Marine energy is a sector which has faced its fair share of ups and downs. That said, there remains much to be positive about in both wave and tidal energy in Scotland. Both industries have taken enormous strides forward in the last 12 months, and we are now closer to commercialisation than ever before.
Iran has taken a big step toward bringing foreign investors back into its oil and gas sector. The experience of neighboring Iraq shows it still has a long road to walk, though -- if successful -- there may well be a lesson here for Saudi Arabia on opening up to outside help.
Since its inception in 2010, Decom North Sea has grown to more than 350 global members drawn from operators, major contractors, service specialists and technology developers, and plays a vital role in solution development and cross sector learning and is helping to build supply-chain capability.
Energy sector monitoring specialists EnAppSys say that the delay in the Government’s decision on Hinkley Point C is the latest example of how changes and uncertainty in policy direction are continuing to have a serious and unprecedented impact on important energy sector investment decisions.
If you’ll pardon the use of French, is there beginning to be a slight feeling of “plus ca change, c’est plus la meme chose” in the air? Having cleared away the sound, fury and political change resulting from Brexit, the world seems to be going on pretty much as before.
Question: How – as the May government now claims – are we going to expand trade across the rest of the planet when we make so little?
It is surely sad when an industry gets to such a parlous position that workers resort to the threat of industrial action and ultimately strike over pay and conditions.
Oil and gas industry leaders think in numbers: how many millions will it cost to drill a well, how many billions can be made or lost if the price goes up or down.
Sir Ian Wood’s comments at the weekend are a welcome injection of common sense into the debate around Scottish independence, following the UK’s decision to leave the European Union last month.
You don't have to be an expert to recognise that the best time to repair the roof is when it ain't raining. And that generally means summer rather than winter.
Whilst I do not underestimate the pain and damage that has been inflicted by the oil price crash it is apparent to me that the industry and Aberdeen have shown great resilience in the face of huge adversity. Lesser industries and lesser cities could have panicked and folded. However, the human cost in terms of jobs lost and lives disrupted all across the industry is terrible. I hear that a total of 120,000 UK oil and gas jobs are now expected to be lost and that the number is still growing. I just do not understand why this is not headline news across the UK. In human terms, it is worse than what is sadly threated in the steel industry. In economic terms, it is quite possibly much worse.
It’s taken 27 years to get to the point where offshore workers feel compelled to take industrial action and withdraw their labour, but more than that it has taken the belligerence and intransigence of an industry hell bent on making the workforce pay for the mismanagement of the sector!
Exploration and production companies merging and acquiring one another usually grab the headlines and sit front of mind against the backdrop of a low oil price environment.
On 23 June 2016 the UK electorate voted to leave the EU. Much water will pass under the bridge before Brexit occurs; and some commentators wonder whether the result of the non-binding referendum will, in fact, be translated into constitutional reality. This means that, to quote 90's rock band Oasis, "all we know is that we don't know": we don't know when the UK will leave the EU, and more to the point, what the terms of the UK's new relationship with the EU will be.
The Brexit result was just a short time ago and already much has been written about its potential impact on the UK’s renewables industry. Common themes that have emerged are loss of investor confidence, concerns over energy security and delays in much needed investment into the UK’s energy infrastructure. At best, the commentary can be described as well informed speculation. The truth is that nobody can predict the impact with any degree of certainty.
The reality of the devastating impact a major Incident has on friends and families, and the vast reach it has into the community and into the future is immeasurable.
It’s been almost three decades since the tragic Piper Alpha disaster, the world’s deadliest oil rig accident that claimed 167 lives off the coast of Aberdeen. Yet many of the challenges that Occidental Petroleum faced 28 years ago are once again gripping the oil and gas industry today.
I am certain that we all are aware that tobacco is a killer! Smokers and other tobacco users are more likely to develop certain diseases and die earlier than those who do not use tobacco. If you smoke, you may worry about what it’s doing to your health and how hard it might be to quit.
Sohail Din of Kristin College, New Zealand attended this year's Global Alliance for Innovative Learning (GAIL). The conference asked its young attendees to consider and build on the its theme 'Energising the World's Future'. These are his thoughts. When we consume energy, we are doing what we must to survive in the modern environment in which we live. What is of concern to us today and for the future is the ‘how’ in this equation. While we are still largely dependent upon fossil fuels for energy and will continue to need them in some shape or form for the foreseeable future, we must start considering seriously the suitability of other more efficient, effective and environmentally sound sources that will complement already existing forms of energy.
For almost two years the oil and gas sector globally has been facing one of its worst downturns in history. Many of us will have all seen first hand the impact this is having on jobs in Scotland.
Historically a less volatile sector when it comes to prices, the liquefied natural gas (LNG) market is now facing uncertainty. As such, Simon Redmond, commodities specialist and Director at Standard & Poor's, offers his top ten developments for the year ahead.
Back in February 2015, the price of West Texas Intermediate stood at about $52 per barrel, half of its 2014 peak. I argued then that a renewed decline was coming that could drive it below $20, a scenario regarded by oil bulls as unthinkable. But prices did fall further, dropping all the way to a low of $26 in February. Since then, crude rallied to spend several weeks flirting with $50 per barrel, a level not seen since last year. But it won't last; I’m sticking to my call for prices to decline anew to $10 to $20 per barrel.
Tomorrow, I will host a meeting of the leading players in oil and gas – who will come together to develop a raft of new measures designed, not just to sustain business in the North Sea, but also future-proof the North-east economy for generations to come.
These past weeks – and likely for some time to come – UK news has been dominated by talk of borders, boundaries, us-and-them, in-or-out. HeliOffshore, the global offshore helicopter industry’s safety-focused organisation, certainly takes no stance on the EU, but when it comes to collaborating for safety we always vote “yes”!
The full effects of the UK’s decision to leave the European Union are yet to be fully understood, and is unlikely to be until well after Article 50 is activated and negotiations formally begin.