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Bleak times for UK North Sea
Government consultations on the windfall tax and the exploration licence ban are positive steps, but it is unclear how long it will take for them to yield tangible outcomes
The death knell for UK energy security
The end of Grangemouth and Lindsey oil refineries marks a worrying trend across Europe amid cost and transition pressures
Israel-Iran war imperils Egypt’s energy supply
Egypt’s government was already preparing for potential energy shortages this summer, and the loss of Israeli gas supply has made things worse
Energean ready to go deep into Africa
Mediterranean-focused gas producer looks to replicate Israel success story and is hunting projects across the continent, with particular interest in West Africa
EU and UK look to security beyond gas
The scars of the Russia crisis have accelerated Europe’s push to wean itself off gas dependence as the growing globalisation of LNG becomes a double-edged sword
Israel’s gas performance chafes against narrow export horizons
Israel continues to strike new oil and gas concession agreements and gas exports continue to rise, but an overreliance on Egypt remains the big concern
Can the UK take its foot off the gas?
While the government might complain about the vicissitudes of the international gas market, the UK's transition away from the fuel is fraught with challenges
Egypt looks to arrest its upstream decline
Gas production slumped to an eight-year low in 2024, but new discoveries and partnership with Cyprus paint a more positive outlook
Hydrocarbon Processing Refining Databook 2025: Europe, Russia & CIS
EU net-zero polices have shifted refining investment among member states, while across the region countries and companies continue to adjust to changes in trade flows caused by the war in Ukraine
Hydrocarbon Processing Refining Databook 2025: Middle East & Africa
The Middle East is focusing on modernisation and expansion projects, while Africa is seeking to reduce its imports of refined products
Egypt North Sea UK Tullow Oil
Peter Ramsay
7 August 2020
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Independent E&P journey ‘can be done again’

Ex-Tullow man thinks that doom and gloom about the global upstream business is overdone

“Are you asking me if a Tullow growth story could be done again in current environment? Yes, with no doubt whatsoever. And now is the best time.” So says Brian Larkin, CEO of five-year-old producer United Oil & Gas, who spent the previous five years with Tullow. Given the short-term price collapse driven by the coronavirus pandemic and longer-term concerns about hydrocarbon demand in a low-carbon future, optimism about E&P has been in short supply of late. And the prospects that have traditionally attracted smaller E&P firms looking for growth—in more frontier or under-explored provinces—have had a particularly gloomy prognosis, with doubts that some discovered resources or promi

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California refiners dreaming of heyday
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US downstream sector in key state feels the pain of high costs, an environmental squeeze and the effects of broader market trends

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