Oil and gas industry announcements: 2 February 2015

GE

GE Oil & Gas has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Kuwait Oil Company (KOC), a subsidiary of Kuwait Petroleum Company (KPC), to collaborate in the state of Kuwait in research and development, develop cost effective solutions for the oil and gas sector and provide specialised training programs for engineers to strengthen Kuwaiti skilled talent.

Santana Rami Qasem, President and CEO, GE Oil & Gas Middle East, North Africa & Turkey said, “this agreement underlines our commitment to working in true partnership to promote the development of local human capital including technical skills of young engineers. As a long term partner of KOC, it is fantastic to be able to grow our relationship by sharing our knowledge base and advancing training initiatives in Kuwait.”

Shell

The Royal Dutch Shell Board of Directors has endorsed a shareholder resolution requiring the company to commit to reduce emissions and invest in renewable energy, to do away with bonus systems that promote climate harming activities, and to stress test its business model against the 2°C warming limit adopted by 141 governments in the UN’s Copenhagen Accord. Non-profit As You Sow cofiled the shareholder resolution at Shell and a similar resolution at BP as part of the ‘Aiming for A’ coalition of investors by ClientEarth and ShareAction.

Women’s Engineering Society

The WES and others have called on Vince Cable to introduce ‘returnship’ schemes for women engineers who have taken maternity or career breaks, in the wake of a survey revealing just how many obstacles such women face. The ‘Women in STEM Are you In or Out’ survey carried out last year pointed to a number of serious barriers which prevent women returning to the engineering sector, and with such a serious skills shortage on the horizon we need to find a way to overcome these barriers. The request was made in a letter to the business secretary from the WES, Prospect, Women in Manufacturing, and Talent Retention Solution.

Woodside Energy

The National Energy Board (NEB) has approved the application of Woodside Energy Holdings Pty Ltd. for a 25 year natural gas export license with a maximum term quantity of 807 billion m3. The export point would be in the vicinity of Grassy Point, north of Prince Rupert, British Colombia at the outlet of the loading arm of a proposed natural gas liquefaction terminal. The issuance of this licence is subject to the approval of the Governor in Council.

The board has acknowledged that when taken together, the LNG export licence applications submitted to date, represent a significant volume of LNG exports from Canada. However, all of these LNG ventures are competing for a limited global market and face numerous development and construction challenges. Consistent with the evidence submitted in Woodside’s application, the board believes that not all LNG export licenses issued will be used or used to their full allowance. Therefore, the board evaluates each application based on its own merit.

Edited from press releases by Claira Lloyd

Read the article online at: https://www.hydrocarbonengineering.com/refining/02022015/oil-gas-announcements-industry/