- Third man in court over bitten ear
- Construction firm in liquidation
- £4m lottery winner was 'going mad'
- Family blasts rally crash decision
- Small firms demand rules overhaul
- Salmond: Independence key to growth
- Comedian Corbett to receive CBE
- Rangers 'will continue as a club'
- Fire service cuts 'will pose risk'
- PM to make case for retaining union
- Implant victim issues scans appeal
- Trial date for murder accused, 13
- US analyst wary of independence bid
- Unemployment rate up by 16,000
- Pilot run for domestic abuse court
- Sillars questions 'devo max' option
- MPs seek 'answers' on independence
- Ferry collides with harbour wall
- Bid to rescue crisis-hit Rangers
- BAA warning on Heathrow hub plans
Energy and Utilities
Profit surge for gas meter firm Smart Metering Systems
SHARES in Glasgow-based Smart Metering Systems (SMS) surged nearly 10 per cent yesterday after the gas meter specialist posted a near-doubling of underlying profits.
Nothing sweet about Thorntons’ profit dip
Struggling retailer Thorntons has slumped to half-year profits of less than £1 million after counting the cost of a poor Christmas performance.
Crude output to fall in March
Crude oil output from the North Sea is set to fall in March for a third month this year due to maintenance work and natural declines.
Landowners net 250% hike in rental income from wind farms
Scottish landowners have enjoyed a 250 per cent hike in rental income from wind farms during the past decade and are set to see further rises this year, research has revealed.
2 commentsTitan Torque seals £4m AGR contract
Titan Torque Services, an Aberdeen-based oilfield equipment specialist, has secured a £4 million contract with one of the world’s largest well management firms.
Glacier hails ‘milestone’ deal
Glacier Energy Services yesterday said it had reached “another milestone in its rapid growth” by signing a contract that is set to generate annual revenues of £2.5 million.
Aquamarine gets expansion green light
AQUAMARINE Power, the Edinburgh-based renewables company, yesterday got the go-ahead to expand its wave energy site at Orkney, which could potentially supply electricity to power more than 1,000 homes.
Norwegian field fails to deliver
Faroe Petroleum, the Aberdeen-based oil and gas firm, yesterday provided a disappointing update from one of its prospects in the Norwegian sector of the North Sea.
Gaia wins £5m turbine contract
Renewable energy firm Gaia-Wind has secured a £5 million-plus contract to supply some 200 turbines for installation in England and Wales.
Glasgow ‘catapults’ to the front in energy
A £50 MILLION project to accelerate the development of offshore renewable energy is to be based in Glasgow.
Wind farm report to be kept secret
TRADE body Scottish Renewables last night criticised accountancy firm KPMG’s decision not to publish its controversial report into the cost of offshore wind power.
4 commentsStork wins £10m African contract
Stork Technical Services has won a £10 million contract to carry out subsea inspections for an oil and gas driller off the west coast of Africa.
BP raises dividends
BRITISH oil major BP underlined its return to health yesterday by hiking its dividend and announcing further activity in the North Sea and Gulf of Mexico.
Craig Group adds to fleet as Talisman deal is unveiled
CRAIG Group, the Aberdeen-based energy services firm, will today unveil a five-year contract from Talisman Energy that will spark a “major investment” in its shipping fleet.
Administration–hit refinery still running
ADMINISTRATORS at PricewaterhouseCoopers have bought a further batch of crude oil for processing at the Coryton refinery in Kent.
BP to raise dividend amid recovery from Gulf oil spill
OIL giant BP is expected to announce its first dividend increase since the Gulf of Mexico oil spill when it unveils fourth-quarter figures on Tuesday.
Sun shines on Helius after whisky power firm moves into the black
HELIUS Energy, the Aim-quoted power developer backed by shipping line heir Alastair Salvesen, yesterday swung to a slim profit and revealed it is “on course and on budget” to complete its whisky-to-electricity plant on Speyside later this year.
Tullow agrees deals for Uganda oil production
TULLOW Oil has signed two production-sharing agreements with Uganda, allowing it to complete a deal with China’s CNOOC and France’s Total that will pave the way for commercial oil production.
Shell unveils £19bn investment as oil prices drive 13% profit hike
ROYAL Dutch Shell yesterday unveiled ambitious investment and oil production targets and a commitment to dividend growth, as high oil prices helped fuel a 13 per cent jump in profits.
3 commentsSubsea 7 lands £63m BP North Sea contract
OFFSHORE engineering group Subsea 7 has landed a fresh $100 million (£63m) contract with BP for work on a massive project off the Shetland Islands.
Glencore and Xstrata resume talks on possible £60bn ‘super-merger’
Commodities trader Glencore and mining group Xstrata yesterday revealed they are in talks over a merger which would be the industry’s largest-ever deal.
Business news in brief: Refinery attracts global interest
ADMINISTRATORS to an oil refinery which went bust have received more than 40 expressions of interest from companies around the world, the UK government announced yesterday.
Robison joins SEP to run energy fund
INVESTMENT management firm Scottish Equity Partners (SEP) has hired Tony Robison to help run its recently-launched £95 million energy and environmental technologies fund.
Van Kersbergen takes the Xodus chair
ENERGY consultancy Xodus Group yesterday promoted non-executive director Edward van Kersbergen to the role of executive chairman as it strengthens its board ahead of a £40 million expansion.
McColl’s latest fund picks up £420m with US investors leading the way
CLYDE Blowers Capital, the private equity vehicle set up by Jim McColl, has attracted more than £420 million from investors for its latest fund to back engineering businesses.
1 commentEDF snaps up controversial wind farm
EDF Energy has grabbed itself a larger slice of the Scottish renewable energy market after snapping up the operator of a controversial wind farm development in the Borders.
2 commentsStork flying: Engineering group to unveil £25m contract
STORK Technical Services, the Netherlands-based engineering firm, will today unveil a £25 million North Sea contract that will create 30 jobs at the company’s Scottish operations.
Fife firm showing extra energy as it moves into US
M&C Energy, the Fife-based power consultancy specialist, extended its global reach yesterday by snapping up a US rival in what is expected to be the first in a series of international deals over the coming weeks.
Shell profits soar 54% to £18bn
Oil giant Shell today reported profits of $28.6 billion (£18.1bn) for 2011, a jump of 54 per cent on a year ago.
Cairn’s Brown elected to Icas role
Jann Brown, finance director and managing director of oil and gas explorer Cairn Energy, has been elected as junior vice-president of accountants body Icas.
SSE upbeat over profit growth despite customer exodus
SSE, one of Britain’s big six energy suppliers, expects continued profit growth despite losing 50,000 customers to competitors in the past nine months of 2011, it said yesterday.
1 commentNorth Sea sector in rude health as wages surge
Wages and contractor rates for oil and gas workers in the North Sea continued to climb last year reflecting a “buoyant” industry, figures have revealed.
Cairn plans talks with investors over new pay-out for Gammell
THE board of oil explorer Cairn Energy will go back to its institutional shareholders with new pay proposals for chairman Sir Bill Gammell after the firm yesterday pulled a vote proposing to give him a £2.5 million bonus.
Scheme to help small firms win offshore turbine work
SCOTTISH Enterprise will today unveil a scheme to help small companies grab a slice of the £7 billion offshore wind industry.
Centrica in £142m move to secure North Sea gas supplies
Scottish Gas owner Centrica has upped its stake in the Statfjord gas field in the northern North Sea, buying American giant ConocoPhillips’ share for £142 million as it continues to build its reserves.
2 commentsGlobal spend on renewables up by 40% on year
Deal activity in the renewables industry hit a record high last year, figures today reveal, leading to a smaller number of big global players.
Investor Curtis claims SeaEnergy undervalued
PAUL Curtis, the wealthy private investor who has built a reputation for spotting stock market bargains, believes Aberdeen-based SeaEnergy’s cash pile and the value of its stake in a North Sea oil firm means it is significantly undervalued.
Warning over tidal energy subsidies
ONE of Scotland’s highest-profile tidal energy developers has warned that the Westminster government must keep the UK competitive internationally when it sets subsidy levels or risk losing out on investment in the sector.
Profits at Shell set to anger drivers
HIGHER annual and quarterly profits from oil heavyweight Royal Dutch Shell are this week expected to ignite the fury of hard-pressed drivers who continue to face near record prices at the petrol pump.
2 commentsRemp parts company with firm he founded
STEVE Remp, one of the best known figures in Scotland’s energy industry, yesterday parted company with the business he founded more than 34 years ago. Remp is leaving his post as executive chairman at Aberdeen-based SeaEnergy – formerly known as Ramco – with a £500,000 compensation payment.
Senior service for new chief Berry
ENGINEERING group Senior yesterday appointed former ScottishPower executive Charles Berry as chairman-designate.
Fuel flows again at troubled refinery
Petrol tankers began leaving the Coryton oil refinery again yesterday morning following a shutdown triggered when the site collapsed into administration.
ATH fails to mine a final dividend
ONE of Scotland’s largest coal miners axed its final dividend yesterday after “difficult mining conditions” caused a drop in operating profits.
Weir’s £113m move raises its stake in controversial ‘fracking’
WEIR Group has further extended its reach into the high-growth but controversial shale gas market with the £113 million cash acquisition of US pump valve maker Novatech.
Three new faces at the top of Faroe
FAROE Petroleum, the Aberdeen-based oil driller, made three senior appointments to its management team yesterday, just days after being awarded more exploration licences off the coast of Norway.
£1.1bn debt mountain puts refiner into administration
SWISS oil group Petroplus filed for insolvency yesterday, putting more than 2,000 jobs at refineries across Europe at risk as it defaulted on payments to its banks on some £1.1 billion of debt.
£2.5m Cairn shares windfall pulled
A £2.5 million shares windfall for the founder of Edinburgh-based oil explorer Cairn Energy was withdrawn by the company today amid shareholder pressure.
1 commentFears for 1,000 jobs at refinery
Around 1,000 jobs were at risk today after one of the largest oil refineries in the UK fell into administration and stoked fears over fuel supplies.
5 commentsDeal whets Galliford Try’s appetite
Galliford Try has secured a £17 million contract with Scottish Water as part of a string of deals announced yesterday.
Cairn signs £100m StatOil deal to confirm optimism in Greenland
CAIRN Energy, the Edinburgh-based oil explorer, is in talks to sell further stakes in its Greenland exploration fields after yesterday signing an estimated $160 million (£103m) deal with StatOil, Norway’s state energy firm.
- Rangers run into the ground as furious HRMC battles to claw back tax
- Broken Rangers: Club signals intention to go into administration
- Scottish independence: David Cameron set to snub Alex Salmond’s separation talks bid
- Rangers blame HMRC for driving club to brink of administration
- Rangers: ‘Crisis will soon be over and Rangers FC will survive’
- Devo-max merely a dodgy back-up plan to save SNP, says Jim Sillars
- Scottish independence: No breakthrough in talks between Alex Salmond and Michael Moore
- Scottish independence: David Cameron set to snub Alex Salmond’s separation talks bid
- The Rumour Mill: Wednesday’s football news and gossip
- The Rumour Mill: Tuesday’s football news and gossip
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Weather for Edinburgh
Thursday 16 February 2012
Today
Light rain
Temperature: 5 C to 11 C
Wind Speed: 21 mph
Wind direction: South west
Tomorrow
Light rain
Temperature: 6 C to 10 C
Wind Speed: 20 mph
Wind direction: South west
