Union leaders have urged oil workers to back proposals from firms over new shift patterns. In a letter obtained by our sister paper the Evening Express, the GMB union has proposed to members that three weeks on and three weeks off should be implemented offshore.
Refiners in South Korea, the world's fifth-largest crude oil importer, have stepped up spot purchases this year, buying at prices depressed by an oil glut as they run their plants at high rates to catch strong processing margins. With the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and other producers keeping crude taps open in spite of soft global demand growth, tens of millions of unbought barrels have built up in floating storage sites and dragged down international oil markets. Still, the profit earned on turning a barrel of Dubai crude into fuel have held at $7.50-$9 a barrel this year - well above annual averages since at least 1997 - as crude benchmarks dipped to multi-year lows, sparking consumer demand for gasoline and naphtha.
Oilfield services company Hunting said it expected a 50 percent to 75 percent fall in operating profit for the year as it continued to reel under a drop in global rig counts and a weak oil and gas market. Hunting shares fell more than 7 percent on the London Stock Exchange on Thursday morning. The stock was the top loser on the FTSE-250 midcap index.
The Norwegian government has modified an original proposal on how to divide up stakes in the Johan Sverdrup field in the North Sea, giving Det norske a smaller stake than originally proposed, it said on Thursday. Sverdrup, Europe's costliest offshore energy project, contains up to 3 billion barrels of oil equivalent (boe) and could operate for 50 years. It is forecast to start production by the end of 2019. Four out of five shareholders, including operator Statoil, agreed in February on how to divide up the project, but Det norske disputed the agreement, asking for a government review.
Noreco has cut ties with its joint venture partners in Denmark. The firm confirmed it forfeited its licences and participating interests in the Nini and Cecile oilfields.
Integrated subsea services firm Harkand said yesterday it has adapted a support vessel to keep busy against the backdrop of the oil and gas industry downturn. The Spearfish craft has been switched from the Gulf of Mexico to the North Sea and fitted with a hydraulic gangway that provides workers with safe access to platforms. The vessel, which is on long-term charter Norway’s Siem Offshore, normally supports subsea construction projects, but is now supporting Premier Oil’s commissioning work on the £960million Solan project west of Shetland.
PR Energy has signed a year-long, $30million contract to provide a gas turbine power plant in Egypt.
San Leon Energy is one step closer to leveraging its Moroccan stake.
Mexico has outlined plans to auction 244 onshore and offshore oil fields over the next five years in a bid to recover one million barrels of production by 2025.
A Braskem SA shareholder sued the petrochemical company for securities fraud in a case tied to Petroleo Brasileiro SA, as litigation in the U.S. over the Brazilian energy company’s bribery scandal expands to customers. Petrobras sells naphtha to Braskem, Latin America’s largest petrochemical maker. The material, the main ingredient for making petrochemicals, is sold under long-term agreements between the two firms, according to investor Douglas Peters. Petrobras has been accused of involvement in a bribery scheme that has rocked Brazil’s economy and triggered lawsuits in the U.S.
The insurance protecting shale drillers against plummeting prices has become so crucial that for one company, SandRidge Energy Inc., payments from the hedges accounted for a stunning 64 percent of first-quarter revenue. Now the safety net is going away. The insurance that producers bought before the collapse in oil -- much of which guaranteed minimum prices of $90 a barrel or more -- is expiring. As they do, investors are left to wonder how these companies will make up the $3.7 billion the hedges earned them in the first quarter after crude sunk below $60 from a peak of $107 in mid-2014.
Fracking could reduce house prices, increase traffic and noise and damage the landscape in rural communities, according to a heavily-redacted Government report which has now been published in full.
Oilfield services giant Expro International confirmed it has shelved a potential £3billion IPO of the business as it revealed it raised £225million of new equity from existing shareholders.
The fledgling Oil and Gas Authority (OGA) has found a new home in Aberdeen just months after setting up shop.
Oil giant Shell was today fined over £6,000 after a diesel leak on board the same North Sea platform where two workers died 12 years ago.
Turkey and Russia's Gazprom are likely to finalise a deal on natural gas prices by mid-July, Turkish officials told Reuters, after Ankara warned last week it could seek international arbitration if they failed to agree. Russia, which supplies more than half the gas consumed by Turkey annually, has already agreed to cut prices by 10.25 percent, but Gazprom's additional demands regarding the Turkish Stream natural gas project are delaying the final signature, a Turkish energy official said. Last week, Turkey said it had the right to take Gazprom to international arbitration if there we no agreement by June 29. Ankara already has a case at the court against Iran, its second biggest supplier.
Royal Dutch Shell has been granted permission to develop the Appomattox deepwater oil and gas field in the Gulf of Mexico, set to be the energy giant's largest floating platform in the region. The Appomattox project, 80 miles off the coast of Louisiana, is expected to reach peak production of around 175,000 barrels of oil equivalent (boe) per day, Shell said in a statement on Wednesday.
Nortech Group has opened a new office in Aberdeen despite a recent market downturn. Managing director Bryan Bunn said the expansion was a vote a confidence in the city’s future.
A $400 million floating plant for changing LNG back to gas has sat idle off Indonesia's coast for around six months despite only being commissioned last summer, hit by faltering demand for the cleaner fuel as oil prices drop and the economy slows. The stoppage could stoke government worries over the strength of appetite for gas in Southeast Asia's largest economy, another blow to the administration of President Joko Widodo which has been pushing for greater consumption of the fuel to curb pollution and diversify energy sources. Tepid Indonesian demand also means more liquefied natural gas is likely to spill into regional markets, already struggling near their lowest since before the Fukushima crisis in 2011 boosted usage as Japan shut all its nuclear reactors.
The Obama administration dealt a setback to Royal Dutch Shell's Arctic oil exploration plans on Tuesday, saying established walrus and polar bear protections prevent the company from drilling with two rigs simultaneously at close range, as it had planned. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service issued Shell a permit which emphasized that under 2013 federal wildlife protections, companies must maintain a 15-mile (24-km) buffer between two rigs drilling simultaneously. The rule is meant to protect populations of animals sensitive to sounds and activities of drilling. Walruses have been known to plunge off rocks into the sea during drilling, putting some at risk. The animals are already at risk from reduced habitat due to global warming.
Ukraine said it halted natural gas imports from Russia on Wednesday after EU-brokered talks collapsed without a deal on how much Kiev should pay for its supplies and an interim accord expired at midnight. Russian gas flows to the European Union via Ukraine were unaffected. The European Commission said both sides had promised gas transit west would remain smooth, but it would not relinquish its mediation efforts until there was agreement. "From today, Ukraine is not getting gas from Russia. Transit supplies are as normal," Maksim Belyavsky, a spokesman for Ukraine's gas transit monopoly Ukrtransgaz, said.
Russia is set to strengthen its position as the biggest oil supplier to China in the coming decade with a planned second pipeline link to Chinese refineries, according to a unit of Fitch Group Inc.
Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari will delay selecting a cabinet for two months as he takes time to seek credible ministers to lead his government.
Wood Group has landed a $1millon deal with Origin Energy for a natural gas project in Australia.
Tullow Oil is set for a strong second half of the year after taking steps to cut costs and re-set the business. Tullow reduced costs in its European operations – disposing of its stake in Dutch operated and non-operated interests whilst actively managing its equity position and exposure to drilling costs in Norway across a number of licences. Tullow no longer holds any operated licences in the UK or Netherlands.