Amec Foster Wheeler has been awarded a contract from BP worth more than $73million to provide maintenance and project support for the Forties pipeline system in the North Sea.
The deal includes work on the Unity offshore platform and onshore pumping stations in Aberdeenshire and Perthshire, as well as the Central Area Transmission (CATS) terminal in north-east England.
It will run until January 2020 and will be managed from Amec Foster Wheeler's Aberdeen offices.
Wood Group PSN (WGPSN) has been awarded a five-year contract from EnQuest to provide engineering, design, construction, procurement and commissioning services in the North Sea.
The work will be carried out on the Thistle, Heather and Northern Producer offshore assets.
EnQuest said the terms of the contract reflected the company’s ongoing focus on reducing costs and improving the efficiency of its North Sea offshore operations.
Aberdeen energy service firms Hydro Group and EnerMech are to work together in launching an new hydraulics hose product for the oil and gas industry.
It is believed the tie-up could generate in the region of £500,000 over the next year.
Graham Wilkie, sales director at Hydro Group, which designs and manufactures cables and connectors for subsea and onshore use, said: “Collaboration, diversification and innovation are key to surviving in challenging markets.
Energy logistics company Peterson Offshore Group has created and filled two senior positions in response to growth within the business.
Netherlands-based Peterson said it had appointed Loek Sakkers as director of projects and Stephen McCrindle as supply chain manager, within its offshore business.
Mr McCrindle, who joins after three years with hydraulics industry supplier Stauff UK, will focus on the firm’s UK and Netherlands business.
An oil worker has been taken to hospital from a North Sea platform after injuring his hand.
The man is understood to have crushed his hand in a door.
A helicopter will take the man - on a platform around 120 miles from Aberdeen - to Aberdeen Royal Infirmary.
The latest Bank of Scotland’s report into the North Sea oil & gas industry presents a picture of optimism. It found that 92% of companies surveyed planned for growth over the next two years.
After weeks of reports of an industry apparently in irreversible decline, the report may seem to some counterintuitive; but there again, perhaps not.
The North Sea has been dealing with cost challenges for some time. Production efficiency on the UK Continental Shelf (UKCS) had dropped to a record low of 60% in 2013, from 80% only seven years before.
Exploratory drilling, which is intensively tracked by Energy every month thanks to Hannon Westwood, followed a similar trend, with only 12 wells drilled in 2014 compared to 44 in 2008.
Royal Dutch Shell Plc says its proposed $70 billion takeover of BG Group Plc will boost dividends and share buybacks for investors. North Sea workers in fear of their jobs after a collapse in oil prices will hope they’re as lucky.
Shell, employing about 2,400 across the North Sea, targets $2.5 billion of pretax “synergies” a year across the globe from the deal, including staff cuts.
“There are no guarantees in life,” said Chief Executive Officer Ben Van Beurden, asked if the deal would lead to cuts in the U.K. “Irrespective of what happens, we will have to look at how we make the North Sea a strong and healthy province again.”
Even before the latest plans, The Hague-based company said March 26 that about 250 positions would go in Aberdeen, the Scottish city at the center of the U.K. oil and gas industry.
“We expect synergies globally, which would include job reductions and office consolidation,” Kayla Macke, a Shell spokeswoman, said Wednesday in an e-mailed reply to questions. Details will be provided later, she said.
Apache has awarded a subsea distribution unit supply contract to SEA.
Under the agreement, the company’s subsidiary J+S will provide subsea distribution units and associated equipment and services for Apache’s Ness Nevis project.
Apache is currently undertaking a development program to upgrade the subsea controls architecture in preparation for new wells at the Beryl Field area.
The Press and Journal is proud to announce the launch of its first North Sea industry Gold Awards.
The event, run in association with the paper’s sister website Energy Voice and title sponsor Aberdeen Asset Management, marks a major milestone for the vital oil and gas sector – the 50th year of Aberdeen’s involvement in the development of the North Sea.
The special awards ceremony, which will include the introduction of an industry-first Hall of Fame, is truly a celebration of unrivalled resilience, perseverance and triumph.
Despite current market tensions, the awards ceremony is also a vote of confidence in the industry’s ability to carve out a successful path over the next 50 years.
If this sector has demonstrated anything over the past five decades, it is an ability to innovate beyond barriers, navigate ever-deepening depths and rally in challenging times.
A marine specialist firm has appointed a new sales manager to its team.
Steven Simpson will join the company, which was established in 2010, at their Aberdeen offices.
Mr Simpson brings more than 10 years of experience to the role after having previously held a number of positions within the oil and gas industry.
If one believes the headlines, then the UK sector of the North Sea oil & gas industry is about to be crippled by strikes . . . the first for over 25 years.
The catalyst . . . last straw . . . is the apparent decision among at least some operating oil companies to impose a new offshore rota of three weeks on and three weeks off as a means of cutting costs.
This would replace the current two weeks on/three weeks off practice that grew out of previous friction between offshore workers and their employers and which was encapsulated in an agreement forged about 10 years ago for a raft of reasons deemed sensible at the time, including four weeks paid leave, an entitlement now being revoked.
One is given to understand that the corporates driving the 3:3 agenda are Apache and CNR. It is said they are applying North American boot camp tactics; a style that simply does not work in Europe.
Trade unions Unite and GMB have claimed that their offshore members are overwhelmingly in favour of striking. RMT is poised to ballot, though officials have indicated there may be a more pragmatic approach.
Aberdeen-based Axis Well Technology Ltd. has become one of the first organisations in the oil and gas sector to be recognised for its commitment to employing young people.
The organisation was presented with the Investors in Young People (IIYP) accreditation yesterday by Scottish Minister for Youth and Women's Employment, Annabelle Ewing MSP.
The IIYP scheme is supported by £1 million funding from the Scottish Government.
Highland subsea training and trials facility, The Underwater Centre, has appointed Steve Cullen to the newly created role of ROV operations manager.
He joins the centre from Ashtead Technology and Subsea 7 where he took up similar training roles, with responsibility for ROV personnel's technical and engineering training.
Mr Cullen has worked offshore for more than 23 years in various positions from ROV pilot to offshore operations manager.
A helicopter has declared an emergency off the north coast of Scotland.
The Bristow EC225 airbus helicopter was flying from Aberdeen Airport for work in the oil and gas industry.
It is believed that a warning light came on forcing the aircraft to turn back to Aberdeen.
A coastguard spokeswoman confirmed they had been called as a precaution but later told not to attend.
North Sea firm Ithaca Energy saw its shares jump as much as 14% yesterday after it said it had increased its oil hedging to mitigate against lower prices.
But the company also revealed the sharp drop in crude prices late last year wiped £117million off its 2014 balance sheet, leaving it with pre-tax losses of £225million.
Ithaca, whose stock plummeted more than 27% in February after it announced start-up from its Greater Stella Area (GSA) project would be severely delayed, said yesterday it had 4,000 barrels of oil per day hedged at an average price of $69 from July 2016 to June 2017.
The London and Toronto-listed company also reported “solid” underlying cashflow generation and a 22% increase in proved and probable reserves to 70million barrels of oil equivalent (boe).
Oil giant Chevron is consulting with staff over changes to a three on, three off shift pattern.
The move is in line with a number of companies including EnQuest, Shell, Apache and Petrofac.
Unions have expressed concern over the potential changes suggesting they could risk the safety performance offshore.
A new centre that was created to speed up the development of technologies for the oil and gas industry has completed its first collaborative project, a year after receiving approval for start-up funding.
The Oil & Gas Innovation Centre (Ogic) acts as a matchmaker between Scottish Universities and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) who are looking to cut costs using innovative technology.
A year ago the Scottish Funding Council approved funding of £10.6million for Ogic, which formally opened for business in Aberdeen in November.
One hundred technology firms have asked Ogic for support since then — 18 projects are now being discussed, while four have been approved.
North Sea operator Enquest has told staff it plans to change the shift patterns of its offshore workforce as well as implement job cuts.
Staff were contacted yesterday to hear about the firm’s plans to implement a three weeks on, three weeks off shift rotation.
The company has also launched a 45-day consultation in an effort to cut jobs from amongst its estimated 500-strong North Sea workforce.
Aberdeen needed to attract around 120,000 new recruits by 2022 if it was to remain a global energy capital and capitalise on opportunities, according to PWC in 2013.
But more recently, industry reports tell us that oil and gas sector employment could fall by as much as 35,000 over the next five years, partly driven by an anticipated 50 per cent fall in UK capital spending.
However, research by EY into employment trends, commissioned by industry bodies and the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS), estimated that 12,000 new jobs would be created in the sector over the same period.
One thing is certain: over the next 50 years our planning could be improved.
One of the most common challenges listed by employers in the sector is the inability to effectively forecast and plan for resources, in terms of numbers and timing – let alone skill sets. To some extent, this has hampered our ability to grow our own talent.
Australian maintenance experts Vertech are preparing to take delivery of their first specialist vessel as the company’s diving team aims to expand into the North Sea and further afield.
The new 14.4m daughter craft, which will be one of a number built, is due for delivery in early April and will feature a three-diver panel and state of the art monitoring equipment.
The vessel has been designed for diving operations in 1.6m significant wave height and built to order in Cape Town, South Africa.
In recent weeks it completed sea trials to gain MCA category two approval.
North Sea oil and gas operators have committed to fund a new £60million search and rescue (SAR) helicopter service to help maintain safety standards.
It will supplement national SAR cover for parts of the Central North Sea.
Oil & Gas UK said Bond Offshore helicopters will operate the service, which was made possible by contributions from around 20 different companies involved in the sector.
It coincides with the launch of a new UK-wide search and rescue service by the Department for Transport next month at the same time as decommissioning plans for BP Miller platform, where the Jigsaw helicopter has been based.
Energy Minister Fergus Ewing will champion Scotland’s trouble-hit offshore industry on a trade mission to the heart of the US oil and gas sector this week.
There are still “huge opportunities” despite significant challenges, he said as he prepared for his trip to Houston to meet key figures from a number of companies.
The visit comes at a time when the industry globally has been hit by a slump in oil prices.
Aberdeen-based project management and engineering expertise will support a new multimillion contract group won by energy service group Harkand from Maersk Oil North Sea.
Harkand is to supply diving support vessel (DSV) services under the one-year deal, using its Da Vinci and Atlantis ships.
The contract covers well tie-ins, structure installation, piling, flexible flowline lay, flexible riser installation, pre-commissioning, riser recovery, decommissioning and general inspection, repair and maintenance work.
A trio of professional services firms are beefing up their tax teams in Aberdeen to help the oil and gas industry survive the downturn.
Johnston Carmichael (JC), Deloitte and Maclay, Murray & Spens (MMS) are all adding to their Granite City presence as they try to help clients prosper in the wake of the slump in oil prices.
Aberdeen-based accountancy firm JC has recruited Anderson Anderson & Brown tax partner Richard Britten to become tax director at its office in Europe’s energy capital.
Parkmead Group said yesterday it had “significant” cash available to take advantage of lower oil prices and continue on the acquisition trail it has been on since 2011.
The Aberdeen-based oil and gas firm, led by north-east entrepreneur Tom Cross, has already pulled off six deals since a refocusing of the business four years ago. It was previously an investment and advisory firm.
Announcing first half results yesterday, Mr Cross said: “I am pleased to report significant progress in the period to December 31, 2014.
“Parkmead discovered a new onshore gas field at Diever West, in the Netherlands, which delivered excellent production flow rates, providing an additional near-term cash flow opportunity to the group.
