Oil major Shell has been handed an improvement notice by the HSE (Health and Safety Executive) after a gas leak earlier this year. The company launched an investigation in January this year after a suspected gas leak near to the Curlew FPSO(Floating, Production, Storage and Offloading) vessel in the North Sea. Shell has now been ordered to make improvements by the HSE following the incident.
Apprentices are the latest group to be affected by Bristow's job cuts.
Anadarko Petroleum has created a position to lead the global LNG side of its business. Mitchell Ingram will become executive vice president after approval from the board of directors. Ingram brings with him 28 years of experience in the oil and gas industry.
A director of Trinity Exploration & Production has stepped down just a week after the company revealed its chief executive would leave his post. The company said Charles Anthony Brash would be stepping down as a non-executive director immediately.
Equatorial Guinea has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with three companies to build a crude oil and petroleum products storage tank farm on Bioko Island. The Ministry of Mines, Industry and Energy said the oil terminal will incorporate a significant amount of crude oil storage space as well as storage for associated petroleum products. It will service the Gulf of Guinea region and facilitate the processing and export to consumers both in the region and globally.
Spend the afternoon strolling through Riyadh’s shiny shopping malls, or an evening at one of its luxury restaurants, and you’d never guess there’s an oil slump. That’s not an accident, it’s Saudi policy in action. Sharing oil wealth with the public has helped keep the Al Saud family securely in power as turmoil sweeps the region. When the revenue slows down, as it’s doing now, the kingdom’s rulers would rather run huge budget deficits than risk tampering with that bedrock social contract. Eventually, economists say, something may have to give. The International Monetary Fund predicts a fiscal gap exceeding 20 percent of economic output this year, and says at that rate Saudi savings would run out after five years. Standard & Poor’s cut the country’s credit rating last week. But for now, as it looks to trim project spending and payments to contractors, the world’s top oil exporter is making sure most of its citizens don’t feel the pinch.
Diamond Offshore Drilling said two contracts for a pair of rigs with Petrobras have been ended ahead of schedule.
FAR Limited said drilling has started to appraise the SNE oil discovery offshore Senegal. Three wells will be drilled back to back in a program estimated to be completed in the middle of next year. The company said both the SNE-2 and SNE-3 appraisals will be logged, cored and flow tested.
TWMA has been awarded two contract with Maersk Oil in the UK including on the Culzean development. The waste management and environmental services firm also involve continuation of provision of innovative technology across Maersk’s North Sea operations. The new work will also help create up to 20 new jobs.
The Norwegian Petroleum Safety Authority (PSA) has found a number of regulatory violations on board the newbuild production unit for the Goliat field development. The safety body made the findings after an audit of electrical installations on the unit for the project run by Eni in the Barents Sea.
The Scottish Government said new discoveries made by Apache in the UKCS could bring more investment, jobs and supply chain opportunities for the North Sea oil and gas industry. Last month the US explorer said it had made significant discoveries in the North Sea in both the Beryl and Forties field which could hold up to 70million barrels of oil equivalent. Apache also said two discoveries were made on two exploration wells in the Beryl area as well as further discovery 50 miles south of the company’s Forties field.
The outgoing chief executive of Wood Group has been named as the new chairman of Scottish Enterprise. Industry veteran Bob Keiller, who announced last month he would retire from the top spot at the oil and gas company, will take over from Crawford Gillies next year. Keiller had previously hinted at new opportunities when his departure was made public and said he had several business interests on the horizon.
Lotus Exploration and Production has signed a deal with ExxonMobil for a stake in the Sleipner field in the Norwegian North Sea. The company said the deal includes a 15% share in Sleipner Ost, Sleipner Vest and Gunge oraz Loke gas and oil deposits.
Sona Petroleum has agreed to buy the Stag oil field off the coast of Australia from Santos and private equity firm Quadrant Energy in a $50million deal. Santos had been looking to sell its two-thirds stake in the field before it put all its assets up for stake three months ago. Last month Santos had rejected a $5billion takeover offer in the hopes of getting better value from selling assets.
Ophir Energy has completed operations on a wildcat exploration well on the Soy Siam prospect after it came up dry. The company said well reached a total depth of 1,627metres and encountered primary Miocene reservoir targets on prognosis in terms of quality and depth. However all reservoirs were dry and no hydrocarbons were encountered and the well has since been plugged and abandoned.
Talks between unions and COTA (Caterers Offshore Trade Association) will be held today in a bid to reach an agreement over potential strike action. Last month both Unite and RMT members were balloted on whether to take industrial action. Offshore catering and auxiliary workers are in dispute with COTA after it said it would not be honouring the second year of a pay deal worth around 1.3%.
Noreco said its UK subsidiary has been served a notice of default under the Joint Operating Agreement (JOA) governing the Huntington licence in the UKCS. Earlier this year, as the company looked to restructure itself, Noreco Oil UK had agreed to sell its 20% participating interests in the Huntington licence. The process has since been cancelled as no acceptable offers had been put on the table.
Plans to build the world’s largest offshore windfarm off the north-east coast have been approved. Norwegian energy giant Statoil will erect five 600ft turbines tethered to the bed of the North Sea, 15 miles from Peterhead. The Scottish Government has today granted the firm a marine licence, allowing construction work on the huge structures to begin.
Ithaca Energy is busy getting its finances in order as it zeroes in on first oil from its Greater Stella project.
Statoil has issued a cancellation notice to Songa Offshore for one of its rigs.
OPEC will probably hold production steady at its meeting next month as the gap between supply and demand for oil closes, according to the analyst who correctly predicted last year’s rout in prices.
Shell has sold off parts of its global downstream portfolio in the wake of disappointing financial results.
Akastor confirmed it would continue to cut employee numbers, reaching an overall reduction of 33%.
A continued "optimism bias" on projects is challenging the industry to deliver on time, according to leading major projects experts.
The resignation of Israel’s economy Minister Aryeh Deri has paved the way for the country to develop its natural gas fields.