Statoil has installed worlds’ first subsea wet gas compressor at the Gullfaks C platform in the North Sea. The compressor will add 22 million barrels of oil equivalent and extend the platform’s life by two years.
Premier Oil has been granted a drilling permit for a well in the southern North Sea by the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate.
Statoil’s wildcat wells made oil and gas finds near the Gina Krog field in the North Sea.
A helicopter landed safely after sparking a full emergency at a Scottish airport today.
More North Sea workers were today facing the axe as further job cuts loomed.
Scottish North Sea oil revenues could drop to £500 million next year, according to a new report from the Scottish Government.
Nicola Sturgeon will today call on the UK Government to consult urgently on incentives to boost exploration in the North Sea. The First Minister will make the demand at the annual Oil and Gas UK Conference in Aberdeen. Figures show that North Sea exploration last year reached its lowest level in at least two decades, with 14 explorations wells drilled compared to 44 in 2008. The Scottish Government claims the Westminster Government has yet to deliver any follow up action after committing at the end of 2014 to further work on options for supporting exploration through the tax system.
Bosses at a fish and chip shop have announced they will limit the number of oil and gas workers allowed in their shop at any one time, accusing the workers of “struggling to behave like humans”.
The wreckage of a sunken oil rig support boat was found during a bid map the dozens of sunken ships sunk in the Battle of Jutland. The ship was believed to have to have sunk following a fire in the 1980s. The scans of ships destroyed in the Battle of Jutland 99 years ago have been made for the first time using 21st Century technology.
Oilfield services company RMEC achieved its highest turnover in the last year after increasing its rental fleet and doubling its staff. The company achieved a turnover figure of £9.5million for 2014 up 5% from the year previously. It comes after RMEC received a £7.5million investment in April last year from Maven Capital Partners and over the last 12 months the company has invested more than £1million in its pressure control fleet.
A subsea engineering and training firm has completed a contract with Decom North Sea (DNS). The deal enabled the UK-based company to identify pioneering methods of salvage and re-use options for concrete subsea mattresses, the findings of which were presented to industry members yesterday. Nigel Jenkins, DNS chief executive said: “This project was implemented in direct response to our operator member requests and Jee’s findings have been eagerly anticipated.
The shortlist of contenders for honours at the Press and Journal’s inaugural celebration of 50 years of operations in the North Sea has been unveiled. Thirteen companies and four individuals have emerged as potential winners of the newspaper’s first Gold Awards. The recipient of the first hall of fame accolade will also be unveiled during the ceremony at the Marcliffe Hotel and Spa.
North Sea crudes are trading at the biggest discount to the regional benchmark in more than six years amid a surplus of cargoes. Forties, the largest of the benchmark North Sea crudes, sold Thursday at the steepest discount to Dated Brent since 2008, according to a Bloomberg survey of brokers and traders monitoring the Platts trading window. Ekofisk traded Wednesday at the lowest level since at least 2009. Delayed maintenance work unexpectedly increased the volume of North Sea crude available in June, while unsold Nigerian cargoes remain for July, according to Eugene Lindell, a senior analyst at Vienna-based consultant JBC Energy GmbH.
Ithaca Energy said it has received a statement of claim from a law firm regarding work on its Greater Stella area asset in the North Sea. The company said the claim relates to a reported misrepresentation of information regarding the completion of modifications at a floating production in the North Sea.
Oil & Gas UK and industry regulator the Oil and Gas Authority (OGA) have both welcomed the energy bill announced earlier today. The Government introduced its energy bill which included a raft of new measures aimed at increasing energy security and boosting domestic oil and gas production, including giving the OGA the powers to create a robust, independent regulator and enable it to maximise the economic recovery of oil and gas from UK waters. The Conservatives also want to see a change in the law which will remove the need for the Energy Secretary to approve large wind farms of more than 50 megawatts (MW) in England and Wales. Andy Samuel, Chief Executive of the Oil and Gas Authority said:“We welcome the Energy Bill announced at today’s State Opening of Parliament, which will give the Oil and Gas Authority the powers it needs to become a robust, independent and effective regulator, and enable it to maximise the economic recovery of oil and gas from the UK Continental Shelf.
Upstream cost deflation will be “inevitable” for the North Sea industry as it emerges from a period of intense development activity, according to Wood Mackenzie. The energy analysts said the busy period has caused severe cost inflation as operators competed for access to services. Operating costs will decrease by up to 15% in the UK and 10% in Norway.
The Government has been warned it faces resistance to cuts amid an increase in industrial unrest since the general election. A threatened bank holiday rail strike was averted after Network Rail improved a pay offer, but many other disputes have broken out, or worsened, since the Conservatives took power. Steel workers, probation staff, London Underground employees, North Sea oil workers and university lecturers are among those involved in industrial rows over a range of issues including pay, pensions and jobs.
North Sea oil and gas workers today agreed to press ahead with plans for a ballot on strike action after talks with employers in Aberdeen reached another stalemate.
A man has been evacuated by helicopter from a North Sea oil platform.
Offshore workers are being put on “zero-hours” contracts that are a threat to safety in the oil and gas industry and should be outlawed, a union boss said last night. Jake Molloy, regional organiser for the RMT, was speaking after it emerged energy service firm Bilfinger Salamis UK was signing people up on terms he said were tantamount to controversial zero-hours deals. But the company denied this was the case, saying its employees were paid even if there was no work available and that “technical variations” to contracts gave it more flexibility in the oil and gas downturn.
Optimism has continues to fall in the UK oil and gas industry according to the first quarter Oil & Gas UK Business Sentiment Index. It shows confidence in the sector has dropped from minus 23 points to minus 31 on a -50/+50 scale. The index measures a number of economic indicators including business confidence, activity levels, business revenue and investment and employment.
Hundreds of jobs could be secured after energy services firm Cape secured a two-year contract extension with oil major BP. The deal, for work in the North Sea, is worth an estimated $153million. Cape will supply a range of services to six BP assets in the North Sea.
Wood Group has confirmed almost 100 jobs are at risk at the Energy service giant. As previously reported on Energy Voice, the company said it had launched a consultation with about 380 staff in its Wood Group PSN business - 80 of whom are expected to lose their jobs - following an operational review aimed at reducing costs and improving efficiency. It is anticipated a further 12 roles will go in the company’s Wood Group Kenny subsidiary.
Oil giant BP insists it remains committed to the UK North Sea despite it agreeing to sell its 36.22% stake in the Central Area Transmission System (CATS) pipeline system to Antin Infrastructure Partners for £324million. BP is currently the operator of CATS, which is now 99% owned by Antin.
Shell’s plans to cast off a number of North Sea assets will not be affected by its proposed £47billion “mega-merger” with BG Group, a Scottish oil and gas consultancy has said. The Anglo-Dutch oil giant last week said it plans to buy Reading-based BG in a deal that would be the second biggest deal of its kind after Exxon and Mobil’s £51billion tie-up in 1998. Analysts have said that the announcement could spark a rash of similar deals as companies look to consolidate against the backdrop of a low oil price environment.