On the macro front, crude prices were resilient in 2012 despite the extensive volatility that marked the broader markets as a variety of European and US debt crises played out and economists fretted over the sustainability of growth in China.
Norway's 22nd licensing round for oil and gas exploration in its frontier areas attracted applications from 36 companies, its energy ministry said yesterday.
Acteon Group paid £11.8million for its 80% stake in Aberdeen firm NCS Survey in May last year, it emerged yesterday.
Oilfield service group Aker Solutions said yesterday that strong North Sea activity had helped to boost turnover by more than 50%.
Aberdeen harbour bosses said yesterday they were to spend £24million on improvements to the port next year.
ACTEON Group - a holding company for a global subsea service organisation with operations at locations including Aberdeen - has defied a drop in activity levels after the Deepwater Horizon disaster to post higher profits and turnover.
Offshore oil and gas activity in mature provinces such as the North Sea was said yesterday to be more at risk than deepwater areas such as west Africa in the current economic downturn.
The cost of curbing even just carbon dioxide (CO) emissions will inflate by billions of dollars if 10,000 carbon capture and storage (CCS) projects are not in place worldwide by 2050, the International Energy Agency (IEA) claims.
OFFSHORE engineering group Subsea 7 said yesterday that activity levels in the North Sea remained high in the second quarter of 2008.