News Archive
Latest 50 news articles
Downstream UK oil industry drops pump prices
Pump prices for both diesel and unleaded petrol fell this week as the UK's downstream oil industry lowered the cost to consumers.Figures from the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) show that, as of July 26th, diesel prices were down by 0.21p per litre compared with the previous week.However, the greater fall was seen in the cost of unleaded petrol, which dropped by 0.23p per litre or a little over £1 per gallon at the pump.The short-term trend does not tally with the full-year p...
South African oil industry gains on stimulated economic growth
Analyst Frost & Sullivan notes the impact that stimulated economic growth has had on the gas and oil industry of South Africa.With a number of different factors affecting the local oil industry during 2010, opportunities have arisen at a variety of stages in the process.For instance, with crude prices higher, exploration efforts have intensified, with Angola one centre for new initiatives.As related industries recover from the economic turbulence of 2008 and 2009, Frost adds that oil product...
UK oil industry sees multibillion pound prospect from decommissioning
The possibilities put forward by decommissioning oil industry infrastructure total tens of billions of pounds, according to Paul Dymond, operations director for Oil & Gas UK.He explains that, in the decades to come, 470 installations across the UK are likely to be subject to decommissioning as they reach the end of their usable lives.For firms within the oil industry able to carry out the decommissioning and dismantling work required, the coming decade is expected to produce contracts worth...
Independent gas and oil industry firms create half of Gulf of Mexico market
As many as half of the gas and oil industry jobs that exist in the Gulf of Mexico are provided by independent operators, according to analysis from IHS Global Insight.While all eyes may presently be on BP's operations in the area as the firm looks to minimise the impact of its Deepwater Horizon rig leak, the market research firm has found that independents have a significant role to play.In 2009, they provided around 200,000 of the 400,000 jobs in the sector in the region, with a similar share i...
Oil industry operators 'not investing in ETRM'
ETRM solutions - energy trading and risk management - allow oil industry operators to analyse business processes ranging from bidding and pricing to deal capture and pipeline nominations.However, figures from analyst IDC suggest that many within the oil industry are operating without these solutions in place - despite the research organisation suggesting that ETRM is "invaluable" in a turbulent market.Senior research analyst for IDC Energy Insights Catherin Madden says: "Oil and g...
Oil industry 'has doubled Louisiana stress rate'
The impact of the oil industry on the states affected by the Gulf of Mexico spill has again been quantified in research from Louisiana State University.Rather than looking at the environmental impact of the Deepwater Horizon leak, researchers interviewed residents on issues such as their mental health.They found that stress rates have more than doubled among coastal residents in terms of how individuals assess their own mental condition.Nearly 43 per cent of respondents have found themselves dis...
Domestic oil industry 'must be capitalised upon'
The UK's domestic gas and oil industry must each be utilised to the fullest extent as the country looks to achieve sustainability in its energy mix, according to secretary of state for energy and climate change Chris Huhne.His comments were made in an article for the Telegraph, with the MP's opinions republished on the Department of Energy and Climate Change website."We must secure diversity of energy supplies from abroad while making the most of our home-grown energy, including North Sea o...
Dani SpA and Jeol Enter in an Exclusive Distribution Agreement for the BeNeLux
Dani SpA (Italy), a well known European producer and developer of high level GC systems and attachments for the GC market and Jeol (Europe) BV (Belgium) announced and signed an exclusive distribution agreement. Dr. Umberto Saini from Dani as well as Dr. Bob Hertsens from Jeol are looking forward to expand the market share with this strategic agreement. Since Dani and Jeol have complementary systems, and that no production of competitive instruments exists between Dani and Jeol, this joint effor...
New Sales Manager for Oil and Gas Service Team
Henry Bob-Manuel has joined ABB’s Process Automation (UK) division in Aberdeen as Sales Manager for Oil and Gas Service. With this new job, he takes up account management responsibility for oil and gas services within the Process Automation division in Aberdeen. He will be working towards realising the strategic growth objectives of the Oil and Gas service team and also build lasting relationships with ABB’s increasing customer base in the UK oil and gas sector. Henry comes to ABB h...
Oil industry impact on beaches discussed in report
The impact of the oil industry on beaches in the Gulf of Mexico region is discussed in a new report from the Clean Beaches Coalition.According to the study, the oil industry's impact - due specifically to the leaking BP-operated rig Deepwater Horizon - has already had an effect on the number of coastal regions presented with the Blue Wave award for cleanliness.However, this is expected to worsen in the years following the leak as the after-effects take hold of an area popular among tourists.Walt...
Some Oil and Gas Issues Relating to the Philippines
By Dr. Clifford Jones, Aberdeen University. The Philippines imports about 300000 barrels per day of crude oil. Domestic oil production is only about 20 thousand barrels per day and, for a period in the late 1990s, was significantly less than that and quite negligible. Part of the oil and gas activity of the Philippines is in the hands of the state owned Philippine National Oil Company (PNOC), which came into being by presidential decree in 1973 with its HQ in Manila. Shell and Caltex are also r...
The Elk Hills Oilfield
By Dr. Clifford Jones, Aberdeen University. The Gulf Coast hurricanes of 2005 necessitated withdrawal from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR), which requires the permission of the President of the US. The SPR consists of about 700 million barrels of crude oil stored in salt caverns along the Louisiana coast. The Reserve was established during the presidency of Gerald Ford, partly because of the stoppage of exports of oil to the US from OPEC countries for a period in 1973-74. Reserves of oil...
Expansion for German Instrumentation Manufacturers both Home and Abroad
Samson (Germany) has used the less busy times of the economic recession to make the infrastructure at its headquarters in Frankfurt ready for future challenges. The expansion work included a large extension of the high-bay warehouse only built a few years ago. Instead of ten, the warehouse now has 16 rows of shelves; the number of stacker cranes has been increased from five to eight to still allow one crane to operate two rows. 180 pallets or wire mesh boxes per hour now can be loaded and unload...
UK oil industry drops fuel prices again
The downstream oil industry in the UK has again lowered fuel prices, with unleaded now at its lowest cost per litre since fuel duty rose on April 1st.Immediately prior to the increase in duty, unleaded stood at 117.28p per litre, but this spiked to 119.29p on the announcement of the 1p increase in taxation.Prices peaked in mid-May at an average of 121.31p per litre, according to figures from the Department of Energy and Climate Change.But in its latest weekly update, the government body notes th...
New Acquisition Offers Further US Expansion To Leading Industrial Gas Providers
Matheson Tri-Gas, Inc. (USA) a global manufacturer and supplier of industrial, medical, electronics and specialty gases and welding supplies recently announced it has completed the acquisition of Western International Gas and Cylinders, Inc. a Texas-based manufacturer and wholesale supplier of acetylene, propylene, high pressure gases, cylinders, valves and related services. Matheson is the largest subsidiary of Taiyo Nippon Sanso Corporation (“TNSC”), which is one of the top five gl...
Flow Specialists Appoint New Regional Sales Managers for Oil and Gas Markets in Europe and South America
In line with McCrometer’s (USA) ongoing commitment to provide world-class flow measurement products and services to its customers, the company is pleased to announce the appointment of two new Regional Sales Managers for the Oil/Gas Market. Carlos Alexandre De Souza will lead the company’s regional South American team, and Kieron McCann will manage the company’s efforts in the Western European and Central Asia regions. Carlos Alexandre De Souza will manage McCrometer’s...
Retail oil industry 'is changing dramatically'
A new report from NPD Group notes the different factors that play a part in determining the success of consumer-facing organisations within the downstream oil industry.The analyst has expanded on its existing coverage of the downstream oil industry, allowing it to investigate consumers' sentiments more closely.It has discovered that some consumers have a preferred brand, which is determined by a combination of environmental friendliness, community involvement and trust.Others select their brand...
Oil industry halts falling unleaded prices
The six-week drop in unleaded prices in the UK during May and June has come to a halt as downstream operators in the oil industry have put their prices up.In its latest weekly report on fuel prices, the Department of Energy and Climate Change notes a slight increase in the average cost of a litre of unleaded.From a cost per litre of 117.88p on June 28th, the fuel now costs 117.91p as of July 5th, an increase of just 0.03p.However, the previous week also saw a rise, taking unleaded up 0.08p per l...
NOAA updates on oil industry's Gulf response
One of the latest updates on the oil industry's activities in the Gulf of Mexico has been issued by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), part of the US department of commerce.With Hurricane Alex causing difficulties for the oil industry workers tackling the Deepwater Horizon leak in recent days, NOAA has been looking into the Loop Current, which carries water up the eastern coastline of the US.According to the NOAA, oil has not yet entered the Loop Current, with the work i...
Swift response of oil industry 'makes emission estimates too low'
The oil industry's ability to respond quickly to higher demand for electricity may mean that estimates of carbon emissions caused by equipment left switched on are too low.Researchers at Imperial College London explain that, when demand spikes, power produced by the coal, gas and oil industry can be raised to meet the higher requirements.However, renewable energy sources may be less able to increase their output to meet the demand.As a result of this, the mix of renewable and non-renewable energ...
Oil industry continues to lower petrol prices
Unleaded petrol continues to drop in price at UK pumps as the oil industry's six-week run on lowering cost per litre goes on.Figures from the Department of Energy and Climate Change, compiled on Monday, June 21st, show an average at-pump price of 117.8p per litre for unleaded petrol.Diesel, meanwhile, rose slightly in cost last week, reaching 120.39p per litre, after dropping to 120.21p the week before.The fuel remains up by more than two pence since the rise in fuel duty of a single penny per l...
Oil industry giant Shell UK advises on fuel consumption
Shell UK, one of the oil industry's best-known brands, has given motorists some guidance on how to reduce their fuel consumption.Media manager David Wood makes some relatively simple recommendations on how to raise the efficiency of a vehicle while reducing levels of unnecessary drag.He suggests lowering top speeds by a few miles an hour and changing up a gear slightly sooner to remove fuel wastage at the top end of the rev counter.Travelling as light as possible and removing the roof rack when...
Huhne notes Gulf impact on UK oil industry
The effects of the Gulf of Mexico oil leak on the UK oil industry - and the steps being taken to collaborate with the US on tackling the spill - have been clarified by Chris Huhne, secretary of state for energy and climate change.He explains that regulations in the UK have been relatively tight since 1988, when the Piper Alpha rig exploded with a resultant 167 fatalities.Since that time, health and safety has also been a separate issue from licensing for the purposes of regulating the UK oil ind...
PM spokesperson places onus on oil industry for Gulf of Mexico spill
A spokeswoman for prime minister David Cameron has said that the UK oil industry's largest corporation, BP, must find the solution to the Gulf of Mexico oil spill - and not the government.Questioned by reporters, she explained that the government is working with the oil industry giant to assist the US government in tackling the spill.However, she denied that the UK government should see the leak as its own responsibility to help resolve, instead calling on BP to do so.She also defended why, unti...
BP reasserts strength in oil industry
BP has stressed its position within the oil industry - and its financial strength - following a fall in its share prices.The oil industry giant claims that it is "not aware of any reason" why its share price may have fallen, in spite of the major leak that continues to release oil into the Gulf of Mexico.However, it adds that it will "continue to keep the market fully informed of further developments in the response" to the leak.BP also points out the strength with which it c...
Petrochemical laboratories could make more use of yeast
Research conducted by cleaning products brand Ecover over the past seven years has revealed a new role for yeast to play in petrochemical laboratories.The brand claims that yeast found in bees' nests can take the place of surfactants in cleaning products.Surfactants are typically produced in petrochemical laboratories using large amounts of energy and creating toxic byproducts in the process.However, using the yeast as an alternative, Ecover claims on its US blog that much less energy is require...
Volunteers helping oil industry with pet and human hair
An army of volunteers are helping the oil industry and tourism authorities to minimise the impact of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill using an innovative combination of pantyhose and pet hair.Three businesses in Herndon, Virginia, are supplying errant pet hair and human trimmings to be stuffed into pantyhose and used as makeshift booms to prevent oil from washing up on to beaches.One of the firms, pet grooming brand Wag'N Enterprises, explains that the idea was first thought up in 1989, during the E...
Tourism site expresses oil industry fears
The impact of the Gulf of Mexico spill on tourism in areas such as Florida has led one tourism site to express concern about the potential impact of the oil industry in its own region.British Columbia website queen-charlotte-islands-bc.com is run by Darshan Montgomery, a travel enthusiast who writes a number of guides to popular destinations.He asks what impact a spill on the British Columbia coastline, similar to that in the Gulf of Mexico, might have on the ecology of the area."The BP oil...
BP deal removes liability from oil industry for Louisiana barrier
The construction of six barrier islands to protect Louisiana against the Gulf of Mexico spill will not increase the oil industry's exposure to liability, it has been revealed.BP has agreed with the US government to fund the construction of the islands, on the understanding that it will not be held responsible for any consequences of the initiative.As a result, it is putting $360 million (£245 million) into the construction, but the oil industry's liability is further limited by the fact tha...
March 'an unusual month' for UK oil industry
March proved to be a strange month for the UK oil industry, according to newly published figures from the Department for Energy and Climate Change (DECC).In its latest monthly table of indigenous production, refinery receipts, imports and exports, the government department notes an intriguing trend during March.This is due to a month of upgrades and maintenance across the UK oil industry.During the month, low volumes of crude imports led to the UK becoming a net exporter of crude oil for the fir...
New UK oil industry body prepares for first meeting
The first meeting of the Oil Spill Prevention and Response Advisory Group (OSPRAG) brings UK oil industry representatives together on June 2nd to address five issues relating to how the sector acts to both stop spills from happening and to react if they do occur.On the group's agenda for the coming weeks are technical issues including personal safety, responding and remedying oil spills, national measures to respond to emergencies, insurance and indemnity, and regulations across the North Sea oi...
Top-kill operations may not work, BP admits
Natural resources giant BP has claimed top-kill procedures being applied to the Deepwater Horizon oil leak are not certain to succeed.These methods include pumping heavy drilling fluids into the blow out preventer, with operations having started on May 26th.Deepwater Horizon, a Transocean rig leased by BP, caught fire last month and subsequently sank killing nine full-time employees and two contractors.While the oil industry giant has said cementing techniques will be carried out should top-kill...
Shell makes US acquisitions
Oil giant Royal Dutch Shell has revealed it will be purchasing the subsidiaries that make up East Resources in an effort to expand its North America tight gas portfolio.The transaction is worth $4.7 billion (£3.23 billion) and will see Shell take over some 650,000 net acres of "highly contiguous" acreage in Marcellus and a total of 1.05 million net acres overall. Chief executive officer of the firm Peter Voser said the acquisitions are part of an "on-going strategy" to i...
Manufacturing of Pressure Gauges, Switches Transmitters Moves to Pennsylvania Location
Brooks Instrument (USA) have opened a new production line for the recently acquired pressure gauge product family at its headquarters in Hatfield, Pensylvania Brooks acquired the pressure gauge products through its acquisition of certain assets of Celerity’s Instrumentation division in June 2009. The pressure gauge product family not only includes pressure gauges, but also pressure switches and pressure transmitters. The Brooks S122/C122/F122 series 2-inch stainless steel gauges were desi...
New Group Business Development Director for Workplace Safety Experts
Leading workplace and eco risk advisor, Sypol (UK) is delighted to announce the appointment of Martin Smith as Group Business Development Director of Sypol Holdings Ltd. Martin brings with him over 18 years of business compliance experience in the market information and consulting markets, working nationally and internationally for both corporate and not-for-profit organisations. Martin’s new role will concentrate on organic growth strategies including consulting and online product and ser...
New Partnership for Particle Vision and Analysis
Horiba Instruments, Inc. and Fluid Imaging Technologies (both USA) are pleased to announce their new distribution partnership for the patented FlowCAM© automated particle vision and analysis system. The FlowCAM© combines the speed of data acquisition of typical particle analysers with the detailed individual particle information of microscopy. The engineers of Fluid Imaging have designed the intuitive VisualSpreadsheet software which facilitates the rapid analysis of particle data an...
Oil industry supports growth in GCC
Countries in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) have seen their status in the oil industry support economic growth over the past year, according to ANIMA.The Mediterranean Investment Network notes the good performance seen in GCC countries, stemming from rebounding oil prices and a more stable financial sector.With the positive influence of the oil industry, "economic growth in the countries of the GCC should hit 4.4 per cent", ANIMA says.This compares with the zero per cent growth rat...
Strategic Alliance for XRF Fusion Technology
PANalytical (The Netherlands) is pleased to announce a strategic alliance with XRF Scientific (Australia) in the field of XRF fusion technology. The first result of this cooperation is the launch of a new fused bead preparation system - the Eagon 2. This new agreement supports the PANalytical Expertise programs, which are designed to ensure that the capability and potential of each user’s analytical X-ray systems is fully realized. Expertise programs provide priority access to the company...
Gas exploration off Dokdo
Both Japan and Korea, as we have seen previously in this volume, lack oil and gas resources. It is therefore a matter of some interest that there is exploration for gas planned at a location the sovereignty of which has long been a matter of dispute between Japan and Korea. Dokdo comprises two small islands about 215 km from the coast of South Korea. Korea has cited documents from as far back as the sixth century AD in establishing its claim to Dokdo. Japan asserts that Dokdo was terra nul...
Oil industry prepares as Gulf spill reaches loop current
The oil industry is holding its breath following the news that the spill in the Gulf of Mexico has entered the loop current.Dr Bertrand Chapron of the French Research Institute for Exploitation of the Sea, Ifremer, says there is "visible proof" that oil has now entered the clockwise current, if only at the ocean's surface.This puts it on a "conveyor belt" carrying water from the Gulf up the east cost of America towards Florida, with the first hard evidence of its entry into t...
'Integrated view' mooted for oil industry, fishing and humans
An "integrated view" has been recommended for the oil industry, fishing operators and humans working in other ways at sea, in order to preserve the oceanic climate for generations to come.The Marine Board-European Science Foundation, established in 1995 to encourage collaboration between different maritime organisations, the European Fisheries and Aquaculture Research Organisation, and the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea met recently during EU Maritime Day 2010.Dur...
Oil industry giants embark on five-year exploration project
A five-year programme of exploration awaits oil industry major players Royal Dutch Shell and PetroChina after the pair were awarded the Block D concession in north-eastern Qatar.The onshore and offshore claim was signed on May 16th and, reports Business Monitor International (BMI), is likely to lead to broader involvement by one or both of the firms in Qatar's oil industry.More than 8,000 sq km of land and ocean exploration rights are covered by the contract, with PetroChina claiming that the ar...
Hendry offers continuity to UK oil industry
The appointment of Charles Hendry to the position of energy minister offers the UK oil industry a sense of continuity during the change in government, according to Oil and Gas UK.The gas and oil industry association has welcomed the incoming government, including Chris Huhne's appointment as secretary of state for energy and climate change, and Greg Barker's appointment as minister of state for energy.But it is Mr Hendry's appointment that pleases Oil and Gas UK chief executive Malcolm Webb, due...
Gulf of Mexico spill 'could have wider implications' for oil industry
There could be a number of wider implications for the oil industry following the recent Transocean drilling rig fire and oil spill.Last month, the platform caught ablaze and then sank, leading to the death of nine of the company's employees and two contractors.John Miles, spokesperson for the UK Industry Task-Force on Peak Oil and Energy Security, said the incident could cause a number of problems in the short term.He remarked: "If the current leakage is not stopped properly, there is likel...
600th Gas Aspirator Shipped to Canada
Hazard detection specialist Groveley Detection (UK) has shipped its 600th gas detection aspirator. Groveley has supplied its gas detection aspirators (sampling systems) to oil, gas and energy installations around the world since 1993, monitoring smoke, flame and toxic gases. This unit - to be installed at ATCO Power’s Muskeg River cogeneration plant in Alberta, Canada - will monitor a gas turbine enclosure for potential methane leaks. It is the latest aspirator of five supplied to ATCO...
The Japan Exploration Company
Japanese industry during the decade or so after World War Two required vast amounts of energy. The country is however lacking in petroleum fuels. Indeed, as pointed out in another of the mini essays, availability of fuel for the Japanese Navy was a factor in the course of the War. After the War Japan therefore expanded her refining capacity and imported more and more oil in times when the price of a barrel was, in 2006 terms, about $US20, only just over a quarter of the cost at the time of writi...
Former CEO honoured by ASTM Committee
Robert E. Manning, Ph.D., technical advisor, retired President of Cannon Instrument Co. (USA) and life time resident in State College, PA, has been honored with a 50 Year Service Award. ASTM International Committee D02 on Petroleum Products and Lubricants recognised Dr. Manning for "his 50 years of continuous service to the standards writing-efforts of ASTM over the course of his distinguished career." Patrick Maggi, President of Cannon Instrument Company and Chairman of ASTM D...
SAR advances to help assess oil industry's coastal impact
The oil industry's impact on coastal areas - due to incidents such as the recent leak in the Gulf of Mexico - can be assessed using synthetic aperture radar (SAR) and other environmental factors, according to the French Research Institute for Exploitation of the Sea.Dr Bertrand Chapron explains that the Sentinel-1 SAR instrument, due to launch in 2012 and be followed by a second satellite in 2014, is to have the capability to detect both high-resolution images of sea surface roughness and surfac...
20 Years of Success and Growing
Founded as a distributor of analytical products at a time of upheaval and collapse of communism, Analytik Jena (Germany) is looking back on 20 eventful years. From the sale of analytical systems from major international groups to the repositioning as a manufacturer in their own right thanks to the acquisition of Carl Zeiss Jena GmbH‘s lab analysis technology operations and the acquisition of Docter-Optic Eisfeld GmbH, and through the launch of contrAA® technology, the IPO, the interna...
New Gas Analyser Clinches Award
Tiger Optics (USA) announces that its breakthrough product, the Prismatic™ Multi-Species Gas Analyser, has won the first annual “Best of Show” award at the prestigious Pittsburgh Conference. More than a decade in development, the new product is a single analyzer that can measure trace levels of as many as 16 different molecules with Tiger Optics’ field-proven technology, known as Continuous Wave Cavity Ring-Down Spectroscopy (CW CRDS). The new Prismatic instrument has won...