QUOTE OF THE WEEK

For the people on Gorgon who stand there and watch Prelude arrive, that will be their moment of realisation that theyve priced themselves out of the market and theyll be unemployed.
Australian Industry Minister Ian Macfarlane delivers a sobering reminder of the costs of labour in the resource-rich nation at the APPEA conference in Perth.

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CUTTINGS
THE DESCENDENTS

11 April 2014

Going with the ow

Remake of Norwegian oil industry ick in the pipeline as Gravity star eyes new movie venture
Hollywood heartthrob George Clooneys lm career can hardly be said to have plumbed any depths to date the Gravity star never seems a long way from a critically acclaimed blockbuster. Now the Kentucky-born actor is said to be planning to put the story of how Norwegian divers risked their lives to lay pipelines in the early days of the North Sea powerhouses oil boom on the big screen. Clooneys own production company Smokehouse Pictures, which he runs along with production partner Grant Heslov, wants to remake the Norwegian thriller Pioneer, a lm that only hit cinemas last August and which tells the story of the divers who laid the Statpipe pipeline in the 1980s. Many divers were left medically and psychologically scarred after being exposed to high pressures and frigid temperatures in previously uncharted waters. They won a case against the state in a Norwegian court in 2007, but this was successfully appealed some years later, before eventual victory in the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg last year. When we rst started work on Pioneer, Smokehouse got in touch, the Norwegian lms producer Christian Fredrik Martin told the UKs Guardian newspaper. Clooney and his fellow producers were attracted by the cinematic possibilities of the underwater world, I think. Oceans Eleven star Clooney is no stranger to the sea in his career to date, having appeared in The Perfect Storm, while his 2005 thriller Syriana remains one of the most alluring ctional lms on the workings of the oil industry.

SembCorp Marine chairman Goh Geok Ling has retired to be replaced by Tan Sri Mohd Hassan Marican Max Petroleum has named Kenneth Hopkins chief operating officer ERHC Energy exploration manager Gertjan van Mechelen has resigned Magnum Hunter Resources chief nancial officer Kelly Kerr has resigned Remi Dorval is to succeed the retiring Robert Brunck as chairman of CGG Magnolia LNG has named John Baguley chief operating officer and Rick Cape chief commercial officer Anya Weaving is joining Soco International as chief nancial officer Bayshore Petroleum chief nancial officer Anna Lentz has resigned BASF has appointed Francois Desne to lead it global water, oileld and mining solutions business Anatol Feygin has joined Cheniere Energy as vice president of strategy and corporate development Bernard Andre has joined Aminex as exploration advisor BG Groups global LNG and oil marketing business unit is moving from the UK to Singapore and will remain headed by Steve Hill

Clooney plans subsea thriller

OIL FLIGHTS OF FANCY Oil industry fat cats may be tightening their belts to boost protability but there is still plenty of room in the budget to extend corporate largesse to maintain their executive lifestyle. At least, that is what Scandinavian airline SAS is banking on after launching the rst business-class only route between Stavanger and Houston, due to start running later this year, in response to industry demand. While the rest of us ride cattle class, oil execs will be able to stretch out on the dedicated Boeing 737-700s serving the route that have only 44 luxurious seats equipped with an in-ight entertainment system, as they sip champagne and nibble on canapes as part of the full-meal service. Pricey tickets for the route, described by SAS as a tailored product for a dened market with particular travel needs, will go on sale shortly with ights to start on 20 August just before the major ONS show in Stavanger. It is touted as the rst non-stop service between the two oil capitals, but SAS marketing team may well take note that major players such as Seadrill have already moved out of high-cost Stavanger, while a lot of subsea technology players as well as oil companies are now based in Oslo. PLEASE HAVE YOUR BORING CARD READY Airports typically look to the skies for their revenues, but some in the US have found that digging deeper underground is just the ticket. Pittsburgh International has struck a deal with Consol Energy that will see the US independent drill for gas in the grounds of the airport, NBC News reported. The Pittsburgh-based gas and coal player is handing over a $50 million signing bonus and estimated royalty payments of $25 million a year to Allegheny County Airport Authority, the facilitys operator, NBC said. Other airports have other advantages. They may have better ight patterns or be close to major markets, but we have this natural gas that others may not have, Allegheny County executive Rich Fitzgerald told the news channel. The county is using the cash to reduce landing, terminal and ramp fees paid by airlines. That makes us more desirable and will help us attract more airlines and more ights to our airport, he said. Other airports in US oil patches will be keeping a close eye on Pittsburgh to see if the idea takes off, or if the idea of drilling rigs near a runway proves terminal.

EXXONMOBIL GETS THE DIGS IN Poet laureate Thomas Stearns Eliot termed April the cruellest month in his modernist masterpiece, The Wasteland. US supermajor ExxonMobil reminded its followers on Twitter recently that April is, somewhat oddly, also National Safe Digging Month. We support the effort to remind homeowners to call before you dig, the serial excavator tweeted. Cuttings reckons ExxonMobil would be more than happy to receive calls from any homeowners living in the Permian basin or any other US oil patch in order to relieve them of the digging burden any month of the year.