Europe’s largest oil companies are banding together to forge a joint strategy on climate change policy, alarmed they’ll be ignored as the world works toward a historic deal limiting greenhouse gases.
Royal Dutch Shell Plc, Total SA, BP Plc, Statoil ASA and Eni SpA are among oil companies that plan to start a new industry body, or think tank, to develop common positions on the issues, according to people with knowledge of the matter.
So far the largest US companies -- Exxon Mobil Corp. and Chevron Corp. -- have decided not to participate, the people said, asking not be named before a public announcement expected as early as next month.
Efforts to reduce fossil fuel investments and spur renewables such as solar and wind power have gathered pace in the past two years with oil companies sitting largely outside the debate.
Transocean Ltd., owner of the rig that sank in the 2010 Macondo disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, joined Halliburton Co. in settling all remaining issues with BP Plc.
Transocean and BP, the well’s owner, will mutually release all claims against each other, while the London-based exploration and production company will pay the rig contractor $125 million in compensation for legal fees, Transocean said Wednesday in a statement.
Transocean, based in Vernier, Switzerland, also agreed to pay $212 million to two classes of plaintiffs represented by a committee in the Macondo litigation.
The settlements were the latest in a series of resolutions since the 2010 sinking of the Deepwater Horizon in the Gulf of Mexico, which set off thousands of lawsuits against BP, Transocean and Halliburton.
An internal investigation by Norwegian oil company Statoil into a gas leak on the Gudrun platform as been classified as the 'highest degree of seriousness'.
The report into the incident, which happened in February, found the outcome could have been fatal if anyone had been exposed to the leak.
A spokesman said the a gas leak of its size represented a "major incident potential" if ignited.
88 Energy has hired a new drilling and management specialist to oversee its operations at Project Icewine in Alaska.
Erik Opstad, who most recently worked for Savant Alaska, previously negotiated the acquisition of the Badami field from BP.
A broken pipeline has spilled 21,000 gallons of crude oil into the ocean, creating a slick stretching about four miles along the central California coastline.
Authorities responding to reports of a foul smell near Refugio State Beach found a half-mile slick already formed in the ocean, Santa Barbara County fire department said.
Staff traced the oil to the onshore pipeline that spilled into a culvert running under the US 101 freeway and into a storm drain that empties into the ocean.
An oil industry geologist from Aberdeen has told Church of Scotland members that they must fight the threat of fracking on moral grounds.
Hannah-Mary Goodlad, moderator in-waiting of the National Youth Assembly, said technology was advancing so quickly that it would be safe to extract unconventional oil and gas from underneath the ground from an environmental perspective in about five years.
The 25-year-old, who was speaking in a personal capacity and not on behalf of her employer Statoil, told ministers and elders yesterday that they must argue that future energy needs must be met through renewables, not fossil fuels.
A landmark legal hearing will be held this week in a bid to quicken the criminal investigation into a North Sea helicopter crash which killed four offshore workers.
Prosecutors will go to the Court of Session in Edinburgh on Tuesday to argue that accident investigators must hand over the black box recorder from the Super Puma L2 which came down off the coast of Shetland, in August 2013.
It is hoped that the move will shorten the wait faced by survivors and families of those who died for answers over the tragedy.
The hearing has been scheduled for three days.
More than 80 crew members have been evacuated from an offshore vessel after a fire on board.
Fire crews were called to the scene in Peterhead Harbour at around 3am and had the blaze under control within two hours.
At the height of the incident 36 firefighters were involved in tackling the inferno on the Fugro Symphony, an offshore supply vessel.
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon will join the chief executive of the OGA (Oil and Gas Authority) Andy Samuel as speaker at a leading industry event next month.
The politician will help open the Oil and Gas Industry conference which takes place in Aberdeen in June.
Other notable speakers include BP's Trevor Garlick, regional president of North Sea, and John Person from Amec Foster Wheeler.
Gulfsands Petroleum has removed its chief executive from his role.
The company, which has oil and gas activities in Syria, Morocco, Tunisia and Colombia, said Mahdi Sajjad would no longer be working with them.
The north-east subsea community is to hear how processing can increase production and prolong the economic lifetime of a field.
At an event organised by Subsea UK, the Aker Solutions seminar in Aberdeeen will address oil recovery solutions, water injection technology and subsea power systems.
Petrobas said output in Brazil and abroad rose 8.8% last month from a year ago to 2.78million barrels of oil and equivalent natural gas.
Brazil's state-run oil company said increases in production on two if its recently installed FPSOs (Floating Production, Storage and Offloading) in the sub-salt region at Santos basin were the main factors behind the overall output boost.
Workers at Marathon Petroleum's refinery in Texas have voted to continue to strike after a contract proposal was rejected.
The staff, who work out of the company's base at Galveston Bay, voted by a secret ballot earlier this week.
Almost 900 striking workers had voted, with the proposal for the contract overwhelmingly rejected.
Opponents of Royal Dutch Shell’s use of a Seattle seaport terminal to prepare for exploratory oil drilling in the Arctic Ocean have attacked on two fronts.
Protesters blocked port entrances and the US city declared that Shell and its maritime host lacked a proper permit.
Seattle issued a violation notice, saying use of Terminal 5 by a massive floating drill rig breached the site’s permitted use as a cargo terminal.
The 400ft Polar Pioneer and its support tug Aiviq must be removed from the terminal or Shell’s host, Foss Maritime, must obtain an appropriate permit, the Seattle Department of Planning and Development said.
Marathon Oil is said to be seeking bids for its interest in four onshore exploration blocks in East Africa.
The company is looking to focus on its blocks in the US shale formations.
Amec Foster Wheeler has appointed a new global head of Health, Safety, Security and Environment (HSSE).
Hannah Sessay will take up the role and will be in charge of developing and implementing strategies at her base in the Houston office.
She will also fulfil the role of senior vice president, HSSE, for the Americas.
Hundreds of protesters in small boats and kayaks came together in Seattle to make a stand against oil giant Shell and its plans to resume Arctic oil exploration.
The company, also plans to keep two of its drilling rigs in the city's port.
The move has been met with dismay from a number of environmental groups, including Greenpeace, with a vow to disrupt the company's efforts to use the city as a base for drilling.
Petrofac has confirmed that non-executive director Roxanne Decyk is to step down.
Ms Decyk will be replaced by Matthias Bichsel following approval by shareholders at the annual general meeting.
An offshore worker is in a stable condition after falling overboard from a rig.
Statoil said the incident happened in the early hours of the morning from the Seadrill West Hercules off Newfoundland & Labrador in Canada.
The semi-submersible is being used as part of the Norwegian company's exploration drilling program in the region.
Decom North Sea (DNS), the representative body for the offshore decommissioning industry, has announced the full programme for its flagship Decom Offshore 2015 event.
Decommissioning – The Economic and Operational Challenges is sponsored by DNV GL and takes place at Aberdeen Exhibition and Conference Centre on Wednesday, May 27.
It will support and focus on the cost and efficiency challenges facing the growing decommissioning sector.
Award-winning technology will be in the spotlight next week at an event organised by Welltec.
The event - Well Design for today - will held at the Norwood Hall Hotel on the 20th May where a series of demonstrations and talks will take place featuring the firm's latest completions solution, Flex-well.
It is designed to reduce well construction costs, tackle production issues and increase total recovery and allow for easier plug and abandonment.
Pemex has abandoned a third rig contract with Paragon Offshore as the Mexico state-owned company reduces spending.
The company notified Pargon this week to confirm it would be returning the L781 jack-up rig after services weren't approved.
It comes a week after receiving two other early termination notices.
Britain’s cars are guzzling diesel like never before, presenting a growing challenge to oil refineries that weren’t configured to maximize production of the fuel.
The nation consumed 540,600 barrels a day of diesel in February, according to the most recent data from the International Energy Agency in Paris, an adviser to the UK and 28 other countries.
Demand more than doubled over the past two decades, while gasoline use contracted by a third.
Scottish Power has received the highest number of complaints ever recorded for a UK energy company in a quarter, according to the latest figures from Citizens Advice.
There were 1,163 complaints about Scottish Power per 100,000 customers in the last quarter of last year, the national charity and consumer advocate said.
It is the highest figure ever recorded against a single supplier, ending a year in which the total number of complaints about the Big Six provider increased by 488%, the figures show.
The Spanish-owned company was banned from proactive sales for 12 days in March after failing to meet customer service targets set by Ofgem.
The regulator found the firm had not made necessary improvements to respond to customer complaints.
A Professor from the University of Aberdeen has been appointed director of the Global Subsea University Alliance.
Prof Ekaterina Pavlovskaia who works in the School of Engineering, will take over from Professor Matthew Franchek, from the University of Houston, who held the post for two years.
The appointment was made as the Alliance met last week at the Offshore Technology Conference (OTC) in Houston.
