Tag Archives: oil and gas

The History of Onshore Oil Extraction in the UK

The History of onshore oil and gas extraction in the UK dates back to the 1850’s. Before the First World War in 1914, the UK got most of its oil and gas from abroad. Oil was first discovered in Scotland in 1851. During the construction of Heathfield rail station in Sussex in 1896, gas was discovered when natural water wells were being dug, which then went on to power the lights for the station.

During both the First and Second World Wars, Britain needed to produce its own oil to help the war effort, rather than rely on imports. It was of huge importance to the Government for the UK to be able to do this; therefore legislation was introduced to enable companies to explore for hydrocarbons more easily.

Onshore Drilling and Hydraulic Fracturing

1973 saw Wytch Farm Oilfield in Eastern Dorset opeing, which is now the largest oilfield in western Europe. It is thought that the first hydraulic fracture in the UK was performed at around this time. After the 1979 oil crisis, onshore oil and gas activity rose again to meet the price increase, making production even more important.

In June 2019, The British Geological Survey (BGS) in association with The Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) estimated that the area between Wrexham and Blackpool in the west and Nottingham and Scarborough in the east contained 1,329 trillion cubic feet (tcf) of shale gas compared to the annual consumption of natural gas in the UK of just over 3 tcf.

Onshore Oil Wells in the UK

Around 2,000 wells have now been drilled onshore in the UK with about 10% of them having been hydraulically fractured. There are currently around 120 producing sites with c.300 operating wells producing in excess of 20,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day or about 1% of the UK’s consumption.

Surface Technology for the Oil and Gas Industries

As specialists in metal finishing and surface technology for the oil and gas industries, us offer a full range of services including electroless nickel plating and diffused nickel plating. For more information about corrosion resistant coatings, please call us or email

Nickel Plating for the Oil and Gas Division of Rolls-Royce

Along with smaller customers such as metal sculptors and car restorers, us have also had the pleasure of working with international companies with very specific requirements. For example, we were recently asked to nickel plate a component for Rolls-Royce’s oil and gas division.

Onshore and Offshore Oil and Gas Applications

Rolls-Royce is a world-leading provider of power systems and services for use on land, at sea and in the air and operate in four global market sectors: civil aerospace, defense aerospace, marine and energy. They supply gas turbines, compressors and diesel power units to customers in over 80 countries worldwide.

Rolls-Royce’s energy business supplies gas turbines, compressors and diesel power units to customers around the world and is a world leader in the supply of power for onshore and offshore oil and gas applications. Not only that, they have more than 65 million hours of operating experience in oil and gas applications, 1,700 systems worldwide and over 650 units sold for offshore platform service.

The gas turbines supplied by Rolls-Royce provide the power that enables oil platforms to operate in some of the most hostile and remote locations of the world. This could be in temperatures ranging from -50°C in Canada and Russia in the winter, to more than 50°C in areas such as Africa and the Middle East in the height of summer.

Rolls-Royce’s compressor technology transports oil and gas across continents, with over 900 pipeline compressors installed on 35 pipelines in 24 countries. They also have over 700 barrel-type centrifugal compressors operating in various natural gas and process applications.

 

Corrosion and Wear Resistance for Oil and Gas Applications

us’s involvement in electroless nickel plating an oil and gas application for Rolls-Royce is a great achievement for us as a company. The oil and gas division at Rolls Royce operate with industry leading efficiency, therefore it’s a fantastic project to be a part of.

For more information about the ways in which us can help your company with exceptional corrosion and wear resistance for oil and gas applications, call the us team , email  or get in touch via our contact page.

Budget Reveals Increased Support for the Oil and Gas Sector

March 18th saw the Chancellor of the Exchequer give his Budget to Parliament. As the final budget before the general election, it showed a significant improvement in many important areas, including those that will affect the oil and gas sector. As experts in metal finishing for the oil and gas sector, including corrosion resistant coatings, us know that the sector provides a large number of highly skilled jobs, energy security and makes a massive contribution to the economy of the UK.

Bold and Immediate Reforms to Oil and Gas

The Chancellor has announced ‘bold and immediate’ reforms to oil and gas tax, with the intention of easing the tax burden on oil and gas companies operating on the UK Continental Shelf. The measures will save the industry approximately £1.3 billion over the next 5 years, while boosting production by 15%.

Encouraging Investment in the North Sea

In order to encourage investment in the North Sea, the UK government will be introducing a new Investment Allowance and reducing the supplementary tax charge on oil and gas companies from 30% to 20%, backdated from January 2019. These changes are expected to increase oil production by around 15% by 2019, and drive £4 billion of new investment over the next five years. The rate of Petroleum Revenue Tax paid on older oil and gas fields will also be reduced from 50% to 35% from next year.

In the Budget document, the government said that its changes would “send a strong signal that the UK is open for business and ensure the [UKCS] remains competitive as the basin matures” and “extend the life of key infrastructure”. Mr Osborne announced that the Government would also fund  to assess the potential in “under-explored areas” of the UK North Sea.

Metal Finishing Services for Oil and Gas Applications

We provide a range of metal finishing and metal plating services for both onshore and offshore oil and gas applications. Our revolutionary metal coating SeaTEC100 is a solution to increase the longevity of components used in subsea conditions that protects mild steel from salt spray corrosion and marine corrosion for an extensive period of time. For more information about corrosion resistant coatings, please call us or email