Oil tycoon Sir Ian Wood, who carried out a review of the industry for the UK Government, forecast that the price could stay at around the $65 a barrel level “for possibly quite a long time, maybe two to three years”.
Oil and Gas Authority (OGA) chief executive Andy Samuel will deliver the keynote speech at today’s Oil and Gas UK (OGUK) conference. The industry leader, who was tasked with carving out the new regulatory body’s role in the sector, will discuss why the industry must simplify its current landscape and ‘ruthlessly prioritise and focus on the things that really matter – value and urgency’.
Nicola Sturgeon will today call on the UK Government to consult urgently on incentives to boost exploration in the North Sea. The First Minister will make the demand at the annual Oil and Gas UK Conference in Aberdeen. Figures show that North Sea exploration last year reached its lowest level in at least two decades, with 14 explorations wells drilled compared to 44 in 2008. The Scottish Government claims the Westminster Government has yet to deliver any follow up action after committing at the end of 2014 to further work on options for supporting exploration through the tax system.
Oil and gas firms need to cut costs by up to 40% a barrel to prolong the production life of the North Sea, a new report says. It urges energy firms to implement seven key tactics used by the aerospace, automotive, chemical, and rail sectors to lower costs and manage performance during hard times. The report, from professional services firm PwC and the Oil and Gas Industry Council, will be officially launched at the Oil and Gas Industry Conference (OGIC) 2015 in Aberdeen today.
The north-east can carry the torch for Scotland in the crusade to reduce unemployment among the country’s young people, Sir Ian Wood told the region’s fledgling jobs taskforce yesterday. Sir Ian, the former chairman of energy giant Wood Group, said the area was in far better position than other parts of Scotland to meet ambitious employment targets put forward last year in his commission’s report into youth joblessness. He added: “We are very lucky in this part of Scotland. In terms of prospects, we have got a whole bunch of youngsters, whether we call them technicians or tradesmen, who are 25 to 30 years old and they’re earning up to £50,000 a year.
Sinopec, the world's second-biggest oil refiner, is on the hunt for minority investments in U.S. shale oil and gas projects as it seeks to diversify China's supply sources, a senior company official said. The Chinese state energy firm is keen to take a 10-15 percent stake in projects to export liquefied natural gas (LNG), said Jack Yu, managing director of Sinopec D.C., which handles government relations in the U.S. Previous talks over investing in Freeport LNG's project in Texas fell through, he said. New deals, if they materialize, would come more than two years after Sinopec made waves with two big U.S. investments, spending more than $3 billion buying various shale stakes from Devon Energy and Chesapeake Energy.
U.S. regulators have given the green light for Royal Dutch Shell's proposed $70 billion acquisition of British rival BG Group, the first clearance for the biggest deal in the energy sector in over a decade. The two companies said on Tuesday the United States Federal Trade Commission (FTC) had cleared the deal. The deal, which the companies aim to complete by early 2016, will require further regulatory clearances from all the countries BG operates in, including the European Union, China, Australia and Brazil.
Bosses at a fish and chip shop have announced they will limit the number of oil and gas workers allowed in their shop at any one time, accusing the workers of “struggling to behave like humans”.
Rodrigo Toro, Isagen’s former chief financial officer, isn’t going to watch his old company be sold off without a fight. The 62-year-old engineer, who led a failed attempt to buy the Colombian state-controlled hydropower producer in 2013, is among a group that successfully sued to suspend the latest auction last month of the government’s 5.3 trillion peso ($2.1 billion) majority stake. The delay has left bidders from Canada to Europe in limbo on a transaction that could have highlighted Colombia’s potential as an investment destination and helped offset slowing economic growth. Instead, it has become a reminder of the difficulty of doing business in the Latin American nation, drawing attention to a legal and administrative system the World Economic Forum ranks below those in Guatemala and Honduras.
Mosman Oil and Gas has confirmed its preferred drill location at a venture in New Zealand. Well Te Wiriki-1 on the Murchison permit in the country's South Island is planned as vertical exploration well with an minimum target depth of 1,200m.
Sound Oil has been given approval for an environmental impact assessment for a permit covering its Dora and Dalla assets in Italy. The award covers the D503-BR-CS offshore license in the central Adriatic and includes the Dora gas discovery and the Dallas exploration prospect.
Northern Petroleum has been given approval on the environmental impact assessment (EIA) of three potential exploration permits in the southern Adriatic. The EIA approvals have been received from the Ministries of the Environment and National Heritage and are awaiting decree by the Ministry of Economic Development.
Air Energi has landed a contract with BP Iraq to supply personnel for its operations for the giant Rumaila and Kirkuk oil fields. The five-year deal is Air Energi’s biggest ever win in the region. The fields, which represent 40% of Iraq’s total production last year, are estimated to hold 20 billion barrels of reserves.
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.
Irish oil producer Petroceltic International said it sold its Romanian unit to GVC Investment BV as it exits high-risk exploration ventures.
Statoil’s growing Aberdeen base will be safe from the firm’s latest round of job cuts, a spokesman confirmed. The firm announced earlier today it would cut up to 2,000 posts, comprised of permanent and consultant positions, by the end of 2016. The move is part of the Norwegian operator’s robust austerity measures.
The development of a fully-fledged North Sea carbon capture and storage (CCS) network could boost oil recovery – as well becoming the most cost efficient way of meeting UK emissions targets, a new report says.
Aberdeen-based energy service firm LR Senergy said yesterday it has secured US and UK patents for a well modelling process it developed.
Statoil today confirmed it would cut 1100 to 1500 permanent positions by the end of next year. The firm cited standardisation for the decrease. "We regret the need for further reductions, but the improvements are necessary to strengthen Statoil’s competitiveness and secure our future value creation," said Anders Opedal, executive vice president and chief operating officer in Statoil. The firm confirmed a further 525 consultant posts would also be cut. More to follow.
The US has issued a permit which allows Shell to resume its oil exploration off Alaska’s Arctic coast. The permit, which approves Shell’s ability to disturb marine mammals, was granted in the wake of a Greenpeace protest targeting the company’s Polar Pioneer drilling rig. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration signed off on a permit which allows noise from air guns, icebreaking, drilling and anchor handling. The move is in line with the Department of Interior’s earlier decision which approved Shell’s general plan for its oil exploration in the area.
Tropical Storm Bill formed in the Gulf of Mexico, leaving Texas bracing for another round of flooding in less than a month. Bill, which prompted some energy companies to evacuate non- essential personnel earlier, has sustained top wind speeds of 50 miles per hour (80 kilometers per hour), the National Hurricane Center said in an 11 p.m. New York time advisory. It was located about 155 miles south-southeast of Galveston, Texas, moving northwest at a speed of 12 mph. Tropical storm warnings were in effect from Baffin Bay to High Island, Texas, the Miami-based agency said.
Thirty years ago, times were so tough in Houston that Steve Zimmerman introduced the Oil Barrel Special, a three-course lunch tied to the plummeting price of crude. He revived the special at his restaurant Cinq in January, in the midst of another precipitous decline, but there haven’t been many takers, about 10 a week compared with the 70 a day who used to queue for the chance to enjoy filet mignon for a steal. Houston -- known in some parts of town as the Energy Capital of the World -- has been doing just fine in this oil bust. “In the 1980s, there was a major crisis,” said Zimmerman, who’s owned the La Colombe d’Or hotel, where the special is now a dinner option at Cinq, for 35 years. “This is just a blip.” Houston, the fourth-largest city in the U.S., was slammed by the ’80s crash, when oil took a 67 percent nosedive in four months. Banks failed, shopping malls emptied out and foreclosures shot up. Tax revenue shriveled and the city fired dozens of sanitation workers, which led to a strike that completely halted trash pickup. Back then, 87 percent of all so-called base-employment jobs were tied to the oil and gas industry, while as of 2010 fewer than half were, according to an analysis by the University of Houston. That explains why Mayor Annise Parker in a recent speech called the 59 percent price-drop of 2014 and 2015 “just a pothole in the road.”
Algeria, Angola, Iran and Nigeria are interested in blending their light oil with Venezuela's heavy oil to get better a price for their crude, the president of Venezuelan state oil company PDVSA said on Monday.
Environmental campaign group Greenpeace says 13 of its activists have blocked Shell's Polar Pioneer drilling rig as it tries to leave Seattle for Arctic waters.