2024 is one for the ‘Horrible Histories’ books
I think it’s not unreasonable to say that 2024 has been a landmark year.
Dick Winchester
Damage caused by delayed or cancelled Scottish projects is no longer acceptable
I’m seriously concerned for the energy industry in Scotland, writes Energy Voice columnist Dick Winchester.
Corporate DEI strategies & political hypocrisy
I rate Equinor highly in most areas of corporate ambition when it comes to net zero, support for its supply chain and above all, how it treats its staff.
Scottish Energy Transition supply chain – myth and reality
The fact the UK manufactures so little is inexplicable considering the universities, investment banks and funding for net zero energy transition bodies, columnist Dick Winchester argues.
Norway’s just transition is on track and gathering pace
Anyone in Scotland looking at Norway’s achievements in the energy technology sector couldn’t help but wonder how another small country of around 5.5 million people has managed to create so many high value, high skill companies.
Is anxiety a health issue? Worrying about the renewables supply chain
I’m rapidly becoming immune to the disappointment I feel on an almost daily basis by the news on renewables technology development and manufacturing coming out of Europe, North America, the Far East and Australia and New Zealand, but not Scotland.
Rising emissions levels is no laughing matter
About ten years ago the writer and New Yorker magazine cartoonist Tom Toro published his now famous cartoon showing three children and an adult around a campfire in the middle of a desert with the caption “Yes, the planet got destroyed. But for a beautiful moment in time we created a lot of value for shareholders.”
Have oil and gas firms lost the ability to innovate in a green energy world?
Most of what we do, most of what we own and even where and how we live and work is in one way or another a result of the development of the oil and gas industry.
Farming in a net zero world
I don’t know about you but I love a good steak. Preferably a medium rare, one inch thick ribeye sliced and served with my version of the sauce created by the famous French “L'Entrecôte” restaurant chain I ate in regularly when I lived and worked in France a few decades ago and, a good size side of French fries plus, of course, a glass or two of a decent vin rouge.
Exploiting our potential – Scotland’s Final Frontier
A few weeks ago, Holyrood Sources – a podcast producer – held a live meeting in Aberdeen with three politicians and some 300 people from the energy sector.
Government must take the people with them to achieve Net Zero
If those countries which have declared the aim of achieving “Net Zero” are to ever actually achieve it then I have news for them: they won’t do it by diktat, threats or bullying.
Slaying the ‘grid must rule’ dragon for wind
The development of offshore wind around the UK whether using fixed foundations or floating has been hailed as a great success.
Should decommissioning still be a priority?
To be honest, I’ve never been overly positive about the whole Scottish decommissioning sector.
Dick Winchester: Climate Enforced Migration will sweep aside D&I
Diversity and Inclusion are topics that frankly, I have a real struggle getting my head around, primarily because I was brought up by a progressive Cornish rebel of a mother in such a way that I had no need to include either word in my vocabulary. I just learnt to accept that regardless of any differences everyone was of equal importance and value to society.
Questions ahead for the next Offshore Europe
Columnist Dick Winchester questions what is in store for SPE Offshore Europe following its 50th anniversary.
Scotland’s renewables supply chain is sclerotic
Some time back I wrote that despite its self-appointed title as the oil and gas capital of Europe Aberdeen didn’t actually manufacture much of the sector critical technology.
OPINION: With so many strict regulations in place, how was the Titan sub tragedy allowed to happen?
The Titan sub situation is very rare, but swift action must be taken to ensure nothing like it happens again, writes a former subsea engineer.
Dick Winchester: is CCS already redundant?
There are really two options for dealing with carbon emissions. You either avoid them by stopping the burning of hydrocarbons and using something else or, try to collect them as you produce them and hide them away somewhere in the hope they won’t escape. The latter being CCS - carbon capture and storage.
Opinion: Starmer’s North Sea plan is only a threat if we let it be
Starmer's North Sea plan is a threat to the north-east Scotland economy, writes Dick Winchester, but radical action could get us better prepared.
Reduced growth market exposure may have cut Apollo interest in Wood: Analyst
An analyst has given his verdict on items which may have cut Apollo’s appetite in taking over Aberdeen engineering group Wood (LON: WG) - namely growth market exposure.
Power to the People! Hydrogen plans advance in Europe
Scotland’s friends in Europe are now surging ahead with their support for hydrogen and especially green hydrogen.
Not a lot, nowhere, never.
The IPPR (Institute for Public Policy Research) issued a statement recently accusing the UK Government of “neglecting green investment and risking the country’s position in the global race to develop and deploy green technologies.”
Financing the Transition: Why not a Scottish stock exchange?
One of my old friends, a Norwegian by the name of Reidar Niemi who ran Stolt Nielsen’s subsea business in Aberdeen in the early 80s once asked me “what the hell is the matter with your (expletive deleted) Scottish banks?”.
Subsea vehicles – an opportunity we need to resuscitate.
If the Russian invasion of Ukraine has taught us anything it’s that war isn’t now so much a matter of slugging it out hand to hand on the battlefield and firing big lumps of metal at each other, although sadly that still happens, but increasingly about making far greater use of remote controlled and autonomous or semi autonomous weaponry.
2022 – The year politics failed
Without putting too fine a point on it 2022 has been a disaster for pretty much everyone who didn’t run a hedge fund, is a shareholder in an oil and gas or other energy company or works in a bank and is due a bonus.