Wood is considering another offer for the company, from the Middle Eastern Sidara. Such a sale would likely help Wood access new international markets, but the loss of a FTSE250 company based in Aberdeen will be lamented. Given the challenges of the North Sea, is such a move inevitable?

In this year of elections, upsets are to be expected. South Africa voted recently and the ANC has now lost its majority – throwing the government into upheaval. Exploration in South Africa has been lagging Namibia’s Orange Basin for some time now and this fresh bout of uncertainty will not help.

And finally, Mat has returned home from a gruelling trip to Iceland where, amid dips in the Blue Lagoon, he also found time to dig deep into magma drilling plans. KMT aims to tap volcanic energy to fuel local needs – but it also raises the tantalising prospect of electricity exports, perhaps bringing back plans for the Icelink to the UK.