Oil and gas professionals unsatisfied with flagging pay rises

"A fifth (20%) said they had received no pay rises at all."

Oil and gas professionals are unsatisfied that their pay packets have failed to rise with inflation, research conducted by Change Recruitment Group in November has revealed.

The Change Recruitment Group survey discovered that almost half (48%) of oil and gas professionals have not received inflationary pay rises within the last two years.

Only one in ten respondents said that there were structures in place within their organisation to ensure that pay keeps pace with inflation, while a fifth (20%) said they had received no pay rises at all.

More than three hundred people evacuated from Norwegian platform

Statoil

Norway’s Statoil evacuated 326 people from a housing platform in the Norwegian Sea on 8 November, after it was tilted by stormy weather.

The ballast tank of the Floatel Superior accommodation rig was punctured by an anchor, leading to water seepage and concerns for the safety of the people on board. There was no suspected danger of oil or gas leaks at the field.

The Joint Rescue Coordination Centre Southern Norway used six helicopters for the evacuation, out of which three were operated between the platform and the nearby Njord A drilling rig, while the remaining three were used to move people from Njord A to a reception centre in Kristiansund on the Norwegian west coast.

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New Zealand opens up Northland coast for exploration

Northland

New Zealand has opened Northland’s west coast for oil and gas exploration and will soon begin awarding permits in three offshore and seven onshore blocks around the country, the government announced during November.

The offshore areas include the Northland / Reinga Basins that stretch from the entrance to Manukau Harbour, up Northland’s west coast, to above Cape Reinga in the Tasman Sea.

Welcoming the government’s decision, Energy and Resources Minister, Phil Heatley, told The New Zealand Herald: "Down in Taranaki the oil and gas industry provides more than 5,000 jobs and puts $2bn a year into the economy."

BP agrees to pay $4.5bn for Gulf oil spill

BP said it will pay $4.5bn in a settlement

Also this month, BP said it will pay $4.5bn in a settlement with the US Government over the 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster which killed 11 people.

The settlement includes a criminal fine – the largest in US history – of $1.26bn, which BP will pay in instalments over a period of five years.

A total of $2.3bn will be paid to the National Fish & Wildlife Foundation (NFWF) and $350m will be paid to the National Academy of Sciences (NAS), the firm said.

As part of the resolution, the oil company has agreed to plead guilty to 11 felony counts of Misconduct or Neglect of Ships Officers relating to the loss of lives.

US issues subpoena to Black Elk over Gulf oil rig blast

Black Elk Energy

A US board, which investigates chemical spills, refinery explosions and other industrial accidents, has issued a subpoena to Black Elk Energy in connection with November’s oil rig blast in the Gulf of Mexico.

The US Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board (CSB) will obtain complete information on the incident that left two crew members dead and several others seriously injured.

The rig operator is required to provide information pertaining to the use of combustible natural gas detectors, safety and environmental management systems and policies in place, as well as prior safety violations or citations.

Meanwhile, the US Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) has commenced the investigation on the blast.

Petronas finds major gas reserves in Sarawak, Malaysia

Petronas HQ

Meanwhile in Malaysia, Petroliam Nasional Berhad (Petronas) made two major gas discoveries at the Kuang North and Tukau Timur fields, offshore of Sarawak.

The total estimated gas-in-place from both discoveries is about 4.4 trillion standard cubic feet (tscf).

Plans are afoot to begin works to estimate the range of recoverable resource volumes.

In October 2012, the company drilled exploration wells Kuang North-1 and Kuang North-2 of the Kuang North field, located in Block SK316.

The second gas discovery was made at Tukau Timur Deep-1 within the Tukau Timur field, which is located in a block jointly operated by Petronas and Sarawak Shell, each holding a 50% stake.

US receives 131 bids for lease sale offshore Gulf of Mexico

Government sale of offshore assets

A government sale of offshore assets in the US Gulf of Mexico area, held by the US Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM), has received 131 bids from 13 offshore energy firms for 116 tracts.

The Western Gulf of Mexico Lease Sale 229 received nearly $134m in high bids for 652,522 acres, out of the 20 million acres that was made available for oil and gas development on the US Outer Continental Shelf (OCS), offshore of Texas.

Initiated as part of President Obama’s all-of-the-above energy strategy, the latest sale marks the first proposal under the administration’s new Outer Continental Shelf Oil and Gas Leasing Program for 2012-2017.

BP suspended from federal contracts over Gulf oil spill

Two weeks after BP agreed to pay out $4.5bn to the US Government over the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, the firm was suspended from partaking in new federal government contracts by the US Environmental Protection Agency.

"The ban stops the company and its affiliates from applying for new federal grants."

EPA, which is the lead agency for suspension and debarment actions, said the decision to suspend BP was taken considering the firm’s "lack of business integrity" in dealing with the disaster.

Besides restrictions from future potential contracts, the ban also stops the company and its affiliates from applying for new federal grants.


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