US drilling contractor Diamond Offshore said today it would scrap two of its rigs after recording a 38% drop in revenues in the second quarter of 2016. The Houston-based firm said Ocean Quest and Ocean Star would be retired, while two others would be cold stacked to keep costs down. Diamond made the decision at a time when offshore drilling is in the doldrums due to high costs and low crude prices.
EnerMech is working on a £5million contract to prepare the Glen Lyon FPSO for delivering first oil from BP’s Quad 204 project, the mechanical engineering group said today. Quad 204 involves redeveloping the Schiehallion and Loyal fields, 110 miles west of Shetland, with the intention squeezing another 450million barrels from them. Glen Lyon, which is 885ft long and 170ft wide, is expected to process 130,000 barrels of oil and 220 million cubic feet of gas per day when production starts.
Ecosse Subsea Systems (ESS) has doubled its workload on a Baltic Sea wind farm project, the Banchory-based engineering firm said today. Italian company Prysmian Group last year subcontracted ESS to carry out pre-cut seabed trenching for Wikinger, a planned 70-turbune wind farm off Germany. ESS has now agreed to take on the route clearance and seabed preparation work on the Wikinger development, which has been led by Spain’s Iberdrola since 2010.
Better technology could be behind an increase in the number of oil and gas leaks reported on the UK continental shelf (UKCS) in 2015, according to new research. In its latest annual health and safety report, Oil and Gas UK (OGUK) said the number of offshore hydrocarbon releases went up by 9% last year. But the industry body said the rise was largely made up of minor incidents, as the frequency of major leaks was flat.
A north-east mechanical engineer is fine-tuning his passion for building and repairing cars and motorbikes, including Harley Davidsons, after losing his job in oil and gas. Petrol head Adam Grozier suffered the same fate as thousands of other people in the region in March when he was laid off by a US oil service firm. After a career in the sector spanning 25 years, most of which was spent working in Russia, Mr Grozier decided the time was ripe to set up his own company.
US energy giant ExxonMobil yesterday revealed a 59% drop in second quarter earnings, blaming low crude prices and weak returns from refining. ExxonMobil, which has an interest in about 40 producing North Sea oil and gas fields, said its global upstream earnings slumped 82% year-on-year to $294million (£223million) during the three months. Downstream earnings came to £625million, down £516million from the second quarter of 2015.
A London-headquartered offshore drilling contractor has agreed to rent out two of its rigs to a customer in the Middle East for another three years in a deal worth $225million (£170million). Saudi Aramco has been leasing Seadrill’s AOD I and AOD II jack-up rigs since 2013. In line with the new agreement, Saudi Aramco will keep hold of the platforms until summer 2019.
Independent Oil and Gas (IOG) today announced the appointment of a new chairman with a wealth of industry experience – and confirmed drilling of the North Sea Skipper discovery had started. David Peattie, whose career includes a 33 year spell at BP, will take over the chairmanship from chief executive Mark Routh, who had held the role on an interim basis. Mr Peattie held a number of senior positions at BP, and for a time ran the office of Lord Browne, the oil major’s former CEO.
An overtime ban by disgruntled offshore workers has left a number of employees marooned on Shell’s Brent Alpha platform in the North Sea. Following the firm’s second quarter results announcement, Shell chief executive Ben van Beurden said the company had “seen difficulties with logistics” relating to helicopter transport, but did not elaborate. A spokesman for Shell later said an aircraft scheduled to pick up workers on Alpha was unable to land due to a shortage of available helideck operatives, and had to return to Sumburgh
A number of oil and gas companies with North Sea operations have revealed the impact of low crude prices on their trading in recent months. Shell chief executive Ben van Beurden said the firm is “enjoying” the benefits of recent efforts to get its North Sea business in shape, but declined to rule out additional job losses. Speaking after Shell reported a 72% drop in second quarter net income to $1billion (£762million), he said Shell had done more to lower costs and enhance reliability in the North Sea than in any other mature basin.
The boss at Royal Dutch Shell (LON: RDSB) said today that the firm is “enjoying” the benefits of recent efforts to get its North Sea business in shape, but declined to rule out additional job losses. Shell chief executive Ben van Beurden said the company had done more to lower costs and enhance reliability in the North Sea than in any other mature basin. Speaking after Shell reported a 72% drop in second quarter earnings, Mr van Beurden said the companies’ North Sea portfolio was “contributing” in the face of “tough” economic conditions.
The UK’s oil and gas industry regulator today launched the 29th offshore licensing round with blocks in a number of “under-explored, frontier areas” up for grabs. In total, 1,261 blocks have been made available during the round, which will be open to applications until 2pm on October 26. The competition will give the Oil and Gas Authority (OGA) a clearer picture of the merits of a seismic survey programme carried out last year using £20million of UK Government funds.
Victoria Oil and Gas has hit a major milestone in its onshore gas project in Cameroon, the UK-listed explorer said yesterday. The subsidiary of Victoria which owns a 60% stake in the Logbaba gas project has recouped the initial exploration costs it provided to get the ball rolling on the development. Subsidiary Gaz du Cameroun (GAC) had been receiving 100% of the revenues from Logbaba to cover the outlay on exploration, whilst contributing 60% to operating and capital costs.
A Belgian challenger to the North Sea’s top three helicopter operators is less than a month away from completing work on a new passenger terminal in Aberdeen. NHV started transporting workers from Aberdeen International Airport (AIA) to North Sea installations at the start of 2016 as part of a contract with Chevron. Since then, NHV has been operating out of its new hanger at AIA, while work on its passenger terminal has been on-going.
A Californian energy firm has provisionally agreed to take over a rival in a $41.5million (£31.6million) transaction, according to media reports. Bosses at Royale Energy said they expected the deal for Matrix Oil Corporation to go through before the end of 2016, subject to approval from regulators and shareholders. Royale is an independent exploration and production company with its main operations in the Sacramento and San Joaquin basins in California.
Saudi Basic Industries Corp (Sabic), one of the world's largest petrochemicals groups, said on Monday it is studying launching a jointly-owned petrochemicals complex with an affiliate of US firm Exxon Mobil (NYSE: XOM). The project will be on the US's Gulf Coast, possibly in Texas or Louisiana, and will include a production facility which will supply ethylene to other units to produce ethylene derivatives, Sabic said in the statement. The two parties will conduct studies and work with state and local officials to help identify a potential site with adequate infrastructure access before making a final investment decision, said Sabic.
The boss of Shell has told investors that the uncertainty created by the Brexit referendum result could delay the firm’s divestment plans, a news report said. Shell chief executive Ben van Beurden set out plans to sell more than £20billion worth of assets over the next two years following the oil major’s takeover of rival firm BG Group earlier this year. Mr van Beurden has also said the company is mulling the sale of ageing assets in the North Sea, but would not exit the UK continental shelf completely.
Shell will scoop up the tax breaks on redundancy payments that had been available to departing workers, a news report said yesterday. So-called foreign service relief allows UK workers who have spent parts of their careers abroad to reclaim some of the tax due on severance pay, but Shell has moved to claim the money instead, Reuters reported. According to the report, which cites internal documents from Shell, the company introduced the policy on April 1.
Green lobbyists and politicians yesterday accused Shell of shirking its environmental responsibilities with its plans to leave the gigantic legs of its Brent field platforms in the North Sea. Mark Ruskell, Scottish Greens MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, said the Brent field had generated millions for Shell and its shareholders and should be left in the same condition in which it was found. On Monday, Shell said it would recommend leaving the 300,000 tonne legs from three of the field’s four platforms in place, along with storage cells, the lower section of the Alpha platform’s jacket, drill cuttings and heavier pipelines entrenched in the seabed.
The oil and gas investment company led by entrepreneur Algy Cluff is undervalued by almost £40million, a new report says. Cluff Natural Resources’ (CNR) current market capitalisation, which denotes the value of its outstanding shares, is £3.2million, according to the London Stock Exchange. The Aim-listed company’s shares, which reached 4.4p at one point last July, currently sit at 1.2p.
A north-east back deck systems maker has deployed a piece of rental kit it rescued from Ceona Offshore, which went bust late last year. Maritime Developments initially delivered the 400-tonne reel drive system to Ceona in mid-2014, but agreed to buy it back from administrators at an auction after the stricken subsea engineering contractor folded. Maritime, which has bases in Aberdeen, Peterhead and the US, wrapped up the deal in March before swiftly putting the system to work on its first ever mission, installing risers and umbilicals in the UK continental shelf.
Shell (LON: RDSB) plans to leave platform legs, storage cells and entrenched pipelines in the North Sea at the end of its multi-billion pound Brent decommissioning campaign, the oil major said yesterday. Duncan Manning, Shell’s business opportunity manager on Brent Decommissioning, said the removal of certain items of subsea infrastructure was potentially dangerous for workers and had little merit for the environment. On the back of years of research and consultation, the firm is preparing to submit its recommendations to the Department of Energy Change (DECC) by the end of the year.
Two law firms with operations in Aberdeen managed to grow their revenues in 2015/16, they revealed today. Pinsent Masons recorded global turnover of £382.3million in the year to April 30, 2016, up 5.5% on the previous 12 months. The firm’s profits per partner increased by 2.3% to £550,000.
The boss at Royal Dutch Shell has reportedly said further job losses could “absolutely” take place at the company. Shell chief executive Ben van Beurden said in an interview with the Sunday Telegraph cuts were always a possibility in the absence of large deals being struck. Shell is axing about 12,500 roles this year due to a combination of low oil prices and its takeover of BG Group.
Two north-east electrical engineers are celebrating one of their biggest contract wins since ditching oil and gas careers to set up their own company in Aberdeenshire. Stuart Munro and Jim Middleton founded i-Protech Technology in October after becoming disillusioned with the energy sector. Their business, which specialises in electrical and security services, has been growing quickly and has worked for a range of businesses in Aberdeen city and shire.
