Posted in Health, Norway, Offshore Energy - General, UK, tagged CNR, Unite Scotland, vaccine mandate on January 19, 2022| Leave a Comment »
Oil and gas workers’ union, Unite Scotland, has demanded intervention by the Scottish government in response to Canadian Natural Resources (CNR) International introducing mandatory vaccinations, calling these measures “draconian.”
offshore-energy.biz
As previously reported, a Norwegian union criticized the absence of consultation before Aker BP imposed vaccine requirements at their facilities.
Posted in climate, energy policy, natural gas, UK, tagged Aissatou Sophie Gladima, energy policy, energy transition, germany, UK, Yergin on January 17, 2022| Leave a Comment »
By the end of 2022, Germany will have switched off its last 8.1 GW of nuclear power. Another 6.4 GW of coal capacity are scheduled for shuttering by 2023. Recent events and publications have given ammunition to those who fear a collapse of the system.
In 2018, Germany’s influential energy industry association BDEW said that Germany would run into a “shortfall in secured capacity by 2023 at the latest”, and that the country shouldn’t rely on its neighbors to make up the difference. Three years later and a lot closer to the nuclear phase-out, BDEW head Kerstin Andreae says: “For a secure energy supply, we also need new gas-fired power plants, as this is the only way to obtain the required controllable power.”
Clean Energy Wire
Germany will need back-up and supplemental power from gas plants, but the EU has excluded gas-fired energy generation from the list of sustainable investments and the associated incentives. Per Kerstin Andreae of the BDEW:
“We need to build these new power plant capacities now. Although they will initially run on natural gas, they are already capable of using hydrogen as an energy source in the future and will thus ultimately become climate neutral,” she said. But without a clear decision from the Commission „ important energy transition investments are at risk”
Clean Energy Wire
Meanwhile, oilprice.com reports that “UK peak-hour power prices for Monday evening through 6 p.m. surged to the highest level in a month due to low wind power generation during the weekend.” In what is becoming a familiar story:
Coal closures and no immediate replacements for nuclear power have exposed the UK’s vulnerabilities to the whims of the weather, with cold winters stoking natural gas demand and still weather lowering wind power generation.
oilprice.com
Daniel Yergin reminded us that energy transitions take time. Countries that ignore those realities are likely to suffer the consequences, both economically and environmentally. Per Aissatou Sophie Gladima, the energy minister of Senegal:
Restricting lending for oil and gas development, she said, “is like removing the ladder and asking us to jump or fly.”
Posted in Offshore Energy - General, UK, Uncategorized, tagged hydrokinetic energy, Orkney Islands on November 11, 2021| Leave a Comment »
Conceptually, these projects have great promise. To date, the main challenges have been durability, mooring system integrity, and space preemption. As noted in the Post article:
The idea is simple; execution less so. As these devices — and their computers, turbines and hydraulics — must survive in some of the harshest conditions on Earth.
Posted in conferences, energy policy, Offshore Energy - General, UK, Wind Energy, tagged climate, COP26, Glasgow, oil industry banned on October 25, 2021| Leave a Comment »
Oil firms have been banned from taking an active role in the upcoming COP26 summit.
The news is a seismic victory for climate activists.
It stops Big Oil companies from sponsoring the conference and steering the narrative away from their culpability in the climate crisis.
Euronews.green
Comments:
Posted in accidents, Offshore Energy - General, UK, tagged FPSO, Gryphon Alpha, Maersk, mooring failures, North Sea, UK on May 11, 2011| Leave a Comment »
A Maersk Oil-owned FPSO which was damaged during heavy storms in the North Sea in February will be out of action for another year as it heads for drydock repairs. Upstream
Posted in accidents, Norway, Offshore Energy - General, Regulation, UK, tagged accidents, gas leaks, HSE, Norway, safety, UK on May 10, 2011| Leave a Comment »
The HSE has told Shell to submit a revised safety case for the Brent Charlie platform after gas was detected on its topsides following leaks on 12 January this year and 27 September 2010, Upstream can reveal.
Shell, which took the decision itself to close the platform after the January incident, has been battling for some time to resolve technically complex issues related to the venting of gas from inside one the platform’s huge concrete legs — Column 1 (C1) — and dispersing it effectively away from the platform.
The operator now expects the ageing Brent field to remain shut down for several more months.
Posted in accidents, UK, tagged diving, fatality, North Sea, offshore oil and gas, UK on April 15, 2011| Leave a Comment »
Per the Evening Express in Aberdeen:
A DIVER working for an oil company has died at sea.
The 49-year-old oil worker took ill while diving with the Acergy Osprey, operated by Subsea7 which is based in Westhill.
No other information is available at this time.
Posted in gas, Norway, offshore, oil, UK, tagged Bjørn Vidar Lerøen, Drops of Black Gold, Dubs, history, How the Oil Came North, John C Milne, North Sea on March 31, 2011| 1 Comment »
John C Milne
“Dubs” is a term used in Aberdeen and northeast Scotland to describe all varieties of mud. That is the first thing I learned in reading John Milne’s excellent book “DUBS, How the Oil Came North.” John’s first job in the offshore industry was with a drilling mud supplier back in 1969 when he was still a college student. John presents a series of amusing and informative anecdotes about hie work experiences between 1969 and 1973 during the early years of North Sea offshore exploration. The book is available through the publisher, PlashMill Press. Good read!
I also recommend Bjørn Vidar Lerøen’s excellent book “Drops of Black Gold,” which
chronicles the history of Statoil and Norwegian offshore oil and gas development. The book includes a now famous 1962 letter from Phillips Petroleum to the Norwegian government. In the letter, Phillips seeks exclusive rights to the entire Norwegian continental shelf in return for conducting a seismic survey program. Hey, nothing wrong with asking! 🙂
Posted in accidents, UK, tagged accidents, FPSO, Gryphon Alpha, mooring failures, UK on February 5, 2011| 3 Comments »
Gryphon Alpha FPSO
A BBC report (forwarded by Cheryl Anderson) indicates that 70+ workers were safely evacuated from the Gryphon Alpha Floating Production Storage and Offloading facility in the UK sector of the North Sea. Four of the FPSO’s ten mooring lines failed in 30-foot seas and high winds which allowed the vessel to roll up to 12 degrees. 40 essential personnel remained aboard the facility.
While mooring system failures have been relatively common during hurricanes and other major storms (in the Gulf of Mexico, this problem was addressed through comprehensive MMS-industry programs after the 2005 hurricane season), such failures are much less common at floating production facilities. We await the findings of the UK’s inquiry.
Posted in accidents, UK, well control incidents, tagged accidents, blowouts, Deepwater Horizon, drilling, Energy and Climate Change Committee, Gulf of Mexico, macondo, parliament, safety, UK, well control on January 6, 2011| 1 Comment »
The blowout in the Gulf of Mexico could have been prevented if the last-line of defence—the blind shear ram on the blowout preventer, located at the well head on the ocean floor—had activated and crushed the drill pipe. Given the importance of this equipment, and the evident dangers of relying on a single device, we urge the HSE to consider prescribing specifically that blowout preventers on the UK Continental Shelf should have two blind shear rams.
