The United Kingdom approved the exploration and exploitation of oil and gas in its largest undeveloped field, the North Sea Transition Authority, the responsible regulatory body said on Wednesday.
The United Kingdom is to grant hundreds of new licenses to seek and drill for gas and oil in the North Sea as it tries to bolster its energy security, the government said on Monday.
By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com – UK North Sea operators will see near-record cash margins and profits this year as they will look to extend field lives amid high oil and gas prices in a “now or never” regulatory environment, energy consultancy Wood Mackenzie says.
The United Kingdom becomes the first G7 country to agree a landmark deal to support the oil and gas industry’s transition to clean, green energy. The UK government announced on Wednesday a landmark North Sea Transition Deal is agreed with industry and high-skilled oil and gas workers will not be left behind in the transition to a low carbon future.
Premier Oil announced on Tuesday that shareholders voted in favor of a reverse takeover of private equity-backed Chrysaor to create the British North Sea’s biggest oil and gas producer in which Premier shareholders will hold about 5.5%.
ConocoPhillips is pulling out of UK exploration and production after selling its North Sea oil and gas assets to Chrysaor for US$ 2.68bn (£2bn). The sale will boost Chrysaor's production by about 72,000 barrels a day to 177,000 - making it one of the UK's biggest operators.
Premier Oil has taken advantage of its second consecutive year of record oil production to make larger than expected cuts into its still-significant debts. The London-listed oil and gas developer, with interests in the Falkland Islands, expects its financial results to reveal end-of-year debts of US$2.3 billion, after removing US$390 million from the total following a sharp rise in oil output.
Danish vessel setting sail from Vladivostok this week is set to become the first container ship to tackle the Arctic sea route north of Russia. The Venta Maersk, owned by Maersk Line, and carrying 3,600 containers, hopes to reach St Petersburg by late September. That could be up to 14 days faster than the southern route via the Suez Canal.
Germany's E.ON says the size of a gas discovery made in the UK almost two years ago could be significantly larger than it previously thought. The integrated player said data from a recent appraisal well at the Tolmount discovery off the UK could make the find one of the largest discoveries made in this part of the North Sea for several years.
By John C.K. Daly of Oilprice.com - Twenty-plus years on, the collapse of the USSR in 1991 threatened massive Western defence budgets, bereft of a major enemy like the “Evil Empire.”