Ho ho ho – holy moly it’s the Christmas quiz! It’s the time of year when, once again, the intrepid team of Energy Voice Out Louders put down their news-gathering hats and grasp the turkey-stuffed cracker-wielding gift-wrapped brain teaser that is the annual quiz.

The contestants are “roustabout” Ryan Duff, Michael “the bulldozer” Behr, Mat “powerline” Perry and Jess “divining” Davies – but who will emerge triumphant? Follow along at home and see if you can do any better!

This is the last episode of EVOL for 2024. We’ll kick things off in the new year but, for the time being, enjoy!  

In this special episode, listen toRoger Esson, head of sales UK, Europe and Caspian set out the remarkable journey of Centurion Group, as it moved decisively from oil field services to supporting customers in critical industries across remote locations around the world. Energy voice news editor Erikka Askeland also speaks to Jenny Stark, head of corporate projects for Centurion, on what they are looking for in the acquisition strategy.

Christmas may be looming but the news just keeps on coming! In this festive video special edition of Energy Voice Out Loud Ryan discusses CCS permits, Erikka tackles North Sea shenanigans and Mat chats about Bernard Looney's return to energy. 

The week saw the NSTA grant a UK first CCS permit that will allow the infastructure to be installed at the East Coast Cluster. This came about as the Northern Endurance Partnership made a final investment decision on the Tack 1 winning carbon storage development. 

Erikka had one hell of a morning rounding up Serica's acquisition of Parkmead assets, “serious misconduct”'s farm down of its Earlham and Orwell developments and Connaught selling out of UK gas field to Reabold. One thing's for certain, the UK North Sea is going to be a much different beast in 2025. 

Finally, Mat has been looking into former BP CEO Bernard Looney's return to energy as he was appointed to the board of board of ADNOC subsidiary XRG. Looney left BP amid scandal involving personal relationships with with colleagues and misleading the company’s board but is set to make a return following his appointment to a tech firm earlier in the year. 

Ryan, Mark and Michael throw the script out the window as we discuss the partnership between Equinor and Shell. The new tie-up could create a North Sea production powerhouse, but are the oil majors looking to protect themselves from the Rosebank and Jackdaw lawsuits, and what will the competition watchdog have to say?

We also discuss the new Scottish budget. It left the ScotWind pot untouched and promised a raft of benefits for offshore wind and the energy transition, though it remains to be seen if it can deliver Scotland’s green ambitions.

And finally, Mark’s been chatting with Xlinks, the company looking to connect the UK and Morocco with a massive 4,000km subsea cable – just the first step in its vision for a “global grid”.

Welcome to Season 3 of Gigawaters, the Energy Voice podcast in collaboration with Ørsted, hosted by renewables reporter Michael Behr.

This four-part series dives into innovation, decarbonization, biodiversity, and community impacts. In Episode 2, Adele Tharani, Ørsted's Global Commercial Sustainability Manager, joins renowned environmental economist and GIST Impact founder-CEO, Pavan Sukhdev.

Together, they explore how the energy sector can harmonize with nature and local communities, maximize positive impacts, and measure the value of sustainable practices.

Listen in to hear the co-founder of one of the UK’s most promising clean technology describe his firm’s incredible journey. From a promising subsea start up in 2013 to now where his firm is supplying one of the most innovative power management solutions to some of the most important renewable energy projects around the globe, Verlume CEO Richard Knox explains all to Energy Voice news editor Erikka Askeland.

Hear Ryan reveal how maybe the UK budget wasn't so bad for some North Sea firms after all, Erikka says slainte to the first hydrogen-powered whisky, and Michael goes on tour of ports in Scotland getting ship shape for offshore wind.

Ed is back from ADIPEC and is set to regale Ryan and Mat with tales from Abu Dhabi while Shell, Equinor and Ithaca appear in court and Delitc looks to farm down Selene. 

First up this week Mat discusses the comings and goings of Europe's courtrooms as oil firm lawyers have been discussing scope three emissions. Since the outcome of the Supreme Court's Finch Case downstream environmental impact is under the microscope and this has led to the approval of Shell's Jackdaw and Equinor and Ithaca's Rosebank coming into question.

Next up, Ryan tells us about his chat with Deltic Energy's new CEO Andrew Nunn as he discusses potentially reducing the firm's 25% stake in the Selene project in order to reach final investment decision (FID). This comes months after Delic was unable to find a partner for its massive Pensacola project in the North Sea but Nunn says this is a different kettle of fish.

Finally, Ed is back from his jolly in the Middle East. He was only recording podcasts, interviewing delegates, attending panels, hosting discussions and meeting the world's energy industry... there can't be that much he has to say.