A unique test facility that can help identify and prevent potentially catastrophic pipeline failures around the world has opened for business.
The $1.5 million Technology Development Centre in Houston was created by the PRCI (Pipeline Research Council International).
It will helps enable operators and pipeline companies to carry out real world testing of onshore and offshore pipelines in one place and then assess how equipment will perform in extreme conditions.
RenewableUK, the trade association representing the wind, wave and tidal energy industries, has strongly criticised the Chancellor’s budget announcement that he is retrospectively changing the rules governing the Climate Change Levy.
The heads of two of Brazil’s largest conglomerates were detained by police as part of a widening corruption investigation at state oil company Petrobras.
Large oil and gas companies around the world are failing to take basic steps to protect themselves from the financial failure of their suppliers at a time of ruthless cost-cutting, a new survey shows.
Environmental campaigners have called on the UK Government to swiftly make public the full version of a heavily redacted report into the impacts of fracking following a ruling by the Information Commissioner in their favour.
The commissioner's office is insisting the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) publish in full.
Oil explorer Baron Oil has reported positive results from drilling operations in Northern Ireland.
An appraisal carried out by the firm found that the Islandmagee-1 well, which was drilled to a total depth of 1,753 metres, yielded 185.8 metres of Permian salt, with core samples sent to Germany for analysis.
Northern Petroleum has been given approval on the environmental impact assessment (EIA) of three potential exploration permits in the southern Adriatic.
The EIA approvals have been received from the Ministries of the Environment and National Heritage and are awaiting decree by the Ministry of Economic Development.
The oil and gas industry will have the chance to give their view on plans for a city deal in Aberdeen.
Politicians, industry experts and businesses located in the energy capital of Europe have long called for investment to improve the infrastructure of the city.
Now the city deal will become the main focus of discussion at the closing session of Oil & Gas UK’s annual conference from June 17 – 18.
The drop in oil prices will probably spur smaller oil and gas explorers in Africa to consider mergers to fund their ambitions, according to Pura Vida Energy NL.
Royal Dutch Shell Plc’s $70 billion deal to buy BG Group Plc may be followed by mergers and acquisitions among smaller operators, according to the Perth-based company, which started drilling off Morocco this week. Freeport-McMoRan Oil & Gas LLC is its partner.
There will be “no winners” if unions press ahead with industrial action in the North Sea, the new boss of the oil and gas industry’s trade body warned yesterday.
Deirdre Michie, who has taken over as chief executive of Oil & Gas UK, said over 5,000 jobs had been lost in the North Sea - mainly onshore jobs - with “more to come”.
But she added while the North Sea was mature and had produced over 43 billion barrels of oil, the body believes that there remains “still half again to go for” in the region if operators and the wider supply chain slim costs and the government provides more fiscal support.
Amec Foster Wheeler (AFW) said yesterday it was still consulting workers in Aberdeen about possible redundancies, with the number of potentially affected jobs now standing at 43.
This down from a few weeks ago when the project management and engineering giant said it was speaking to 149 individuals about 64 potentially affected roles.
An AFW spokeswoman said yesterday there were no plans to radically reduce engineering numbers in Aberdeen, where the company employs about 3,000 people among a 40,000-strong workforce in 50 countries.
Vedanta Resources posted a full-year loss after a sharp drop in crude prices precipitated a $4.5 billion writedown related to its Indian oil and gas business.
The company's London-listed shares fell as much as 4 percent early on Thursday before recovering to 660 pence, unchanged from the previous day's close.
Best known as a mining company, Vedanta bought a controlling stake in Cairn India Ltd CAIL.NS, India's largest private-sector oil producer, in 2011.
Like other resources companies, it has struggled with plummeting commodity prices in the last year. Brent crude collapsed to a low of just above $45 a barrel in January from a high of $115 last June.
Oil prices eased slightly on Thursday as weak data from the world's top economies raised concern about the outlook for global fuel demand.
Uncertainty over the strength of any decline in US oil output also weighed.
The larger economic picture offset data that showed a large drawdown in US crude stockpiles last week.
June Brent crude was trading 10 cents down at $66.71 a barrel as of 0917 GMT. US crude for June delivery, at $60.20, was 30 cents lower.
Scottish engineer Weir Group has teamed up with Rolls-Royce Power Systems (RRPS) company MTU for a new joint-venture to produce a power system to make hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, more efficient.
Weir manufacturers hydraulic fracturing pumps, while MTU describes itself as a market leader in heavy-duty industrial diesel engines.
The joint-venture – announced at the OTC oil and gas show in Houston – involves Glasgow-based Weir’s oil and gas division, whose global operations include a sales office in Aberdeen.
This week's most read story on Energy Voice was the news Wood Group was in consultation with its staff over a number of positions.
The company said almost 100 jobs were at risk at the service giant.
A consultation has been launched with around 380 staff, with 80 workers expected to lose their jobs.
It is anticipated a further 12 roles will go in the company’s Wood Group Kenny subsidiary.
The start of a seven-year drilling campaign on the Loyal field west of Shetland is an “exciting and important milestone” for BP’s operations in the UK North Sea, the oil giant said today.
Newly built semi-submersible Deepsea Aberdeen is contracted to drill wells across the Schiehallion and Loyal fields, as part of the Quad204 redevelopment.
It will initially drill two producer wells and one injector well on Loyal, before moving onto Schiehallion to continue drilling activities.
A total of five wells are planned to be drilled in advance of first oil from the new Glen Lyon floating, production, storage and offload (FPSO) vessel at the end of 2016.
The UK Government has decided to revoke North Sea oil field licences owned by DEA, RWE's oil and gas unit bought last month by Russian billionaire Mikhail Fridman's LetterOne, unless the licences change ownership, the energy ministry said today.
"The Secretary of State Ed Davey ... proposes to revoke DEA UK's North Sea petroleum licences unless LetterOne arranges for a further change of control of the DEA UK gas fields in the North Sea," the ministry said in a statement.
