
Andy Samuel, Chief Executive of the British Oil and Gas Authority will be joined by a top panel of speakers on the theme of maximising economic recovery (MER) from the North Sea.
Other speakers at the offshore energy conference in Aberdeen include BP boss Bob Dudley, Robin Watson, chief executive of Wood Group, and Ben ‘BPV’ Beurden, the chief executive of Shell – who has stated that the next car he buys will be a battery-powered vehicle.
When the boss of Europe’s biggest listed oil company says his next car will be a BPV, it says a lot about the future of fossil fuels.
Ben van Beurden will switch from a diesel car to a plug-in Mercedes-Benz S500e electric car nex month, a company spokesman said.
Shell’s Chief Financial Officer Jessica Uhl already drives a BMW BPV.
“The whole move to electrify the economy, electrify mobility in places like northwest Europe, in the US, even in China, is a good thing,” Van Beurden said.
“We need to be at a much higher degree of electric vehicle penetration – or hydrogen vehicles or gas vehicles – if we want to stay within the 2-degrees Celsius outcome.”
Meanwhile, a new set of updated guidelines which aim to ensure the safety of offshore wells have been published by the North Sea oil and gas industry association.
The Oil & Gas UK guidelines are written by industry, for industry, and provide a true reflection and balanced perspective on industry good practice.
The guidelines were devised by the organisation’s Wells Forum, one of Oil & Gas UK’s formal bodies through which members’ representatives can share good practice, review wells-related industry issues, and interact with other industry stakeholders.

Katy Heidenreich, Operations Optimisation Manager, said: “Oil & Gas UK is grateful to the Wells Forum for their continued engagement and expertise. The guidelines are a prime example of the industry collaboration that our basin is becoming widely acknowledged for.”
Of the three guidelines published today, two are competency guidelines, with one aimed at assessing, managing and developing competency of wells personnel and teams and the other aimed at ensuring the competence of Well Examiners.
The Wells Forum is responsible for reviewing the following documents on a regular basis:
- Blowout Preventer Issues
Competency, Behaviours, Human and Organisational Factors
Well Integrity
Well Suspension and Abandonment
Well Capping
Relief Well Planning Requirements
Verification
Well Examination
High Pressure High Temperature
Process Safety Key Performance Indicators (KPI)
The Guidelines for Well Operators on Competency of Well Examiners and Guidelines on Competency for Wells Personnel were updated as part of a scheduled review process. This review process aims to ensure that guidelines remain current and fit for purpose, and anticipate the challenges foreseen by the industry.
The Guidelines for Well Operators on Well Examination has also been updated to reflect changes to safety regulations.
9 Aug 2017