Category:

Low oil price domino effect to shut more North Sea fields early

A section of the BP Eastern Trough Area Project (ETAP) oil platform is seen in the North Sea, around 100 miles east of Aberdeen in Scotland February 24, 2014. Low oil prices have tightened the screws on some of the most depleted and costly oilfields in Britain’s North Sea, forcing operators to cease production earlier than planned and adding to fears of a domino effect in mature areas. For years North Sea producers have delayed expensive decommissioning projects, supported by high oil prices that have helped paper over soaring operating costs. But with oil prices halving over the last 12 months, some companies are faced with the unenviable choice of operating at a loss during a field’s twilight years, or limiting losses by bringing decommissioning forwards. Unsurprisingly, the industry is looking at the second option very closely. "It’s a sign that many of the meetings I’m going to, the […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Britain Hints It May Join U.S. Campaign Against ISIS in Syria

Photo Prime Minister David Cameron, whose spokeswoman said lawmakers should “be thinking” of doing more in Syria. Credit Neil Hall/Reuters LONDON — Jolted by the deaths of 30 British tourists in Tunisia at the hands of a gunman professing allegiance to the Islamic State , Prime Minister David Cameron is considering joining the United States in bombing the group’s forces in Syria . Mr. Cameron’s spokeswoman, Helen Bower, briefing reporters on Thursday, said that the prime minister wanted members of Parliament to “be thinking about” authorizing Britain to do “more in Syria .” Ms. Bower said Mr. Cameron thought that “there has been and continues to be a case for doing more in Syria” against the Islamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIL. Britain is already conducting bombing runs against the group in Iraq. “What has changed is the growing evidence that ISIL poses a threat to people […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

UK fracking boom hits northern setback

Newspaper + Premium online Premium online Full FT.com subscription Standard online Full news & archive Registration 3 articles per month Price Monthly Annual £76.00 £13.50 per week (52 weeks in total) £42.00 £7.35 per week (52 weeks in total) £30.00 £5.35 per week (52 weeks in total) Free FT Alphaville plus selected FT blogs FT Alphaville and more Unlimited access to Alphaville, the FT’s popular finance blog, plus many other FT blogs featuring comment and analysis from top columnists Gavyn Davies on macroeconomics, economic policy making & financial markets The Westminster blog covering the UK’s political scene Dispatches from FT experts in San Francisco, London & Taipei on Tech blog The World blog on international affairs yes yes yes yes Unlimited FT.com article access Unlimited FT.com article access Enjoy full access to FT.com’s award-winning news, comment and analysis. With over 500 journalists reporting from over 50 countries, read our […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Wrench appears in British shale gears

Traffic concerns cause delays for fledgling shale campaign by pioneering company, Cuadrilla Resources. File photo by Gary C. Caskey/UPI PRESTON, England, June 26 (UPI) — A British shale pioneer said it was "disappointed but not surprised" a local council denied its permit to explore for oil and gas using hydraulic fracturing. Lancashire County council members voted to refuse a permit to Cuadrilla Resources to use hydraulic fracturing in the Roseacre Wood site in the region. The members said the work would have "an unacceptable and potentially severe impact" on road infrastructure and traffic itself. Cuadrilla in a statement said it was committed to exploring the area safely, noting it was considering an appeal to the council’s decision. "We are disappointed but not surprised that Lancashire County Council’s development control committee has denied planning consent for our application at Roseacre Wood," the company said. The company said its proposal included […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Northern England County Rejects Fracking Site

An English county government rejected one of two applications for hydraulic fracturing for natural gas on Thursday, setting the stage for a decisive vote on the drilling technique next week. The Lancashire County Council voted against allowing privately held Caudrilla Resources Ltd. to use horizontal drilling and fracking at the company’s Roseacre Wood site in northwest England over worries about the increase in traffic. County planning officials had recommended the application be rejected. The council’s planning committee now is set to decide whether to give the go-ahead for a second site, also in Lancashire, on Monday. That site had been recommended for approval by planning officials and was supposed to have been voted on Wednesday, but councilors decided to wait until Monday to consider legal advice. If approved, it would be the first site to be fracked in western Europe since 2011. Cuadrilla said it was disappointed but not […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

U.K. Panel to Decide on Fracking

PRESTON, England—A bare patch of land amid the wheat and barley fields and cow pastures of northwest England’s countryside has become the focus of a question vexing Europe: to frack or not to frack? This week, the hub of the debate is the Lancashire County Council, which heard from both sides Tuesday, and is expected to decide Wednesday whether to allow the first onshore hydraulic fracturing for shale gas in Western Europe since 2011. The controversial drilling technique has unleashed an oil and gas boom in the U.S. in the past decade, but it has proved politically toxic in Europe , where lawmakers have blocked it. Fracking, which uses a mixture of sand, chemicals and water at high pressure to crack open energy reserves buried deep in shale formations, has been on hold in the U.K. after a series of minor earth tremors followed the first well fracked here […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Pressure mounts against British fracking

Din growing louder as debate over fledgling British shale natural gas industry moving closer to crucial phase. Photo by David Gaylor/Shutterstock PRESTON, England, June 23 (UPI) — British advocacy group Friends of the Earth said that, with the nation’s fracking debate in full swing, the interests of local communities should prevail. A local council in Lancashire is reviewing two separate proposals by energy company Cuadrilla Resources to explore for natural gas in regional shale deposits. The council in mid June recommended approval for a campaign with as many as four drilling sites and hydraulic fracturing. The recommendation was subject to restrictions ranging from hours of work to noise pollution. A second application was recommended for refusal because of the potential for an increase in traffic on the rural highway network. "Fracking could have a hugely damaging impact on Lancashire residents and their environment and cause more climate-changing pollution to […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Exclusive: Gazprom building global alliance with expanded Shell

ST PETERSBURG, Russia Gazprom is building a global strategic alliance with energy major Royal Dutch Shell that will include asset swaps and allow the Russian gas giant to penetrate new markets, its chief executive told Reuters. Gazprom, the world’s top gas producer, said on Thursday that Shell and its long-time gas buyers in Europe – Germany’s E.ON and Austria’s OMV – had agreed to build two new Nord Stream gas pipelines under the Baltic sea to Germany. In a rare interview, chief executive Alexei Miller said the agreement with Shell also foresaw an expansion of the firms’ joint $20 billion liquefied natural gas plant on the eastern island of Sakhalin as well as global upstream asset swaps. "Documents of such significance are signed only once every five years or maybe even 10," Miller said on the sidelines of Russia’s top forum for investors in Saint Petersburg. The deal with […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

BP, Rosneft Sign Production, Exploration, Refining Pacts

Rosneft Chief Executive Igor Sechin, Russia’s most powerful oil official, signed a raft of deals Friday at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, including further production, exploration and refining agreements with BP. They come a day after another Russian energy company affected by sanctions, OAO Gazprom , OGZPY -1.82 % inked a preliminary deal with three European firms, including Royal Dutch Shell RDS.A -0.17 % PLC, to expand a pipeline to Germany. U.S. and European sanctions over Russia’s interventions in Ukraine prevent Rosneft from raising credit in the West or accessing Western technology for tapping shale and arctic reserves, but don’t prevent asset sales and purchases. The U.S. has also imposed personal restrictions on Mr. Sechin. The deals announced on Friday cement the strategic alliance between Rosneft and BP, which owns a nearly 20% stake in the Russian company. BP is taking a 20% stake in Taas-Yuryakh Neftegazodobycha in […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

British fracking campaign takes early step

British fracking campaign takes preliminary steps, though local county council rejects some work on traffic concerns. File Photo by Gary C. Caskey/UPI PRESTON, England, June 15 (UPI) — A British county council at the center of the country’s fledgling hydraulic fracturing sector gave partial support Monday to shale pioneer Caudrilla Resources. Caudrilla Resources aims to target shale natural gas reserves in Lancashire County. The region’s council said Monday it recommended approval for a campaign with as many as four drilling sites and hydraulic fracturing. The recommendation was subject to restrictions ranging from hours of work to noise pollution. A second application was recommended for refusal because of the potential for an increase in traffic on the rural highway network. Caudrilla in a statement said it was pleased with the council’s decision, though expressed frustration that efforts to satisfy local concerns were not recognized. "We will await the councilors’ decisions […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple