The President of Mexico Enrique Peña Nieto arrived in Aberdeen today during a UK state visit to mark closer ties on energy issues and climate change. President Nieto was greeted in Aberdeen by Alistair Carmichael, the Secretary of State for Scotland, and escorted to the Aberdeen Town House. He was joined by energy minister Matthew Hancock and introduced to senior UK oil and gas representatives, including Shell and BP.
Months of hard science by budding young students at an Aberdeen school came to an end yesterday when they presented their projects at TechFest last week. TechFest's Heroes of Tomorrow event, sponsored by Statoil, had pupils from S1 to S6 giving short presentations to their families and peers on science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM).
Maersk have launched a new training facility in Kingswells, providing additional training opportunities to oil and gas workers in Aberdeen. Launched this week, the centre aims to complement the training facilities that already exist in the north-east, including the survival centre in Portlethen and the boat training facility in Stonehaven.
The President of Mexico will visit Aberdeen today to sign a memoranda of understanding on collaboration in the energy sector. Enrique Pena Nieto will be joined by Scottish secretary Alistair Carmichael, UK energy minister Matthew Hancock and Scotland’s external affairs secretary Fiona Hyslop on the final day of his state visit to Britain.
Marine equipment specialist Motive Offshore has unveiled its plans for its company restructure and worldwide growth, following a multi-million pound investment last year. Headquartered at its 30-acre site near Banff in Aberdeenshire, Motive Offshore has been restructured as Motive Offshore Group, comprising of two key operating companies Motive Engineering and Motive Rentals, allowing the company to strengthen its offerings for clients in the UK and internationally. Motive Offshore Group chief executive James Gregg said: "The company restructure marks a pivotal time for the business as it continues to expand with an increasing portfolio of clients and workforce.
Harkand has strengthened its inspection division by appointing a new inspection manager in their Aberdeen office. Andrew Inglis, who was appointed today, brings more than 15 years experience in delivering subsea inspection services in the North Sea region to the role, and has previously held inspection management roles at Subsea 7 and Bibby Offshore Ltd.
A map of the world has been created to help keep oil and gas companies updated on regions that pose the most risks to their staff. International SOS has released its Health Risk Map 2015, which helps oil companies, non governmental organisations, educational institutions and governments understand health threats around the world. For Aberdeen-based oil companies in particular, it helps employers ensure that their staff are safe ahead of overseas assignments.
Wood Group Kenny (WGK) has appointed a North Sea regional director with 20 years of experience in the oil and gas industry as their new chief executive. WGK's new chief executive, Bob MacDonald, succeeds Steve Wayman who has now become the company's new head of strategy and development. He is replacing Ali Green who will step down from his current role but will continue to provide support to the team as he transitions out of the business in 2015.
An oil and gas technology body will offer companies the chance to suggest solutions for cutting oil and gas production costs whilst nurturing production in Aberdeen next month. The Industry Technology Facilitator (ITF) will ask oil and gas firms to present innovative solutions at the Technology Showcase being held at the AECC on March 4. In partnership with Oil and Gas UK, the ITF will discuss present tech challenges in the UK continental shelf and offer them a chance to showcase their technologies. Among the presentations at the event will be "PETMiner: Increasing the speed and cutting the costs of reservoir characterisation" by University of Leeds professor, Quentin Fisher.
The Mexican president will visit Aberdeen next week to sign an energy collaboration agreement, it has been confirmed. Enrique Pena Nieto will formally announce the memoranda of understanding at a meeting with North Sea leaders in the Town House on Thursday. He will be hosted by Scottish Secretary Alistair Carmichael and Energy Minister Matt Hancock. In the afternoon, he will visit Robert Gordon University to meet academics and view a presentation on the energy sector, before viewing a demonstration of the Drilling and Advanced Rig Training Simulator.
A car manufacturer and an aerospace research and development body are amongst those joining forces with the oil and gas industry at a north-east technology conference and exhibition next month.
Record numbers from across the global offshore oil and gas industry are expected to attend Subsea Expo 2015 in Aberdeen this week. Europe’s largest annual subsea conference and exhibition showcases the expertise and technology of a UK industry generating about £9billion in revenue annually and supporting around 60,000 jobs. More than 6,000 people are registered to attend the event, organised by trade body Subsea UK, which takes place at Aberdeen Exhibition and Conference Centre from Wednesday to Friday.
Norwegian oil giant Statoil has awarded the management contract for the floating storage unit (FSU) for its £4billion-plus Mariner project in the UK North Sea to offshore service firm OSM Offshore Aberdeen. The value of the contract, which starts on February 1 and will last for five years, with three further option periods of two years each, was undisclosed. However, industry sources said it was a “significant”.
A selection of the country’s most successful subsea businesses have made it on to the shortlist for the industry’s annual awards gala. Fisher Offshore, Proserv and ROVOP are all in contention for the annual Subsea UK Awards event’s top honour, the subsea company of the year award. Express Engineering Oil & Gas, Flowline Specialists and Tekmar Energy have been short-listed in the Global Exports Award category, while ToolTec, Ocean Installer and Cambla are vying for the New Enterprise award.
Scottish Labour leader Jim Murphy today called on the SNP government to establish a "resilience fund" to support crucial industries in times of crisis. Mr Murphy was speaking during a visit to Aberdeen to meet North Sea industry leaders, offshore trade unions and city councillors amid a continued fall in the global price of oil. The Labour MP expressed concern about the "human impact" of redundancies in the energy sector and the wider impact of a downturn on the local economy.
Oil prices have crashed and the North Sea is hurting badly, with the likelihood that this is going to be a prolonged downturn . . . at least for the bulk of this new year, if not longer. Capital investment in the North Sea could halve by 2017 unless there is urgent reform of the tax regime in light of a big drop in the price of crude oil, according to Oil & Gas UK, which is hoping for good things from the Treasury before the May election following promises made early last month. And Wood Mackenzie has estimated that 32 potential European oil field developments worth more than $85billion (£55billion) are waiting for approval and could be at risk if oil prices continue to slump. A high proportion of those projects have a break-even price higher than $60 per barrel and many are in the UK sector.
In the final part of our 2014 round-up we take a look at the final few months of the year. In September, Professor Alex Kemp from the University of Aberdeen, predicted 99 new North Sea oil discoveries over the next 30 years. Mr Kemp used detailed financial modelling to set out “commercially viable” projects for the industry following the Wood Review.
Fears have been raised that an emergency summit on North Sea oil will “fall flat on its face”. Aberdeen City Council Conservative group leader Ross Thomson yesterday voiced his “extreme disappointment” at the way Labour announced the event, with no details on its remit or venue. He has e-mailed other group leaders on the council calling for an a commitment to constructive talks.
Once the details of the summit are announced, Aberdeenshire Council will make sure it is fully involved. The oil and gas industry is incredibly important, not only to the North East economy, but to the economy of Scotland and the rest of the UK. We have established good working relationships with the private sector over many years and understand the challenges facing the energy industry today. The area benefits when oil prices are high, but this also brings challenges impacting on house prices and affecting the local recruitment market. It’s important that we consider the impact of falling oil prices, the likely effect on the economy and steps we can collectively take to support the industry.
As Leader of Aberdeen City Council I felt it was important to try and take a lead on how politicians interact with the Oil and Gas Industry. Aberdeen is a global city that has achieved so much success thanks to the Oil and Gas industry being on our doorstep. It concern us all that the price of oil has dropped so heavily in such a short space of time and whilst we accept there will always be fluctuations in the price of oil I believe the time is now right for the industry and governments at all levels to work together to maintain confidence in the North Sea.
At a difficult time for the oil and gas industry when we are addressing a range of challenges including the rapid, steep drop in oil price, we can fully appreciate why Aberdeen City Council has called for an oil and gas summit. We are well aware of the concerns across the region regarding jobs and the future for businesses in the area and recognise that a summit, which involves the participation of such a wide cross-section of politicians, industry representatives, and trade unions, will focus minds and join effort on what needs to be done to sustain Aberdeen's position as the oil capital of Europe. We welcome this positive and collaborative approach, but it is also important to acknowledge the truly constructive work being undertaken by the industry and the Government on a number of fronts to help secure the next phase of development on the UK continental shelf (UKCS).
Prime Minister David Cameron and First Minister Nicola Sturgeon were last night urged to attend an emergency oil and gas “summit” in Aberdeen and help save jobs as the North Sea industry struggles with low crude prices. The meeting has been called by Aberdeen City Council in response to a plunge in oil prices to just above $62 a barrel, from more than $100 in the summer. Scottish Labour pledged to send its leader, Jim Murphy, and urged both Mr Cameron and Ms Sturgeon to attend. But trade body Oil and Gas UK (OGUK) said there was no need for a knee-jerk reaction to the low oil prices, adding it was probably enough to “reflect” on them after Christmas.
A UK Government minister was under fire last night for refusing to meet the widows of the oil workers who died in the 2013 Super Puma crash. Labour MP Frank Doran said he was “extremely disappointed” Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin had declined an invitation to meet families and the survivors who were on-board the doomed flight. Sarah Darnley, 45, from Elgin, Gary McCrossan, 59, from Inverness, George Allison, 57, from Winchester and Duncan Munro, 46, from Bishop Auckland died when the aircraft plunged into the sea near Sumburgh in Shetland in August last year.
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has been urged to reveal the Scottish Government’s assessment of the tax cut needed to save the jobs of thousands of oil workers. Scottish Labour leader Jim Murphy said the move was necessary given the “crisis” currently unfolding in the sector due to the dramatic fall in the price of a barrel of oil, which is currently less than $60. It comes as renowned economist Prof Ronald MacDonald, of Glasgow University, said a fall to below $40 a barrel was “not unreasonable”.
The UK Government moves like lightning to tax the industry when oil prices are high but moves at a snail’s pace when oil prices are low. In a glaring example of oil tax hypocrisy, George Osborne announced a shale oil fund for the north of England in his Autumn Statement. This is before a single barrel of oil has been produced, yet, Scotland, with more than 40 billion barrels of oil is still waiting.