Global testing, mechanical and materials firm Exova launched its new laboratory at the ABZ business park in Aberdeen yesterday after a multi-million pound investment.
The facility, which provides weld-testing and training services to the oil and gas industry, will become the newly-listed firm’s North Sea hub.
The purpose-built testing facility connects a network of 11 specialist laboratories for the industry in the UK, the Netherlands and Italy.
Oil giant BP is planning at least one more development phase for the huge west of Shetland Clair field at a likely cost in the range £6.3billion-£9.4billion.
No clear time-scale for development has been set - it is is at the concept stage just now - but the current expectation is that phase three of Clair will up and running before the original first stage peters out by around 2028.
The cost estimate is two to three times higher than the current phase two - Clair Ridge - development, where production is expected to start in 2016.
UK Oil and Gas (UKOG) said it has made a potential oil discovery at Horse Hill-1 although it failed to hit any further gas targets.
The Horse Hill site, in the Weald Basin, sits just 3km from the Gatwick airport, and is thought to contain up to 87 million barrels of oil and a further 164 billion cubic feet of gas.
The company said the well was successfully completed with a discovery in the Jurassic and has reached a total depth of 8,770 feet measured depth in rocks of pre-Triassic Palaeozoic age.
Aberdeen-based training and consultancy firm ITB Competence Assurance has appointed a new assessor.
Michael Morrison will join the competency specialists with more than 20 years’ experience in the offshore oil and gas industry.
The Aberdeen-based organisation is one of a select band of OPITO approved competency and training specialists working with oil and gas clients worldwide.
Australian energy firm Santos has completed the first of three major gas processing hubs in its Queensland gas fields.
The hub is now fully operational, as commissioning of Santos GLNG’s two other major processing hubs continues.
It follows the delivery of first gas into the Santos GLNG (Gladstone Liquefied Natural Gas) pipeline last month.
Technip has entered a contract deal to supply its proprietary ethylene technology and process design package (PDP) for a grassroots cracker in a US-based petrochemical complex.
The technology will be used for the proposed ASCENT (Appalachian Shale Cracker Enterprise) complex, which is currently being evaluated by Odebrecht and Braskem in Parkersburg, West Virginia.
The offshore industry is due to be hit with a £200million bill over the next two decades to help pay for Aberdeen’s new North Sea regulator.
The UK Government confirmed yesterday that it plans to give itself new powers next summer to levy oil and gas firms in order to fund the body.
Ministers also revealed that the number of officials dedicated to overseeing the North Sea sector would rise from 59 at present to about 145 as the Oil and Gas Authority gets up and running in Aberdeen. The creation of the new regulator was recommended after a major review was held into the future of the offshore industry, led by the businessman Sir Ian Wood.
Just over a year ago, Statoil decided that it wanted to press ahead with redeveloping the Snorre field in the North Sea t o enable production to continue through to 2040 and perhaps beyond.
An evaluation of the “Snorre 2040” project had been carried out with examination of two development concepts: a subsea development with continued use of the Snorre A and B platforms or a project that involved a new platform tied in to Snorre A and B.
Iraq is now more violent than at any time since the bloody 2006-2007 insurgency period. The country experienced an average of almost 80 violent incidents a day between July and September. Hundreds, possibly even thousands of people are being killed every month and there are no signs that the conflict will rescind in the near future.
As violence continues to rage, the energy sector remains concerned with developments affecting Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) territory, as well as oilfields in the south.
International military assistance has bolstered the position of the Kurds and for now, this will act as a major safeguard for the region's interests.
A pipeline services specialist successfully isolated hydrocarbon pressure for 79 days while a gas valve upgrade project was carried out in the Gulf of Mexico.
TD Williamson (TDW) was originally asked by a major oil company to isolate a 16-inch gas riser, which was connected to a major subsea gas pipeline network in order to replace a valve in 2012.
However the network operator then asked for three additional valves to be installed, and a launcher extension was added to help facilitate inline inspection tool runs.
Independent oil and gas company Iona Energy has made changes to its senior management team.
The company, which has a number of assets in the North Sea, announced four new appointments.
Robert Gair will join the team from Trinity Exploration and Production as chief financial officer and Kevin Holley has become its corporate controller.
Foster Wheeler's profits have slumped with the company’s income down by half in its third quarter results.
The company announced its income from operations was $25.4million, compared with $48.9million the same time last year.
Shares are currently sitting at an individual price of $0.25, compared to a cost of $0.50 during the third quarter of 2013.
Seven wells are currently active on the NCS . . . six exploration; one appraisal. Four are North Sea, two Norwegian Sea and one in the Barents.
There are nine active development/production wells utilising mobile units in the sector, all North Sea. There are 38 units on the NCS . . . six on E&A duties and nine on D&P drilling. In addition, eight fixed platform D&P wells were operating as October closed.
Of the remaining 23 MODUs, three are stacked in port, including the XL Enhanced 2, which is a new-build; the remaining 20 are either mobilising between drilling locations or working on in-field operations.
“If you look at the assets that we’ve held the longest, like Thistle, the Dons where we have the (FPSO) Northern Producer, and Heather, we’re having a very good year,” says Enquest’s North Sea president, Neil McCulloch.
“We’re doing well on the regulatory side of things too; had inspections around our facilities this year . . . some of the oldest in the North Sea.
“While you never get an entirely clean bill of health, we’ve done very well with no prohibition notices, no improvement notices; just some support for the way we go about our business. It’s about doing simple things very well, repeatedly. And that’s a core value at Enquest.
Takeover talks for Salamander Energy are still ongoing, after the board of Ophir Energy confirmed it has sent a letter outlining its vision for a potential deal.
Ophir Energy said it there is a “compelling strategic logic” for the two businesses to work together.
In a statement the company said a deal would create enhanced operating capability in both Africa and South East Africa.
At the time of writing this article, the Brent crude oil price benchmark had fallen to $85 from $115 in June on concerns of abundant global oil supply and weakening demand.
Goldman Sachs, the international investment bank, earlier in the week released a price prediction of $80 for 2015 having reduced this from $100 previously.
Markets are spooked and bearish sentiment is plaguing the energy sector. Concerns are that the cost and operational challenges we have witnessed in 2014 in the UKCS, compounded with commodity price reductions, could spell a difficult time for investment and activity in our home market.
Irish explorer Falcon Oil and Gas has been awarded a shale gas exploration licence in South Africa’s Karoo Basin.
The company announced its application had been approved by the Petroleum Agency of South Africa (PASA).
In December 2012, the company announced it would be working exclusively with Chevron Business Development South Africa for a period of five years on jointly obtaining exploration licences.
Technip has been awarded an engineering and procurement contract by Sasol for eight furnaces at its ethane cracker and derivatives complex in Louisiana.
The award is for proprietary Ultra Selective Conversion (USC) furnaces which will be used at Lake Charles in the Southern state.
The company’s operating centre in Houston will execute the project.
Fairfield Energy has awarded a £4million contract to Can Group to provide asset integrity services on its North Sea Dunlin platform.
The Aberdeen-based Can has also announced international expansion.
The three-year contract with Fairfield Energy will be led by Engteq, the group’s integrity engineering division, that will provide services such as inspection management and data analysis, with Can’s operations division providing inspection execution and ancillary services on the pressure systems and structures.
The Aberdeen-based Can has also announced international expansion.
The three-year contract with Fairfield Energy will be led by Engteq, the group’s integrity engineering division, that will provide services such as inspection management and data analysis, with Can’s operations division providing inspection execution and ancillary services on the pressure systems and structures.
Businesses interested in offshore wind will have the chance to get involved in a technology innovation programme.
A seminar in Inverness will look at how companies in the Highlands and Islands can collaborate and tackle the high costs affecting the industry.
The organisers of the event are Energy North, the Carbon Trust and Scottish Development International.
Chevron's profits have risen for the third quarter income for the first time in three years.
The oil major credited refining costs as one of the key factors in boosting their revenue.
However the company did see a slight drop in its sales and operating revenues for the third quarter, pulling in $52billion, compared with $57billion last year.
The Press and Journal's energy editor Jeremy Creswell provides a preview of the latest features and analysis set to feature in the November edition of our sister publication, the Energy supplement.
A deal has been struck been struck at the China International Diving, Salvage and Offshore Summit for a new Cooperation Framework Agreement.
It was signed by the International Marine Contractors Association (ICMA), the Association of Diving Contractors International (ACDI), and the China Diving and Salvage Contractors Association (CDSA).
Songa Offshore has signed loan agreements for its last two Cat D drilling rigs, the company announced.
The $1.1billion deal is for the Songa Encourage and Songa Enabler and consists of a revolving pre-delivery financing of $90million per rig and a post-delivery financing of $550million per rig.
Following the announcement by Shell that production on the Brent Alpha and Bravo platforms will finally cease from November 1, Energy Voice takes a look back on its 40 year history in the North Sea.
