Despite its rich heritage of engineering ingenuity and entrepreneurial spirit, the oil and gas industry has been traditionally slow to adopt new technology. However, following the protracted downturn in recent years, this changed dramatically with companies much more open to collaborate on new technology and keen to embrace digital innovation in a bid to reduce costs and deliver ever-greater efficiencies.
In the world of geopolitics, it is remarkable how quickly a valued business partner can turn into the object of suspicion and candidate for sanction. The UK’s relationship with China now hangs in that delicate balance.
The EU recently produced a report addressing its strategy for delivering net zero carbon emissions by 2050 - Powering a climate-neutral economy: An EU Strategy for Energy System Integration.
Even in this time of great uncertainty caused by the Covid-19 pandemic and lower oil prices, corporate M&A and private equity investment in the energy sector is not dead.
As the UK begins to emerge from lockdown, there have been calls from business leaders and senior figures in government for ‘Building Back Better’ – an initiative aimed at ensuring the Coronavirus recovery plan prioritises climate change.
As someone who has previously run for parliament, allow me to attempt a typical politician’s response. Converting a redundant oil platform into a major Aberdeen tourist attraction is a great idea which I support. Or, then again, perhaps not. It’s definitely one of the two. There: that’s my bases covered.
For the oil markets, the first half of the year saw extraordinary swings in supply and demand, culminating in what is now thought to have been a staggering 22mbbpd of oversupply in April as OECD economies headed into lockdown and OPEC+ cuts dissolved. Demand fell to 78mmbpd and Saudi Arabia pumped an additional 1.6mmbpd, driving Brent down to under $10/bbl on April 21st and briefly pushing the WTI futures contract into negative territory.
Scotland will struggle to reach its net zero carbon targets unless Holyrood takes a swift and stronger grip on planning policy surrounding the deployment of taller turbine models, as well as a permissive approach to repowering of first-generation onshore windfarms with the latest technology.
The future of the energy industry landscape has long been up for debate, and the effect of COVID-19, combined with the dramatic global oil price crash and its detrimental impact, has brought this to an unparalleled level.
There has long been an easy way to monitor the health of the offshore oil industry. If the Cromarty Firth is hosting no drilling rigs, or only a few, then it’s in good shape.
In recent times, trading conditions have been exceptionally difficult for many of us, especially in the upstream offshore construction sector. The word “unprecedented” may be over-used but it remains relevant and accurate in describing the turbulent world in which we operate writes Aidan Thirsk, sales engineer at Zupt.
In between the Teams and Zoom calls, which now fill our days, and the odd webinar or two, it’s becoming increasingly evident that the oil and gas industry needs to have some serious conversations about value.
Nigeria’s federal government launched its long-awaited marginal field bid round on June 1, a welcome development but one that faces serious challenges, writes Mariah Lucciano-Gabriel, the head of commercial and business development at Asharami Energy.
The current collapse in the price of crude oil is the most extreme so far this century. It has already had significant impact on the oil industry, leading to some declarations of force majeure (examples include licenses and contracts in Iraq and the Gulf of Thailand). The question we address here is: what will the impact be on upstream producing countries? And more specifically, how should upstream countries react if companies approach them for fiscal concessions, citing marginal economics?
The German government has recently adopted a National Hydrogen Strategy as part of its commitment to become both a global leader in the energy transition and a market leader in technologies that support the wider ambition to achieve carbon neutrality.
When lockdown was first announced, Sentinel Subsea didn’t envisage that 15 weeks later, we would have developed and secured a field trial for our second well integrity monitoring system.
The development of drone technology is beginning to touch on a wide range of industries, sectors and aspects of life. Significant media attention has been dedicated both to beneficial uses of drones, such as unmanned aerial vehicle ("UAV") military reconnaissance missions, as well as the disruption which the misuse of drones can cause, such as the closure of Gatwick airport.
There has been a lot of discussion over the last 12 months about how the changes to Off-Payroll rules will impact the UK Private sector, and I have read with great interest some of the comments and foresight on what IR35 is and what it will mean to the UK contracting workforce.
I’m intrigued. Crown Estate Scotland (CES) investing in a business park where it is claimed the accent will be on green energy.
Here is a quote from The Global CCS Institute “CCS is a proven and well understood technology”.
Crown Estate Scotland’s (CES's) announcement of an offshore wind leasing round has caused great excitement around the Scottish coast, reflected in comments from communities standing to benefit.
How can the supply chain seize emerging business opportunities as our industry transitions towards a lower carbon economy?
Joanna Flint from Green Commute Initiative explores how active travel will be the key for commuting post- Covid-19.
This year’s Energy Barometer survey prescribes rapid change to avert future shocks to the UK economy and build moral authority for COP26, says Energy Institute Chief Executive Louise Kingham OBE FEI
Two years ago, on the 30th anniversary of the Piper Alpha disaster we wrote about the challenges facing the North Sea: the large, experienced operators replaced with new entrants to the world of exploration, production and operatorship, the tight budgets and contractor margins.