Engi to downsize staff in Norway for first time
Engi said it will reduce its headcount in Norway in a first time move for the company in the region.
Europe
COSL Drilling to axe 230 jobs
COSL Drilling Europe said 230 jobs will go after Norwegian operator Statoil cancelled a contract with the company.
Statoil decides not to proceed with European business centre
Norwegian operator Statoil said it has decided not to proceed with evaluations of a potential business centre in Europe.
Report shows Norwegian index for crude oil dropped by 34.2%
A new report by Statistics Norway has shown the PPI (Producer Price Index) decreased by 2.6% between January and February.
Iran to raise its oil exports to more than 1.6billion bpd
Iran said it expects to raise its oil exports this month to around 1.65million barrels per day on the back of higher crude shipments to Europe.
Steelworkers travel to parliament to hear debate as Brussels hosts steel summit
Steelworkers from across the UK have travelled to Parliament to warn that their industry is still in crisis and needs support.
Statoil makes second gain in Uruguay
Statoil has signed a farm-in agreement with Tullow to acquire a 35% interest in an exploration block offshore Uruguay.
Eni, Statoil and Nexen among winners in Ireland’s latest offshore round
Eni, ExxonMobil, Nexen and Statoil are among the companies awarded licences in Ireland’s latest offshore round.
Bristow wins NOK1billion Statoil contract
Statoil said it has awarded Bristow Norway contracts for personnel transportation from Bergen and Floro from next year.
GE Oil and Gas unveils $600m cash injection for its operations in Italy
GE Oil and Gas today confirmed a $600million financial injection for its operations in Italy.
Prosafe boosts fleet utilisation by 62%
Prosafe said its fleet utilisation rate in the final quarter of 2015 rose by 62%.
JKX Oil & Gas wins three Hungarian licences
JKX Oil & Gas has been granted a further three licences in Hungary. The company said they will be three 35-year production licences covering an additional area of 124sq km within its original Hernad I and II exploration licence areas.
Estonia’s largest private oil producer to cut 500 jobs
VKG said it plans to reduce its headcount by 500 members of staff. The Estonian shale company said the move was as a result of the low oil price.
Aberdeen car dealerships hit by oil price drop
Businesses across Europe’s oil capital have been feeling the pinch since the global decline in oil price.
Eni receives consent from PSA for Goliat FPSO
Eni has been given conditional consent to start using its Goliat FPSO (floating, production, storage and offloading) vessel by the Norwegian Petroleum Safety Authority.
Unions to take steel industry jobs protest to Brussels
Unions are planning a protest next month outside a conference in Brussels to discuss the problems being faced by energy-intensive industries, including steel. Thousands of jobs have been axed in the UK in recent months as steel firms struggle with high energy prices and cheap Chinese imports.
Ardian looks to profit from oil industry shake-up
Ardian is looking to profit from a shake-up of the oil industry after raising a $2.89billion infrastructure fund. The private equity firm said half of the new fund is targeted at the transport sector and half on energy.
Poland considers merger move for trio of oil companies
Poland is said to be considering mergers between its three biggest state-run oil and gas companies. A number of options are being considered by the government as to what shape the move would take.
Halliburton faces longer EU probe for Baker Hughes takeover
Halliburton Co. passed on a chance to offer early concessions to European Union regulators, meaning it will likely face a protracted antitrust review of its plan to buy oil services rival Baker Hughes Inc.for $26 billion.
Oil price competition to intensify when Iranian crude returns
Oil price competition in Europe is set to intensify when Iranian crude returns to the market after sanctions on its nuclear program are lifted, the International Energy Agency said. Europe will be the battleground between producers of sour crude grades, including Russia, Iraq, Saudi Arabia and Iran, as the Asian market becomes more “crowded,” the Paris-based IEA said in its monthly report. Iraq, the second largest oil producer in the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, has increased its market share in Europe after the imposition of sanctions on Tehran resulted in the collapse of Iranian exports, the IEA said. Iraq sold 1 million barrels a day to Europe in July and August, overtaking Saudi Arabia, according to the IEA.
European oil’s $8billion plan to pay investors and retain cash
In a record downturn for the oil industry, cash is everything to companies and dividends are everything to their investors. One tool is helping Europe’s three biggest producers preserve both, but there’s a long-term price to pay. Royal Dutch Shell Plc, Total SA and BP Plc will retain $8 billion a year in cash by giving investors the option of receiving payouts in shares instead, according to Jean-Pierre Dmirdjian, an analyst at Liberum Capital Ltd. That’s equivalent to about 8.5 percent of total cash and equivalents currently on their books, making the so-called scrip dividend a vital tool as companies curb spending to ride out the slump in oil prices.
Industry plagued by “optimism bias” on big project start-ups
A continued "optimism bias" on projects is challenging the industry to deliver on time, according to leading major projects experts.
Europe’s big oil is a buy as cuts point to recovery at last
Energy companies are finally starting to come back into favor. After enduring the longest oil-price collapse in more than a decade, crashing profits and an investor exodus, Europe’s biggest producers are regaining fans as analysts bet earnings bottomed last quarter and will now start to recover. While Total SA, the region’s second-biggest oil company, will probably post the worst quarterly performance since 2009, it also has the highest proportion of buy ratings in a year, according to analysts surveyed by Bloomberg. Despite similarly bleak forecasts, Royal Dutch Shell Plc, Europe’s No. 1, has the biggest share of buy recommendations since mid-2012 while BP Plc has the most since February.
Volkswagen poised to name new boss in wake of emissions scandal
Volkswagen is set to name Matthias Mueller as its new chief executive after the company was embroiled in a scandal over an alleged US vehicle emissions test rigging. The head of the Porsche sports car brand has been widely tipped to succeed Martin Winterkorn who stepped down from his role earlier this week. Officials in both Europe and the United States have stepped up their investigations into the scandal.
Opinion: The ambiguous role of the North Sea in the Energy Union
The European Commission’s push toward the creation of a European Energy Union, aiming to make energy in Europe more secure, affordable and sustainable, stepped up a gear last month with the release of the ‘Summer Package’ of reforms to existing energy policy initiatives. This latest set of reforms is yet another indication that energy policy-making is increasingly considered as a European policy to be tackled with a coordinated and centralized approach in the EU institutions. Despite plenty of discussion about the UK’s relationship with the European Union since May’s election, the EU’s latest plans for the future of energy mix in Europe have failed to raise attention outside of Brussels.