Petroleum Review May 2016

This month’s regional spotlight focuses on pipeline developments and geopolitics in Central Asia and the Caspian, where hard-pressed oil and gas companies are scouring the horizon for future growth. 

Our subsea feature takes a look at the swathe of technological developments that are being deployed despite the drive for operators to cut costs in what is proving to be one of the longest oil price downturns in decades. Meanwhile, our annual analysis of global company production data shows a quite remarkable turnaround in oil activity from a year earlier. In contrast, the picture for gas is one of gains and losses, producing a small overall decline. 

Moving to energy policy, our Deputy Editor, Brian Davis, highlights the key implications for the energy sector following the COP21 climate talks, as discussed at a recent high-level political and business summit in Brussels. We also assess the potential impact on the sector should the UK leave the European Union following the Brexit referendum on 23 June 2016. Meanwhile, new European Union rules on investment arbitration are shifting the balance between EU member states and international investors. 

The magazine also takes a look at what’s happening in the biomethane-to-grid (BtG) sector; as well as assessing progress to date in the UK’s energy efficiency sector; and providing an overview of energy storage, which, although having the potential to play a big role in shaping the future of electricity markets, cannot be seen as alone solving the world’s energy problems.