(c) http://socialbusinessstrategy.com
When I decided to put down the BBC attack dog after it kept biting me and adopt a friendly Pointer that would spot well fed Scottish wood pigeons for me, I thought it might be more difficult than it has been. I apologise for that astoundingly bad though dogged metaphor. Seriously, it has been remarkably easy to find good news about Scotland if you just don’t look in the mainstream media, especially BBC Scotland, for it. Today, it’s back to oil and gas with some surprisingly very optimistic stuff from the industry and its communication wings, posted daily. If I can find it then why can’t or don’t…..?
North Sea oil and gas is on the crest of a “third wave” in its evolution following a series of major deals worth more than $6billion (£4.8billion), energy professionals have claimed.
I had though Shell’s recent £3billion sale of North Sea assets to Chrysaor meant more evidence of declining expectations but it’s not at all.
According to Energy Voice, on 13th February 2017, the above sale: ‘is expected to be a catalyst for more mergers and acquisitions in the UKCS following the resurgence of oil-focused equity capital market investment……In the last six months £4.9billion worth of North Sea assets have changed hands, including last week’s £993million acquisition of Ithaca Energy by Israeli-based Delek Group.’
One of the benefits of the above deal will be the extended life of the Armada field which had been expected to be shut down.
Pinsent Masons’ head of corporate finance, Rosalie Chadwick said:
‘The Shell-Chrysaor deal will prove to be the tipping point which leads to the third wave of the North Sea’s evolution and a number of other significant transactions in the months and years ahead. More availability of funding, a stable oil price, better alignment of price expectations for both buyers and sellers, and a fresh approach to decommissioning responsibilities, means that all the chess pieces are lined up with the North Sea poised for a period of productive M&A activity.’
So the change of ownership and sales by large corporations may look at first sight like signs of uncertainty but is in fact evidence of this ‘third wave’ as: ‘well-capitalised new blood enter the sector and embracing new technologies, which make smaller recoveries in the more mature fields economically viable.’
https://www.energyvoice.com/oilandgas/north-sea/131460/north-sea-crest-third-wave-evolution/
Scotland could become a world leading exporter of oil and gas field extension and decommissioning solutions, according to government ministers.
Also from Energy Voice on 12th February 2017 we see the above claim from Scottish Minister for Business, Innovation and Energy, Paul Wheelhouse, made at the opening of the new the Oil and gas Technology Centre in Aberdeen.
The claim was made as North Sea industry heads met at the launch of the new Oil and gas Technology Centre in Aberdeen. Wheelhouse said:
‘This is a sign of confidence in the industry from both governments, saying we’ve got faith in the future of the oil and gas industry. We are not at the end of the road, far from it.’
Industry body Oil and Gas UK has hailed the Scottish Government’s multi-million pound backing of a decommissioning fund as a major boost for the struggling supply chain.
Finally, from Energy Voice again, on 8th February, we can see the Scottish Government is right behind these developments. The headline is a bit OTT for the amount, £5 million, on offer but hey. You can find what Labour and the Tories thought, yourselves.
Oil and Gas UK chief executive Deirdre Michie said:
‘The First Minister’s announcement today of a new £5 million fund to support Scottish companies looking to take advantage of decommissioning sector opportunities is encouraging news for the many supply chain companies still struggling in the downturn… Our forecasts suggest an average of £1.7 billion will be spent on decommissioning in the UK each year over the next ten years and so it is helpful that we should support the UK supply chain to develop its capacity to compete effectively.’
Like me, many of you will be strong supporters of the expansion of carbon-free technologies. I’m reporting this because in the fight for independence, I think we still have to counter the endless negativity about the North Sea and the associated implication that it somehow puts an end to Scotland’s future viability as an independent nation.
Talking-up Scotland 
In a former life I worked within the criminal justice system and one of the things that was very apparent to me was that the fear of crime far outweighed the actual risk of crime. Without having done any ‘proper’ research into the matter I concluded it was because of the incessant reporting of bad news in all forms of our media. I mean, what purpose is it to report, in an Aberdeen newspaper, some fairly serious, but not exceptionally so, crime such as robbery which took place in, e.g. Nottingham or perhaps even Houston, Texas? Especially as you would only find out the geographical location of said crime after reading several paragraphs into the story. For the casual reader the belief that crime stalks the streets is reinforced on a daily basis even if they live in a safe area of a fairly safe city.
All in all, we need more good news stories about a whole raft of things. Of course we need to know what things are not working as well as they could or if serious things go wrong but we almost never hear about the good even though there is plenty of it to go around. Hearing bad news all the time gives even the most positive of people a jaundiced view of their fellow human beings. At best, that is simply sad; at worst it makes the population amenable to control by the establishment.
Keep up the good news stories John, you might just create a whole new readership out of it!
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I agree Hugh, reporting news seems to be about any ‘sensational’ news even if it is an isolated incident and nothing to do with local issues – I’m sure I’ve heard that people get addicted to bad news, the more they see the more they want, a kind of adrenalin fix? Drama! Crisis! ,,, me, I think life is hard enough, and just want to hear a balanced approach to what is happening out there in the wider world. Sigh. If only.
That MSM ignores more mundane everyday things, in favour of playing up some kind of sensational event, really irritates me. That all MSM follows the same bandwagon really irritates me. Where is the variation? In saying that, I don’t really read newspapers, the poor quality of writing also irritates me, so maybe they do report on everyday things. I’m think of commons debates and votes on surveillance bill being obscured by blanket coverage of US presidential election, the vote on trident (and failed test results!) being obscured by a few things, Brexit, Iraq report.
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Thanks Hugh. As you say fear of crime goes up as actual crime goes down. The reporting of murders from remote parts to us is a sign of a dependency in the system. And yes scared means biddable. Thanks for the support.
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“We have nothing to fear, but fear itself..” – paraphrase of FDR in his inaugural address. A quick Google shows that Hugh is spot on – plenty of evidence for the fear of crime being greater than the likelihood of being a victim. And of course politicians use fear of crime, or change, to frighten voters into voting the way they want; hence “Project Fear”.
More Good News elsewhere too: over on IndyRef2 report of Fiona Hyslop in Japan applauding their high level of investment in Scotland. The National reports Guy Verhofstadt, chief European Parliament Brexit negotiator saying that “Europe hasn’t forgotten that a large majority of the Scottish people voted to remain. We need the Scottish people and their firm European beliefs. Scotland has shaped European civilisation, through iconic figures such as David Hume, Alexander Fleming and Adam Smith and still does so today by being at the forefront of defining and strengthening European values. We cannot afford to lose that.”
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Thanks for keeping me up with this stuff.
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Professor Robertson,
Please do not be too hard on yourself for having (largely) given up your attack mode. “Nothing succeeds like success” is an old but very true saying and it can do nothing but good for the civilised development of our country that the positive side of the news is broadcast far and wide.
I used to look at your writings from time to time and found your opinions very interesting but now a daily visit to your blog has become a habit. It is refreshing to have attention directed to many of the good things going on around us and I hope you will persist in the direction you have taken.
I’m in my late 70s now but I hope to be around long enough to see Scotland clear of the last vestiges of the Norman feudal system of control that has afflicted our country for too many centuries and free to take its rightful and altogether positive place among the world’s nations.
In summary – I really like what you are doing and hope to see much more of it. Many thanks for your work.
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Thanks William. It’s just John to normals like yourself. Your encouragement is lifeblood for me.
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In my view, we need to get into common parlance the distinction between the “North Sea”, a very mature petroleum province albeit with remaining, important opportunities and the “Atlantic Margin”, another province with significant recent finds and significant remaining potential. There have been a number of recent ‘good news stories’ regarding the latter that don’t get much mainstream media coverage.
See: https://www.oilandgaspeople.com/news/1039/scottish-west-coast-untapped-oil-and-gas-reserves-worth-trillions/ ; http://www.proactiveinvestors.co.uk/companies/news/168278/could-hurricane-energys-lancaster-be-one-of-best-oil-fields-on-the-planet-168278.html
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Good point and thanks for the additional links.
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So much good news this week, I can’t keep up (really busy this week helping prepare for a friend’s 50th party, in fact I am about to be running late, again, so barely paying attention to news – quite a relief sleeping through Good Morning Scotland!). The Talking Up Scotland theme is a fantastic idea John, though it might take a while for readership changes, I am sure many people were looking for things to be outraged about, or specific debunking of our not-at-all-fake news, so now people will be looking here for different things – and new people will be attracted to the theme. Just takes time.
The radio news has just reported that fake-news is mainly the fault of social media, and the desire for sensationalism,,, it is astounding that the BBC doesn’t see the irony, that everyone there appears to be in a self-righteous bubble. Well, it takes a certain personality type to get into journalism I guess. I quite like a bit of fake news myself, isn’t that how many people entertain themselves??
I heard the above report on the radio (Scotland), and they tried to twist it round and didn’t mention Scot government funding, but it just sounded like good news, or neutral, to me. That got me thinking: do you remember there were reports of the police officers who had to buy something (sorry, memory is atrocious – a sun screen for the car?) from a charity shop? It was reported in tones of outrage, that the police were so underfunded etc – I was utterly confused by the negative reporting, I thought ‘well done them, spending our money in a charity shop, AND using some nous, innovatively finding solutions’, that is, I was impressed despite the negative reporting. A couple of things strike me : do I have rose-tinted glasses, that are just not strong enough anymore for the seriously negative radio Scotland reporting since 2014? And it is HOW you interpret actual events that are important, if you are given all the information. When you are not given all the information – as MSM news is wont to do – you cannot form an opinion/interpret the event.
I read the UN report on anti-discrimination last year, that puts the blame squarely on the state party (uk government)’s shoulders (and MSM) for the increase in hate crimes in England, meanwhile praising Scot & Welsh governments for their actions – didn’t hear this reported much! – but they had one criticism, Scotland’s police force wasn’t diverse enough,,, I don’t like to make criticism, because there is so much out there, but was waiting for this to appear as a ‘Scotland is shite’ report,,, not a peep! But of course, that would bring attention to the report, and the state party’s atrocious reply – they denied everything, and used the figures from Scotland and Wales to support the denials! Astounding.
If you are feeling brave enough John, maybe you could watch parliament.tv (no media involvement), watch all the tedious committee meetings, and give us a balanced report on it,,, hmm, that is reporting rather than media analysis. Well, it’s just an idea. Reporting positively despite the type of news and events, how would it look? Would people be interested? Not necessarily positively, just not being manipulated to think & feel to the reporters’ moral values. I’m late! I don’t have time to make this make sense!
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Thanks for mall these suggestions. I’m thinking. Good luck with today
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Unusually interesting piece from Herald: http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/15105399.The_hidden_new_hope_for_Scottish_oil_and_gas_exploration/
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