Yearly archives: 2022

Anyone who has been involved in the development of new technology for the subsea sector knows that it is a long slog. There was a study done in the 1990’s by a major independent business consultancy that showed that the oil and gas industry then – and not much has […]

If there is a truism about the oil business, it is that oil companies – not contractors, not suppliers nor service companies – always make money. Any time an oil company announces a loss, it is rarely a real loss, only a bit of paper shuffling, asset write-down or expenditure […]

When I was offered my first job writing about the energy market way back more than 40 years ago, I had to consider the implications of leaving the world of general journalism to take up a specialist area. (Of course, at that time I never would have dreamed that I […]

During my 30 plus years as editor of Subsea Engineering News, the only subject I enjoyed writing about as much as new technology was the business of business. There have been so many buyouts, mergers, takeovers, reshuffles and the like that they would assuredly fill a book or two. The […]

This week’s announcement during ONS of a new joint venture between Schlumberger, Aker Solutions and Subsea 7 is a bit more than it appears. Firstly, it replaces the existing Subsea Integration Alliance venture between Schlumberger and S7 and secondly, it contracts the market for subsea hardware supplies, so that some […]

When I was first offered a job covering the oil and gas industry back in 1981, I had to stop and think – did I want to move out of mainstream journalism into so-called ‘trade’ reporting? After some consideration – actually, quite a short deliberation as I needed the job […]

I have to admit that since I stopped publishing SEN fortnightly seven years ago, I am not quite on top of all of the technical issues as I formerly was. But as I often suggested in the past, the oil and gas industry is never the quickest off the mark […]

For those of you who used to be readers of Subsea Engineering News, you might be surprised to realise that it is now seven years since I hung up my editor’s eyeshade. SEN continued after I sold it and finished my two year ‘golden handcuffs’ period, but within a year […]

Contributions to the Anthony Nolan Cancer Trust can be made at https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/judith-gunton1.

I will lay my cards on the table as I have always done. I have never had any time for Oil & Gas UK nor now for its successor Offshore Energies UK. It is just a mouthpiece for the oil companies with hardly ever any suggestion of how the industry […]

The oil and gas industry, like most distinct parts of the world, is filled with memorable people. I could not even begin to list all those I have encountered over the years unless I wanted to write a book and who wants to read a tome about oilfield folk at […]

It is not easy to be a commentator in a time of war if your chosen subject is not normally world politics. Sure it would be a doddle to write about oil – or maybe more relevantly gas – prices at the moment or maybe about more aggressive moves in […]

THERE HAS ALWAYS BEEN profiteering from war. Don’t forget it was a Republican (!) president (Ike) in the 1950’s who coined the phrase ‘military industrial complex’. But we are not talking about arms now, we are talking oil and gas. It was 50 years ago that OPEC finally realised that […]

I think that I might have fibbed in my last blog. I suggested that it was likely to be my last visit to Subsea Expo. I may have been wrong for several reasons. Firstly, it was so great to be at an event face to face with people. I have […]

I am getting on a plane tomorrow for the first time in over two years, going to Aberdeen for Subsea Expo – which begins on Tuesday – for maybe the last time. It would be an end of era, at least for me, but that era actually ended earlier this […]

Sorry to have been away so long, but some times life gets in the way of working – sort of. Despite having a reputation for always speaking my mind, unlike some bloggers, I don’t think I should say something simply to be saying something. There is a good deal of […]