KCA Deutag has announced plans to cut up to 230 jobs in Aberdeen as it grapples with a slowdown in North Sea drilling.
Overall the drilling contractor said 500 jobs across its business spanning 20 countries were “at risk”, while it would also cut staff wages by 5% across the board. The company employs 10,000 worldwide and 1,200 in its North Sea offshore business.
Revealing the plans to staff at its Altens base this afternoon, the firm said it would launch a consultation on its plan to cut 30 office jobs and 200 offshore roles after two of its North Sea clients “pause drilling operations”.
Research unveiled at Subsea Expo 2015 has analysed the subsea sector market over the next four years.
Infield Systems Limited unveiled their analysis, which revealed subsea tree orders for the first three quarters of 2014 were substantially lower than industry expectation.
In the short term, the energy analyst company said oil price volatility would add additional uncertainty to the market.
A Spanish takeover of Talisman Energy and its 50% stake in a struggling UK joint venture is “on track” to complete during the first half of 2015.
Talisman insisted yesterday the £5.3billion deal struck with Spain’s Repsol in December was unaffected by hefty losses in the North Sea as oil prices nose-dived last year.
The Canadian company said its UK partnership with China’s Sinopec suffered net losses of £622million in the fourth quarter of 2014 and £692million over the whole of last year as a result of lower oil prices and higher decommissioning and development cost estimates.
Its final quarter figure included after-tax write-downs totalling £416million for Talisman’s share alone and resulted in a £122million funding charge in the Calgary-based company’s 2014 results.
Scotland’s future will be “poor and cold” unless it takes steps to replace the offshore oil industry with onshore shale gas fracking, an expert has claimed.
Economist Gordon Hughes, an Edinburgh University professor and former World Bank advisor, suggested that efforts to tackle social injustice in Scotland will be put at risk unless the controversial energy resource is developed.
At the same event yesterday, a boss at the giant Grangemouth petrochemicals plant warned that its future would be plunged into fresh doubt without a local shale gas industry.
Ashtead Technology, which celebrates 30 years in business this year, has won a new contract with FUGRO.
The company made the announcement as Subsea Expo kicks off in Aberdeen for three days.
The award means Ashtead will be a preferred supplier of subsea rental equipment and associated services around the world.
A key oil and gas industry asset which has operated in the north-east for nearly 30 years has just been sold in a deal potentially worth £4.5million.
Marine service group James Fisher and Sons said yesterday it had bought the National Hyperbaric Centre (NHC) in Ashgrove Road West, Aberdeen.
The facility was previously owned and run by managing director David Smith, who took it over in 2005, together with business partner Tom Brannan, with the aim of creating a worldwide centre of expertise.
Since 2013 when it launched, independent project services consultancy Cambla, has exceeded its turnover target by more than 45%.
The company has been nominated in the new enterprise category at the Subsea Expo 2015 awards in Aberdeen.
Owner and project services manager, Alexander MacLeod, spoke to Energy Voice about their recent nomination and the launch of their Schedule Animation Tool (S.A.T).
Babcock International’s David Goodfellow is leading the defence giant’s move into North Sea oil and gas at what could be considered an interesting time for the sector.
At Rosyth Dockyard, Babcock International is almost three-quarters of the way through building 74 subsea structures that will extend the life of BP’s Schiehallion and Loyal fields West of Shetland.
The £30million contract on BP’s “Quad204” project was one of the largest of its kind, and it is a deliberate move by Babcocks into diversifying its order books.
Forum Energy Technologies has launched its latest generation subsea robotic system at Subsea Expo.
The company, which is the world’s largest manufacturer of underwater remotely operated vehicles (ROVs), has created the XLX- C ROV.
It is more compact than the highly successful XLX model, but with similar capabilities.
The North Sea is facing a potential economic triple-whammy and may need to make “complex and difficult” changes in light of the plummeting price of oil, a new report has warned.
The sector is in a “painful situation” as a result of low oil prices being “sustained for longer than anticipated”, the PwC report said.
The authors warned that continued falling prices could lead to less investment, culminating in accelerated decommissioning at oil fields.
The report argued there could still be long-term opportunities for the UK’s oil and gas industry, but added that companies would need to “transform the way they operate to meet the challenge”.
As the Subsea Expo kicks off in Aberdeen this week Neil Gordon, chief executive of Subsea UK, has taken up the role of Energy Voice’s guest editor. Follow along each day as he spells out the challenges and triumphs the industry faces.
Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) has signed a technical agreement with Occidental Petroleum to develop the al-Hail and Ghasha oil fields.
ADNOC holds a 70% share in the fields development venture, while Occidental holds the remaining 30%.
The recent surge in oil prices is just a "head-fake," and oil as cheap as $20 a barrel may soon be on the way, Citigroup said in a report on Monday as it lowered its forecast for crude.
Despite global declines in spending that have driven up oil prices in recent weeks, oil production in the US is still rising, wrote Edward Morse, Citigroup's global head of commodity research.
Brazil and Russia are pumping oil at record levels, and Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Iran have been fighting to maintain their market share by cutting prices to Asia. The market is oversupplied, and storage tanks are topping out.
Falcon Crest Energy has acquired the remaining working interest in the recently acquired leasehold Rocky Ford field, Wyoming.
The company had leased federal lands from the United States Bureau of Land Management last year.
Falcon initially retained a 75% working interest in 584.78acres in the Rocky Ford Field but converted the remaining working interest holders into a royalty position.
Dana Petroleum has completed drilling of the Lille John-2 appraisal well and side-track on the Lille John oil field in the Danish North Sea.
The appraisal well and side-track confirmed the presence of sweet, light oil in the Late Miocene sandstone reservoir.
The company said the thickness and quality of the sandstone reservoir encountered in LJ-2 was found, as expected, to be improved relative to the LJ-1 discovery well drilled in 2011.
CAMAC Energy has completed its onshore seismic acquisition on blocks L-1B and L-16 in Kenya.
The 2D seismic programme was conducted by BGP Kenya and covers 700 kilometres on L-1B and 325km on L-16.
The objective of the acquisition is to identify potential exploration targets in the Paleozoic, Jurassic, Cretaceous, and Middle to Lower Tertiary sections, which are known to be oil-bearing in the East Africa region.
CNOOC has signed two production sharing contracts with SK Innovation for Blocks 04/20 and 17/03 in the South China Sea.
The two blocks are located in the Pearl River Mouth Basin in water depths of between 50-100 metres.
Inspection, maintenance and repair specialist N-Sea has launched its third diving support vessel.
The Edradour represents a £1.5million investment for the company and will be utilised in the company’s IMR operations in the North Sea, as well as in Holland and Germany.
Talisman Energy Inc., the Canadian producer being acquired by Spain’s Repsol SA, reported about $1.37 billion in one-time charges for the fourth quarter as it reduced the value of certain assets because of slumping crude-oil prices.
“The company partially impaired its investment in the Eagle Ford by $614 million due entirely to price declines, and fully impaired its investment in Block K44 in the Kurdistan region of Iraq by $234 million after determining that future investment in a capital constrained environment was unlikely,” Calgary-based Talisman said in a statement on Marketwired Tuesday.
It also wrote down North Sea assets and a joint venture with Colombia’s Ecopetrol SA.
Aberdeen energy services firm FlexTech said yesterday it had tied up deals worth more than £250,000 so far this year, shaking off the effects of an industry-wide malaise.
Russia, where energy production provides more than half of state revenue, is preparing for a battle with oil producers over taxing the country’s most vital industry.
Lukoil has commenced arbitration proceedings against China’s Sinopec after claims the company refused to complete a sale and purchase agreement.
The company said it signed a deal in April last year for the sale of a 50% stake in Caspian Resources for $1.2billion.
Tullow Oil is poised to record losses of $1.9billion when it reveals its full-year results this week.
The company, which recorded $313.2million in pre-tax profits in 2013, could see a dividend cut and job losses as it looks to balance its finances.
According to reports, Tullow Oil has already warned investors it could face $2.7billion in write-offs.
Leading oil industry figure Sir Ian Wood has warned six billion barrels of oil reserves could be lost unless radical measures are taken by the UK Government.
According to reports, he said a third of what remains under the seabed - estimated to be worth around £200billion - could be abandoned.
Sir Ian's comments come ahead of the budget with industry leaders calling for significant changes to take hold to its current fiscal regime.
