Only a fortnight ago we thought that Westminster would now be embroiled in coalition negotiations with the Conservatives seeking to build a majority with the Liberal Democrats, UKIP and the DUP.
Meanwhile Labour would be waiting for this to fail while working up some sort of arrangement with the SNP.
But the polls underestimated the final number of Tory seats in England while Labour’s worst case scenario in Scotland came true.
The Conservatives have their first majority in 18 years and the SNP have taken all but three of the Westminster seats in Scotland.
Uruguayan state oil company ANCAP said the country could have a number of shallow-lying natural gas reserves as well as other previously identified oil resources.
A 2D seismic study by Petrel Energy Limited has indicated as much as 910 million barrels of oil and 3.1 trillion cubic feet of gas could lie under the soil in both the Salto and Piedra Sola regions.
The Energy Jobs Taskforce that was set up to support jobs in the troubled North Sea oil and gas industry is hosting a gathering of some of its key players today.
Oil and Gas Athority chief executive Andy Samuel, BP North Sea boss Trevor Garlick, Oil and Gas UK chief executive Deirdre Michie and Scottish Enterprise energy and low-carbon technologies director Maggie McGinlay are among those taking part in the private meeting.
The taskforce was launched earlier this year by First Minister Nicola Sturgeon to support people trying to find work.
By Lena Wilson, chief executive of Scottish Enterprise and chairman of the Energy Jobs Taskforce
We’re all acutely aware of the challenges which face the oil and gas sector right now – many of you reading this article will be either directly or indirectly affected by the marked and sudden reduction in the oil price and the subsequent impact on the sector.
We estimate that over 5,000 jobs have been announced as being lost or at risk. While we know that the oil price fall has brought the sector into sharp focus, the current situation is as much about regeneration and readjusting our cost base.
That’s why in January this year Scotland’s First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon, announced the creation of a taskforce to help tackle not just the immediate impact of the volatile oil price but also the pressing need for the industry to evolve, transform and modernise.
An oil spill from a pipeline which has closed two California state beaches could take months to restore to its natural condition.
Around 2,500 barrels of crude petroleum hit the San Refugio State Beach about 20 miles west of Santa Barbara when an underground pipeline running along the coastal highway burst.
A fifth of the estimated amount was believed to have reached the ocean, and left oil slicks which were stretched for more than nine miles.
When Islamic State fighters in Iraq captured the town of Ramadi this week, just 80 miles (129 kilometers) from the capital of the Middle East’s second-largest oil producer, crude markets shrugged.
Rather than the spikes that have historically accompanied geopolitical disturbances, oil prices actually fell that day.
Elsewhere, Libya is on the verge of becoming a failed state and Saudi Arabia is waging an air war against rebels in neighboring Yemen.
Again, the markets seem blissfully indifferent.
The old certainty that oil prices respond sharply to geopolitical upset no longer seems the case.
Petrol prices have pushed up a further 3p a litre in the last month, according to the AA.
The rise means the cost of petrol at the pumps has increased more than 10p a litre since February.
The average price has risen from 113.29p in mid-April to 116.42p now, while diesel has gone up from 118.83p to 120.70p.
Absoft and Safran Software Solutions are set to lead presentations at an operations and maintenance forum.
The SAP specialist for upstream oil and gas will take part in a bid to offer maintenance and integrated planning solutions for operational excellence in the sector.
Safran Software Solutions, will showcase how their solution integrates with SAP to provide powerful planning and reporting functionality for effective resource scheduling and maintenance optimisation.
Wood Group PSN (WGPSN) is expected to take over as duty-holder of the Central Area Transmission System (Cats) North Sea pipeline system under a long-term deal worth an estimated £250million.
A spokeswoman for WGPSN – part of Aberdeen-based energy service giant Wood Group – said last night the contract was still subject to third party approvals.
But Antin Infrastructure Partners, which took control of the Cats infrastructure last month, have already told staff working at Cats about the move.
The Minister of State for Energy and Climate Change has visited Aberdeen just two weeks after being appointed by Prime Minister David Cameron.
Andrea Leadsom met with key figures from the North Sea oil and gas industry as she visited Apache's headquarters.
A poll taken of Energy Voice readers has found three-quarters agree offshore workers should ballot to strike.
The findings come just a day after North Sea oil and gas workers agreed to press ahead with plans for a ballot on strike action after talks with employers in Aberdeen reached another stalemate.
Union leaders have insisted the door was “not closed” to employers despite no agreement being met.
Workers are in dispute over changes to staff rotas, sick pay and holiday pay.
When asked ‘should workers agree to strike in ballot action?’ , 75.51% supported strike again, while 24.49% were against.
Range Resources said budgets have now been finalised for an onshore block in Trinidad.
The asset, St Mary's block, has been described as 'highly prosepctive' by the company.
A four well drill programme has now been committed to, with expected completion by 2018.
ExxonMobil has announced a significant oil discovery at its Stabroek Block offshore Guyana.
The well, located 120 miles offshore, was drilled by the company's affiliate Esso Exploration and Production Guyana.
More than 295 feet of high-quality oil-bearing sandstone reservoirs were encountered.
Research by scientists in the Gulf of Mexico has found dolphins who died following the 2010 BP Macondo oil spill had rare lesions linked to petroleum exposure.
The study, researchers said, showed dead dolphins tissue rounded out into a spike in the region affected by the oil spill five years ago.
After millions of barrels of crude oil spilled into the region, dolphin deaths were seen around coastal Louisiana, Alabama and Mississippi, according to the NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration).
More than 80 crew were evacuated from an offshore support vessel after a blaze broke out in its generator room.
Thirty-five firefighters were called to Peterhead harbour after the alarm was raised on board the 426ft Fugro Symphony.
Two units from Peterhead, two from Ellon and one from Maud went to the scene.
A specialist foam unit from Aberdeen was also called and three firefighters wearing breathing apparatus along with a member of the ship’s own fire team pinpointed the blaze in the ship’s generator room on one of its lower decks.
At the height of the US energy boom, Texas landowner John Baen received about $100,000 a month in royalty payments from companies producing oil and natural gas on his property.
Now the checks are much smaller, and when he opens his mailbox each day, he’s afraid he’ll find yet another bankruptcy notice. So far, four of the producers sending him checks have caved in to rising debts as oil prices slumped, seeking court protection from their creditors.
“I feel like crying because I know I’m going to get another 10 notices,” said Baen, 67, who owns 10,000 acres of land and mineral rights on other property.
A rebound in oil prices that bottomed near $44 a barrel in March has provided some relief to stronger companies that have been able to compensate with cost cuts and more efficient operations. For many smaller, cash-strapped producers, current prices of almost $60 still aren’t enough to make ends meet compared to the $100-plus prices seen during the boom days.
There have been at least a dozen bankruptcy filings in recent months, and more than a dozen have defaulted on bond payments or warned investors of challenging times ahead, according to data compiled.
Europe’s largest oil companies are banding together to forge a joint strategy on climate change policy, alarmed they’ll be ignored as the world works toward a historic deal limiting greenhouse gases.
Royal Dutch Shell Plc, Total SA, BP Plc, Statoil ASA and Eni SpA are among oil companies that plan to start a new industry body, or think tank, to develop common positions on the issues, according to people with knowledge of the matter.
So far the largest US companies -- Exxon Mobil Corp. and Chevron Corp. -- have decided not to participate, the people said, asking not be named before a public announcement expected as early as next month.
Efforts to reduce fossil fuel investments and spur renewables such as solar and wind power have gathered pace in the past two years with oil companies sitting largely outside the debate.
Transocean Ltd., owner of the rig that sank in the 2010 Macondo disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, joined Halliburton Co. in settling all remaining issues with BP Plc.
Transocean and BP, the well’s owner, will mutually release all claims against each other, while the London-based exploration and production company will pay the rig contractor $125 million in compensation for legal fees, Transocean said Wednesday in a statement.
Transocean, based in Vernier, Switzerland, also agreed to pay $212 million to two classes of plaintiffs represented by a committee in the Macondo litigation.
The settlements were the latest in a series of resolutions since the 2010 sinking of the Deepwater Horizon in the Gulf of Mexico, which set off thousands of lawsuits against BP, Transocean and Halliburton.
Parnaiba Gas Natural SA, Brazil’s biggest independent natural gas producer, is investing 1.5 billion reais ($500 million) in projects including five fields in the country’s northeast.
The producer backed by Cambuhy Investimentos, which counts Brazilian billionaire Pedro Moreira Salles as an investor, expects the plan to increase gas output 71 percent to 8.4 million cubic
meters (297 million cubic feet) a day by July 2016, Henrique Rzezinski, institutional relations vice-president, said.
Amec Foster Wheeler (AFW) said yesterday it was still consulting workers in Aberdeen about possible redundancies, with the number of potentially affected jobs now standing at 43.
This down from a few weeks ago when the project management and engineering giant said it was speaking to 149 individuals about 64 potentially affected roles.
An AFW spokeswoman said yesterday there were no plans to radically reduce engineering numbers in Aberdeen, where the company employs about 3,000 people among a 40,000-strong workforce in 50 countries.
An internal investigation by Norwegian oil company Statoil into a gas leak on the Gudrun platform as been classified as the 'highest degree of seriousness'.
The report into the incident, which happened in February, found the outcome could have been fatal if anyone had been exposed to the leak.
A spokesman said the a gas leak of its size represented a "major incident potential" if ignited.
Energy Voice has called on the global energy sector to participate in the second part of its landmark research launched to mark 50 years of oil and gas exploration in the North Sea.
The latest survey has gone live, just two weeks after the first findings from the project – dubbed Energy 2050-Securing our Future - were revealed at OTC in Houston.
In partnership with RGU, Burness Paull, EY, Douglas Westwood, Fifth Ring and the University of Oklahoma, this latest instalment will look at the sector's perceptions of technology and cost efficiencies.
South Sudan’s government denied claims by rebel forces that they’ve seized oil fields in the north of the country after clashes in the region.
Lony T. Ngungdeng, a spokesman for insurgents loyal to former Vice President Riek Machar, said on Tuesday that the fighters took control of facilities in Upper Nile state, which are still producing crude.
Fighting is taking place around Malakal, the state capital, and Akoka, Information Minister Michael Makuei Lueth said by phone Wednesday from South Sudan.
SacOil has decided to end its participation in a Nigerian asset as it looks to restructure its portfolio.
The company has terminated its joint venture with Nigdel United Oil in the OPL23 asset.
It now plans to focus on "lower risk and cash generative assets."
Wintershall said it plans to give up its gas exploration activities in Qatar as well as closing its Doha office.
The BASF subsidiary will return its licence to explore Block 4 North near to the Qatari coast.
The company said it had made the decision as a result of limited access to local infrastructure.
