Petroleum Review - May 2011
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Perspective – How will the UK Bribery Act 2010 impact your company?
SUBSEA – DEEPWATER ADVANCES
Subsea processing separates the men from the boys
With deepwater now firmly established as one of the upstream industry's best sources of new reserves to help meet the world's incremental production demands, advances in the capabilities and reliability of subsea and seabed technologies are dramatically improving recovery rates and lowering development costs, writes Mark Thomas.
SUBSEA – TECHNOLOGY
Subsea compression go-ahead
The process of boosting gas flow from subsea wells came a step closer in December when Statoil and its partners awarded a NK3.4bn ($0.61bn) contract for a compressor station, which is to be installed on the seabed for the Åsgard development, offshore Norway, writes Jeff Crook.
RENEWABLE ENERGY – FRANCE
France boosts renewable spending
France is far ahead of the curve in terms of weaning itself off fossil fuels and sports the closest thing to energy independence of any country in Europe. Ever since 1974, when the government decided to rapidly expand the country's nuclear power capacity, France has not felt the intense stress of energy insecurity nor has it been particularly impacted by the rising and falling prices of oil. However, with the vulnerabilities of nuclear power being cruelly exposed by Japan's recent earthquake and tsunami, the potential downside of France's policy is all too clear, writes Pacifica Goddard.
RENEWABLE ENERGY – CARIBBEAN
Perfect recipe for renewables
The 15-member, mainly English-speaking Caribbean Community and Common Market (Caricom) region contains all the ingredients for a renewable energy programme – almost uninterrupted sunshine, constant wind, rivers for damming, an extensive sugar cane industry and more – but it is only within the last few years that most of the member states have begun to take the promotion of non-fossil fuel energy sources seriously. David Renwick reports from Trinidad.
Powering up with hydro
Lubomir Sedlak looks at the important role that hydroelectric power generation plays in meeting energy demand in the Czech Republic.
PRODUCTION – COMPANIES
Gas production soars as oil output slowly declines
The last year has seen the main quoted oil companies become notably more 'gassy' in terms of their production mix. Gas production rose by a collective 6.5% to record output levels. In sharp contrast, after a brief revival in 2009, oil output declined again in 2010, taking the companies' collective output back to levels last seen in 2003 and 2007, reports Chris Skrebowski.
PIPELINES – CASPIAN
The Caspian-Europe pipeline patchwork
The oil and gas pipeline network around the Caspian and Black Seas increasingly resembles a London Underground map, a comparison enhanced by the latest potential addition to the lattice – the Azerbaijan-Georgia-Romania Interconnector. Mark Rowe reports.
H&S – GAS DETECTION
Safe keeping
Draeger outlines how recent innovations in gas detection technology can allow companies to meet safety objectives whilst saving money.
H&S – WORKING AT HEIGHT
DROPS in incident rates
Everybody recognises the dangers of falls when working at height on construction, engineering and maintenance projects. However, a programme of awareness, education and guidance is now working with the oil and gas industry to increase understanding of the risks posed by objects dropped from height, as Harso Infrastructure's Tony Horsfall explains.
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