North Sea Task Force launches assault on inefficiency

North Sea industry trade body said it is taking the initiative to help drive pan-industry cooperation to secure efficiency improvements and transformational change, formalising those initiatives under the ETF.

The latest in a number of steps taken by industry, the task force is led by John Pearson, group president Northern Europe and CIS for oil services giant, Amec Foster Wheeler.

Mr Pearson said: “Tackling efficiency has been at the forefront of industry minds for some time – but has become more acute and urgent as the value of our end product has more than halved in the last year. We now need to step up, increase the effort and resource we’re putting in, and get the job done as a united industry.

“We’re taking a three-pronged approach under the themes: Business Process; Standardisation; and Cooperation, Culture and Behaviours, and are focusing on two or three projects in each. What’s essential here is that we don’t try to boil the ocean. We’ve put a lot of thought into where we can have most impact – and will be working with the industry to see these projects through.

“Only if industry works together can we achieve the major transformation in efficiency we need to see.”

Oil and Gas UK said the ETF will focus on three themes:

Oil & Gas UK’s chief executive, Deirdre Michie, said: “Becoming more efficient is the most critical challenge we face today. The oil price has more than halved – from over $100 per barrel in September last year to close to $50 today, whilst the cost of oil and gas operations more than doubled in the last five years.

“Companies have already started on the difficult road to reduce costs and become more efficient. Early signs show this concerted effort is paying off, as production from our sector has increased this year and the cost of operating on the UK Continental Shelf is expected to fall by the end of 2016. There is, however, still much more to do. It is imperative we pull together to achieve even greater strides forward.

“The Efficiency Task Force provides us with the vehicle we need to enact change – quickly and effectively with those companies who are ready and willing to be the early adopters of such change. Moving from focusing on cost reduction to efficiency improvement and the transformational change we need to see to help sustain activity in the North Sea, and in turn sustain oil and gas supply and hundreds of thousands of jobs throughout the country.”

Stephen Marcos Jones, Oil & Gas UK’s business development director, who is leading Oil & Gas UK’s support of the task force added: “As the Efficiency Task Force, we will hold a mirror up to the industry with the aim of transforming our sector from within – planning together and allowing individual companies to act in a way which best suits the challenge they face.

Today’s announcement comes a week in advance of the launch of Oil & Gas UK’s Economic Report at industry event Offshore Europe.