City looks for Centrica turnaround in trading update
The City will look for early signs of a turnaround at British Gas owner Centrica when it posts a trading update next week.
Centrica
Centrica invests £63million to overhaul UK power station
Energy giant Centrica is to invest £63million at South Humber Bank power station, securing the future of the site up to 2027.
Centrica Energy awards Aibel field development contract
Centrica Enery Norway has awarded Aibel a frame agreement for field development projects on the Norwegian Continental Shelf. The company said all project phases have been included in the deal including various study phases and pre-engineering work.
Centrica Energy drills new well in North Sea
Centrica Energy is drilling a new well at the York field in the North Sea that could tap into an additional 20billion cubic feet of gas. The company said work has begun to unlock the new gas reserves and boost production following £80million worth of investment. The York gas field, 20 miles off the Lincolnshire coast, already produces enough gas every day to heat all the homes in Hull and both north and north east Lincolnshire combined.
Video: The ‘walk to work’ on the North Morecambe platform
Everyday teams of offshore workers are “walking to work” on North Morecambe platform in the East Irish Sea. The £16million project being undertaken by Centrica Energy involves installing new equipment to use the high pressure of the nearby Rhyl field to boost production from the wells in the North Morecambe field.
Centrica uses new drilling technique in Norwegian sector
Centrica has been given the go-ahead by Norway's Petroleum Safety Authority to drill a shallow pilot hole to establish there is no shallow gas in block 8/10 in the North Sea prior to further activity in the prospect.
Opinion: Women in STEM – we need to rebrand the image of our industry
The news that so many girls growing up in Scotland don’t think they are smart enough or too weak to pursue a STEM career is a wake-up call for everyone involved in helping these young women make choices about their future.
Wintershall gets nod for Maria in Norway
Wintershall and its partners Petoro and Centrica have been given approval by the Norwegian government for the development and operation (PDO) of the Maria field.
Centrica Energy retains focus on North Sea despite job cuts
Centrica Energy's boss spelled out the reasons behind the oil and gas giant's decision to scale back its upstream operation.
British Gas sees profits soar
British Gas said operating profits have risen by 44% as more energy was used by consumers due to colder weather conditions. The company, owned by Centrica, said consumption was up by 11% compared to a “warm first half” of 2014. The first six months of the year have seen profits surge to £528million up from £265million a year earlier.
Centrica confirms 6,000 job losses, scales back Upstream business
Centrica is the latest company to announce job losses.
Gallery: Work underway with Centrica decommissioning projects
This image shows the Paragon B391 drilling rig leaving Rotterdam as it made its way to Centrica’s decommissioning projects in the southern North Sea gas basin. The photo, which was captured by a drone, shows the rig as it travelled to the site where it will carry out well plugging and abandonment activities on two single-well subsea fields. Paragon will work on the Stamford gas and Rose decommissioning project.
Centrica confirms Bell as chief financial officer
Centrica has appointed Jeff Bell as its chief financial officer. He will also join the Centrica board from August 1.
Centrica says UK authority has approved increased gas storage capacity at Rough
Britain's Oil and Gas Authority (OGA) has given consent to Centrica to increase storage capacity at Rough, the country's largest gas storage site, the company said on Monday. The OGA decision will enable the site to increase its storage capacity by around 15 billion cubic feet or 4.5 terrawatt hours (TWh), Centrica said in a statement.
Centrica creates job boost with £16million gas project investment
Centrica said up to 80 jobs could be created in the UKCS as the company unveiled a new project aimed at boosting gas production. The energy giant plans to tap into new reserves in the North Morecambe field, with work beginning this month. The move is set to take investment in the region past the £100million mark and unlock as much as 8.8billion cubic feet in new gas reserves.
Centrica hits back at energy industry report
Energy giant Centrica has hit back at an official report that says millions of people are paying over the odds on their fuel bills.
Statoil and Gazprom to increase volume of gas supply with Centrica
Statoil and Gazprom have both signed agreements with Centrica to increase the volume of gas they supply to the company under an existing supply agreement. In 2011, the Statoil signed a 10-year agreement with Centrica for the supply of five billion cubic metres (bcm) per annum to be delivered to the UK from October this year. The new agreement will increase the volume of gas by a further 2.3bcm per year, taking the total volume to be delivered over the ten-year period to 73bcm. Ann-Elisabeth Serck-Hanssen, acting senior vice president of marketing and trading in Statoil, said: “We are very happy to have made this agreement with Centrica.
Centrica appoints British Gas boss
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.
Centrica’s “hackathon” attracts 100 oil and gas contractors
About 100 oil and gas industry contractors are today taking part in what the host, Centrica Energy, has described as a “hackathon” of ideas aimed at reducing the costs for projects that are stuck in the pipeline. The term is more usually used for gatherings of software developers and programmers, where they get together to look at problems and figure out how to solve them. Centrica Energy hopes today’s event in Aberdeen will deliver new ways to approach some of its oil and gas projects, using new technologies which “might make the difference” between them going ahead or not in the currently difficult operating climate for North Sea firms.
Centrica woes drag back FTSE 100
The London market pulled back from near an all-time high today after a slump in shares for British Gas owner Centrica and stalemate in Greece’s debt talks. The Greek government offered to extend its rescue loan agreement by six months but Germany said the move “is not a substantial proposal for a solution.” The FTSE 100 Index closed 9.2 points down at 6888.9, in a lacklustre session which saw the top flight shy away from 15-year highs.
Dividend hits Centrica shares
Centrica shares have taken a battering after the British Gas owner reported a slide in annual profits and slashed its dividend to shareholders. The decline in its share price came during a poor session for the wider market, with the FTSE 100 Index 22.1 points lower at 6875.2 amid uncertainty over a last-minute deal between Greece and its European creditors.
Profits drop at Centrica
Annual profits at British Gas owner Centrica have fallen 35% to £1.75 billion in a “very difficult year” for the company, it said today. Profits from residential energy supply were down 23% to £439 million as the warmer weather meant each household spent around £100 less on bills than in 2013. Iain Conn, the former BP executive who took over as Centrica boss last month, said the company would cut investments and slash costs. He has launched a strategic review of the business.
Centrica appoints new non-executive director
Centrica has appointed a new non-executive director to the company. Steve Pusey will become a member of its audit, nominations and remuneration committee. Mr Pusey is currently the chief technology officer of Vodafone after joining the company in 2006 but is set to retire in July this year.
Energy pair lose £1.5billion in value
British Gas owner Centrica and rival SSE saw nearly £1.5 billion wiped off their combined market values today after Labour called for new powers to force energy companies to cut household tariffs. Labour wants to give regulator Ofgem the ability to force the companies to pass on falls in the price of wholesale oil and gas to consumers which it was today estimated could knock £136 off the average bill. It set off nervousness among investors about the uncertainty surrounding the sector in the approach to May’s general election, with party leader Ed Miliband already having committed to a price freeze.
Centrica marks 30 year anniversary of production from reservoir
Centrica is celebrating a ground-breaking date in the history of UK gas exploration and production today. Gas from the Irish Sea was extracted, processed and piped into the National Grid for the first time on January 9th 1985, marking 30 years of production from Morecambe Bay, one of the country’s biggest gas reservoirs. At peak, the region produced enough gas to meet 20% of the UK’s domestic demand.