U.K. Region Approves First Fracking Permit Since 2011
An English county government on Monday approved an application for what could be the first permit to frack for shale gas in Western Europe since 2011. The North Yorkshire County Continue Reading
BP’s Oil Search Strategy Shrinks With Budget Cuts
The surprise departure of BP’s exploration boss has turned the spotlight on an oil search strategy that, after years of spending cuts, is focusing mainly on expanding existing fields rather Continue Reading
BP’s oil search strategy shrinks with budget cuts
The surprise departure of BP’s exploration boss has turned the spotlight on an oil search strategy that, after years of spending cuts, is focusing mainly on expanding existing fields rather Continue Reading
BP doubles stake in North Sea gas field
BP logo is seen at a fuel station of British oil company BP in St. Petersburg, October 18, 2012. Oil major BP Plc said it doubled its stake in the Continue Reading
British share of renewables setting records
A provisional estimate from the British government shows the amount of electricity generated from renewable energy set a record last year. A monthly update from the British Department of Energy Continue Reading
After British corruption slip, Nigeria demands stolen assets back
Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari demanded on Wednesday that Britain return assets held there by corrupt Nigerians, pointing the finger back at London after Britain’s prime minister suggested Nigeria was “fantastically Continue Reading
Shell’s Profits Plunge 83%
More earnings reports are trickling in. Royal Dutch Shell is the last oil major to report first quarter earnings, and like its peers, the Anglo-Dutch company saw its profits tumble. Continue Reading
Shell Targets Spending as Profit Plunges 83%
Royal Dutch Shell PLC said Wednesday that it would bring the hammer down harder on spending as it contends with a nearly two-year slump in oil prices that dragged the Continue Reading
Energy and Climate Change Committee backs UK’s draft legislation on energy – Electric Power
The Energy and Climate Change Committee backed the UK government’s draft legislation on energy but urged the government and Ofgem to keep decision-making processes transparent. In a report published on Continue Reading
What It Takes for Royal Dutch Shell to Break Even
Oil giant Royal Dutch Shell’s chief financial officer Simon Henry said Wednesday the company would… Royal Dutch Shell sees itself as the Mario Draghi of oil companies. While rivals set Continue Reading
Shell to speed up cost cuts after low oil price hits profits
The head of Shell has said he would accelerate the cost savings expected from its recent £35bn takeover of rival BG Group, as the company reported a near 60 per Continue Reading
BP Reports Surprise Profit on Strength in Refining, Trading
BP Plc, the first oil major to report first-quarter earnings, posted a surprise profit as a stronger-than-expected refining and trading performance helped mitigate the lowest crude prices in more than Continue Reading
Oil Majors Lose Faith In The North Sea – 100 Shut Downs Looming
Oil production from the North Sea posted gains in 2015 for the second year in a row, but the recent uptick in output could be a blip in the region’s Continue Reading
British shale oil may be ready to boom
Report finds “Gatwick Gusher” inland shale oil basin could add billions of dollars to the British economy and potentially offset natural declines from the North Sea. Photo courtesy of U.K. Continue Reading
BP Shareholders Reject Oil Giant’s Pay Policy
Following the company’s annual meeting Thursday, the oil giant said 59% of the votes cast were against the company’s executive compensation decisions for 2015. That included a roughly 20% increase Continue Reading
New oil coming from North Sea
The first volumes of oil are flowing from a well at the Solan field in the North Sea, which should reach steady production rates yet this year, Premier Oil said. Continue Reading
BP Shareholders Revolt Over CEO’s Salary
BP is facing a revolt from its shareholders over the salary of its CEO Bob Dudley. Dudley’s salary jumped 20 percent in 2015 to $19.6 million, the same year in Continue Reading
Rapid decline of coal use leads to drop in UK emissions
Plummeting coal use in 2015 led to a fall of 4% in the UK’s annual carbon dioxide emissions, according to government energy statistics published on Thursday. Coal is now burning Continue Reading
Oil Explorers Face Challenge to Secure Financing as Oil Prices Fall
Just a few years ago, when oil sold for about $100 a barrel, banks here were lining up to give international oil explorers access to billions of dollars to finance Continue Reading
United Kingdom increases oil production in 2015, but new field development declines
After many years of decline, production of petroleum and other liquids in the United Kingdom (U.K.) increased by about 100,000 barrels per day (b/d) in 2015. The largest contribution to Continue Reading
Shell weighs North Sea assets for potential sales
Shell has said it plans to raise $30bn from asset sales worldwide as it moves to offset the cost of the BG acquisition, completed last month just weeks after oil Continue Reading
Dyson developing an electric car
Dyson is developing an electric car at its headquarters in Wiltshire with help from public money, according to government documents. The company, which makes a range of products that utilise Continue Reading
Oil Firms Slow Exploration to Weather Low-Price Era
The world’s biggest oil companies are draining their petroleum reserves faster than they are replacing them—a symptom of how a deep oil-price decline is reshaping the energy industry’s priorities. In Continue Reading
‘Game-Changing’ Horse Hill-1 Well Produces ‘North Sea-like’ Oil Flows
UK Oil & Gas Investments plc announced Monday that the final production test at the Horse Hill-1 discovery, onshore the UK’s Weald Basin, flowed oil at a stable rate of Continue Reading
Commercial potential for British shale oil
British energy company said inland shale oil basin has obvious commercial potential. Photo courtesy of U.K. Oil & Gas Investments LONDON, March 1 (UPI) — A British company tapping into Continue Reading
British fracking surveys may address tremors
The British Geological Survey said Tuesday it’s uncovered data that could help address concerns about seismic activity associated with hydraulic fracturing. BGS last year took the lead in a consortium Continue Reading
Premier Oil’s Losses Widen After Write-Downs
Premier Oil PMO -5.45 % PLC, one of the U.K.’s biggest independent oil companies, on Thursday reported a wider full-year loss after it wrote down the value of some of Continue Reading
British oil and gas production rises
Total British net energy production increased last year for the first time in nearly 20 years in part because of new gas output, the government said. The British government released Continue Reading
UK crude oil output surges 14% in 2015, first rise since 1999
Crude, NGL exports increase by 6.2% UK crude oil production surged by almost 14% in 2015 to 42.640 million mt, or 882,000 b/d, the first significant annual increase since 1999, Continue Reading
Oil Price Crash Claims U.K. North Sea Victim First Oil Expro
The slump in oil prices claimed a victim in the North Sea as closely held First Oil Expro Ltd. went into administration. KPMG LLP was appointed administrator of First Oil Continue Reading
Low Oil Prices Put North Sea Industry in Peril, U.K. Industry Body Says
The U.K.’s decades-old offshore oil-and-gas industry is perched “at the edge of a chasm” amid a historic rout in oil prices that is pushing almost half of the sector’s producing Continue Reading
U.K. North Sea Oil Spending to Decline 40% This Year Versus 2014
Oil and gas producers in the U.K. North Sea will spend 40 percent less this year than in 2014 as low crude prices force them to tighten budgets, the industry’s Continue Reading
Crude Hits Asian Stock Outlook as `Brexit’ Showdown Sinks Pound
U.S. crude oil lingered below $30 a barrel, souring the outlook for Asian equities, as the pound slid amid a split in the U.K.’s ruling political party over whether Britain Continue Reading
In Britain, a Green Utility Company Sees Winds of Change
A wind farm here, along the River Trent, cranks out enough clean electricity to power as many as 57,000 homes. Monitored remotely, the windmills, 34 turbines each about 400 feet Continue Reading
Oil flowing from British shale
A British energy company said Wednesday shale oil continued to flow naturally to the surface, a day after it declared high rates from its Horse Hill license. Light, sweet crude Continue Reading
U.K. Explorer Soars as Oil Flows Near London’s Gatwick Airport
British energy explorer U.K. Oil & Gas Investments Plc gained the most in 10 months after reporting that oil flowed “naturally” to the surface from 900 meters (2,953 feet) below Continue Reading
After Years Outperforming Oil Companies, BG Ends Trading
In the three decades since BG sprung out of the U.K.’s struggling state-run gas firm, it has become an international energy company with assets including highly prized oil fields in Continue Reading
Total Starts North Sea Gas Project Despite Low Oil Prices
One of the last big North Sea projects sanctioned under high oil prices has begun pumping natural gas, highlighting an unexpected boom in U.K. energy production that analysts say is Continue Reading
Offshore U.K. to host world’s largest wind farm
European renewables company DONG Energy said it made a final investment decision for its Hornsea project, the world’s largest offshore wind farm ever planned. DONG said it was moving forward Continue Reading
Shell vows more cuts as annual profit sinks on weak oil prices
Royal Dutch Shell ( RDSa.L ), Europe’s largest oil company, reported its lowest annual income in at least 13 years on Thursday, vowing to take further steps to weather the Continue Reading
Shell Fourth-Quarter Profit Drops 44% as Crude Prices Tumble
Royal Dutch Shell Plc, which is on the brink of completing the oil industry’s largest deal in a decade, said fourth-quarter profit fell 44 percent after the rout in crude Continue Reading
Shell Profit Battered by Weak Oil Prices
Shell’s earnings have come under pressure from weak oil prices. The Anglo-Dutch oil company’s fourth-quarter profit on a current cost-of-supplies basis—a number similar to the net income that U.S. oil Continue Reading
Oil’s Race to the Bottom: Can BP Keep Up?
Oil companies are groping around in the dark. It is hard to be confident that dawn is imminent. In BP’s case, a respectable headline cash-flow figure was flattered by movements Continue Reading
BP to Cut 7,000 Jobs in 2016/2017 after Worst Results for Two Decades
BP’s final results for 2015 revealed its worst performance for more than two decades and that it will lose 7,000 members from its workforce in 2016 and 2017. Super major Continue Reading
Shell divesting from Malaysia
Royal Dutch Shell said it took in more than $60 million for the sale of a majority of its holdings in a Malaysian refining company to a national company there. Continue Reading
Advocacy group: British fracking plans a blow to democracy
A British plan to develop an industrial-scale shale natural gas industry within a decade is an “attack on democracy,” an environmental campaign group said. Advocacy group Friends of the Earth Continue Reading
S&P Lowers Shell’s Rating, Puts Other Oil Majors on Watch
Royal Dutch Shell Plc had its debt rating cut to the lowest since Standard & Poor’s began coverage in 1990, and downgrades of several other major European oil and gas Continue Reading
BP Cites Low Oil Prices in $3.3 Billion Loss, as Industry Toll Mounts
The newest measure of the oil industry ’s falling fortunes came on Tuesday in the form of a $3.3 billion fourth-quarter loss reported by BP . For all of 2015, Continue Reading
BP reports worst annual loss in over 20 years, cuts more jobs
BP ( BP.L ) slumped to its worst annual loss in over 20 years in 2015, the British oil and gas company announced on Tuesday, and said it would cut Continue Reading
BP Profit Falls 91%, Missing Estimates, as Oil Slump Deepens
BP Plc reported a 91 percent decline in fourth-quarter earnings after average crude oil prices dropped to the lowest in more than a decade. The company’s shares fell the most Continue Reading