Wood Group Intech (WGI) has strengthened its team with a new global business development manager. Colin Underwood will be responsible for leveraging and building the global capability of the company working with the firm's regional representatives. Underwood brings with him more than 30 years of industry experience, working across a broad range of disciplines and in a variety of geographical and cultural settings.
Bond Offshore Helicopters said yesterday it had completed the construction of a new aircraft hangar at Aberdeen International Airport. Located between Bond’s two passenger terminals on the east side of the airport, the 21,000sq ft hangar will be used as both a maintenance and storage facility. The company said it would help to keep its mixed fleet of 25 helicopters in top condition for safe crew-change and search and rescue operations.
Sir Ian Wood is to lead a major new taskforce being set up to safeguard the future of the north-east economy and land a multibillion-pound City Deal for the region. The offshore industry doyen has accepted an invitation to head up the area’s new “Economic Leadership Board”. It will drive forward the north-east’s bid to secure a £2.9billion City Deal package from the UK and Scottish governments – and lead efforts to anchor oil and gas sector skills in the region for decades to come. The new board will succeed Aberdeen City and Shire Economic Future (Acsef), and will also feature other leading figures from the oil and gas, food and drink, life sciences and tourism industries, as well as representatives from the local authorities and the universities.
Scotland has the potential to lead the world in smart integrated energy systems, according to a new report. The Carbon Trust said it has outlined a vision for the country to harness its natural resources and technology innovation capabilities. It said developing a fully integrated energy system would help Scotland meet its carbon emissions targets, create jobs and secure an international leadership position in smart grid technology.
A networking event highlighting key environmental issues facing the oil and gas industry takes place in Aberdeen next month.
An airline has stopped business class only flights for oil workers from Stavanger to Houston after the decline in oil price. The journeys – which could cost as much as $7340 – were started in August last year by Scandinavian airline SAS. However the decline in demand from customers to fly on the specially upgraded Boeing 737-700 aircraft has seen the company invest in an alternative route from Copenhagen to New York.
Inflation slipped back to zero last month as petrol price falls and muted rises for new fashion ranges kept a lid on the cost of living. The Consumer Price Index (CPI) rate of inflation fell from 0.1% in July. CPI has hovered around zero since February. It means the Bank of England continues to face little pressure to raise interest rates, though some officials think underlying inflationary pressure is building as the economy recovers. Inflation was pulled lower as the price of a litre of diesel fell by 6.2p and petrol by 2.4p, both more sharply than in the same period last year, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
Maersk Line has signed a deal with weather forecaster MeteoGroup to equip 140 container vessels with its advanced motion software SPOS Seakeeping.
Amec Foster Wheeler has won a contract from Yuhang Chemical Inc (YCI) for its first major project in the US. The subsidiary of Shandong Yuhuang company has planned a 1.7million tons per year world-scale methanol on the Mississippi River in Louisiana. The contract will see Amec Foster Wheeler provide engineering, project management, procurement and early construction services.
Malcolm Turnbull assured Australia that its government remained strong despite an internal party revolt that made him the nation’s fourth leader in little more than two years. The former communications minister was sworn in as Australia’s 29th prime minister after a surprise ballot of his conservative Liberal Party colleagues voted 54-44 on Monday night to replace prime minister Tony Abbott only two years after he was elected. Mr Turnbull’s elevation has cemented a culture of disposable leaders as the new norm in Australian politics since the 11-year tenure of John Howard ended in 2007. “There’s been a change of prime minister, but we are a very, very strong government, a very strong country with a great potential and we will realise that potential working very hard together,” he said as he left his Canberra home this morning.
A plaque dedicated to two crewmen who died during the Piper Alpha rescue mission has been saved. Emergency response and rescue vessel Sandhaven was one of the first on the scene of the catastrophic oil rig blaze on July 6, 1988. Six men were rescued by the team, but it was overcome by flames when a second gas line ruptured and crewmen Brian Batchelor and Malcolm Storey died, along with 165 other men. Rig operator Occidental Group later donated a plaque to the Sandhaven as a tribute to the pair.
The office of Switzerland's attorney general is helping authorities in Oman investigate alleged corruption in the Gulf sultanate's national oil company and oil ministry, a Swiss law enforcement source has said.
A photograph has emerged of Jeremy Corbyn with his arm around a supporter of a campaign group which is protesting against changes to North Sea shift patterns. The Islington North MP was seen last weekend with the member of ‘3:3 it’s not for me’ at the annual Burston Union rally in Norfolk. The politician, who won the Labour leadership election on Saturday, is yet to speak in any depth about future policies regarding the offshore sector.
A former Schlumberger executive with extensive experience in technology and clean energy joined the International Energy Agency (IEA) this month as Director for Sustainable Energy Policy and Technology.
Oil and gas decommissioning specialists can learn lessons from Scotland's largest music festival T In The Park at a conference later this year.
Jerry Brown’s dreams of cutting California’s gasoline use in half and imposing a stricter limit on greenhouse-gas emissions may have died on the legislative floor last week. But they live on elsewhere. There are plenty of ways for the four-term governor to achieve his goals with an end-run around the legislature. For one, Brown has state agencies under his control already entrusted with his climate change mission. And he suggested last week that he’s ready to use them to achieve his targets. The California Air Resources Board that runs the state’s carbon market and other programs aimed at curbing pollution“has all the power that it has had, and it will continue to exercise that power, certainly as long as I’m governor,” Brown said during a press conference with reporters Sept. 9.
Argentina’s ambassador to the UK has reportedly described new Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn as “one of ours” and claimed he could “decisively guide“ British public opinion towards “dialogue” over the Falkland Islands. Alicia Castro said that she felt “joy, a great satisfaction” that Mr Corbyn - who she first met in 2002 - had been chosen as leader of the opposition. And she claimed that the Islington North MP’s victory was “without doubt” a sign of a “change of winds” in the UK over the Falklands.
Many households could see their energy bills rocket by up to 25% this week as a number of popular fixed-rate tariffs expire, a price comparison site has warned. There are 24 such deals coming to an end on Wednesday, including offers from British Gas, ScottishPower and First Utility, with customers being automatically transferred to their supplier’s standard variable tariff. These tend to be far less competitive and could mean drastically higher bills unless customers switch again.
Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott is facing a challenge to his leadership after a communications minister launched a bid for the top office. Former tech entrepreneur Malcolm Turnbull said he would be seeking the leadership of the Liberal Party after being urged “by many people” to run after criticism of the current Prime Minister’s performance.
Your energy supplier might be offering other customers a far cheaper deal and not telling you about it.
Oil giant Total has joined forces with other large companies Air Liquide, Michelin, Sodexo and Total to assist refugees being resettled in France.
Global logistics specialist Peterson has made a new senior appointment to oversee its Americas operation.
Oil & Gas UK chief executive Deirdre Michie formally opened the new Aberdeen base for oil services firm Cameron.
Oil and gas waste management specialist Augean North Sea Services has appointed experienced sector professional John Coull as director of waste services.
Balmoral Group yesterday released a third book about the oil industry written by Jeremy Cresswell, editor of the Press and Journal’s Energy supplement.