Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Oil & Gas

Markets

Petrol prices ‘must fall faster’

Petrol firms and supermarkets will be pressed by the Government to pass on the benefit of falling oil prices to customers filling up at the pumps. Treasury Chief Secretary Danny Alexander will demand an assurance from fuel companies and distributors that they are doing all they can to pass on the price cuts to motorists. Mr Alexander will use a speech in Aberdeen to warn people would "rightly be angry" if they felt prices were not coming down as much as they should.

Oil & Gas

Statoil suspends contract with Songa

Statoil will suspend its contract with Songa Offshore for one of its rigs following work on a well in the Oseberg field in the North Sea. The rig is currently performing plug and abandonment activity, and Songa said in a statement the work is currently ahead of the planned schedule. The rig is currently performing plug and abandonment activity, and Songa said in a statement the work is currently ahead of planned schedule. From this month, the rig will go on a 75% suspension rate at a cost of $279,000 per day until the end of this year.

Americas

Confident US shale producers think they can outlast OPEC moves

Saudi Arabia’s rivals in the shale fields from North Dakota to Texas aren’t flinching as the Persian Gulf kingdom wages a price war to reclaim market share and chill competition. The U.S. companies believe they have a lot more staying power than many of Saudi Arabia’s partners in the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, or OPEC. Several producers plan on increasing production. “Saudi Arabia is really taking a big gamble here,” Archie Dunham, chairman of shale producer Chesapeake Energy Corp., said during a telephone interview. “If they take the price down to $60 or $70 a barrel, you will see a slowdown in the U.S. But you’re not going to see it stop. The consequences for other OPEC countries are far more dire.”

Oil & Gas

Exova strengthens North Sea Hub with new Aberdeen laboratory

Global testing, mechanical and materials firm Exova launched its new laboratory at the ABZ business park in Aberdeen yesterday after a multi-million pound investment. The facility, which provides weld-testing and training services to the oil and gas industry, will become the newly-listed firm’s North Sea hub. The purpose-built testing facility connects a network of 11 specialist laboratories for the industry in the UK, the Netherlands and Italy.

Oil & Gas

Oil revenues ‘should flow to Holyrood’

A north-east oil and gas academic has called for energy policy to be fully devolved to Scotland with all revenues flowing to Holyrood. In a submission to the Smith Commission, Alex Russell argued the Scottish Parliament should also have control over the fiscal and regulatory regime for “all economic activity” both onshore and in the North Sea. Professor Russell, an expert in petroleum accounting at the Robert Gordon University in Aberdeen, said devolving more financial powers north of the border would encourage future growth.

Oil & Gas

BP to have third shot with Clair field

Oil giant BP is planning at least one more development phase for the huge west of Shetland Clair field at a likely cost in the range £6.3billion-£9.4billion. No clear time-scale for development has been set - it is is at the concept stage just now - but the current expectation is that phase three of Clair will up and running before the original first stage peters out by around 2028. The cost estimate is two to three times higher than the current phase two - Clair Ridge - development, where production is expected to start in 2016.

Australasia

Pan Orient sells share in onshore Thailand block

Pan Orient Energy has sold a 50% interest in its subsidiary which operates its L53/48 Thailand concession to Sea Oil for $42.5million including a working capital adjustments of $2.4million. The deal is expected to be closed by January, with a $4million break free payable by Sea Oil if shareholder approval is not obtained.

Oil & Gas

PM rues collapse of refinery deal

The collapse of a deal for the oil refinery in Milford Haven is “very disappointing”, David Cameron has said. But the Prime Minister insisted ties should not be cut with Klesch Group, which is also in the process of buying Tata Steel’s long products division. Mr Cameron made the remarks in answer to Labour MP Tom Greatrex who highlighted concern about the Swiss-based firm’s intentions given its record of “asset stripping”.

Oil & Gas

Third UK refinery shuts

A third UK refinery shutdown in five years will put hundreds of people out of work while making only a small dent in the estimated TWO million barrels a day of European capacity that must go by 2020. Murphy Oil Corp (MUR) will close the Milford Haven refinery in Wales after a sale to Klesch Group collapsed, ending a four-year search for a buyer and resulting in “significant” redundancies, the U.S. oil company said late yesterday.

Oil & Gas

Oil discovery made at Horse Hill-1

UK Oil and Gas (UKOG) said it has made a potential oil discovery at Horse Hill-1 although it failed to hit any further gas targets. The Horse Hill site, in the Weald Basin, sits just 3km from the Gatwick airport, and is thought to contain up to 87 million barrels of oil and a further 164 billion cubic feet of gas. The company said the well was successfully completed with a discovery in the Jurassic and has reached a total depth of 8,770 feet measured depth in rocks of pre-Triassic Palaeozoic age.

Americas

Keystone approval sought by Republicans who dare Obama to veto

A top priority for a Republican-led Senate will be to send President Barack Obama a bill to authorize the Keystone XL pipeline and dare him to veto it. While most senators support TransCanada Corp.’s proposed $5.4 billion Canada-to-U.S. oil pipeline, the Senate under a Democratic majority hasn’t held a binding vote on it since 2012. The Republican-controlled House has repeatedly voted to permit the pipeline’s construction. Advocates say the shift in the chamber’s leadership next year will give them more leverage in the oil-versus-environment debate that has raged since TransCanada applied for a permit in 2008. At the same time, Obama probably would veto legislation that requires approval, and Republicans are far short of the two-thirds majority needed to overcome a veto. “On issues like Keystone, Republicans will quickly try to bring up a bill and could send it to the president,” said Charles Ebinger, director of the energy security initiative at the Brookings Institution in Washington. “But I think the president will veto it. The president will be very hard on any bill that massively appears to be expanding the use of oil or gas in this country.”

Oil & Gas

Rose Petroleum pulls out of German shale licences

Rose Petroleum has pulled out from some of its German exploration licences, citing the current political situation, which it said remains “unclear” in regard to exploration for hydrocarbons. The company said its subsidiary Parkyn Energy has withdrawn from its Konstanz and Biberach exploration licences in Baden-Wurttemberg. It will now focus efforts on licences in the US.

Oil & Gas

Oilex begins production tests at Cambay 77-H well

Oilex has started production tests on the Cambay-77H well in India. The company completed a five day shut-in period to stabilise the well after it underwent 85 days of flowback production. The well will now have a 300 hour flow period and a 300 hour shut-in period where the data will be recorded and monitored, which could be extended depending on the response.

Markets

Neon Energy to merge with MEO

Neon Energy is set to merge with MEO Australia after it became involved in a takeover bid. It is hoped the move will reduce overhead costs of the two companies, from $8.5million to $3.5million per year. The company is expected to form with a net cash income of $37million and a board will be formed of the merged groups, comprising two directors from Neon, and two directors from MEO.

Oil & Gas

Russia-Ukraine crisis shields EU gas from oil price rout

The risk of disruptions to Russian natural gas flows through Ukraine this winter is protecting European prices from the rout that sent oil to a four-year low. U.K. gas for next quarter fell 13 percent since mid-June, less than half the 28 percent plunge in Brent crude over that time. While Brent is typically the benchmark used to set the price on almost half the gas supply in Europe, the Russia- Ukraine conflict, along with supply-and-demand fundamentals in the market, is having a bigger impact on gas prices than the decline in oil.

Oil & Gas

Ineos boosts shale “dragon boats” fleet

Grangemouth owner Ineos has leased two further shale gas ships, bringing its fleet of “dragon boats” to eight. The ships will be used to transport ethane fracked in the US to be processed at Ineos’ “crackers” at Grangemouth and Rafnes, Norway, in an effort to combat higher prices of gas from the North Sea.

Americas

Senior Petrobras executive steps aside in possible PwC resolution

A senior Petroleo Brasileiro SA executive cited in a corruption investigation took a leave of absence, clearing the way for the company to report earnings and debate a fuel-price increase. Sergio Machado, head of the state-run oil producer’s transport unit Transpetro, will take 31 days unpaid leave, he said in an e-mailed statement yesterday. The decision follows a refusal by auditor PricewaterhouseCoopers to sign off on quarterly results bearing his signature, said two people with knowledge of the issue. Petrobras delayed discussing a gasoline-price increase at an Oct. 31 board meeting where members disagreed about dismissing Machado, the people said, asking not to be named because the matter isn’t public. Petrobras will seek a 5 percent increase in gasoline prices at a board meeting today, O Globo reported today, citing an unidentified source.

Oil & Gas

Norwegian government ignores calls for industry tax breaks

The Norwegian government has ignored calls for industry tax breaks amid an uncertain marketplace and tightening budget belts. The country's oil industry, through the Norwegian Oil and Gas Association, had previously lobbied Norway’s government to pave the way for more incentive based tax breaks for increased-recovery projects in a bid to boost market returns.

Oil & Gas

Santos completes first major gas processing hub

Australian energy firm Santos has completed the first of three major gas processing hubs in its Queensland gas fields. The hub is now fully operational, as commissioning of Santos GLNG’s two other major processing hubs continues. It follows the delivery of first gas into the Santos GLNG (Gladstone Liquefied Natural Gas) pipeline last month.

Oil & Gas

Trapoil bosses formally step down

The independent oil and gas explorer Trapoil has confirmed its chief executive officer and chief operating officer have formally stepped down from their posts. As previously reported on Energy Voice, Mark Grove Gidney announced he was to step down from his position as part of plans to save the struggling North Sea explorer £1million a year. His resignation was joined by the departure of Paul Collins, chief operating officer, at the end of October. The company said a reduction in headcount and other overheads will have reduced its costs to an estimated run of £1.5million per year from 2015.

Americas

Shell oil accord signals energy shift for ICA

Empresas ICA SAB’s contract to supply engineering services for Royal Dutch Shell Plc in Canada is signaling to investors that the Mexican construction company is seeking energy projects abroad to cut debt and boost profit. Mexico’s largest construction company surged 4.6 percent in the past two sessions, the biggest back-to-back increase in more than five months, after announcing a $264 million contract with partner Fluor Corp. to build well pads for heavy-oil extraction at Shell’s Carmon Creek project in Alberta. The worst performer among Mexico’s industrial and construction stocks this year, ICA has tumbled about 10 percent, while global peers gained about 19 percent. The contract with Shell, Europe’s biggest oil company, will boost ICA’s net income and open the door for increased participation in crude projects domestically and abroad through the joint venture with Fluor, Monex Casa de Bolsa analyst Roberto Solano said. “This type of contract is like a key that can open opportunities to similar projects in the future,” Solano said yesterday in an interview from Mexico City. “Participating in this project generates a favorable scenario for the company when considering new projects in Mexico as the energy sector opens.” Mexico’s landmark 2013 energy law opens the country’s energy industry to private competition for the first time since 1938 to help stem declining crude production.

Americas

Technip wins petrochemical contract

Technip has entered a contract deal to supply its proprietary ethylene technology and process design package (PDP) for a grassroots cracker in a US-based petrochemical complex. The technology will be used for the proposed ASCENT (Appalachian Shale Cracker Enterprise) complex, which is currently being evaluated by Odebrecht and Braskem in Parkersburg, West Virginia.