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North Sea oil industry 'close to collapse'
BBC ^ | 18 December 2014 | Ben King

Posted on 12/19/2014 12:13:59 PM PST by Lorianne

The UK's oil industry is in "crisis" as prices drop, a senior industry leader has told the BBC.

Oil companies and service providers are cutting staff and investment to save money.

Robin Allan, chairman of the independent explorers' association Brindex, told the BBC that the industry was "close to collapse".

Almost no new projects in the North Sea are profitable with oil below $60 a barrel, he claims.

"It's almost impossible to make money at these oil prices", Mr Allan, who is a director of Premier Oil in addition to chairing Brindex, told the BBC. "It's a huge crisis."

"This has happened before, and the industry adapts, but the adaptation is one of slashing people, slashing projects and reducing costs wherever possible, and that's painful for our staff, painful for companies and painful for the country.

"It's close to collapse. In terms of new investments - there will be none, everyone is retreating, people are being laid off at most companies this week and in the the coming weeks. Budgets for 2015 are being cut by everyone."

Mr Allan said many of the job cuts across the industry would not have been publicly announced. Oil workers are often employed as contractors, which are easier for employers to cut.

(Excerpt) Read more at pbs.org ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; United Kingdom
KEYWORDS: energy; europeanunion; globalwarminghoax; greennewdeal; northsea; norway; oil; panicporn; unitedkingdom
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To: Sherman Logan

I’m sure they would be happy to accomplish both.


21 posted on 12/19/2014 1:05:30 PM PST by Hugin ("Do yourself a favor--first thing, get a firearm!",)
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To: McGruff

My last fill up, yesterday, was $196.9. This president will try in vain to attribute the new reality to his stewardship. This has been accomplished in spite of his best efforts to prevent it.


22 posted on 12/19/2014 1:15:02 PM PST by billhilly (First eligible to vote in 1958)
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To: Sherman Logan
I suspect the Saudi moves are aimed a lot more at defunding Iran than affecting American production.

Yup. The Saudis have plenty of $$ in their bank account to weather cheap oil for years, if not decades. Cheap oil hits net exporters the worst, especially those that depend on oil exports to fund their government.

Almost every oil field is pretty cheap to pump oil (offshore maybe excepted), what gets expensive is growth. Searching for, checking, and drilling new wells is what costs a lot of money. But to keep pumping what you already have built is easy everywhere.

So yes, a lot of their aim is to slow Iran/regional security complications (as they see it), but the added bonus of slowing US/Russia/any competitors is just good for them longer-run.
23 posted on 12/19/2014 1:45:51 PM PST by Svartalfiar
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To: Lorianne

Oil has been thru the roof for years now. Prices have gone down only in the last months. So they are already laying off personnel, cutting back costs, etc? No one put aside funds to operate for the proverbial “rainy day?”


24 posted on 12/19/2014 1:47:59 PM PST by EDINVA
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To: Hugin

“We should respond with an import tax on oil other from Canada until prices rise to a level that supports domestic production.”

That would accomplish two things. It would raise the price you pay at the pump and it would give the gov’t more money to piss away. Even if there was some short term benefit that TAX would be forever.


25 posted on 12/19/2014 1:56:14 PM PST by Lurkina.n.Learnin (It's a shame nobama truly doesn't care about any of this. Our country, our future, he doesn't care)
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To: Lurkina.n.Learnin

The benefit would be long term energy independence. If all those new oilfields close down, it will be a long time to get them up again once the prices rise again. That’s what the Saudis are banking on. And the tariff could be specified to go away when market prices reach a certain level, say $75 a bbl. They could even specify that the money raised would be used to buy oil for the strategic oil reserve. All of which would bolster our national security.


26 posted on 12/19/2014 2:03:24 PM PST by Hugin ("Do yourself a favor--first thing, get a firearm!",)
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To: Lorianne

Depending upon the report you read, the UK is sitting on 100 to 400 years of natural gas. So what do these Brit morons do? They build friggin’ windmills.

A good percent of Brits are brainwashed to believe the global warming scam. They also believe that fraking causes earthquakes and hair to grow on your knuckles. That’s why the Brits are traveling down the road with their a**es hanging out the window’; they’d rather see 50,000 elderly Brits freeze to death than upset their EU god Gaia. Stupid bastards.


27 posted on 12/19/2014 4:13:44 PM PST by sergeantdave
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To: sergeantdave

1—We are starting to frack.
2—I don’t call the Americans morons, reign in the language a bit.

3—The majority of Brits want out of Europe.
4- 50000 elderly UK people do not die, nor have they ever. People will read that and think you are telling the truth. Some people here will believe the biggest nonsense about the UK, because they have no experience of the UK.


28 posted on 12/21/2014 6:35:33 AM PST by the scotsman
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To: Jewbacca

We do, that’s why a majority of us voted NO.


29 posted on 12/21/2014 6:36:39 AM PST by the scotsman
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To: PGR88

As a NO voter and proud Scot AND Brit, even I am disappointed you wished to see Scotland crippled. I am glad the country I love had the sense to reject the lies BEFORE any collapse.


30 posted on 12/21/2014 6:37:56 AM PST by the scotsman
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To: the scotsman

Thousands dying because they can’t afford heating bills... and green taxes are adding to the burden

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2050961/Thousands-dying-afford-heating-bills.html

The Only Fracked Site in the United Kingdom Suffered Structural Failure

https://news.vice.com/article/the-only-fracked-site-in-the-united-kingdom-suffered-structural-failure

Support for fracking has declined to 24 per cent, energy department finds

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/earth/energy/11028321/Support-for-fracking-has-declined-to-24-per-cent-energy-department-finds.html


31 posted on 12/21/2014 9:51:00 AM PST by sergeantdave
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To: the scotsman
As a NO voter and proud Scot AND Brit, even I am disappointed you wished to see Scotland crippled. I am glad the country I love had the sense to reject the lies BEFORE any collapse.

I like seeing lying politicians and media pundits who create simplistic slogans and narratives being hoisted on their own petard. And the sooner the better, so that people still remember their propaganda. The idea that Scotland was going to survive on North Sea oil was the story we heard just 3 months ago. Is already being seen as an utter lie.

32 posted on 12/21/2014 10:13:32 AM PST by PGR88
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To: Hugin

Rockefeller was a genius who did it through production efficiency. This isn’t that.


33 posted on 12/22/2014 5:30:23 AM PST by 1010RD (First, Do No Harm)
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To: the scotsman

Doesn’t mean you like the English.


34 posted on 12/22/2014 8:23:20 AM PST by Jewbacca (The residents of Iroquois territory may not determine whether Jews may live in Jerusalem)
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To: sergeantdave

1—Firstly, take the DM with a pinch of salt. And even if this report is true, its 2700 elderly people in the UK, out of over 60 million British. Not 50000.

How many people die in America in similar circumstances?. And don’t say none. Wonder how the US and UK stack up in numbers and per head of deaths due to cold.

And before you go blaming Limey socialism, remember the Tories won the last UK election.

2—There is genuine concern about fracking. One btw I share, and I am far from being leftwing. Yes, some of it comes from the ecoleft, but some is just ordinary British folk with genuine concerns about the impact on these beautiful islands.


35 posted on 12/23/2014 6:51:52 AM PST by the scotsman
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To: Jewbacca

The vast majority of Scots actually do.


36 posted on 12/23/2014 6:52:16 AM PST by the scotsman
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To: SpaceBar

Exactly. These guy will say “we will lose millions”! Based on what? If you are making 500 million and lose 5 million you are losing millions. But is that so bad and earth shattering?


37 posted on 12/23/2014 6:59:31 AM PST by central_va (I won't be reconstructed and I do not give a damn.)
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To: the scotsman

“And even if this report is true, its 2700 elderly people in the UK...”

Well, that’s a relief that idiot Brit leftists are only murdering 2,700 elderly people each winter instead of 3,000, 10,000 or 50,000. That’s so much better. Give yourself a medal.


38 posted on 12/23/2014 6:20:42 PM PST by sergeantdave
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