The most read article on Energy Voice this week was the announcement that Talisman Sinopec Energy had terminated a contract with drilling company Archer.
The Archer Emerald had been contracted out by the company in a two-year contract deal worth $96million and was scheduled to begin in the first quarter of 2016.
JKX Oil and Gas has reported successful test results from its Elizavetovskoye field in Ukraine.
Well E-303 was drilled to a total depth of 4,406metres and initially completed in the G7-12 sandstone reservoirs only.
Following additional perforations in the shallower A2 carbonate reservoir and acid treatment, co-mingled production with the G7-12 sandstone reservoirs was 5.21 MMcfd of gas and 18 bpd of condensate through a 48/64-inch choke with a flowing wellhead pressure of 505 psi.
Circle Oil has been given receipt of $15million as part of recent special payment distribution by the Egyptian Government.
The company said the move had resulted in a significant reduction in the outstanding debt owed to the company.
Statoil has revealed its ambition to extend the life of the Norne field to 2030.
The field, which came on stream in 1997, was due to shut down last year having produced some 700 million barrels of oil equivalent.
The recovery factor for the main Norne field today is 56.5% – a top result worldwide for production from subsea fields.
More than 60,000 offshore workers are to have the span of their shoulders measured ahead of new regulations on body size coming into force in April.
Industry group Step Change in Safety has revealed its measurement strategy for helicopter passengers travelling to and from offshore installations that will ensure all can escape from windows in the case of accidents.
Workers whose shoulders measure greater than 22in will be classified as “extra broad” (XBR) and will be required to sit in a helicopter seat that’s closest window is compatible with their shoulder size.
Three businesses serving the oil and gas industry have notched up a string of contract wins and investments worth around £5million in total.
EFC Group will today [FRIDAY] reveal that it has scooped four contracts worth a combined £3.65million, while Sir David Murray’s Alphastrut has signed a “six-figure” deal with Det Norske and Arnlea Systems is investing £1million in its software.
Aberdeen-based EFC – which designs and makes controls, instruments, monitors and handling systems – has landed two blowout preventer (BOP) control system deals with drilling contractor Ensco worth more than £1.65million in all.
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.
A well-known petroleum economist has warned that a spat over the creation of a new port in the Cromarty Firth risks giving the region a “bad image”.
Tony Mackay, head of Mackay Consultants in Inverness, also criticised the Cromarty Firth Port Authority’s (CFPA) expansion plans, claiming that its estimates in terms of job creation and economic impact were “silly”.
Oil extended its rally amid speculation that the US shale boom is slowing and will reduce a global glut that’s driven prices to the lowest in 5 1/2 years.
Futures rose as much as 1.7% in New York, trimming a seventh weekly decline. US producers are bailing out of long-term contracts for drilling rigs as prices slide below $50 a barrel.
The United Arab Emirates has no plans to reduce output no matter how low prices drop, according to Yousef Al Otaiba, the nation’s ambassador to the US.
The Scottish Government has demanded urgent reform of the tax regime for the North Sea oil sector, claiming such changes could support tens of thousands of jobs and boost investment by more than £40 billion.
Energy Minister Fergus Ewing said it is “vital” that the UK Government makes the changes in the Budget in March.
He insisted it is “crystal clear that it is the fiscal regime that needs to change”, as he called for action from Westminster.
Worldview Capital Management has called for an Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM) of Petroceltic International in a bid to remove its chief executive from the company’s board.
The company wants to replace Brian O’Cathain from his position and appoint Maurice Dijols and Angelo Moskov.
Worldview said it was proposing these changes following a series of “strategic and corporate governance failures” last year after the companies entered in an agreement in June last year.
The deal had included provision for the board, following the appointment of new non-executive directors on July 7, to undertake and complete a strategic operational review of the company.
Oil was steady as analysts said a supply glut that’s driven prices to the lowest level in more than five years will linger through the first half of 2015.
Crude has dropped by more than half since June as US output surged and the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries decided to maintain its production ceiling.
Saudi Arabia won’t cut its output, though producers outside the group are welcome to do so, Ali Al-Naimi, that country’s oil minister, said at a conference in Abu Dhabi last month.
Low oil prices could have a direct impact on the Scottish public purse when income tax is devolved, a think-tank has warned.
Oil revenues remained reserved to Westminster in both the Scotland Act 2012 and the Smith Commission, but Scotland will receive 10p in the pound from next year with full income tax receipts promised in the next round of devolution.
Fiscal Affairs Scotland said it is unclear whether oil prices will return to the average £70 a barrel seen in the last three years.
A North Sea oil summit called by Aberdeen City Council will be held within the "next few weeks".
Council leader Jenny Laing, who announced the move in December last year, said politicians would meet with representatives from the industry to discuss North Sea investment.
Europa Oil & Gas has decided to keep its WF9 well on its West Firsby field in the East Midlands Petroleum Province shut in for the foreseeable future due to low oil prices.
The company said production is continuing on five of the six wells it operates across the Crosby Warren, Whisby and West Firby fields.
It said it would reconsider whether to carry out recompletion of WF9 should the oil price recover to “a level at which the well would become economic”.
While debate rages as to whether Opec’s decision not to defend the oil price is aimed at the fast growing US shale-derived gas and oil industries, two North American companies, both headquartered in Calgary, have put the brakes on further land-rig construction.
Ensign Energy Services is “pausing” plans to build 17 new high-tech drilling rigs, despite the fact that winter is traditionally the busiest season for exploration and development in Canada.
Precision Drilling now plans to “idle” rig-building activity once it has completed delivery of 16 previously announced rigs.
Encouraging economic news and a rare rise in oil prices helped give the US stock market its first gain in the new year.
Major indexes started climbing from the opening bell, following a report from ADP, the payroll processor, which showed that businesses hired more workers last month.
Companies added 241,000 workers in December, an increase from the previous month.
Industry group Step Change in Safety has revealed its measurement strategy for helicopter passengers travelling to and from offshore installations.
The move comes after Step Change announced last year that passengers will be measured by the width of their shoulders for flights.
Those whose shoulders measure greater than 22inches (55.9cm) will be classified as extra broad.
The steep decline in oil price paused yesterday for the first time in five days, after benchmark Brent caused consternation as it fell to below $50 a barrel.
Crude prices at last turned positive as Brent hovered near $51 a barrel last night, after recovering from a session low of $49.66 earlier. US crude was also up 70 cents at $48.63, after rallying earlier to $49.31.
Scottish Energy Minister Fergus Ewing has called for a “stable and proportionate fiscal regime” to help the oil industry through the current crisis.
As the price of Brent crude dipped below $50 a barrel for the first time since May 2009, it emerged that the Inverness and Nairn MSP is due to make a statement today in the Scottish Parliament on the future of oil and gas.
Oil prices have almost bottomed out and “some recovery” is likely by the second half of the year as demand picks up, commodity hedge fund manager Andrew J. Hall told investors.
Crude could trade in the $40-a-barrel range in 2015, close to “an absolute price floor,” the head of Astenbeck Capital Management wrote in a letter.
The Secretary of State for Scotland will discuss the impact of falling oil prices on a visit to Aberdeen to meet staff from Norwegian oil company Statoil.
Alistair Carmichael said visiting the North East was a “high priority” during what he described as a “challenging time” for the sector.
His visit comes after Prime Minister David Cameron pledged to support the North Sea oil and gas industry.
Prime Minister David Cameron has pledged that the UK Government will do "everything we can" to help the North Sea oil and gas industry as prices continued to fall.
The Conservative leader offered his support to the sector on the day prices dropped below $50 a barrel for the first time this decade.
He also claimed that the industry’s troubles underlined the "utterly misguided" nature of the SNP’s independence plan.
More than four fifths of the world’s coal reserves cannot be burned if global temperatures are to stay below dangerous levels, a new study has suggested.
A third of oil and more than half of gas reserves must also stay in the ground up to 2050 if the world is to limit temperature rises to 2C to avoid the most dangerous impacts of climate change, research by experts from University College London showed.
Oversupply in crude markets could take months or even years to fix depending on when producers outside OPEC cut their output, Abu Dhabi-based The National reported, citing comments by UAE Energy Minister Suhail Al Mazrouei.
“We are experiencing an obvious oversupply in the market that needs time to be absorbed,” the newspaper reported Mazrouei as saying.
The United Arab Emirates supported the November decision by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries to maintain production, The National reported Mazrouei as saying.