French oil major Total is reportedly selling its stake in the North Sea Laggan-Tormore oil and gas field as it seeks to shed assets after a steep fall in oil prices. According to banking sources, Total hopes to get up to £1billion for its 80% operating stake in the field, located about 78 miles north-west of Shetland.
Europe’s biggest oil companies are gaining support from an unlikely source as they confront the industry’s worst slump since the financial crisis: lower oil prices. Although better known for their oil fields, refineries, and petrol stations, BP, Royal Dutch Shell and Total are also the world’s biggest oil traders.
Subsea 7 boss Jean Cahuzac had his pay cut by more than half during the year the oil service giant booked hefty losses. The French national saw his pay, including base salary, bonus and benefits-in-kind, fall to just £798,000 from £1.7million in 2013.
An explosion has killed three people and injured one at an oil and gas field in west Texas, well owner Parsley Energy said yesterday. America's Occupational Safety and Health Administration said it was investigating the disaster about 50 miles south of Midland.
A shale company has decided it will not appeal against decisions to refuse planning permission to explore for oil and gas at two sites. Celtique Energie had applied to drill a temporary well to test for oil and gas in the South Downs National Park, near the village of Fernhurst, West Sussex, but the application was turned down in September last year.
Greenpeace has appealed to Britain's transparency watchdog, the Information Commissioner, over the UK Government’s "repeated refusal" to publish the full version of a heavily redacted report on the impacts of fracking. The environmental campaigners want ministers to release the report in full before a crucial vote by Lancashire authorities on whether to allow shale firm Cuadrilla to frack in the area.
After taking a battering from the crash in crude prices, Europe’s oil and gas producers are gaining some relief from the relentless slide in the euro. France’s Total, Italy’s En and Repsol of Spain will benefit most from earning revenue from oil and gas sales in US dollars, the industry’s dominant currency, while paying a large chunk of salaries, rent and other costs in euros, according to data compiled by Bloomberg Intelligence.
Onshore US oil and gas exploration and production company Northcote outlined its hopes for Mexico as it announced the appointment of a full time executive vice president for operations in the country. Mexico has recently reopened its vast energy sector to international companies.
The pilots of a solar-powered aircraft on an historic round-the-world journey say they want the people of India to support their campaign for clean energy to save the global environment. Bertrand Piccard and Andre Borschberg spoke to reporters in the western Indian city of Ahmadabad a day after Mr Piccard flew the single-seat plane there from Muscat, Oman.
Subsea 7 has refused to say if more jobs will go across its global operations after it revealed 1,000 were shed in 2014. The energy service giant is also reducing its fleet capability by 10 vessels over a two-year period as it continues to look for ways to slash costs in the wake of the big drop in oil prices.
Australian oil and gas, upstream exploration company Global Petroleum today reports a widening of first half pre-tax losses to £1.54million. The latest trading deficit comes after losses of just over £1million a year earlier.
The largest new gas field to be discovered in the southern North Sea for 25 years is expected to lead to an economic boost across the east of England and a“massive benefit for UK industry". Gas will start flowing into Bacton later this year from the Cygnus field, one of the biggest projects in the southern North Sea for years.
Dutch communities rattled by earthquakes are upending Europe’s energy market. Towns in the northern province of Groningen sit atop the continent’s biggest gas field, where the Dutch government says exploration by oil and gas majors Royal Dutch Shell and ExxonMobil has triggered 196 earthquakes since 2013, damaging buildings and making home sales difficult.
US "fast track" power firm APR Energy has commissioned a 20 megawatt (MW) expansion of its generation plant in Myanmar. The Jacksonville, Florida-based company said the investment would provide the Myanmar Electric Power Enterprise with a guaranteed minimum of 102MW of power generation.
Tullow Oil's first well drilled in the large North Turkana basin in Kenya has not encountered any significant oil or gas, the London-listed company said today. But exploration director Angus McCoss said the Africa-focused firm still had a "vast amount" of undrilled acreage with identified prospects and leads providing significant remaining exploration potential.
The US has removed sanctions against state-owned Belarussian energy company Belorusneft, Washington said today. The sanctions were imposed in 2011 because of the company's involvement in Iran.
Aberdeenshire-based Eland Oil and Gas, a production, development and exploration company operating in west Africa, with a principal focus on Nigeria, said today it was benefiting from a share of 3,100 barrels of oil per day from the Opuama field. Total output from the Nigerian asset includes 1,395 barrels a day for Eland's joint-venture, Elcrest Exploration and Production.
The Scottish Government’s energy jobs taskforce is “delivering the goods” for energy workers made redundant by the recent slump in oil prices, MSPs have been told.
Oil and Gas UK's outgoing chief executive, Malcolm Webb, highlighted an "urgent need for regulatory and fiscal reform and improvements in cost efficiency" at a meeting with Shadow Chancellor Ed Balls today. Mr Webb, who hands over the helm of the industry body to Deirdre Michie on May 1, said: "The UK oil and gas industry is suffering from high costs, years of under-resourced regulation and a tax burden of between 60% and 80%, with the impact on competitiveness exacerbated by the collapse in oil prices.
Indian tax authorities last night slapped oil explorer Cairn Energy with a £1billion draft assessment order on a business transaction in the country seven years ago. In retaliation, Cairn said it has instructed counsel to fight the notice, which the Edinburgh firm argues stems from retrospective legislation imposed in 2012.
Staff from the Bank of Canada and Suncor Energy are among scheduled speakers at a Canadian parliamentary committee that will review the impact of falling oil prices on the country’s economy. Executives from Canada’s energy, finance and manufacturing sectors are scheduled to speak to the standing committee on finance this week.
The biggest slowdown in oil drilling on record is showing signs of reining in the US shale boom. American shale oil output is expected to post the slowest growth in more than four years in April, the country's Energy Information Administration (EIA) said.
Aberdeen-based specialist container and tank rental firm Conserve Oilfield Services (COS) is investing more than £1.5million in new equipment to support international growth. COS, part of Centurion Group, rents out offshore containers, tanks, cargo carrying units and associated equipment and services for the global offshore oil and gas industry.
A Scottish based aero-derivative gas turbine firm has been named technology partner with Honeywell International. Peterhead-quartered Score Energy has secured the deal following efforts to upgrade Honeywell's DLE bleed valves.
US data group Verisk Analytics has agreed to buy Scottish oil and gas research specialist Wood Mackenzie (WoodMac) for £1.85billion. The falling price of a barrel of oil is thought to have led to a boom in consultancy services such as that provided by Wood Mac, as energy companies seek to trim operating costs and take a more strategic look at investments.
