Opinion: Pooling and Sharing – the myth of the National Grid
Charges are set on a geographical basis and everyone pays more in the Highlands and Islands.
Opinion
Opinion: The future of energy in the EU New guidelines raise questions rather than action
Energy market rules have to take many things into account. Market integration, competition and regulatory efficiency are central, but these goals have to be reconciled with climate change objectives and governments’ need for a secure energy supply.
Opinion: Is Union a dirty word?
Union: The action of joining together or the fact of being joined together, especially in a political context. Sound familiar? However, in the oil and gas sector definition and connotation don’t always necessarily mean the same thing. Say the word “union” in certain institutions and it’s like issuing a coded signal to batten down the hatches and guard the negotiating table. For some hardened HRs their first interaction with a union could have come in the late 70s, where a strike by offshore catering staff saw hundreds of workers participate in a mass walkout affecting dozens of installations. Or maybe they were there in the early 90s when offshore contract workers were flown off platforms for participating in wildcat strike action.
Opinion: MP Louise Ellman – Wrong signal on safety critical question
Ministers have rejected the Transport Committee’s call for a full, independent, public inquiry into the safety of helicopters used in the offshore industry. Louise Ellman MP, chair of the committee explains their disappointment. Just over a year ago four passengers died when a helicopter crashed off the coast of Sumburgh, Shetland – the fifth such accident since 2009 involving the transfer of oil and gas industry personnel to or from offshore installations in the North Sea.
Opinion: Preparing the next generation for the workplace
The energy industries and in particular oil and gas have presented a rich employment market for graduates in recent years, reflecting the vibrancy of the industry in the UKCS and the war for talent.
Opinion: Sitting out the rate cuts
A major operator’s recent contractor rate cuts announcement has been heralded as the start of an industry-wide phenomenon and the news has hit the headlines, particularly in Aberdeen, where industry is understandably sensitive to the ups and downs of the oil and gas market.
Opinion: What’s the energy impact of the Didcot fire?
The fire at Didcot B Power Station on Sunday (19 October) has taken half the station’s 1360 MW capacity offline for the foreseeable future as damage is assessed and then repaired. But what does this mean for the market?
Bob Keiller: The case for a cashless society
If I could make one change that would reap potential benefits, it would be to eliminate cash from society. Sounds radical and almost certainly impractical, but let me try and explain.
Opinion: $80 Oil – what’s the price of our core values?
“People are our most valuable asset”. People, people, people. You could be forgiven for thinking your CEO meant you. Oil prices are now down, not least as China’s growth has slowed. Did your CEO actually mean the people of China are his most valuable asset? Corporate values are under pressure. Brent crude is now trading nearer $80 than the $100 we have got used to. What is the risk of core values now being decommissioned?
Opinion: MP Owen Paterson on climate change in his own words
This week I stated that UK energy policy is a slave to flawed climate action. Our present course to meet the 2050 EU carbon emission targets will result in both a failure to meet the targets and the failure to keep the lights on. And that we need to release the energy industry, scientists, researchers, policy makers and business from the straightjacket of a consensus zealously guarded by a “green blob”.
Opinion: Don’t write-off the North Sea quite yet
It is perhaps the trait of an eternal optimist to focus on one piece of good news during bad times, but that is exactly what the North Sea needs to do right now.
Loren Steffy: Former BP exec, still haunted by Macondo, calls for industry wide safety changes
Kevin Lacy is still haunted by the Deepwater Horizon disaster -- by the lives lost, the families devastated and the environment despoiled. He describes the images of the giant, burning rig as looking like “something from Pearl Harbor.”
Opinion: Contractor rates and oil prices
So Shell is wielding the axe, chopping 15% off UK North Sea direct contractor rates.
Oil expert Alex Kemp gives his verdict on the latest North Sea news
Oil and gas expert Alex Kemp said BP's announcement about Kinnoull was a much-needed boost for the North Sea industry.
Opinion: Time is the healer
I am not so sure that companies in the UK continental shelf are biding time but the market has stalled for a number of reasons.
Opinion: What was that you said? Oil Galore?
In the run up to the referendum there were wild stories and reports in circulation about vast untapped and undiscovered oil reserves lurking in the depths of Scotland's seas.
Opinion: Is shale gas the answer to Europe’s energy independence?
When Russia cut off natural gas supplies to Ukraine in a disagreement over unpaid energy bills in the winter of 2009, many countries in eastern Europe were plunged into freezing cold. At the time, 80% of Europe’s gas flowed from Russia through Ukraine and the supply interruption left Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece, Romania and others without their primary source of heating. While Moscow and Kiev played a blame game for the crisis, people had to find an alternative solution and went back to wood burning fires to keep warm.
Opito Skills Week . . . get on board now!
National Oil & Gas Skills Week is just a few weeks off and one is given to understand that this initiative by Opito is not receiving the kind of support that had been expected.
Opinion: Tearing down illusions, or is it delusions?
I was in Hamburg recently for the biggest wind power trade show in Europe with 33,000 people attending and 1,500 companies exhibiting.
Opinion: Regulation, fiscal regime and industry costs must be addressed urgently
It was only late last month that Oil & Gas UK released its Economic Report 2014, which we hope provides the definitive guide to the current status and future prospects of the offshore oil and gas industry in the UK.
Opinion: Seasonal weather and the industry
Last month, I discussed the challenge of the severe weather associated with hurricanes. We were reeling after an early storm struck Scotland, with some rigs in the North Sea recording 9m (30ft) seas. Since then we have been enjoying a warm, dry September, though sea-fog impacted offshore flights.
Opinion: What now for the renewables industry?
Well, that's that - it's over - and I mean over.
Opinion: Oman – Breaking with convention
As conventional oil and gas reserves have declined across the world, more and more operators are turning their attentions towards unconventional reserves.
Opinion: Kenya – the new investment frontier
Total trade between the UK and Kenya has risen to £1billion this year, according to UK Trade and Investment figures. The internal Oil and Gas market in Kenya is poised to develop, creating waves of optimism. Steady streams of opportunities have opened up across Africa in the last decade. Oil and Gas exploration is becoming increasingly important to East Africa, which until this decade has been in the shadow of both West Africa and North Africa. The Kenyan government has recently taken steps to safeguard its tax return from hydrocarbon and mining industry activities. The Kenya Finance Bill 2014 has been passed by the Kenyan Parliament and agreed by President Uhuru Kenyatta. It means that capital gains tax (CGT) has been reintroduced for the first time in nearly 30 years. The standard rate of CGT in the country will be 5%, but the Oil and Gas sector will be taxed at 30% or even 37.5% depending on the company’s tax residency status. Introduction of the CGT means that the previous withholding tax regime is now abolished and popular ‘farm-out’ agreements, which are between resource owners and outside companies providing services, can be completed in a more tax effective way. These transactions are currently taxed at 10% or 20% of the gross investment with deductions. From 2015, a company making an acquisition will be taxed at 30% on the net gain once the initial cost of acquisition is deducted from the sales value. An amendment may be made to future finance bills to include the additional costs incurred up until the time of sale.
Opinion: Energy Tsar – victim of skills shortage?
It took only two days to choose the Pope. Where is the new energy regulator?