A short time ago, I was at an event in Brussels, talking about the role of natural gas. And there was a gentleman there who didn’t want to engage with our industry at all. At one point he asked me if I was ashamed of my work and said that talking about the future of gas was just our industry looking for a lifeline. He is just one person who sees gas as a problematic energy source. Sadly, he is one of many.
Just five weeks ago, the UK Government left an almighty open goal for the SNP.
“If we are to successfully transition to the energy system of tomorrow, we cannot simply unplug from the energy system of today,” Adnoc CEO Dr Sultan Al Jaber warned the ADIPEC conference in Abu Dhabi this month.
There were some welcome developments during COP26, not least the deal announced between the US and China to work together to limit global temperature rises to 1.5C, in line with the 2015 Paris Agreement.
As COP26 draws to a close today and Glasgow bids farewell to international leaders, business leaders and global environmental campaigners, we have to hope that the commitments made over the last two weeks will be delivered in full (or exceeded) and to the agreed timescales.
As the host of the landmark COP26 summit, the UK has an important role to play as a world leader in tackling climate change. Our energy industry is no exception.
If anyone needed any evidence that decommissioning is accelerating they need only look at the BEIS table of approved decommissioning programmes.
Businesses are watching closely the outcomes of COP26 because decisions made in Glasgow will have a profound impact on their future, affecting what kind of activity will be possible, what kind of finance (if any), will be available and changing the value of assets currently held.
This week, the long-awaited COP26 conference finally got under way, bringing together world leaders to confront the challenge of climate change. But its outcomes, its ability to move the needle forward, is what matters to global citizens.
In case you missed it, World Mental Health Day was a couple of weeks ago and we saw friends, family, celebrities, and various organisations post their support on social media platforms, but how many actively encourage good mental health practices?
Removing, breaking, and recycling what we can of redundant offshore oil and gas infrastructure is a huge task but worth many hundreds of millions of pounds to those fortunate enough to win the work.
The First Minister committed the Scottish Government to join a growing number of world governments who have expressed the view that unlimited recovery of oil and gas is unsustainable in light of the climate emergency.
I didn’t want to revisit the UK’s carbon capture debacle so soon, but the decision to demote Scotland’s Acorn project to the second division has forced my hand.
“If we were to say from one day to the other that we close down production… I believe that would put a stop to an industrial transition that is needed to succeed in the momentum towards net zero. So we are about to develop and transit, not close down”.
Delegates from around the world are today arriving in Glasgow ahead of a two-week conference that will test the willingness of today’s world leaders to deliver on the promises they or their predecessors made in Paris six years ago.
Last week, Prime Minister Boris Johnson published the UK’s net zero strategy – a mighty 368-page document that attempted to outline how the country will move forward and achieve ambitious emissions targets, including the decarbonisation of our electricity system by 2035.
Employers have been urged to encourage and educate their workforce to get vaccinated, but to stop short of mandating.
On September 16, 1987, a historic event took place in my home country of Canada. The Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer was signed by 46 nations and territories and later ratified by all 197 United Nations members.
Today, connectivity underpins the everyday operations of the energy sector. Without reliable network connections, the lights go off. It's that simple.
The UK Government has announced its choice of the East Coast Cluster and HyNet North West to develop as the UK’s first Carbon Capture, Usage and Storage (CCUS) clusters by the mid-2020s. The Scottish Cluster has been named as a reserve project.
I’ve just received a round-robin email from Greenpeace calling on Brits to tweet Boris and kill off North Sea oil & gas right now.
Spiralling gas prices and shortages of fuel on the UK’s forecourts have brought into sharp focus the importance of ensuring policy protects the country’s energy supplies throughout the energy transition.
Extreme and tragic weather has brought the issue of climate change back to the spotlight, reinforcing why the issue needs to be top of the global political agenda.
As we approach the COP26 Climate Conference which begins in Glasgow on 31st October, it feels as if the oil and gas industry has never been more in the political spotlight.
Starting a new job during the pandemic was a daunting task, especially given the uncertainty not just in our industry but globally caused by the pandemic.