Response, resiliency and recovery
Short-term pain, long-term gain.
Opinion
Is carbon intensity a misleading metric?
It has been encouraging to witness many oil and gas majors sign up to the energy transition and net zero. Repsol, BP, Total, Shell and Equinor have all outlined their strategies.
Covid-19: How can something so small be so big?
It is amazing how fast things have changed. It is only a few months ago that I made my new year resolutions for 2020. Beaming with optimism and positive energy, I set out ambitious targets to ensure 2020 would be a year to remember.
Weakened supply chain may be stretched to breaking point
We are truly in the eye of a perfect storm. The double whammy of coronavirus and the oil price collapse, just when the oil and gas industry was starting to recover, is going to be incredibly challenging to weather.
UK fossil fuel subsidies exist – by the back door
Several months ago I joined many others in petitioning the UK Government to “convert fossil fuel subsidies into subsidies for renewable energy”.
Rise of the cleantech pioneers
It’s now 13 years since Al Gore won the best documentary Oscar for An Inconvenient Truth in which he warned of the stark perils of global warming. It’s also 13 years since John Doerr, the legendary billionaire venture capitalist, gave his famous Ted Talk in which he teared up as he warned about climate change and championed clean energy investment.
Green energy scheme needs a shake-up
Government consultations are 10-a-penny but a current one on amendments to the Contracts for Difference scheme, which subsidises renewable energy developments, is a potential game-changer in key respects.
Collapsing demand sets the terms in the OPEC+ battle for market share
Since OPEC+’s failure to agree on production restraint on 5-6 March, the implications of the Covid-19 pandemic have become far clearer, sparking a crisis in the oil market as prices fell and supply ramped up.
How we respond in a crisis defines us
None of us have been in a situation remotely like this before. The rules and the facts are changing daily and it can be overwhelming to try to keep up with developments.
Low oil price could have a significant impact – we must be more innovative
With crude oil prices sitting in the low $30s due to the impact of a global pandemic, the oil and gas industry will have to be creative in how it responds to the impact around the world.
Covid-19: Protect, survive and recover
Looking after the wellbeing of our colleagues in the global energy workforce during the coronavirus pandemic is, in a sense, business as usual for all of us at Opito.
Turning crisis into opportunity
The deep and fundamental impact Covid-19 is having on the global economy is unprecedented, however, the shared global conviction to recover will be fast, and we expect that businesses which can pick up where they left off when things are safe will do so quickly.
Decommissioning legislation mishmash
The UK Government recently published updated guidance on Oil and gas: offshore environmental legislation (20 March, 2020). It was a reminder that the OSPAR decommissioning regulations are not consistent with the UK’s Conservation of Offshore Marine Habitats and Species Regulations 2017.
Is long-term thinking the best way to address our current challenges?
The first quarter of 2020 was a salutary lesson in how quickly long-term trends can be disrupted by current events.
Forging the way ahead
I’ve been in the industry a good few years and experienced its ups and downs but the sheer pace of change we’re currently seeing throughout the UK calls upon every ounce of the skills, expertise and determination our world-class supply chain has to offer.
Can Aberdeen dodge another bullet?
At the time of writing the oil price has slipped below $30 and I’ve already begun hearing of potential job losses, real job losses and project delays.
Mitsubishi – Enabling greater use of renewables
Hydrogen is building momentum as a key energy carrier in the global effort to reach net-zero CO₂ emissions by 2050.
Help at hand for making tough decisions amid volatile markets
The double whammy of the Covid-19 pandemic and the effects of the Opec+ price war is presenting what is rapidly becoming the upstream oil and gas sector’s biggest challenge to date.
Covid-19 and cap scrap put our industry under threat
A toxic cocktail of the Covid-19 outbreak and an act of self-sabotage by two of the world’s biggest oil nations has created unprecedented and overwhelming currents for the oil and gas industry to swim against.
Pain won’t last forever
While some predicted it, most of us never saw it coming. The uncertainty and pace of change in the upstream sector over the past month has been spectacular and has turned businesses and our lives upside down.
Oil and Gas: Holding your nerve?
Investing in capital markets is, speculators aside, a long- term play. When times are good investors can relax and take pleasure in their investment prowess; when times are bad investors need to remind themselves, they are in for the long term, and play to the fundamentals.
Layoffs, furloughing & redundancies: Advice for energy employers facing tough workforce decisions
With offshore companies in the North Sea already reporting substantial cutbacks in staffing, employers should carefully consider all of their options for contractual and temporary solutions to see them through the crisis, as employment solicitor Paida Dube explains.
Covid-19: Not everyone’s working from home
The burden of the COVID-19 pandemic weighs heavily on us all.
Upstream oil and gas in an uncertain world
Green shoots in the oil and gas market predicted at the start of 2020 have fallen by the wayside. It was meant to be the year when the industry, particularly in Europe, got serious about ESG credentials and planning for a carbon free future.
Net-zero energy: How oil and gas fits in
‘Put a tiger in your tank.’ - The public face of oil and gas looks very different today from the end of the last century, when this popular slogan reappeared. In the past messaging has laid the blame for manmade climate change at the feet of the oil and gas sector. As an industry we have never shied away from our responsibilities to operate, and that does not change today but there is drive and energy to ensure that we operate in a more sustainable manner. The UK’s 2050 commitment to net-zero carbon emissions will spur wider change, creating new sources of energy and new opportunities.