Amec Foster Wheeler subsidiary Qedi opens in Abu Dhabi
Completions and technology provider Qedi has opened its first office in Abu Dhabi.
Oil & Gas
Petrotechnics opens new training centre in Aberdeen
Petrotechnics has opened a new competency and training centre in Aberdeen. The company said the new facility will offer increased capacity to meet the growing demand for a range of courses.
GE Oil & Gas announces planned job losses in Peterhead
Energy firm GE Oil and Gas today announced plans to cut jobs at its facility in Peterhead due to low oil prices. GE employs about 130 people at the base, where components used in the oil and gas industry are made. The firm, which also has operations in Aberdeen and Montrose, did not specify the exact number of staff members it intends to lay off, or the amount of money it expects to save as a result of the measure.
Public support for fracking ‘falls to new low of one-in-five’
Support for controversial fracking has fallen to a new low, according to an official Government survey. Only a fifth of people (21%) back extracting shale gas for use in the UK, the lowest level of support since the quarterly public attitudes survey by the Department of Energy and Climate Change first quizzed people on the issue in December 2013. Overall 28% of people opposed fracking, with 46% expressing no opinion either way, the survey of 2,118 UK households found. But the level of opposition was higher among people who said they knew about fracking, with 54% of those who know a lot about the process opposing it, compared to 32% backing it.
Gazprom in talks with Engie on participation in expanded Nord Stream
Gazprom is in talks with Engie on participation in an expanded Nord Stream pipeline to carry gas from Russia to Germany under the Baltic Sea, two sources familiar with the matter told Reuters.
Pilots’ union says oil and gas industry is “haemorrhaging talent”
The UK oil and gas industry risks losing a generation of skilled fliers if action is not taken to halt job losses.
Oil industry slams terms of Brazil’s planned block auction
Terms for Brazil's 13th Oil Round, in which the government hopes to sell rights to 266 exploratory blocks in early October, "are the worst ever", the Brazilian Petroleum Institute (IBP) that represents potential investors said on Monday.
Nigeria should overhaul state oil sales to stop corruption, report says
Nigeria's new president should overhaul how Africa's biggest oil producer sells its state oil company's share of crude oil output to save billions of dollars in wasted and lost revenues, a report by an international governance watchdog said on Tuesday. About half of Nigeria's 2 million barrel per day (bpd) crude output goes to NNPC, the state-owned oil company. NNPC sells half that oil to its subsidiary Pipelines and Product Marketing Co for the country's refineries. The poorly maintained plants are however unable to process the bulk of the oil and over the years this allocation has devolved into a "nexus of waste and revenue loss," according to the report by Natural Resource Governance Institutes (NRGI), a non-profit.
Explosion hits Shah Deniz gas pipeline in northeast Turkey
An explosion hit Turkey's Shah Deniz pipeline carrying natural gas from Azerbaijan early on Tuesday but there was no impact on supply because the flow was already suspended for maintenance, a senior Turkish energy official said. It was not immediately clear what caused the blast, but it comes days after an attack by the PKK Kurdish militant group halted the flow in a pipeline carrying crude oil to Turkey from Iraq.
Venezuela’s giant lake of endless oil is a filthy, lawless mess
From the moment the diver in red nylon coveralls and blue Chuck Taylor sneakers resurfaces after replacing rusted pipeline on the bed of South America’s largest lake, it’s a race against time. Coated head to toe in dark-black oil, he clambers aboard the service boat, rips off his makeshift uniform and scrambles to hose himself down with a special compound to wash away the contaminants.
Statoil’s Peregrino field hits 100 million barrels milestone
Statoil’s Peregrino field has netted the Norwegian operator 100 million barrels of oil in just four years.
LR Senergy reveals north-east job losses, raft of new deals
An Aberdeen-based energy service firm said yesterday it is targeting opportunities in regions “less affected” by the low oil price after revealing 17 north-east job losses. LR Senergy said it was forced to cut costs after many of the projects it expected to win were postponed of abandoned amid the energy sector downturn. The firm laid off 37 members of its global workforce in the first quarter of the year, 17 of whom were based in the north-east, while 10 to 15 employees were transferred to operations outside the UK.
Bourbon Orca: Definitely ‘out of the box’
Ten years ago, Bourbon became the first offshore support vessel operator to take on a radical new design developed by Ulstein of Norway. The bull-nosed beast with its easy lined and fairly slim hull was known as the X-Bow design and the first of the class, Bourbon Orca, was delivered in 2006. Its front end was then and remains curiously reminiscent of ancient vessel types such as Roman merchant ships and the Italian trabaccolo, of which a few examples remain extant. In August 2006, Energy reported: “Norway has again demonstrated its ability to come up with a radical offshore support vessel design that could prove a major step forward, both operationally and in terms of safety.
Norwegian traffic grinds to a halt as Mariner structure makes journey
This image shows the largest structure of the Mariner subsea scope holding up traffic in Norway as it was transported from the fabrication yard. The subsea structure, which stands four metres high and 16 metres long, weighs 130 tonnes equivalent to the weight of 10 S-92 helicopters.
CHC to consult staff over 50 North Sea job losses
CHC Helicopter has entered into a consultation process with staff over job losses as it looks to streamline costs. The company said a number of positions are likely to be affected including pilots, engineering and support staff. The news comes after Bristow announced it was in consultation over job reductions.
Noble Energy posts losses despite rise in oil and gas sales
Noble Energy posted a $109million loss in the second quarter of the year despite increased sales of oil and natural gas. The company said it expects it will be increasing production throughout the rest of the year but it is likely to be at an increasingly cheaper cost. Noble has posted second quarter profits of $101million down 68% from the $323million the company had earned the same time last year.
NOC engineer shot dead in Iraq
A senior official working for Iraq’s North Oil Company (NOC) has been shot dead – just a month after his predecessor at the state-run firm was killed. The chief engineer, Saad Ali Hussain, had been driving to his office in the city of Kirkuk when he was attacked.
GMB urges Unite and OCA to agree offshore worker pay deal
The GMB trade union has urged its counterpart, Unite, and North Sea industry chiefs to return to the negotiating table and hammer out a pay deal for offshore workers. The appeal follows yesterday’s announcement from GMB that its offshore members had voted to accept the same offer from employers that Unite members rejected last week. It is understood there was a clear majority from GMB in favour of accepting the offer from the Offshore Contractors Association (OCA), which has 10 full members including Petrofac, Wood Group PSN and Stork.
Romania indicts Lukoil’s Petrotel refinery for money laundering
Romanian prosecutors have indicted Russia's Petrotel Lukoil refinery in Romania and its director-general, who is a Russian citizen, in a 2 billion euro criminal probe, prosecutors said in a statement on Monday.
Industry body says UKCS production could be on the rise
Industry body Oil and Gas UK said production is set to rise for the first time in 15 years, according to provisional figures.
Lime Petroleum extends agreement with EnQuest Norge
Lime Petroleum Norway has extended an agreement with EnQuest Norge to acquire their 50% stake in each of the PL760 and PL760B licenses. The company is a jointly-controlled entity in which Hibiscus Petroleum owns a 35% stake.
Kerry meets Arab Gulf ministers to ease concerns over Iran deal
Secretary of State John Kerry is meeting Gulf foreign ministers Monday to provide assurances that the US commitment to the oil-rich region isn’t wavering after last month’s landmark nuclear agreement with Iran. The region is confronting unprecedented “circumstances and challenges,” Qatar’s Foreign Minister Khalid Al-Attiyah said in Doha, the country’s capital, before the talks with Kerry. “We are aiming to achieve security and peace and stability with the help of the US.” The nuclear pact Iran reached with world powers in Vienna has rattled Gulf countries skeptical about rival Iran’s atomic and regional ambitions. They worry that Iran will use the agreement to deepen its involvement in Arab affairs as sanctions are lifted and its economy and revenue expand.
Diamond Offshore profit rises on demand for ultra-deepwater rigs
Diamond Offshore Drilling, one of the world's top-five offshore rig contractors, reported a slightly higher quarterly profit, helped by demand for its high-tech ultra-deepwater rigs and a drop in operating costs. Demand is strong for modern, faster rigs because they are cheaper to run and can drill more efficiently for oil and gas companies, which have been cutting spending due to low prices. Diamond Offshore, owned 52 percent by New York-based conglomerate Loews, said on Monday that revenue from its ultra-deepwater business rose 72.8 percent to $315.7 million in the second quarter ended June 30.
Paradigm Flow Services completes work on Forties assets
Paradigm Flow Services has completed a deluge remediation and replacement project in the Forties field for Apache North Sea. The company finished the work as part of its service on four of the Forties assets. The team has been undertaking a variety of work to ensure the lifetime of the system including valve replacement work, cleaning drains and parts and then testing the system with air and water. Paradigm also completed hydraulic modelling to verify that all changes were accurately captured.
Greenpeace holds Titanic protest over Shell’s Arctic drilling plans
Environmental campaigners have begun a month of protests over oil giant Shell’s efforts to drill in the Arctic with a Titanic-themed orchestral performance. Greenpeace is holding protests outside Shell’s London headquarters against the company’s attempts to undertake oil drilling in the Arctic, which the campaigners warn could lead to environmental disaster and worsen climate change. The protests began with a performance of Requiem for Arctic Ice, an orchestral piece inspired by the famous story of the musicians continuing to play as the Titanic sank after it hit an iceberg, by the Crystal Palace Quartet and supporting musicians.