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UK’s North Sea Policies Criticized As "Economic Suicide"

UK’s North Sea Policies Criticized As "Economic Suicide"   Hunting PLC CEO Jim Johnson is expressing serious concerns about the future of the UK’s North Sea oil and gas sector, describing the situation as “economic suicide” due to current policies. Despite the 150-year-old company seeing promising growth in South America and the Middle East, Johnson's outlook for the UK remains grim. Johnson criticized the UK's North Sea environment as &ldq...

Shell and Equinor to fight North Sea judicial review

Shell and Equinor to fight North Sea judicial review   Shell and Equinor have vowed to fight legal cases brought by environmental campaigners against their plans to develop new oil and gas projects in the North Sea. This comes despite the new UK Government's decision to withdraw government support for the plans, which were approved by the previous administration over the last two years. Greenpeace called for a judicial review of the government’s go-ahead for the Jackda...

Rising windfall taxes could slash UK oil and gas investments by £11.8 billion, OEUK report reveals

Rising windfall taxes could slash UK oil and gas investments by £11.8 billion, OEUK report reveals   Increased windfall taxes on the UK's offshore oil and gas industries would cost the economy about £13 billion over the next five years and lead to a fall in tax receipts, a trade body has warned. According to figures published by Offshore Energies UK (OEUK), the proposed increase in the Energy Profits Levy (EPL) would see investments in UK projects by oil and gas pro...

Industry warns 35,000 jobs at risk if Chancellor hikes windfall tax

Industry warns 35,000 jobs at risk if Chancellor hikes windfall tax   Labour's plans to hike the windfall tax will be a £13billion financial disaster for the UK and place 35,000 industry jobs at risk, according to a new report. Offshore Energies UK has issued a stark warning to Chancellor Rachel Reeves ahead of the Budget, predicting that more than 60% of future production planned in the North Sea will be axed if she scraps investment allowances. This would cause inves...

Industry invests £600,000 to support acceleration of the energy transition

Industry invests £600,000 to support acceleration of the energy transition   Companies operating in the energy sector are backing the University’s research into the Energy Transition to the tune of £600,000 to support the creation of a new research initiative focused on decarbonising the oil and gas sector and advancing the shift to clean energy. Nine companies (BP, Chevron, CNOOC, ExxonMobil, Equinor, Harbour Energy, Shell, Spirit Energy and TotalEnergies and end...

New North Sea projects on hold as UK Government responds to court ruling

New North Sea projects on hold as UK Government responds to court ruling   New North Sea oil and gas projects have been paced on hold this morning while the UK Government responds to a landmark court case on the environment. Energy Minister Michael Shanks has announced plans to issue new guidance after the Supreme Court said that environmental impact assessments should take into account emissions from the burning of fossil fuels, and not just the production of them. While insist...

Equinor may reconsider investing in UK oil sector if taxes rise

Equinor may reconsider investing in UK oil sector if taxes rise   Norway's Equinor may reconsider investing in oil and gas in Britain if the Labour government changes the industry's tax regime, a top company executive told Reuters. Equinor's head of international operations said it may not be as attractive to invest in the British oil and gas sector if taxation of oil companies changes, as is expected. "We need to look at our appetite to invest further in the UK...

Two thousands North Sea catering workers accept inflation-busting pay offer

Two thousands North Sea catering workers accept inflation-busting pay offer   Two thousand catering workers have accepted an inflation-busting pay offer, Unite said yesterday. The outsourced staff provide cleaning and catering operations on North Sea platforms. Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said the pay package is a good deal, which demonstrated the value of being a trade union member. The Catering Offshore Trade Association (COTA) made the offer on behalf of companie...

Wintershall Dea acquisition to complete in early September

Wintershall Dea acquisition to complete in early September   Harbour Energy has announced that it now expects to complete the acquisition of the Wintershall Dea asset portfolio in early September. This follows considerable progress made on satisfying the conditions to completion, including recent receipt of Mexico regulatory consents. Read the latest issue of the OGV Energy magazine HERE

Offshore firm Ithaca Energy sees profits plummet as windfall tax bites

Offshore firm Ithaca Energy sees profits plummet as windfall tax bites The North Sea oil and gas firm has reported a fall in profits and revenue for the six months to June 30, hit by impairment charges, lower production and a slump in oil and gas prices.   Offshore firm Ithaca Energy has seen its revenue and profit plummet due to impairment charges, decreased production and a slump in oil and gas prices. Having announced plans in the spring to acquire all of Italian rival Eni...

Outstanding SME Win for Verlume at Scottish Renewables Awards

Outstanding SME Win for Verlume at Scottish Renewables Awards   Verlume, a specialist in subsea power delivery and energy storage, has won the Outstanding SME Award at the Scottish Green Energy Supply Chain Awards. In a ceremony at P&J Live in Aberdeen, Verlume was presented with the award for Outstanding SME, having also been a finalist across two other categories including Green Business Growth and Technology & Business Innovation. The award win recognises Verlume as a...

Seadrill completes field life extension project

Seadrill completes field life extension project Offshore drilling contractor Seadrill has finished its drilling assignment at a field life extension project in the North Sea off the coast of Norway, which enabled its semi-submersible rig to go to a yard in Bergen.   Vår Energi hired Seadrill’s West Phoenix rig in December 2019 for operations at the Balder field, as part of the Balder Future re-development project in the North Sea, offshore Norway. This project is part o...

Ithaca Energy: Profit tumbles at North Sea oil and gas firm as windfall tax bites

Ithaca Energy: Profit tumbles at North Sea oil and gas firm as windfall tax bites   North sea oil and gas firm Ithaca Energy saw its revenue and profit tumble after being hit by impairment charges, lower production and a dip in the oil and gas prices. The FTSE 250 constituent, which in the Spring announced plans to buy all of Italian competitor Eni’s North Sea assets for £754m, lowered its outlook for full-year production from between 80,000-87,000 barrels of oil equiva...

FPSO delay pushes North Sea project’s costs up by $400 million and bumps first oil to 2025

FPSO delay pushes North Sea project’s costs up by $400 million and bumps first oil to 2025   As the delay in finishing the upgrade works on its floating production, storage, and offloading (FPSO) vessel comes to light, Norway’s oil and gas player Vår Energi has made changes to the schedule for the start-up of an oil field life extension project in the Norwegian sector of the North Sea, moving it to the second quarter of 2025. The Norwegian player and its contracto...

Norway’s Equinor partially evacuates North Sea platform, suspends production

Norway’s Equinor partially evacuates North Sea platform, suspends production Gullfaks C has received and processed oil from the Tordis field since June 1994.   Norway’s state-owned energy giant Equinor suspended production at its Gullfaks C platform late on 18 August due to a “well control incident.” The incident also saw some of the platform’s workers evacuated and taken to shore. A spokesman said the company had a “well control incident a...

‘People are walking away’: UK windfall tax hits North Sea oil investment

‘People are walking away’: UK windfall tax hits North Sea oil investment   Docked in the Cromarty Firth near Inverness in north-east Scotland, Ping Petroleum’s vessel for extracting and storing up to 270,000 barrels of oil is an imposing presence in a port full of components set to power the UK economy. Some 60 metres in diameter and about 45 metres tall, the Excalibur is a floating ship deployed near platforms to receive, store and process oil before transferring...

Funding boost for Connected Competence temporary worker tests

Funding boost for Connected Competence temporary worker tests   The ECITB is increasing the funding available to enable temporary workers within the engineering construction industry (ECI) to verify their base level of technical competence as part of the Connected Competence scheme. Industry-led, Connected Competence was introduced to assure an ongoing base level of technical competence for workers across the ECI to create a safer, more competent and transferable workforce.  C...

Britain’s unstable tax regime will push us to Norway, says North Sea oil boss

Britain’s unstable tax regime will push us to Norway, says North Sea oil boss   One of the North Sea’s biggest gas producers is threatening to end investment in Britain because the tax regime has become too unstable to support offshore energy producers. Serica Energy, which produces 5pc of the UK’s gas supply and around 600,000 barrels of oil a day, is preparing to shift future investment to Norway instead. David Latin, the company’s chairman, said the UK...

Piecing North Sea platform’s topsides together on Aker BP’s agenda for autumn

Piecing North Sea platform’s topsides together on Aker BP’s agenda for autumn   The first steel structures for the topside that will be used to bring Aker BP’s new gas production platform bound for installation on the Norwegian Continental Shelf (NCS) to life have started their journey from Aibel’s Thailand shipyard. The platform in question – the Munin unmanned production platform – will be situated in the northern part of the Yggdrasil area in...

WATCH: One bridge section for Aker BP’s North Sea platform done, four more left

One bridge section for Aker BP’s North Sea platform done, four more left   Norwegian construction company Nymo has completed the first of five bridge sections it is building for a North Sea project being developed by its compatriot oil and gas player Aker BP. Said to be the largest construction project ever at Nymo’s Eydehavn shipyard, the construction entails building a bridge for the new Valhall PWP platform that will be 101 meters long and weigh almost 1,200 tons. Pi...
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