ORCA Hub Readies Drones for Offshore Energy
A consortium of five universities, including Heriot-Watt University, working with 35 industrial and innovation partners, has unveiled the latest results from its research collaboration.The largest academic center in the world for research into robotics technology for offshore energy infrastructure, the ORCA Hub’s aim is to advance robotics and Artificial Intelligence technologies for the inspection, repair, maintenance and certification of offshore energy platforms and assets.Creating solutions to some of the most challenging, hard to reach and hazardous real-world problems in the energy sector, ORCA Hub was launched in October 2017.
Hardy Takes Over as Vitol CEO
Ian Taylor, who helped build Vitol into the world's biggest oil trader, will step down as chief executive and continue as chairman, the company said on Friday, naming a long-time ally and insider, Russell Hardy, as the new group CEO. Taylor said two years ago he was battling cancer although he continued to travel the world, chasing deals from Africa to the United States and Australia while also working as chairman of the board of trustees for London's Royal Opera House. Hardy, who started his career at BP and traded fuel oil, was long seen as one of two front-runners to succeed Taylor alongside another Vitol veteran Chris Bake.
Petrobras Names New Board Chief for BR Distribuidora Fuels Unit
Brazil's Petrobras named Segen Farid Estefen interim chairman of the board of BR Distribuidora SA, the fuels unit in which the state-run oil company is seeking a new business partner, according to a Wednesday securities filing. Estefen, a mechanical and ocean engineering professor at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, will be in charge of leading a reorganization of BR Distribuidora, Brazil's largest fuels retailer with 7,500 service stations. Petrobras reiterated on Wednesday that it was seeking a strategic partner for the unit…
O&G JIPs Target Seismic Imaging, Cyclone Forecasting
Global oil and gas companies have funded two joint industry projects (JIP) through the Industry Technology Facilitator (ITF), the details of which will be announced at the Technology Showcase conference and exhibition in Aberdeen Wednesday. The Fullwave Game Changer research project has been extended for a further phase with a consortium of 15 oil and gas operator and service companies working in collaboration with Imperial College London. The phase II investment of more than $3.84 million brings the total funding over the last nine years to $11.5 million.
Scientists Use E.coli Bacteria to Create Fossil Fuel Alternative
British and Finnish scientists have found a way of generating renewable propane using a bacterium widely found in the human intestine and say the finding is a step to commercial production of a fuel that could one day be an alternative to fossil fuel reserves. "Although we have only produced tiny amounts so far, the fuel we have produced is ready to be used in an engine straight away," said Patrik Jones of the department of life sciences at Imperial College London, who worked on the research. He said while work is at a very early stage…
