Industry Activity in 2000
PILOT/ILT
"PILOT has set itself the task of ensuring the oil and gas industry remains a dynamic, innovative sector."
Rt Hon Helen Liddell MP, Minister for Energy and Competitiveness in Europe |
The Oil and Gas Industry Task Force (established by the Secretary of State in 1998), which was replaced by PILOT at the beginning of 2000, stimulated several initiatives which have made significant progress during the year. A brief summary of the key initiatives follows. But perhaps of equal importance is the forum for improving dialogue and understanding that has been built between operators, suppliers, contractors, trades unions and the various Government departments represented on PILOT. This has been a significant factor in helping to restore fragile industry confidence.
 Collaboration between companies on research and development projects is being aided by the ITF (Industry Technology Facilitator). To date 5 projects (the Continuous Circulation Coupler, Downhole Imaging Tool, Wear and Corrosion Coatings, Flow Regime Tracking, Subsea
Electric Actuator) have been identified and joint industry ventures have been formed for them. For more information the ITF website is at http://www.oil-itf.com/.
Supply chain management, e-commerce, the Satellite Accelerator, the Well Decision Navigator and Logistics are among the projects being promoted by LOGIC (Leading Oil and Gas Industry Competitiveness) through collaborative ventures among suppliers and contractors to the offshore oil and gas operators. For further information LOGIC's website is at http://www.logic-oil.com/.
A venture capital fund (NOVA) has been established and is sponsored by members of the industry and financial institutions to promote new technology for the upstream industry.
A website, LIFT (Licence Information for Trading), was launched in November 1999 to promote the trading of offshore licences and assets. Users have found that it has already accelerated the process of trading assets and has assisted in the promotion of several trades. The website has attracted wide interest throughout the world and has published over 200 UKCS assets. The site will be used for the 19th Licensing Round and for LIFE (LIFT Inspired Farm-in Event), an initiative to encourage new activity on licenced acreage. The website for LIFT is at http://www.uklift.co.uk/.
The process of acquiring data and speeding up decisions is being addressed by DEAL (Digital Energy Atlas and Library). This website was launched in September 2000 to enable users to find all published geoscientific data (seismic lines, well logs, well, platform and pipeline locations) and view it through a virtual data room at http://www.ukdeal.co.uk/.
Improving safety performance is not only of paramount concern to the industry but is also fundamental to a good commercial operation. An industry initiative, A Step Change in Safety, encompassing all sectors, was started in 1997. This has now been brought within the auspices of ILT/PILOT. It aims to reduce the number of accidents offshore by at least 50%. The new phase of the initiative is supported by the whole industry; oil and gas companies, contractors and suppliers, the trades unions and the HSE.
Renewed attention has been paid to undeveloped discoveries, to determine what is preventing their development. The Undeveloped Discoveries Work Group has been established to examine opportunities to develop clusters of discoveries. Six trial clusters have been identified and there are plans to evaluate their viability. The Satellite Accelerator project, which has been establishe to unlock the door to the development of a number of marginal, technically difficult or commercially challenging discoveries, could also assist progress of cluster developments.
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Economic Report 2000 Index
