When an oil deposit of just a billion barrels becomes headline news, you know there’s trouble ahead. Why? Because it tells you that all of the large reserves have gone. We are now drilling into the small, hard to recover deposits that require a large investment for very little return. …
Read More »Who pays for North Sea decommissioning?
An argument has broken out between Oil and Gas UK – the industry trade body – and an Edinburgh geologist over the future of North Sea oil. According to Professor Roy Thompson, the end is in sight and: “The UK urgently needs a bold energy transition plan, instead of trusting …
Read More »Maybe it is time to stop polishing
Oil and Gas UK – the industry trade body – has its annual report out today. The report seeks to put a gloss on the future of an industry whose stay of execution is only temporary. According to Oil and Gas UK: “Almost $6 billion worth of mergers and acquisitions …
Read More »Arctic oil doesn’t exist
The supposed silver lining in the large storm cloud that is global ice melt, was that in the absence of the Arctic ice cap, oil companies would be free to drill into virgin seabed. Nowhere was this more so than the Barents Sea above Norway’s North Cape, which was promoted …
Read More »When the party comes to an end
Nicole Foss famously compared the oil industry to a late night drinking binge. The early oil found in pressurised deposits just 70 feet beneath the ground was the best booze. The North Sea was the cheap stuff. Hydraulically fractured shale oil and tar sands, though, are the last-ditch equivalent …
Read More »Forget the headlines, we’re burning more fossil fuels than ever
Barely a week goes by these days without someone claiming that this or that country ran entirely on renewable energy. But these claims are more about lulling the population into a false sense of security than any realistic appraisal of either national or global energy use. Even Britain’s recent coal-free …
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