Cost-cutting in Britain's North Sea oil and gas sector could lead to more acute skills shortages in future, industry experts have warned, with some expressing concerns that safety could be compromised.
A plunge in crude prices over the last 12 months has prompted oil majors such as Royal Dutch Shell, BP, Chevron and ConocoPhillips to lay off hundreds of workers.
Oil field services groups such as Amec Foster Wheeler, Wood Group and Petrofac are also in consultation with employees over job cuts.
Russian gas company Gazprom, a leading shareholder in Russia's sole liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant, Sakhalin-2, hopes to be able to answer questions about the plant's expansion next year, deputy chief executive Alexander Medvedev said on Tuesday.
Exploration and production companies should be driving the industry’s technology development agenda, according to new findings.
In an exclusive, industry-wide Energy Voice research project, dubbed Energy 2050 – Securing our future, nearly half of respondents said E&P companies should be responsible for ensuring the industry’s ability to invent, prove and adapt new technology.
But despite the call for sector-wide E&P leadership, the research also revealed the industry has yet to shed its historical “race-to-be-second” technology adaptation mentality, with the majority of respondents admitting a reluctance to be first.
A commercial diver has captured the moment a Shortfin Mako Shark leapt up to 10ft in the air landing on board a vessel in the Gulf of Mexico.
Nate Melnik, 33, went to investigate a noise he thought was coming from a jet pump when he spotted the 7ft Mako Shark had jumped over the side of the boat and onto the deck.
He works on a four-point anchor boat which is capable of diving up to 300ft on mixed gas.
A robust exhibition for the oil and gas industry in Houston saw firms from across the world actively seeking solutions that will cut costs in the face of the oil price crash.
The Offshore Technology Conference (OTC) – the world’s biggest oil and gas show – drew to a close yesterday, with several north-east firms having attended and a number coming away with promising business leads.
With nervousness about the effect of oil prices remaining low pervading proceedings, most firms pitched up to NRG Park to show off technologies and services that would make subsea oil exploration cheaper.
Derek Smith, chief executive of Maritime Developments, came out a few days before the show started on Monday.
The Energy 2050 survey finds a roughly even split between those who see oil back over $100 per barrel by 2020, and those who see it trading in the (albeit rather wide) range of $60-100 per barrel.
Less than 10% of respondents expect prices to track under $60 per barrel.
Not unsurprisingly in the current environment much of the focus is on managing through the next five years, rather than the long-term dynamics of the industry.
A particular challenge remains for the higher-cost and mature areas like the North Sea where there is a clear need to address the cost, technology and ownership dynamics, but where confidence in the medium-term pricing environment is key to making the additional investments that are required to take advantage of the opportunities that still exist.
“Crude prices drop by 50% confronting the oil industry with major challenges”.
Sound familiar? If you have been in this industry for more than ten years, you’ve seen at least one, maybe as many as five or six, major crude price down turns.
Is this 1985? Or 1990? Or1998? Or 2008 again? Some things seem to be the same but to me something feels very different as well.
Can recent history help us understand what comes next or is this a “new frontier”?
First principles first – crude is a semi finite commodity. As a commodity, it is subject to significant price swings dependent upon demand changes or supply disruptions.
Much of the past major crude price increases have been driven by either major supply threats or actual disruptions – some intentional and other complete surprises.
Ecosse Subsea Systems (ESS), based in Banchory, Aberdeenshire, has swooped to buy English firm MASfab in a deal which is expected to boost total annual turnover by more than £3million within three years.
ESS specialises in offshore engineering consultancy and subsea technology for the subsea energy and offshore renewables markets.
It said yesterday its decision to acquire County Durham business MASfab for an undisclosed sum was largely based on a reputation for “first class workmanship” on large oil and gas contracts.
“You can no longer solve the energy problem by ignoring the environment or solve the environment by ignoring energy.”
This was the sentiment of Business Opportunity Manager Bill Spence from Shell Upstream International as he spoke about the oil major’s
CCS (Carbon Capture Storage) project at All-Energy 2015.
He said there could be “no silver bullet” but that both the UK and Scotland – where the Peterhead Carbon Capture Storage project would be based – had begun to take an important lead.
Once completed, it would be the first full-scale CCS project on a gas-based power station.
Royale Energy has received permissions to drill 30 wells at Ballinger Oil Field in Runnels County in Texas.
Three of these wells will be drilled as soon as possible at the Ellenberger formation in the northern parts of the US state.
Applied Drilling Technology International (ADTI) has been shut down by its private-equity owner, with the loss of about 90 jobs.
Energy Voice's sister publication Press and Journal has learned from various sources in Houston that the sudden closure of the well-management business earlier this week came to light as it desperately tried to get placement transfers for at least some of its 20 graduate trainees.
It is not known whether the owner, Sun European Partners, is trying to sell what’s left of the business.
Norwegian oil and gas operator DNO ASA has doubled the capacity at its flagship Tawke field in the Kurdistan region of Iraq.
The 200,000 bopd wellhead, processing and pipeline capacity milestone was reached in less than two years, with 10 new horizontal wells and the construction of two early production facilities with a combined capacity of 80,000 bopd and the installation of a new 44-km, 24-in. pipeline.
International oil service firm Vertech is planning rapid growth at its new Aberdeen office in the next five years, with the aim of achieving £40million annual turnover from the base.
The Granite City arm of the Australian company is only a few months old, yet is already experiencing success in its targeted inspection, maintenance and construction markets.
Its growth plans were revealed yesterday by UK managing director John Marsden as millions of pounds worth of new equipment for the business arrived in Aberdeen.
Life might be tough in the oil & gas industry right now, but the chief upstream strategist at oilfield analysts IHS told OTC delegates at an OTC gathering that a staggering amount of new oil production was needed to meet forecast demand.
Bob Fryklund said that 50million barrels per day of additional production would be needed to meet projected demand by 2040 ... that’s about 55% more than today.
He said that it was possible to see about 20million barrels per day of that figure; after that it became more difficult to identify how the gap would be filled.
The oil industry must leverage the sector’s current down cycle if it wants to give itself a fighting chance for the future, industry leaders said at standout event at this year’s OTC.
It’s understandable, following a 50% drop in the price of oil between June last year and March 2015, that participants of Energy Voice’s ‘Energy 2050 – Securing Our Energy Future’ survey, expressed the ‘need to slash costs’ as the number one challenge for the oil and gas industry right now.
A renewables group focused on encouraging more women into the sector is looking for further funding options.
WiRES (Women in Renewables Energy Scotland) is looking at its next steps after funding from Close the Gap came to an end.
Dr Abbe Brown, from the Centre for Energy Law, the University of Aberdeen said more needed to be done to encourage women and people generally to take up STEM (Science, Technology Engineering and Maths) subjects and close the skills gap within the industry.
Global energy solutions provider Vergnet has set up a UK subsidiary as it looks to set up a British base.
The company, which s headquarterd in France, has installed a total of 28 wind turbines across the country.
The manufacturer of medium scale wind turbines will set up the base in Ripley, Derbyshire.
In a low oil price environment, companies face a difficult challenge; maintaining vital business relationships with clients and operational capability, whilst maintaining profitability.
Time is fast running out for energy companies to enter the first ever North Sea industry Gold Awards.
The deadline is tomorrow, providing a last chance for firms to take part in an event which could deliver significant rewards for their business, staff and customers.
The Press and Journal, in association with our sister website Energy Voice and title partner Aberdeen Asset Management (AAM), has launched the awards to mark a significant milestone for the oil and gas industry – the 50th year of the north-east’s involvement in the development of the North Sea.
Marathon Asset Management’s chief executive officer said debt of Puerto Rico’s public power utility is among the distressed-debt firm’s best investments.
“We think it’s a very high rate of return for Prepa,” Bruce Richards said in an interview at the SkyBridge Alternatives Conference in Las Vegas. “It’s one of the best ideas that we have in our fund.”
The cash-strapped Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority, known as Prepa, has been in talks with creditors to negotiate a plan to restructure its $8.6 billion of obligations, many of which trade at distressed levels.
The European's Commission's research and innovation programme Horizon 2020 has granted €17million in funding for the Clean Energy From Ocean Waves (CEFOW).
The five-year project is to research and develop the use of the Penguin wave energy converter, which was developed by the Finnish company Wello, in electricity grid conditions.
The multi-device test project will be carried out at Wave Hub in Cornwall.
