Labour is attempting to tighten the rules on fracking to prevent shale gas exploration in protected areas such as national parks and improve environmental safeguards.
Shadow energy minister Tom Greatrex has tabled 11 amendments to the Infrastructure Bill to close what Labour describes as “key loopholes” in the environmental regulations governing extraction of the unconventional gas resource.
The amendments include introducing a presumption against development in protected areas such as national parks and areas of outstanding natural beauty (AONBs) and putting an obligation on operators to monitor and report “fugitive” emissions from sites.
Eni has started production of first oil from its West Hub development project in waters off Angola.
The field is currently producing 45,000 bopd (barrels of oil per day) through the N’Goma FPSO which is expected to increase to 100,000 bopd in the coming months.
The 15/06 development project was awarded in 2006, with Eni drilling 24 exploration and appraisal wells.
A challenge by BP over a settlement agreement following the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill has been rejected by the US Supreme Court.
The oil major had claimed the deal allowed certain businesses to get payouts, despite being unable to trace their losses to the disaster.
The court’s refusal to hear the appeal by BP means that it will have to continue making payments as it deals with the aftermath of the explosion four years ago.
Oil major ConocoPhillips has cut its capital budget for 2015 by 20%, the company said.
The reduction, to a CAPEX of $13.5billion, has been influenced by relatively lower spending on major projects as well as the deferral of spending on US shale.
Ryan Lance, chief executive, said: "We are setting our 2015 capital budget at a level that we believe is prudent given the current environment.
Soma Oil and Gas could be granted licensing award by the government in Mogadishu after carrying out seismic work with no security issues.
The company said results are expected to be published at the end of the year.
Following the outbreak of civil war in Somalia in 1991 the area had not previously been suitable for exploration.
Fears over Chinese demand combined with another decline in oil prices to trigger a poor start to the week for European markets.
A slump in export growth in the world’s second largest economy spooked investors, particularly as imports also contracted rather than expanded.
Iran expects oil prices at five-year lows will put “short-term pressure” on the government’s budget even as it strives to contain inflation, President Hassan Rouhani said.
Crude prices have declined about 40% from a June peak amid overproduction and slower demand growth.
The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries decided on November 27 to maintain its production target, prompting a drop in European benchmark Brent crude to less than $70 a barrel for the first time since May 2010.
Leni Oil and Gas (LGO) has confirmed its eighth Goudron-field well in Trinidad is ready for commissioning.
Well GY-671 has reached a total measured depth of 3,598 metres, been electronically logged and cased for completion as a C-sand producer.
A net oil pay interval of 244 feet has been recorded on the electric logs in the C-sand of GY-671 alongside two previously completed wells, GY-669 and GY-670.
EMGS (Electromagnetic Geoservices) has been awarded a $27million contract by BG Group for data acquisition work in Uruguay.
The work is expected to begin next week using the vessel EM Leader and will last around three months.
Empire Oil and Gas has signed a Letter of Intent (LOI) with drilling contractor Enerdrill.
The agreement is for the upcoming planned three-well programme at the onshore Perth Basin.
The company said one of these is planned to be within Permit 389, which hosts Empire’s Red Gully Gas and Condensate project.
Europa Oil and Gas has identified new prospects on two of its licences in Ireland.
The company said the discoveries had been made in the FEL 2/13 and FEL 3/13 licences in the South Porcupine Basin.
Further analysis will take place to provide a definitive prospect risking and ranking.
Worldview Capital Management, one of the biggest shareholders in Petroceltic, has taken legal action against the company for an alleged breach of its corporate governance agreement.
The company has also called for the immediate resignation of its chief executive Brian O’Cathain.
The move was taken after the two entered in an agreement in June this year.
Oilex has completed proof-of-concept objectives for the commercial development of the Cambay field in India.
The company said initial the key field results from Cambay-77H flowback and production tests were encouraging.
The sustained initial 24 hour rate during flowback was 2.03MMscfe/d, comprising 55% light oil with concurrent operations water production of 1,867bbls/d.
Enegi Oil has agreed to end a farm-in agreement with BSE (Black Spruce Exploration) in Canada.
The company said it the decision had been taken in recognition of the “problems” in completing investment for large-scale plans in the current climate.
It said the termination of the agreement would also allow for faster results and appropriate regional development in plays such as western Newfoundland.
Algeria will press ahead with its $90 billion investment plan in the North African country’s oil and gas industry even with crude prices trading near five-year lows, said the head of state-run energy producer Sonatrach.
Sonatrach will invest $22 billion in natural-gas field development as part of the $90 billion program for 2015-19, said Sahnoun, the company’s interim chief executive officer, said at the North Africa Oil & Gas Summit conference in Algiers yesterday.
Oil prices have declined about 40% from a June peak amid overproduction and slower demand growth.
Brent crude ended last week at $69.07 a barrel.
Oil and gas services firm Can Group has recorded a boost in turnover and pre-tax profits for the year ending December 2013.
The Aberdeen-headquartered firm, which provides engineering, inspection and trade services to the oil and gas sector, posted a 20% increase in pre-tax profits to £18.5million, from £15.4million previously.
West Texas Intermediate and Brent extended declines from the lowest close in more than five years amid speculation that US oil producers will fight OPEC for market share.
Futures dropped as much as 1.8% in New York and 1.9% in London. Explorers in the U.S. increased the number of operating rigs last week, defying predictions of a drilling slowdown, according to data from Baker Hughes Inc.
Brent’s 14-day relative strength index has been below 30 since November 27, a reading that signals crude is oversold.
Oil is trading in a bear market amid signs that US output is expanding even after the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries opted not to reduce its production target.
The rate of job losses across BP in the UK and abroad will increase after dropping oil prices intensified the company’s simplification plans, the oil giant said.
Some 15,000 of BP’s employees are based in the UK, while the company employs about 84,000 people worldwide.
BP’s finance director Brian Gilvary is reported to have said: “What you’ll see with this simplification plan is that headcounts are starting to come down across all of our activities in upstream, downstream and in the corporate centres - essentially the layers above operations.”
Staff working over the Christmas period all know how tough it can be.
These oil workers in Azerbaijan decided to make light of celebrating the holiday away from home by creating a tongue-in-cheek clip.
Watch the video below.
The boom in US oil production will live to see another week.
The nation’s crude explorers, engaged in a pricing war with the world’s largest suppliers, defied predictions of a drilling slowdown and ran the most rigs since mid-November, boosting the US count by three to 1,575, Baker Hughes Inc. (BHI) said.
Rigs targeting natural gas were unchanged at 344, the Houston-based field services company’s website showed.
Global oil and gas exploration projects worth more than £95billion are likely to be put on hold next year as plunging oil prices render them uneconomic, new figures show.
The shelving of developments around the world could put a severe constraint on supplies by the end of the decade, it is feared.
As big oil fields that were discovered decades ago begin to deplete oil companies are trying to access more complex and hard-to-reach fields, which in some cases are deep under sea level.
For over 20 years I have analysed oil price fluctuations. Why? Well, every country’s economic prospects and people’s jobs, yours and mine, are affected in one way or another by what happens to oil prices.
Life and death decisions, including continuing national sovereignty for some nations, hinge on the price of oil.
The current dramatic and fast 35% fall in oil price could be a pivotal moment in historical events. For example, will the oil revenue dependent Russian economy survive if oil prices stay at around $70 a barrel? If not, what action will Russia take?
A North Sea boss has warned he will shift investment from the North Sea to other areas of the world after being disappointed by the results of HM Treasury’s fiscal review of the oil and gas industry.
James Edens, vice-president and managing director of CNR International, told Chief Secretary to the Treasury Danny Alexander that changes proposed to the UK tax regime were not coming quickly enough to help his company.
At the presentation of the Treasury’s plan to reform the UK oil and gas fiscal regime, Mr Edens told Mr Alexander: “the speed of change here is too slow - you must speed up, you must accelerate.”
Cluff Natural Resources (CLNR) has been awarded five licenses by the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) in the UK's 28th Offshore Licencing Round.
The awards cover eleven blocks in an under-explored gas province of the southern North Sea.
They were given by DECC to the company on a ‘promote’ basis.
