All articles by Heidi Vella
Heidi Vella
Skills and technology: inside the UK’s latest drilling training facility
UK oil and gas training provider AIS Survivex has opened a new centre for well control instruction in the Northeast of England to meet a post-pandemic spike in demand.
Skills, supply, and demand: what’s happing to workers as the oil industry decarbonises?
The UK oil and gas industry has suffered a ‘triple whammy’ of challenges –volatile prices, the pandemic, and decarbonisation – that has negatively impacted skills and recruitment.
Going nowhere: the offshore industry’s methane problem
A new report by the International Energy Agency highlights the oil and gas industry’s huge methane emissions problem and its persistent failure to tackle it. We look at the issue and why it threatens to be ‘existential’ for the sector.
Q&A: the outlook for oil and gas in Africa with the African Energy Chamber
The African Energy Chamber’s annual report warns of challenging times ahead and says a rethink of offshore licencing procedures and environmental standards are needed if the sector is to survive. Verner Ayukegba, senior vice president of the Chamber, discusses why the industry must take a ‘now or never’ approach to reform.
Joe Biden is president-elect: what now for US oil and gas?
The wait is finally over: Joe Biden has won the contentious 2020 US elections. He will be a very different leader to self-proclaimed ‘oil man’ Donald Trump, that we know, but what exactly can the offshore oil and gas sector expect? We report.
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Shaky shores ahead: can a new oilfield bidding round rebound Nigerian oil?
The Nigerian Government is counting on a new marginal bid round, the first in over two decades, covering 57 oil fields, including shallow offshore, to boost national revenue and reinvigorate the country’s ailing extractives sector. Demand for licences has been high, but will it be enough? We take a look.
Ocean Infinity: launching the autonomous Armada fleet
Although a relative newcomer to the AUV mapping and inspection sector, Ocean Infinity has already put its multi-vessel fleet to work for some major firms, including ExxonMobil and Shell. Next year the company plans to launch Armada, 15 low-carbon remotely operated surface vessels for inspection, data collection, and, in a first, unmanned offshore logistics, along with a new recruitment drive. We find out more from Armada’s managing director, Dan Hook.
Sizing up Somalia: a new offshore oil frontier in the making
Somalia is one of the few remaining frontier oil and gas exploration territories and the Somalian federal government is promoting its advancement by launching its first ever offshore licensing round. We look at the latest developments.
Thawed relations hit strange times: inside the Saudi-Kuwait Neutral Zone
After five years of shutdown, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia have decided to resume oil production from their shared fields in the ‘Neutral Zone’. Offshore Technology Focus considers the region’s history and what restarting production could mean for the market at this tumultuous time.
Losing the social licence: what should the UK oil and gas industry do next?
Pressure is increasing on the oil and gas industry to define its role in the energy transition away from fossil fuels or risk losing its social licence to operate. Heidi Vella spoke to the Energy Institute’s external affairs director Nick Turton to find out what the sector should do next.