Energy

Global oil & gas transactions rose 53 percent to $43 billion in the third quarter of 2011, compared with $29 billion in the second quarter of the year.

International database and services provider PLS, Inc. and Derrick Petroleum Services report 166 transactions with deal values disclosed, with $90 billion of deals currently in play.

The UK’s Department of Energy and Climate Change has today given the go-ahead for two new power stations to be constructed in Yorkshire that together are expected to create over 1,000 jobs.

The two new plants will generate enough energy to power almost two million UK homes.

The first is Ferrybridge, a 108 MW multifuel power plant in Wakefield, representing an investment of £250 million by SSE Generation.

Cheniere Energy Partners has announced that its subsidiary Sabine Pass Liquefaction has entered into its first LNG sale and purchase agreement with BG Gulf Coast LNG.

The deal is for the purchase of 3.5 million tonnes per annum (mtpa) of liquefied natural gas (LNG) over a 20-year period from the Sabine Pass LNG terminal located in Louisiana.

Electricity and gas networks company National Grid has announced the sale of Utility Metering Services (which trades as Onstream) to Macquarie Bank for £274.3 million.

Onstreamis a non-regulated gas and electricity metering business and represents around nine per cent of National Grid’s total UK metering activities by operating profit.

National Grid said that the cash proceeds from the sale will be used within the company to fund its continuing investment programme.

The sale, which is unconditional, is expected to complete shortly.

Sub-Saharan Africa holds some of the world’s biggest hydrocarbon opportunities. Warwick Blyth, executive director of the South African Oil and Gas Alliance (SAOGA) tells Jayne Flannery why South Africa offers the perfect local base for a fast-expanding hub of activity.

Against a background of accounts that Iran is oil-rich but petrol-poor, Alan Swaby looks at Tanzania, which is gas-rich and electricity-poor.

It’s all very well wanting to be green with a sustainable energy policy; but if nature doesn’t play ball, then as the Scottish poet Robert Burns tells us: the best laid plans of mice and men oft go astray.

American Chemistry Council president and CEO Cal Dooley released a new report today on the potential benefits of shale gas to the Louisiana petrochemical industry, and the US in general.

"Access to untapped supplies of natural gas is one of the most important domestic energy developments in 50 years,” he said. “One-third of US natural gas reserves are comprised of shale gas reserves almost impossible to extract just five years ago. Shale gas promises an industrial renaissance, here in Louisiana and in America."

Engineering and project management provider AMEC has been awarded a £150 million contract to deliver engineering and project management services for the Clair Ridge project, west of Shetland.

Clair Ridge is the second phase of the giant Clair oil field. The contract was awarded to AMEC by BP and its Clair partners Shell, ConocoPhillips and Chevron.

Energy giant BP has announced plans to invest almost £10 billion in developing four new North Sea oil and gas projects over the next five years.

The company said that the investment, which will be made with its partners, will help to maintain BP’s production from the North Sea “for decades to come”.

The UK government yesterday granted BP and its partners—Shell, ConocoPhillips and Chevron—approval to proceed with the £4.5 billion Clair Ridge project, the second phase of development of the Clair field complex, west of the Shetland Islands.

As countries across the globe wake up to the potential of wind power, business is booming for organisations operating within the wind energy sector.

According to RenewableUK and the Sector Skills Council for the power sector, employment in the UK’s wind power industry has surged over 91 per cent since 2007.