Energy Voice – Out Loud

Wildcat strikes broke out this week on a number of platforms in the North Sea. Allister, back in the driving seat after weeks of non-stop social engagements, took us through the restive Bilfinger workers and some of the problems industrial action poses for all involved.     Santos has potentially found a way out of its high carbon LNG project pickle in Australia with a plan to export CO2 to an end of life gas field in East Timor. With offtakers increasingly demanding progress on the emissions front, companies must listen – and find solutions.   The mood in London, at the Africa Energies Summit, was also somewhat restive, with environmentalists gluing themselves to whatever they could find in order to make their feelings known. Despite this, in the conference room, appetite for exploration seemed to ride high with positive messages around seismic plans and drilling rigs.     About Energy Voice Energy Voice investigates and reports on what matters in global energy, helping sector leaders understand the geopolitical and economic factors underpinning current events, and giving them a view on what’s coming over the horizon. Each year, 3.4m professionals use Energy Voice as a trusted source of breaking news and insight. For more information on how you can speak to those professionals across multiple platforms to build your brand and generate actionable business leads, visit energyvoice.com/content-services. For a 30 day free trial subscription to the Energy Voice website and app, visit energyvoice.com/subscriptions.

This is The Megawatt Hour, the latest podcast series brought to you by Energy Voice Out Loud in paid partnership with BDO. In this, the first episode of our special energy storage boxset series, content editor Andrew Dykes is joined by co-host David Bevan, corporate finance partner at BDO, and by special guest Marek Kubik, a founding member and managing director of energy storage technology company Fluence.  Together they take a broad look at some of the fundamentals of energy storage, including the range of technologies available, how they work, and why the market is taking off today as increasing volumes of new renewable capacity are added to the grid.   About Energy Voice Energy Voice investigates and reports on what matters in global energy, helping sector leaders understand the geopolitical and economic factors underpinning current events, and giving them a view on what’s coming over the horizon. Each year, 3.4m professionals use Energy Voice as a trusted source of breaking news and insight. For more information on how you can speak to those professionals across multiple platforms to build your brand and generate actionable business leads, visit energyvoice.com/content-services. For a 30 day free trial subscription to the Energy Voice website and app, visit energyvoice.com/subscriptions.

The team get stuck into UK Chancellor Rishi Sunak’s visit to Aberdeen to charm the great and the good of the North Sea over his proposed windfall tax. It remains to be seen if the flying visit was more of a photo opportunity or a serious attempt to listen to the industry’s concerns.     Damon covers an oil spill at Jadestone Energy’s Montara field that saw the company’s share price dive as Australia’s offshore regulator remains concerned about the structural integrity of the FPSO.     Meanwhile, Hamish discusses his eventful week at Global Offshore Wind in Manchester, including some fun and games with Greg Hands, as well as a chat with Equinor about the Rosebank project. Equinor say they are committed to the development, but Sunak’s proposed taxes could throw a spanner in the works.     About Energy Voice Energy Voice investigates and reports on what matters in global energy, helping sector leaders understand the geopolitical and economic factors underpinning current events, and giving them a view on what’s coming over the horizon. Each year, 3.4m professionals use Energy Voice as a trusted source of breaking news and insight. For more information on how you can speak to those professionals across multiple platforms to build your brand and generate actionable business leads, visit energyvoice.com/content-services. For a 30 day free trial subscription to the Energy Voice website and app, visit energyvoice.com/subscriptions.

It’s easy, and perhaps inevitable, to blame the government for slow progress in the CCUS industry. Going beyond this, though, SSE Thermal’s Hannah Bronwin and GaffneyCline’s Mark Wilkie come together to talk practicalities, finances, exports, and whether the DPA can be to CCUS what CfDs were to offshore wind. Alphabet soup or a breakthrough for tackling net zero? Hannah and Mark talk us through the issues and inner workings of capturing carbon.  This is the first CCUS – a Tracking Transition podcast episode, with an initial focus on Europe, and the UK in particular. Next up in the series will be a focus on Asia.   About Energy Voice Energy Voice investigates and reports on what matters in global energy, helping sector leaders understand the geopolitical and economic factors underpinning current events, and giving them a view on what’s coming over the horizon. Each year, 3.4m professionals use Energy Voice as a trusted source of breaking news and insight. For more information on how you can speak to those professionals across multiple platforms to build your brand and generate actionable business leads, visit energyvoice.com/content-services. For a 30 day free trial subscription to the Energy Voice website and app, visit energyvoice.com/subscriptions.

Big Oil Big Energy has got its wallet out and is spending big on clean tech this week, with BP and TotalEnergies taking sizeable positions on green hydrogen.   Roll up and bring out your carbon emissions; the UK has announced its first licensing round for areas to store CO2 under the North Sea.   And the SEE Monster art project is taking shape in Weston-super-Mare, but why not Aberdeen? A neat tourist scheme or a monstrous idea?     About Energy Voice Energy Voice investigates and reports on what matters in global energy, helping sector leaders understand the geopolitical and economic factors underpinning current events, and giving them a view on what’s coming over the horizon. Each year, 3.4m professionals use Energy Voice as a trusted source of breaking news and insight. For more information on how you can speak to those professionals across multiple platforms to build your brand and generate actionable business leads, visit energyvoice.com/content-services. For a 30 day free trial subscription to the Energy Voice website and app, visit energyvoice.com/subscriptions.

Though numerous turbines are already turning offshore, the drive to further enhance the offshore wind sector does not let up. Countless bright minds are working to carefully shape and improve the building blocks of the industry, but a fundamental ingredient is required – collaboration.  Not content with rhetoric, ABB and Ramboll have teamed up to create leading engineering solutions for offshore wind, particularly around electrical systems. The pair are working across borders, sharing learnings and experiences to ensure the best outcome.  To set out the objectives of the partnership, Energy Voice’s Hamish Penman is joined by Martin Kjäll-Ohlsson, VP offshore power at ABB, which sponsors this episode, and Jesper Thomsen, business development director at Ramboll.   About Energy Voice Energy Voice investigates and reports on what matters in global energy, helping sector leaders understand the geopolitical and economic factors underpinning current events, and giving them a view on what’s coming over the horizon. Each year, 3.4m professionals use Energy Voice as a trusted source of breaking news and insight. For more information on how you can speak to those professionals across multiple platforms to build your brand and generate actionable business leads, visit energyvoice.com/content-services. For a 30 day free trial subscription to the Energy Voice website and app, visit energyvoice.com/subscriptions.

Ed and Hamish are back from their respective gallivants and join Allister to talk FPSOs, conferences and recycling.   Israel has warned Hezbollah and Lebanon not to interfere with Energean’s activities on the Karish field, as tensions rise about who has rights to the area.   Aberdeen’s All-Energy shaped hole will soon be filled after AREG announced plans to hold the Energy Futures Conference and Exhibition at the P&J Live later this year.   And there’s good news for those that want to eat their dinner of an old wind turbine blade, as a new partnership tries to find novel ways of disposing of the pesky things.     About Energy Voice Energy Voice investigates and reports on what matters in global energy, helping sector leaders understand the geopolitical and economic factors underpinning current events, and giving them a view on what’s coming over the horizon. Each year, 3.4m professionals use Energy Voice as a trusted source of breaking news and insight. For more information on how you can speak to those professionals across multiple platforms to build your brand and generate actionable business leads, visit energyvoice.com/content-services. For a 30 day free trial subscription to the Energy Voice website and app, visit energyvoice.com/subscriptions.

The podcast reaches a new low this week – not just because Hamish and Ed are away (presumably celebrating our sovereign), but because of a record number of expletives!   Damon Evans is to blame; he takes us through the choice language used by Australian union officials in their dispute with Shell on the Prelude production vessel.   Andrew Dykes is painting the town red with the latest on Shell’s Jackdaw field – not literally of course. He’s left that to others….  And after all that, Allister tries and fails to ground the pod with discussion of CHC’s latest tribulations in its now-blocked takeover of Babcock’s North Sea business.    About Energy Voice Energy Voice investigates and reports on what matters in global energy, helping sector leaders understand the geopolitical and economic factors underpinning current events, and giving them a view on what’s coming over the horizon. Each year, 3.4m professionals use Energy Voice as a trusted source of breaking news and insight. For more information on how you can speak to those professionals across multiple platforms to build your brand and generate actionable business leads, visit energyvoice.com/content-services. For a 30 day free trial subscription to the Energy Voice website and app, visit energyvoice.com/subscriptions.

For this final episode of The COP Shop, in paid partnership with the NatWest Group, Energy Voice’s Allister Thomas and NatWest’s James Close are joined by Michael Matheson, Cabinet Secretary for Net Zero, Energy and Transport, to reflect on the legacy of COP26, and, in the context of the war in Ukraine, to discuss how we can balance energy security with the urgent need to decarbonise the energy supply.   About Energy Voice Energy Voice investigates and reports on what matters in global energy, helping sector leaders understand the geopolitical and economic factors underpinning current events, and giving them a view on what’s coming over the horizon. Each year, 3.4m professionals use Energy Voice as a trusted source of breaking news and insight. For more information on how you can speak to those professionals across multiple platforms to build your brand and generate actionable business leads, visit energyvoice.com/content-services. For a 30 day free trial subscription to the Energy Voice website and app, visit energyvoice.com/subscriptions.

The sound of a screeching U-turn means the UK’s windfall tax – sorry, "Energy Profits Levy" - is finally delivered, after nearly six long months of will-they, wont-they. The gang explore the potted history of the controversial policy, the impact it may have on investment and consumer energy bills, and the reaction from the UK’s oil and gas sector.   Ed also shares his experience from a string of unusual AGMs this week, featuring dancing activists, a very patient chairman, a moveable feast and a protestor who learns there is indeed no such thing as a free lunch.   Tune in for all this and more on Energy Voice Out Loud.     About Energy Voice Energy Voice investigates and reports on what matters in global energy, helping sector leaders understand the geopolitical and economic factors underpinning current events, and giving them a view on what’s coming over the horizon. Each year, 3.4m professionals use Energy Voice as a trusted source of breaking news and insight. For more information on how you can speak to those professionals across multiple platforms to build your brand and generate actionable business leads, visit energyvoice.com/content-services. For a 30 day free trial subscription to the Energy Voice website and app, visit energyvoice.com/subscriptions.