US President Donald Trump, recently inked an order to extend a ban until 2032 on offshore oil drilling in the eastern Gulf of Mexico off Florida, in an effort to earn support in the state ahead of the Nov. 3 election.
The representative body for the UK’s offshore oil and gas sector, OGUK, will reflect on lessons learnt from the coronavirus pandemic as it reveals suspected COVID-19 cases offshore continue to decrease due to “effective industry-wide measures” to protect the sector.
During March and April, oil prices plunged to their lowest in a generation, However, Norwegian energy giant Equinor ASA was pumping as much crude as possible underground into giant caverns on the nation’s North Sea coast.
The oilfield service market is not likely to rebound to last year’s activity level until 2023, as a consequence of the COVID-19 downturn, according to Norwegian research firm Rystad Energy. However, suppliers could diversify some oil and gas capabilities and replace up to 40% of 2019’s revenue by servicing the renewable markets.
The UK oil and as industry has recently criticized the government for refusing to provide the means for COVID-19 testing on offshore platforms. This comes in light of the recent death of 227 oil workers at Petroleos Mexicanos, the highest toll of any company worldwide.
The UK’s offshore oil and gas industry revealed a roadmap to halve its operational emissions in the next decade, confirming its pathway to become a net zero emissions basin by 2050.
The oil market collapse caused by the COVID-19 pandemic is set to delay several oil and gas developments in Western Europe, putting capital expenditure in the offshore sector on a continued downwards trajectory through 2022, data by Norway-based research firm Rystad reveals.
Oil and gas companies currently have assets for sale with recoverable reserves of more than 5 billion barrels of liquids and 7.5 billion barrels of oil equivalent (boe) of natural gas, Norwegian research firm Rystad Energy estimates.
The US was the world’s largest CO2 emitter from oil and gas in absolute terms in 2018. Among the top 10 oil and gas producing countries, Canada had the highest CO2 emission intensity per boe produced, while Norway had the lowest, Rystad Energy says.
Total value of the global pool of decommissioning projects that will accumulate through 2024 could reach $42 billion, dominated by UK North Sea, estimates Rystad Energy.
