Two years ago, on the 30th anniversary of the Piper Alpha disaster we wrote about the challenges facing the North Sea: the large, experienced operators replaced with new entrants to the world of exploration, production and operatorship, the tight budgets and contractor margins.
As decommissioning becomes a significant part of activity on the UK Continental Shelf, more businesses are taking the opportunity to expand their existing offerings to include decommissioning-related services.
Notwithstanding a degree of stability during 2017, the “lower for longer” oil price continues to affect the industry, and while these pressures can be positive, forcing efficiencies and stimulating innovation, they also bring challenges, and at times disputes.
The UK Government published its new data protection bill and in doing so removed any lingering doubts that it would continue to uphold EU privacy rules regardless of Brexit.
Innovation has always been key to the oil & gas industry and recent years have seen some exciting developments, particularly in subsea technology. For example, autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) . . . independent robotic, programmable vehicles . . . have highly advanced capabilities so they may be more cost effective than alternatives, or allow access to previously unreachable areas.