The UK Government’s furlough scheme is unlikely to “stem the tide” of oil industry job losses as employers are told to start contributing to wages in the coming months, lawyers and politicians said.
Many North Sea oilfield service firms are being left in a “desperate situation” over whether to axe staff or pay mounting maintenance costs to keep them on furlough.
Oil and gas firms are “grappling” between putting workers on the government’s coronavirus furlough scheme or going straight to redundancies, according to experts.
The Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (the "Scheme") was announced on 20 March 2020 and opened to applications on 20 April 2020. By 23 April 2020 it had received 512,000 claims in respect of 3.8 million furloughed employees. However, a great deal of uncertainty remains around the application of the Scheme to businesses in the oil and gas sector.
The topic of immigration has been front page news this week across the UK. In Scotland there have been calls for a 'Scottish visa' and devolution of immigration powers. The UK Government also announced this week that a new global talent visa category will open from 20 February 2020 to encourage scientists, researchers and mathematicians to come to the UK. And yesterday, the Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) reported on its recommendations for the new single skills-based immigration system which will come into effect following the Brexit implementation period. All change then on the immigration front.
The new year always brings into focus those things which have been delayed or ignored over the last twelve months. In a corporate setting this can be damaging to a business and in the oil and gas industry, it could have significant compliance issues. With that in mind, there are some key areas oil and gas businesses should turn their attention to, to be fully prepared for entering 2020.
As some of the North Sea’s private equity-backed players prepare themselves for public listings, 2020 is expected to be a “big year” for gauging the size of investors’ appetites.
More than 220 people gathered in Aberdeen for an event celebrating and rewarding the energy sector’s best young talent.
While it is becoming commonplace to hear the names of investors reported alongside the names of their investee companies who have acquired UKCS assets, obtaining investment in oil and gas projects remains a complex area for independent oil and gas companies looking to grow their presence, or international organisations hoping to invest in the UKCS.
Momentum is growing on a global scale to take action on climate change.
Concern has been raised over the cost to businesses and the potential shrinking of the North Sea workforce over plans to change contractor pay rules.
More than 16,000 people have backed a campaign to stop changes to contractor pay rules which will widely impact the North Sea energy sector.
Strong deals activity in the North Sea is driving growth for the specialist oil and gas team at Scotland’s largest law firm.
The new Offshore Environmental Civil Sanctions Regulations 2018 are coming…
Green finance has been a hot topic over the last few years. Although opinions differ as to exactly what sort of financial activity falls into this sphere, generally any provision of debt or equity funding to take forward a project or product that is expected to reap an environmental benefit could be said to be green finance. Financing of renewable energy projects and climate change mitigation initiatives are usually referred to as key aspects of green finance.
There could be a “glut or a delay” in North Sea merger and acquisition activity towards the end of 2018, as firms wrap their heads around the prospect of transferable tax history legislation.
For the UKCS upstream oil & gas sector, 2017 could perhaps be labelled the year of “cautious optimism”. We have heard that phrase a lot over the last twelve months. The optimism may have been well-founded though, as after a hiatus in upstream deals in 2015 and 2016, caused by the oil price crash and compounded by specific issues related to the maturity of the basin – such as aging infrastructure, decommissioning cost and deal complexity - in 2017, things picked up and we have seen the signing and completion of a number of significant deals.
Leading lights of the North Sea industry will take part in a forum timed to coincide with the launch of a new knowledge bank.
Two law firms with operations in Aberdeen managed to grow their revenues in 2015/16, they revealed today. Pinsent Masons recorded global turnover of £382.3million in the year to April 30, 2016, up 5.5% on the previous 12 months. The firm’s profits per partner increased by 2.3% to £550,000.
The fresh measures introduced by the UK Government to help support the North Sea oil and gas industry have been described as "disappointing".