Not many days ago, a Scottish MSP said the Holyrood government ought to revive an initiative originally set up in 2015 to protect and sustain oil and gas jobs at a time of crisis.
The energy world is riven by many contradictions that are making the climate change-driven transition to a low-carbon world difficult.
I can imagine the expletives uttered the length and breadth of the North West Europe Continental Shelf as folk across the offshore oil & gas industry woke up this morning … from operators right down the food chain to the smallest service companies.
We’ve been here before, at least in the context of the North Sea oil and gas industry.
READ: Hard Brexit 'could lead to platforms being shut down' warns Oil and Gas UK.
“Demand for oil will peak in 2022, driven by expectations for a surge in prominence of light electric vehicles, accounting for 50% of new car sales globally by 2035.”
Shares in explorer Premier Oil rocketed by almost a third mid-July after the company said it had made a world-class oil discovery offshore Mexico.
It’s very good news that Enquest has manage to successfully bring the UKCS Quadrant 9 Kraken heavy oilfield onstream, 22 years after oil was first encountered in 1985.
Catch-up on all the week’s top news with Energy Voice’s Friday Five. Scroll through our gallery to see what oil and gas tax specialist and EV’s guest editor Derek Leith chose as his top picks of the week.
We've rounded-up our best opinion pieces of the year. Jeremy Cresswell, Energy editor of our sister paper the Press & Journal, has an opinion that packs a punch. His take on the latest energy issues have become a monthly staple. From having a renewables go to calling out the big energy players, scroll our gallery and click 'read article' to read some of his best columns in full.
Scottish Renewables is excited about the fact that a bunch of firms in Scotland have pulled around £125million of contracts from around the globe lately.
As 2016 draws to a close, I find myself reflecting on what the future holds for us all and how increasingly urgent it is that we must adapt if, as a species, we are to remain viable.
As a song from the memorable show and movie Cabaret reminds us: “Money makes the world go round” and it is certainly crucial for the future health of the UK North Sea.
It’s not my job to be Mr Popular and my “postbag” can be quite interesting after some of the observations I have made on the Energy Voice.
It is surely sad when an industry gets to such a parlous position that workers resort to the threat of industrial action and ultimately strike over pay and conditions.
One of the great things about my job is that I get to meet brilliant people.
UPDATED 0950 MARCH 15
Well, here we all are . . . another year dawns over the chill, grey wastes of the ever restless North Sea.
Carbon capture in the UK has been hung out to dry by the Cameron Government via some chancellor’s Autumn Statement fine print issued by the Department of Energy & Climate Change.
One day, it would be great to write something positive about the current UK government in the energy context. But so long as it carries on the way it is, that won’t happen. Last month, I laid into chancellor George Osborne for the nuclear deal cooked up with the Chinese. The sycophantic fawning that occurred during the state visit of Xi Jinping (“Xi Dada”, or Uncle Xi), with yet more major UK opportunities peddled in Beijing’s direction was nothing short of disgusting. Indeed, Osborne, with his haircut reminiscent of the BBC’s casting of “I Claudius” donkey’s years ago and which one is advised signifies power, has rather dominated the energy stage of late.
Balmoral Group yesterday released a third book about the oil industry written by Jeremy Cresswell, editor of the Press and Journal’s Energy supplement.
Exploration drilling in UK waters has collapsed and shows no sign of recovery either now or in the near future. This is dangerous because the dramatic slowdown of recent years will lead to a development famine in around five years time, Offshore Europe delegates have been warned. And, far more oil & gas is being extracted from the North Sea than is being found.
I wasn’t going to write about the North Sea in this month’s eye. Rather, I was contemplating having a go at offshore wind, in large part because of the manner in which the UK’s unquestionably leading offshore presence in terms of turbines planted out there in UK territorial waters has been achieved.