The energy industry is in the midst of a deep and wide-ranging digital transformation. While Covid-19 and lower oil and gas prices have disrupted many investment programmes, the direction of travel is clear – the industry needs to continue to invest in innovation and the development and deployment of new processes and technologies. Not to do so risks being left behind.
Two years ago, on the 30th anniversary of the Piper Alpha disaster we wrote about the challenges facing the North Sea: the large, experienced operators replaced with new entrants to the world of exploration, production and operatorship, the tight budgets and contractor margins.
A leading oil and gas lawyer has added his voice to predictions that Covid-19 will drive a spike in energy transition investments.
The apocryphal Chinese curse ‘may you live in interesting times’ could well apply to the current situation within the oil and gas sector.
The challenges of the combination of Covid-19 and the fall in the oil price continue to place enormous stress on the industry. While those offshore have remained at their workplaces, albeit in smaller numbers and under strange and difficult circumstances, in order to maintain production from the UKCS, others who have now spent two months working from home are beginning to consider a return to the office or work site.
Innovation will be increasingly important to companies trying to do deals in the North Sea once prices start to rebound, CMS’ managing partner in Aberdeen, Norman Wisely, has said.
We are all getting used to the challenges of the lockdown. As it becomes clear that this situation is going to continue for some time, we need to consider the legal implications of the stress caused to businesses by the double blows of Covid-19 and the oil price fall.
None of us have been in a situation remotely like this before. The rules and the facts are changing daily and it can be overwhelming to try to keep up with developments.
With the Government committing an apparent volte face on its renewable energy policy, the sector is now gearing up for what could be a whirlwind of activity when it comes to UK onshore wind developments.
The oil industry has some great female role models among its leaders – just here in Aberdeen, Deirdre Michie and Colette Cohen spring immediately to mind.
The current energy transition is shaking the foundations upon which the oil and gas industry is built. In the UK, one such foundation is the Oil and Gas Authority’s maximising economic recovery UK (MER UK) strategy.
Oil and gas companies do have some advantages in terms of tackling the energy transition, but there are pitfalls along the way and the process will be messy, speakers at a CMS event launching a new report said.
European and Chinese oil and gas firms are well ahead of US rivals in the energy transition race, new research has found.
Following the result of the general election, we can now expect to leave the EU at the end of January, although very little will change on that date as we will move into a transitional period when existing EU rules and trade terms continue to apply in the UK.
The UK oil and gas industry’s regulator is ready to wield its powers to tackle the “transaction drag” hindering efforts to get oilfields into the right hands.
Reviewing the past year is made much easier for me by our annual publication on legal developments in oil and gas, the latest edition of which came out in September.
As decommissioning becomes a significant part of activity on the UK Continental Shelf, more businesses are taking the opportunity to expand their existing offerings to include decommissioning-related services.
The last couple of weeks have been busy ones for the offshore wind sector in the UK.
The Oil and Gas Authority’s (OGA’s) probe into a capacity dispute between two operators shows the regulator is walking a difficult tightrope, an Aberdeen lawyer said.
Carbon capture, usage and storage (CCUS) is often described as a key part of energy transition, with the ability to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from existing energy supplies.
One of the big challenges facing the UKCS is the need to increase the amount of exploration activity – the eight exploration wells drilled in 2018 represented the lowest level of activity since 1965, although there have been some notable recent successes such as the massive Glengorm gas discovery announced by Total in January and the technical success rate over recent years has averaged more than 50%.
While the UKCS continues to thrive, with oil production in 2018 the highest since 2011, news of the launch of Fairfield Decom is also evidence of the evolving decommissioning market.
The winds of change continue to sweep across the renewable energy sector. Technology is moving forward rapidly with step-changes in the size, capacity and efficiency of wind turbines.
Following a period of relatively low deal activity, in 2018 we started to see an uptick in deals – but that has paused slightly since the oil price fall at the end of 2018. Are there more deals to be done, or has oil price volatility cooled off the M&A market? What do the trends and themes seen in some of the latest UKCS M&A deals tell us?
Judges have whittled down dozens of applicants to reveal the shortlist for terrific teams and tremendous teachers at the north-east’s most prestigious HR awards.