Improved offshore oil and gas output helped the UK boost its energy production from July to September, while electricity from wind also soared, new figures show.
The UK oil and gas industry’s trade association hailed the hydrocarbon production statistics, while green groups said the renewables industry was getting stronger in Scotland.
It comes a day after Chancellor George Osborne said UK oil and gas revenues are expected to nosedive 94% this year, in a blow to North Sea industry.
Oil & Gas UK chief executive Deirdre Michie has welcomed the UK Government's energy policy which has gas playing a central role in future power generation.
UK offshore oil and gas industry trade bodies Oil & Gas UK and Decom North Sea have pledge to deliver more joined-up working to deliver a more effective decommissioning agenda for the North Sea.
The UK oil and gas industry’s decommissioning sector is growing at a steady pace, with total expenditure expected to hit £16.9billion over the next decade, a new study shows.
Oil and Gas UK (OGUK) raised the forecast from £14.6billion a year ago, citing an influx of 47 new projects into its 2015 Decommissioning Insight survey.
A total of 79 platforms are now expected to be removed across the UK continental shelf by 2024, according to the poll, which was launched at the Offshore Decommissioning Conference in St Andrews.
Industry bodies Oil & Gas UK and Decom North Sea have published a report to provide businesses with guidance on good practice in identifying, qualifying and adopting new technologies used in the decommissioning of offshore assets.
The head of Oil and Gas UK (OGUK) yesterday urged companies to drop “cynicism” and embrace the new way of working after the trade body unveiled a number of new initiatives at an annual business event.
OGUK’s Share Fair aims to stoke collaboration and drum up business by giving supply chain companies a rare chance to have one-to-one interviews with operators’ decision makers throughout the day, in a format not dissimilar to speed-dating.
OGUK chief executive Deirdre Michie said that while the attendance was down slightly on previous years, a turnout of 900 plus was still very good and showed the industry is trying to improve the difficult situation it finds itself in.
Visitors to Oil and Gas UK’s annual Share Fair said the event indicated that operators’ attitudes towards the supply chain are thawing amid the oil price downturn.
Delegates who participated in one-to-one interviews, more than 1,000 of which were held throughout the day, said buyers were more receptive to new ideas than had previously been the case.
Jan Stander, business development manager at Trac Oil and Gas, an Aberdeen-based energy service firm, said a slight dip in attendance had helped improve opportunities to break the ice with potential clients.
A new course in petroleum data management for the oil and gas industry is to be launched by Aberdeen's Robert Gordon University and Oil and Gas UK's subsidary Common Data Access.
Oil and Gas Authority chief executive Andy Samuel visited the north of Scotland to attend the first ever Oil and Gas UK Fabricators Forum to be held in the Highlands.
Scottish Energy Minister Fergus Ewing has called on the UK Government to make further commitments to the help the North Sea oil and gas industry and take action on protecting the stability of the oil and gas fiscal regime.
In a briefing at Holyrood to politicians he said there needed to be an urgent consultation on inventives to boost further exploration in the North Sea.
Ewing also urged the UK government to make a commitment there would be no tax increases for the industry and any significant policy proposals should be in consultation with both industry and the Oil and Gas Authority (OGA).
Chief executive of the Oil and Gas Authority, Andy Samuel, has welcomed the formation of the new Efficiency Task Force (ETF), led by industry trade body Oil and Gas UK, that aims to greater efficiency with the UK North Sea sector.
