MEG Energy has confirmed co-founder Dave Wizinsky will step down from the corporation's board of directors. Bill McCaffrey, president of MEG, said: "Dave came in as a founding investment partner when oil was about $12 a barrel and MEG was just a vision.
A competency firm has been awarded a contract to deliver training courses to Stork. The 12-month deal will enable Aberdeen-based ITB company to supply assessor and verifier courses to OPITO standards to more than 80 operatives at Stork. Jenny Stokes, ITB’s managing director and founder, said the move would help create a stronger workforce.
In early March a 30,000-pound mat of oily gunk washed up on East Grand Terre, a barrier island in the mouth of Louisiana’s Barataria Bay. It was an ugly reminder of the blowout at BP’s Macondo well, a disaster that spewed millions of barrels of crude into the Gulf of Mexico starting on April 20, 2010. As BP crews collected the muck, the company issued a five-year report, Environmental Recovery and Restoration, stressing that the spill didn’t do lasting damage to the ecosystem. The 40-page report described the deleterious effects as “limited in space and time, mostly in the area very close to the wellhead.”
Police detained the treasurer of Brazil’s governing party in a wide-ranging investigation into corruption at state-run oil giant Petrobras. The Workers’ Party said later he had asked to resign from the post. Joao Vaccari Neto was detained in Sao Paulo as he was heading out for an early morning jog, police told a news conference in the southern city of Curitiba, where the investigation is being led. An arrest warrant also was issued for Mr Vaccari’s sister-in-law, and his wife was questioned in connection with a series of unidentified deposits in her account that investigators suspect might be related to a bribery scheme at Petrobras.
Offshore giant Shell has been accused of breaking safety rules at its site at the huge St Fergus gas terminal. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has issued an improvement notice for the second time in just over a year after it emerged not enough was being done to prevent “major accidents” at the complex north of Peterhead. The HSE accused Shell of failing to take “all measures necessary” to identify tasks which had the potential to cause a “critical” situation.
The Liberal Democrats have set out plans for five “green laws” as they seek to establish their credentials on protecting the environment and fighting climate change. The party’s manifesto pledges to bring in laws which would protect nature, cut waste, make transport greener, slash the country’s greenhouse gas emissions and improve the energy efficiency of homes. A Nature Act would include requirements for the government to set out a 25-year plan for helping the UK’s nature recover, increase access to green spaces, protect forests, bees and birds and tackle wildlife crime. And, following on from the Tories’ announcement yesterday of a marine protected area around Ascension Island, the Lib Dems have pledged a million square kilometre reserve in the South Atlantic.
A German-based oil and gas firm has landed a contract with Saipem. Kongsberg Oil and Gas Technologies will deliver subsea structures for the gas export pipeline project of the INPEX-operated Ichthys LNG Project.
Pemex is trying to contain an oil spill which was punctured by thieves. The Mexican state-owned company said the Gulf coast region of Tabasco has set up an emergency plan in order to supply drinking water to the capital of Villahermosa. Workers were sent to the spill, which happened last week, as they made an attempt to limit any damage. Four of the region's water treatment plants were shut down as a precaution.
Oil giant Shell has stopped flights from Aberdeen to Scatsa as it looks to further streamline the company in a bid to save costs. The company, which recently revealed it would reduce its North Sea headcount by 250 members of staff, will fly workers directly from Aberdeen to a number of platforms. The move form's part of the company's decision to withdraw from the IAC (Integrated Aviation Consortium). It means offshore workers will be flown direct by helicopters operated by CHC.
The Dutch Government has called for a halt to production in part of Europe’s biggest gas field over safety concerns. The ruling by the Council of State means output will be prevented around the village of Loppersum in the northern province of Groningen where the gas field is located. Earlier this year the Dutch Government said it would call for risk analysis from gas companies when setting production levels.
The chief executive of ExxonMobil received about $33million last year - an increase of about 18% from $28million in 2013. Rex Tillerson saw his base salary incease to $2.8million from $2.7million the year before
A member of the Statoil board of directors is set to resign from her position. Catherine Hughes will leave her current position in a bid to "avoid potential conflicts of interest" following a recent change of circumstances.
Bourbon Offshore said a judicial investigation has been launched into its business dealings in Africa. The matter relates to tax and bribery charges by authorities in Marseilles, France. It comes after the company's former manager was arrested at the Marseilles-Provence airport when he was returning from Africa in possession of approximately €190,000 in cash in 2010.
As Russian President Vladimir Putin has shown in Crimea and eastern Ukraine, he’s willing to take an economic hit to expand his political influence. He’s taking the same approach with Iran. Lifting sanctions and allowing Iranian oil onto global markets would threaten to deepen the plunge in crude prices, curbing revenue from Russia’s biggest export. The cost: about $27 billion, based on estimates from the central bank in Moscow. “The strategic benefits are much more important for Russia,” said Nikolay Kozhanov, an expert at the Royal Institute of International Affairs in London and a nonresident fellow at the Carnegie Moscow Center. “Incorporating Iran into pro-Moscow organizations, Russia is hoping to secure its share in this market or divide zones of influence.”
Attacks in and around Baghdad have killed at least 14 civilians, as Iraqi security forces repelled an attack by the Islamic State group on the country’s largest oil refinery, officials said. Seven people were killed when a car bomb exploded in a commercial area in the town of Mahmoudiyah, about 20 miles south of Baghdad, police said. The car was parked in a mainly Shiite section of town near a bakery and went off as people were standing in line to buy bread. Another 13 civilians were wounded in the attack, police said. Hours later, another car bomb exploded in a car park outside Baghdad’s Yarmouk Hospital, killing four civilians and wounding 10, a police official said.
Lloyd’s Register Energy has formed a strategic alliance with MaxGrip. The move will see the development of a new risk-based inspection (RBI) software module called ‘strEAM+RBI’. The collaboration leverages Lloyd’s Register Energy’s market leading integrity engineering and RBI experience with MaxGrip’s expertise in software development and its strEAM+ framework. It offers a unique software solution that directly embeds into an enterprise’s asset management application, including IBM Maximo, SAP and INFOR EAM. Andy Scott, VP asset integrity services Americas, Lloyd’s Register Energy, said: “Companies operating in asset intensive industries are seeking ways to balance long term decisions with day to day operational challenges.
The Obama Administration has unveiled plans for keeping offshore oil wells in check, just a few days before the fifth anniversary of the Deepwater Horizon explosion. The US Department of Interior said the measures would include more “stringent design requirements” and operational procedures. Secretary of the Interior, Sally Jewell, said the aim of the proposed measures was to further build on the lessons learned from the 2010 incident in the Gulf of Mexico, which killed 11 workers.
Global Energy, who own the Nigg Fabrication Yard, have had their plans for their own harbour rejected by the Scottish Government. They had put forward plans to create their own harbour at the entrance to the Cromarty Firth. However the Scottish Government threw out the bid on a legal technicality.
Gulfsands Petroleum has removed its chief executive. Mahdi Sajjad has been replaced by Alastair Beardshall as executive chairman with immediate effect. The oil and gas company, which operated in the North African region, said Sajjad would remain as a director of the company.
British Gas owner Centrica has appointed a former boss of Aviva’s UK operation to run its residential energy business. Mark Hodges becomes managing director of British Gas at a time when the energy market is the subject of a full-scale competition probe. He spent over 20 years with Norwich Union and Aviva before leaving in 2011 to become the boss of specialist insurance broker Towergate Partnership. He left that job in October.
Petroleo Brasileiro SA plans to release 2014 audited financial results April 22 after a five-month delay, averting a potential acceleration of debt payments. The Rio de Janeiro-based oil producer, at the center of Brazil’s largest corruption scandal, said Monday it will present the long-delayed financial results to its board and release them after approval. “The company expects to release these financial statements after the meeting, subject to a decision by the Board of Directors,” Petrobras said in a regulatory filing.
The US is planning to impose a new regulation on offshore oil and gas drilling in a bid to prevent the type of explosions which caused the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. According to reports, the Interior Department could make the announcement as early as this week.
Labour has pledged it would create a robust and regulatory regime before fracking for shale gas could go ahead. The political party made the vow as it unveiled its election manifesto just weeks before voters go to the polls. There was also a nod to the North Sea oil and gas sector, with a promise to provide long-term strategy for the industry, with more certainty on tax rates and measures to help exploit the potential for storing carbon emissions in offshore oil and gas fields. Labour has also pledged to freeze fuel bills until 2017.
Oil giant Shell has announced the sale of 158 service stations in deals with two of the UK’s leading forecourt operators. St Albans-based Motor Fuel Group is picking up 90 sites with another 68 going to Blackburn-based Euro Garages, which already has a relationship with Shell. Handover of the service stations will take place by the end of the year, with the dealers continuing to use the Shell brand as well as its fuels for five years following the sale.
Statoil could reduce its headcount by more than 2,000 staff as it looks to make cost savings following the oil price decline. According to reports, the move would affect engineering staff – particularly workers drilling and maintaining wells – as well as administrative staff.