after a gas leak went undetected on a North Sea platform. The incident is understood to have happened in March on the Kittiwake platform, which is located 160km from Aberdeen. It is understood a worker alerted staff to the leak 84 minutes after it had first begun and production was immediately halted.
MSIS strengthens board with new appointment
MSIS has strengthened its board with the appointment of a new non-executive chairman. John Forrest will join the team this month after more than 35 years in the upstream oil and gas industry. He is currently chairman of PDG Helicopters and Task Fronterra and has provided board-level leadership to a number of companies.
Oil and Gas UK opens 2015 award nominations
Nominations are now open for the ninth annual Oil & Gas UK awards evening.
Opinion: North Sea could get caught in fallout from Iran nuclear deal
As intense negotiations continue in Vienna with the world's superpowers (Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and the US) Iran has still to conclude a deal that ensures absolute transparency on its nuclear plant activities that should prevent it acquiring nuclear weapons.
Aiken Group expands
Aiken Group has announced a 9,000 sq.ft expansion of its Aberdeen headquarters to cope with increased business.
EnerMech lifts £18m BP Baku crane deal
EnerMech has been awarded a 12-month extension of a five-year cranes and lifting contract by BP worth £18million.
Statoil’s Aberdeen base safe amid company cuts
Statoil’s growing Aberdeen base will be safe from the firm’s latest round of job cuts, a spokesman confirmed. The firm announced earlier today it would cut up to 2,000 posts, comprised of permanent and consultant positions, by the end of 2016. The move is part of the Norwegian operator’s robust austerity measures.
Shortlist for gold achievement awards revealed
The shortlist of contenders for honours at the Press and Journal’s inaugural celebration of 50 years of operations in the North Sea has been unveiled. Thirteen companies and four individuals have emerged as potential winners of the newspaper’s first Gold Awards. The recipient of the first hall of fame accolade will also be unveiled during the ceremony at the Marcliffe Hotel and Spa.
Sir Ian Wood donates £4.5million for energy research centre
He made his fortune and reputation by recognising the massive potential of the North Sea, and by his own estimation did “incredibly well” during the oil and gas industry’s boom years. Now Sir Ian Wood has pledged an incredible £4.5million to ensure that Aberdeen and the rest of the region has a bright future long after the lifeblood of the area’s economy runs dry. The huge donation from the Wood Foundation to Robert Gordon University will be spent on turning the institute and the city into “world leaders” in the oil and gas industry for teaching, research and technology. It should also keep the sector anchored in the north-east long after operators have filled their last barrel.
Initiative aimed at reducing anti-social behavior by offshore workers hailed a success
A partnership initiative which was aimed at reducing anti-social behaviour by offshore workers travelling on trains to and from Europe’s oil capital has been successful. BTP officers based in Aberdeen have been monitoring the conduct of passengers from the offshore industry arriving and departing from the city’s railway station and their behaviour on the trains they travelled on. More than 350 train journeys were monitored between Aberdeen, Inverness, Dundee, Glasgow and Edinburgh as part of the initiative, which began last year.
Flexlife wins North Sea Apache contract
Flexlife has been awarded a contract by Apache Corporation for work on the Aviat gas development and other operations in the Central North Sea. The subsea project management and engineering support contract also includes work on the Ness/Nevis tie in and general subsea operations support.
Offshore Europe shaping up for busiest year
Oil and gas companies are snapping up exhibition stands at this year’s Offshore Europe (OE) conference in Aberdeen as quickly as ever, despite the current downturn in the energy sector. OE’s spiritual sister on this side of the Atlantic – ONS Norway – was cancelled and just last week BP said it would not exhibit at the biennial OE conference this September, with the low oil price citied as a factor in both decisions. Concerns that OE could be a quiet affair this year appear to be unfounded, however.
Oil and gas body to stage hustings
Energy industry body Oil and Gas UK (OGUK) will host a hustings event featuring four parliamentary candidates in Aberdeen this week. The hustings will be attended by chief secretary to the Treasury Danny Alexander, Labour’s Dame Anne Begg, Conservative candidate Alexander Burnett and former Scottish first minister Alex Salmond.
MEP highlights support needed for North Sea oil and gas industry
Conservative MEP Ian Duncan was in Aberdeen yesterday to highlight the support his party had provided to the North Sea oil and gas industry. He said a £1.3billion package unveiled by Chancellor George Osborne last month had given the sector – blighted by a global fall in the oil price – a welcome boost. Petroleum revenue tax has been reduced from 50% to 35% and the supplementary tax has dropped from 30% to 20%. Speaking at the Maritime Museum, Mr Duncan said: “The tax breaks and support which George Osborne delivered are exactly what the oil and gas industry need to safeguard jobs and investment. “That is what you get when you vote Scottish Conservative – jobs and growth as part of a long-term economic plan.
Oil and gas firms “show interest” in technology used by Lamborghini
A north east firm is licking its lips at the prospect of growing demand from oil and gas firms after receiving a “number of inquiries” for ultrasound technology currently being used by Italian sports car maker Lamborghini. Aberdeen-based RSL is a supplier of equipment designed to check the strength of materials without damaging them, a technique known in the trade as non-destructive testing (NDT). Last year, the company agreed to become a UK reseller of DolphiCam, a type of camera that can assess impact damage on carbon-fibre-reinforced plastics by creating 2D and 3D images through the material. Made by Norway’s DolphiTech, the camera is currently being used by Lamborghini and aerospace giant Boeing, and RSL thinks the technology can be applied in the subsea sector.
Axis Well Technology honoured for oil and gas sector employment work
Aberdeen-based Axis Well Technology Ltd. has become one of the first organisations in the oil and gas sector to be recognised for its commitment to employing young people. The organisation was presented with the Investors in Young People (IIYP) accreditation yesterday by Scottish Minister for Youth and Women's Employment, Annabelle Ewing MSP. The IIYP scheme is supported by £1 million funding from the Scottish Government.
Parkmead eyeing new acquisitions
Parkmead Group said yesterday it had “significant” cash available to take advantage of lower oil prices and continue on the acquisition trail it has been on since 2011. The Aberdeen-based oil and gas firm, led by north-east entrepreneur Tom Cross, has already pulled off six deals since a refocusing of the business four years ago. It was previously an investment and advisory firm. Announcing first half results yesterday, Mr Cross said: “I am pleased to report significant progress in the period to December 31, 2014. “Parkmead discovered a new onshore gas field at Diever West, in the Netherlands, which delivered excellent production flow rates, providing an additional near-term cash flow opportunity to the group.
International Well Control Forum to host Aberdeen workshop next month
International Well Control Forum (IWCF) has announced a workshop and networking event for Aberdeen next month ahead of Offshore Well Intervention Europe 2015. The event will take place on Tuesday April 14, and will focus on the best practices for global safety, new initiatives that are being launched to drive up well control competency, and operators, contractors and service companies will be on hand to explain how to get more involved.
Opinion: South Korea link could put us at the forefront of energy research
The establishment of the University of Aberdeen’s first international campus will be a proud and significant moment in our long history. As an ambitious research-driven University with an international outlook, this as a hugely exciting initiative, and one which is a testament to our ambitions to position ourselves as a global institution which is at the forefront of energy-related research and teaching. The campus will be a mutually beneficial collaboration that will allow us to export our world-class educational offering to a new market in East Asia, providing education and training in offshore subjects relevant to the South Korean industry, and meeting the needs of the country’s economy.
OGA on track to become executive agency
The UK’s new energy industry regulator, the Oil and Gas Authority (OGA), yesterday insisted it was ready to become an executive agency on April 1 as planned. Oil and Gas UK (OGUK) chief executive Malcolm Webb had earlier suggested the fledgling watchdog had decided to delay the move, which will let it start fulfilling its role formally, for some months. The establishment of a strong and well-funded regulator was one of the recommendations made in last year’s Wood Review, which made a series of proposals aimed at maximising the recovery of UK fossil fuels.
Shell announce 250 staff and agency contractor reductions
Oil major Shell will reduce the number of staff and agency contractors working on its North Sea operations by 250. The company said it would be making a number of changes to both staffing numbers and shift patterns. It is not yet clear how many staff and contractors specifically will be affected.
CHC boss nominated for Scottish director award
The Aberdeen-based leader of CHC Helicopters has been named as a finalist in the Scottish Director of the Year awards. Mark Abbey, who was recently appointed as the new co-chair of the Helicopter Safety Steering Group, has been heavily involved in the company's West North Sea regional operations. Under his stewardship, CHC has been awarded a number of contracts with oil and gas producers including Statoil and Total.
Aberdeen-Houston Gateway “a resounding success”
An Aberdeen company's expansion to Houston in the US is just another example of the strong links between the two cities, the UK Government's representative in Texas says. Consul-general Andrew Miller was speaking during a trip to the Granite City, leading a 14-strong delegation from America's oil capital for the third annual Aberdeen-Houston Gateway event. Following a visit to electrical product and service provider AEL, which opened its Houston office last year, Mr Miller said: "It is another great example of a well-established Aberdeen company which is capitalising on the business links and synergies which exist between its home city and fellow global energy industry hub, Houston.
Move the oil and gas policymakers to Aberdeen, new report says
Policymakers responsible for oil and gas industry taxation and regulation should be relocated from London to Aberdeen, a think-tank has said. Business organisation N-56 has set out a five-point action plan for the North Sea oil and gas industry in a letter to First Minister Nicola Sturgeon and UK Chancellor George Osborne.