Tag Archives: north sea

Jobs boost for energy industry

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The Government has welcomed a series of investments by oil and gas companies which will create thousands of energy jobs and launch a new research centre.

Six separate announcements were made, including plans for new oil and gas fields in the North Sea under a £1.4 billion project which should supply around 5% of the UK’s gas production from 2015. The so-called Cygnus project, involving gas giant Centrica, is expected to create around 4,000 jobs.

Oil firm BP said it will open an International Centre for Advanced Materials to support science and engineering, spread across Manchester and Cambridge universities and Imperial College, London, as well as the University of Illinois in the United States. Around £60 million will be invested in the project, which will create a number of new academic posts.

Other announcements include investment by Italian chemical producer Versalis at its Grangemouth site in Scotland, and recruitment of up to 50 new graduate staff by Oxfordshire-based geosciences business Neftex. The news will be revealed at a business summit in London.

Business Secretary Vince Cable said: “The oil and gas industry’s immense contribution to our skills base, industrial capacity and strength as an exporter are pivotal as we rebalance our economy. Collaboration between business and higher education institutions is boosting the status of the UK as a driver of innovation, and giving our firms a competitive edge. I’m pleased that BP has chosen to partner with a number of our world class universities to find new and more efficient ways of using and generating power.”

Bob Dudley, BP’s group chief executive, said: “Advanced materials and coatings will be vital in finding, producing and processing energy safely and efficiently in the years ahead. Energy producers will work at unprecedented depths, pressures and temperatures, as refineries, plants and pipeline operators seek ever better ways to combat corrosion.

“Manchester has world-leading capabilities and facilities in materials and it was chosen after a global search to act as the ‘hub’ of the centre, with ‘spokes’ in other university departments worldwide.”

Scottish Finance Secretary John Swinney welcomed the investment. He said: “Scotland has an incredible wealth of energy resources, capable of both meeting our energy needs and generating significant exports to the rest of the UK and Europe, and the Scottish Government’s oil and gas strategy, developed in conjunction with industry, lays out a plan to help the industry go from strength to strength.

“With more than half of the value of the North Sea’s oil and gas reserves yet to be extracted, 24 billion barrels with a wholesale value of £1.5 trillion, oil and gas will remain an enormous economic resource for decades to come.

“This project forms part of the rising capital investment we have seen in the oil and gas sector – reaching £8.5 billion in 2011 and expected to rise to £11.5 billion in 2012 – which demonstrates the confidence investors and the industry have in Scotland.”

Source: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ukpress/article/ALeqM5gIqrVqhHzJO1Nv2V3QHWFPqNdYTg?docId=N0299541344320135518A

Aberdeen base for Statoil could bring 1,300 jobs

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Oil & Gas producer Statoil is to establish an operating centre in Aberdeen as part of two projects that could create 1,300 oil and gas jobs starting in late 2016, a company spokesperson tells Recruiter. The Mariner and Bressay heavy oil field developments on the UK continental shelf are approaching a point where final investment decisions should be made, with production expected to start in late 2016 and 2017 respectively.

UK Prime Minister David Cameron was in Norway last week and was updated on the developments by Statoil. During this visit another Norway-based oil industry firm, Aker Solutions, announced plans to substantially boost its staff in the UK, as reported by recruiter.co.uk. The Statoil spokesperson says that of the estimated 1,000-1,300 oil jobs across the two projects, 200-300 would be onshore, and the developments would also create “substantial ripple effects with job creation also in the supplier industry”. The operating expenditure of the projects between now and 2057 is estimated at £11.5bn. “Internationally, there are very few ultra-heavy oil fields comparable to the Mariner field,” the spokesperson adds. “It will not only be a landmark project for the UK offshore oil & gas industry in its own right, but also unlock new fields in the vicinity.”

AMEC boosted by strength in mining, North Sea

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Source: http://af.reuters.com/article/commoditiesNews/idAFL4E7JP1C220110825

British engineer AMEC said buoyant activity in the energy fields of the UK’s North Sea and growth in the mining, nuclear and renewables sectors helped it post higher first-half core earnings and bolstered its order intake.

AMEC, which designs and builds infrastructure for the oil and gas, nuclear and renewable energy sectors, reported earnings of 122 million pounds ($200 million)on revenue 4 percent higher at 1.48 billion pounds.

Its order book was 3.4 billion pounds, up from 3.25 billion pounds in April, although slightly down on a year ago because of an expected reduction in a U.S. contract.

Chief Executive Samir Brikho told reporters that AMEC was benefiting from “unbelievable” growth in mining, as well as shifts towards renewable energy and a still active North Sea, where it won contracts from BP and BG , despite tax changes that companies feared would curtail investment.

“The world needs energy and needs power, the question is ‘how is that power going to be supplied?’” he said.

“Some countries are going to continue with nuclear but many countries are putting quite a lot into renewable energy.

“That is exactly where AMEC has been positioning itself; in the right sectors in the right geographies to capture those possibilities.”

BACK IN LIBYA

Brikho said the company would resume full activity in Libya. “As soon as things settle down we will come back,” he said. “We see Libya and Iraq as great opportunities for us.”

The company said it expected new contract awards to support future growth despite increased economic uncertainty, and margins were expected to be maintained at about 9 percent.

AMEC, which bought U.S. firm MACTEC for $280 million in May, raised its dividend by 40 percent to 10.2 pence a share.

Shares in the group reversed early gains to trade 0.9 percent lower at 907 pence by 0834 GMT, underperforming a 0.4 percent firmer FTSE 100 index .

Analysts at Investec, who have a “buy” rating on the stock, said the results were broadly in line with consensus.

“Management reiterating around ’9 percent’ margin comment and dividend growth demonstrates future confidence, albeit we do note a slight cautious tone over the near term given current market activity,” they said.

Also on Thursday, oil and gas services company Hunting reported a 30 percent rise in first half revenue to 251.3 million pounds and 22 percent higher adjusted operating profit of 23 million pounds.

The results were broadly in line with numbers flagged by the company when it announced the acquisition of Titan Group earlier this month.

Finance Director Peter Rose said the company was seeing continuing strong demand, although well intervention was slightly lower due to regulatory issues in the Gulf of Mexico.

“It’s deferrals rather than cancellations (in the Gulf of Mexico),” he said in an interview.

“The oil and gas price has come off a bit, but demand for our product and services continues.”

Echoing comments made by AMEC, he said activity in the UK North Sea remained strong.

“The market got a bit of a fright with the supplementary tax that the Chancellor announced (in March), but that seems to have been accepted by the industry.”

Its share fell 0.4 percent to 654 pence.