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Energy 1996
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The information below comes from the UK Activity Report.
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Northern Electric has now recommended the £782m takeover bid by CalEnergy to shareholders. 31-Dec-1996 British Borneo Petroleum has acquired the rights to a Gulf of Mexico deep water field owned by Shell. 27-Dec-1996 British Gas has renegotiated "take-or-pay" gas contracts with the UK subsidiary of Mobil, which involves cancelling two supply contracts and reducing prices on three others, and in return Mobil will get a 5% stake in the Beryl field, 29.5% of the Nevis field and 2.5% of the Sage pipeline. 24-Dec-1996 OGC International, the oil and gas maintenance concern, has become the subject of a takeover approach from Halliburton Company of the US. 24-Dec-1996 Scottish Hydro-Electric is expected to acquire the remaining 50% of the Keadby power station on the River Humber from United Utilities in early 1997. 23-Dec-1996 Ramco Energy has announced an exploration agreement with the government of Georgia. 21-Dec-1996 Gulf Canada Resources has launched a £432m hostile takeover bid for Clyde Petroleum, in order to gain production in the North Sea, Australia and Indonesia. 19-Dec-1996 Dominion Resources' £1.3bn takeover bid for East Midlands Electricity has won government approval and will not be referred to the Monopolies & Mergers Commission. 19-Dec-1996 The government is to change the way in which North Sea oil and gas franchises are awarded by allowing companies to nominate any remaining fields for development, rather than the current system which involves the government identifying the blocks and then inviting bids. 18-Dec-1996 PowerGen is considering a possible bid to gain control of Bewag, the Berlin utility that is being privatised next year, in a deal that may cost up to £970m. 18-Dec-1996 Clyde Petroleum is planning its first operated development in the UK continental shelf, having acquired equity in two North Sea oil blocks from BHP and BP for £8.5m. 17-Dec-1996 Suppliers of petrol pump equipment are blaming a 49% reduction in orders this year on the petrol price war, which has caused petrol retailers to cut back on capital investment. 12-Dec-1996 Shell Oil is planning to invest £6bn in nine deep-water oil and gas projects in the Gulf of Mexico, with work starting before 2001. 12-Dec-1996 Hanson has said it is not considering a trade sale of Eastern Group, the UK arm of its Energy Group which is being demerged in February. 12-Dec-1996 RJB Mining has warned that its coal prices may have to be cut in order to compete with cheap US imports. 11-Dec-1996 Costain has sold its US coal operations to Renco of the US for £20.7m, a figure much lower than it had hoped for. 11-Dec-1996 Shell is looking to sell its Cressier refinery in Switzerland, and is also closing two lubricants plants in Belgium and the Netherlands in order to focus lubricants output in Paris and Hamburg. 11-Dec-1996 Yorkshire Electricity is planning to spend about £50m a year on new electrical generation plants. 11-Dec-1996 Costain is expected to soon announce the sale of its US coal operations, along with more details about its financial restructuring. 09-Dec-1996 A consortium formed by Shell and Enron has won the bidding to take control of Transportadora Boliviana de Hidrocarbarus, the Bolivian oil and gas transportation business which will operate a huge gas pipeline to south west Brazil. 07-Dec-1996 British Gas has agreed to pay £250m to BP in exchange for the termination of some supply contracts, a deal which represents the partial resolution of British Gas' problem with "take-or-pay" contracts. 06-Dec-1996 UK oil production is forecast to rise by 210,000 barrels a day next year to 2.78m according to Wood Mackenzie, the oil consultant. 04-Dec-1996 Offer, the electricity regulator, has agreed to slow down the introduction of competition into the electricity supply sector, which will now be phased in over six months from April 1998. 03-Dec-1996 Premier Oil now looks set to takeover Discovery Petroleum of Australia, following the acquisition of a 10% stake from Oil Search, the Australian company that was thought to be a potential rival bidder. 03-Dec-1996 Northern Electric has been in discussions with a potential white-knight bidder in order to fend off the £759m hostile takeover bid by CalEnergy. 30-Nov-1996 British Gas has made a £294m provision to cover potential losses on long-term contracts to supply gas through the interconnector to continental Europe and to Scottish Hydro-Electric. 29-Nov-1996 Southern Electric is to postpone plans to grow by acquisition due to the "changing political and regulatory environment". 29-Nov-1996 United Utilities is in discussions with gas and electricity suppliers about setting up a new company early next year to compete in the deregulated energy market. 29-Nov-1996 Southern Electric is to invest £30m on two 40MW gas-fired power stations in the south of England, its first move into small plants which offer flexible generation with little loss in transmission. 29-Nov-1996 National Grid Group is about to start cutting back on 750 jobs through the greater use of automation, a move which it claims was forced upon it by the recent pricing review by the regulator. 27-Nov-1996 Northern Electric has agreed a £1m deal with Transco, the British Gas pipeline business, in which it will read the gas meters of about 11,000 commercial and industrial customers. 27-Nov-1996 British Energy, the nuclear utility, has set up a 15 year deal to supply power to Southern Electric, the first such deal between a generator and regional electricity company. 22-Nov-1996 NSM, the coal mining group, is planning to sell off PBS Coals, its US business, at less than book value in order to reduce gearing. 22-Nov-1996 National Power, the power generator, is planning to spend over £300m a year on expansion abroad until the year 2000, and currently has £1.5bn of projects under review. 21-Nov-1996 Nirex, the waste agency, is planning to restart its drilling programme at Longlands Farm near Sellafield to assess its potential as a site for a deep repository for radioactive waste. 20-Nov-1996 British Gas and Shell have refused to comment on reports that they have been discussing a possible merger, although some analysts believe the talks could be about the problems with "take-or-pay" contracts for North Sea gas. 19-Nov-1996 Emerald Energy is raising £12m in a share placement and open offer in order to fund the acquisition of oil and gas exploration rights in the Upper Magdalena basin in Colombia. 19-Nov-1996 PowerGen has awarded a three-year contract to Greenway for the supply of recycled support fuel to one of its power stations. 14-Nov-1996 Rolls-Royce Power Ventures and Northern Electric are forming a 50:50 joint venture called Viking Power, which will operate small gas-fired power stations - the first will open next year at Seal Sands on Tyneside. 12-Nov-1996 British Gas has reached an agreement with Ofgas that will reduce domestic gas bills by an average £7 next year, with British Gas agreeing to the reductions in return for more flexibility on setting tariffs once the industry is fully opened up to competition. 09-Nov-1996 Saga Group, the seller of financial services and holidays to the over-50s, is planning to move into the domestic gas market and is in discussions with a number of gas suppliers. 09-Nov-1996 RTZ-CRA, the Anglo-Australian mining company, is to invest £245m in the expansion of its coal mining business in Colombia in order to benefit from the predicted boom in European imports. 08-Nov-1996 Dominion Resources of the US is considering a £1.2bn bid for East Midlands Electricity, the UK regional electricity concern. 07-Nov-1996 Elf Aquitaine, Murco and Gulf are to merge their UK refining and marketing assets in response to the petrol price war, a move which will create a new network of 1,500 service stations but will result in up to 500 job losses. 07-Nov-1996 Eastern Group has acquired an 11% stake in Severomoravska Energetika, the supplier of electricity to 1m Czechs, for undisclosed terms. 07-Nov-1996 Northern Ireland Electricity has reached an agreement with Nigen, the power generator, which will result in a 3% fall in domestic electricity prices, following criticism from Ofreg about the high prices in Northern Ireland. 06-Nov-1996 Shell Prospecting and Development Peru has invited Bechtel and Fluor Daniel, both from the US, to submit proposals to transport natural gas from the Camisea gas fields across the Andes to Lima. 05-Nov-1996 The government has come out in favour of Shell and Elf's plans to build a gas pipeline from three new North Sea fields to Bacton in Norfolk, a decision which will disappoint ICI who had wanted the gas to land at Teesside. 30-Oct-1996 Premier Oil has reached agreement to sell gas from the Yetagun field in Burma, which it is developing with Texaco and Nippon Oil, to Thailand. 30-Oct-1996 Northern Electric is facing a £766m hostile takeover bid from CalEnergy of the US, having had almost 13% of its shares captured in a dawn raid. 29-Oct-1996 BP has announced plans to focus further on the growth markets of Latin America and Asia in order to help it achieve its corporate growth target of 8% a year. 28-Oct-1996 National Grid Group has agreed to price controls proposed by Offer, the industry regulator, which will mean an initial 20% cut in consumer prices from next April. 26-Oct-1996 Dana Petroleum is to acquire Petroceltic, the Irish oil and gas concern, for about £3m. 26-Oct-1996 Shell UK has won government approval for the £220m development of the satellite Kingfisher field in the North Sea, with production expected to start by the end of 1997. 24-Oct-1996 Premier Oil has bought a 15.8% stake in a gas field in Pakistan from Idemitsu for £21m, which will add about 2,000 barrels a day to its output. 24-Oct-1996 Discovery Petroleum of Australia has rejected a £46m bid from Premier Oil of the UK, following the acquisition of a 10% stake in Discovery by Oil Search of Australia. 22-Oct-1996 BP and Mobil are planning to outsource many of their financial activities to Andersen Consulting and Price Waterhouse when they merge their European refining and marketing operations, and up to 730 staff could be transferred to the accounting companies. 21-Oct-1996 Offer, the electricity industry regulator, has proposed that full competition in the electricity supply industry be phased in over 3 months, thus admitting that it will not be ready by the scheduled date of April 1 1998. 18-Oct-1996 RTZ-CRA, the Anglo-Australian mining group, is planning to nearly double output from its US coal mines by 2005 in order to benefit from clean air laws that favour the use of low-sulphur coal. 18-Oct-1996 Ramco Energy is to take a 20% stake in a consortium with Mobil and Total which will develop oil reserves in Azerbaijan. 17-Oct-1996 National Power is said to be planning to increase its stake in Pakistan's Kot Addu power station by 10% to 36%. 16-Oct-1996 ICI is trying to block plans by Elf to pipe gas from the Elgin and Franklin North Sea fields to Norfolk, saying that it would be better for national interests if the gas was landed at Teesside instead. 12-Oct-1996 A number of electricity companies, including National Grid, London Electricity and South Western Electricity, are to set up an £8m fund to contest legal claims that high-tension power lines can damage health. 11-Oct-1996 British Energy has dropped plans to build a gas-fired power station at its Heysham site near Lancaster due to inadequate transmission capacity. 10-Oct-1996 British Energy, the nuclear utility, is to cut about 1500 jobs, over 20% of its UK workforce, in order to make savings of about £50m a year and to prepare for the expected weakening in electricity prices. 08-Oct-1996 Shell Oil is planning to pool its US oil refining and marketing operations with Texaco by setting up a national network of petrol stations, oil dumps, pipelines and refineries, generating combined savings for the two companies of $2bn a year. 08-Oct-1996 SHV Energy of the Netherlands has offered to buy the 48% of Calor Group it does not already own, in order to eliminate conflicts with other shareholders. 08-Oct-1996 The cost of decommissioning oil and gas platforms in the North Sea's UK sector could reach £8.7bn, with Shell having the largest liability of £1.2bn, according to a Wood Mackenzie study. 04-Oct-1996 Cairn Energy is to acquire Command Petroleum of Australia for about £200m, a move which will create the biggest non-state energy company operating in the Bengal basin. 03-Oct-1996 Scottish Hydro has had to drop plans to buy British Gas' business in Scotland and parts of northern England as British Gas was said to be unable to complete the deal while facing major regulatory and commercial pressures. 30-Sep-1996 PowerGen is to stop using the controversial Orimulsion fuel with the closure of its 500MW Ince power station at Elton near Chester next March. 26-Sep-1996 Sidlaw has sold its ASCo oil services division to Secretside, a new company formed with backing from 3i and Clydesdale, for £56m, a move which will allow Sidlaw to focus on its core business of flexible packaging. 25-Sep-1996 Edinburgh Oil & Gas is acquiring a 10.5% stake in North Yorkshire onshore gas licences from DSM Energy for £1.5m. 24-Sep-1996 British Gas' Phoenix Natural Gas subsidiary is planning to invest £160m bringing natural gas to commercial and residential customers in Northern Ireland, initially as a monopoly but with competition being phased in gradually. 20-Sep-1996 Scottish Hydro-Electric is to construct a £52m 130MW combined heat and power station at Runcorn for ICI Chemicals and Polymers. 17-Sep-1996 Enterprise Oil is to fund a $100m drilling programme in the Gulf of Mexico in return for a 50% stake in production, in a joint venture with Pennzoil of the US. 13-Sep-1996 RJB Mining is planning to spend £300m developing a deep coal mine in Nottinghamshire, which will produce 3m tonnes of coal a year and employ 300 people. 10-Sep-1996 Shell has linked up with Occidental Petroleum to offer to convert the Bataan nuclear power station in the Philippines, which was closed due to the possibility of earthquakes, into a 1,200MW gas-fired station. 06-Sep-1996 The National Grid has received twelve applications to build gas-fired power stations since March, indicating an increase in competition in the generation of electricity since privatisation. 06-Sep-1996 Melrose Energy is setting up a new company, Newco, to acquire 20% of Evikhon Oil, the Russian company that is jointly developing the Salym oilfield in Siberia with Shell. 06-Sep-1996 Oil output from the UK sector of the North Sea averaged 2.53m barrels a day in the first half, down 2% on last year's average due to delays in starting up new fields, according to Wood Mackenzie. 03-Sep-1996 Burmah Castrol has emphasised that it is focusing on its lubricants and chemicals operations, and, contrary to rumours, it is not planning a major acquisition. 03-Sep-1996 GEC is in discussions with Alcatel Alsthom of France about the possible merger of their GEC Alsthom power engineering joint venture with Framatome, the French nuclear plant builder. 31-Aug-1996 Aker of Norway has bought a 70% stake in McNulty Offshore Services, the Tyneside-based specialist in floating production facilities, for £4m. 29-Aug-1996 Redland Aggregates is facing a legal challenge from a local resident against its use of a secondary liquid fuel derived from chemical waste at its cement works in Derbyshire, despite the fact that the Environment Agency has approved the fuel. 28-Aug-1996 Melrose Energy is discussing a major investment in a Russian oil and gas venture which would involve it creating a new subsidiary. 28-Aug-1996 The Point of Ayr deep coal mine in north Wales is to close following the acceptance by the 200 employees that the mine is no longer economically viable. 24-Aug-1996 Ofgas, the gas industry regulator, has revised its proposals for the price control of British Gas' pipeline operation, in which it calls for a 20% cut in gas transportation prices next year followed by 2.5% cuts in each of the next four years. 22-Aug-1996 Able UK is to convert a Hartlepool shipyard into a dismantling centre for used offshore oil and gas structures, creating 400 jobs over five years. 22-Aug-1996 BP has sold its stakes in three North Sea fields to Talisman of Canada for undisclosed terms, a move likely to set a trend in the withdrawal of major oil groups from older fields. 21-Aug-1996 Andaman Resources, the Northern Ireland-based minerals exploration company, is to be taken over by an unnamed foreign company which will focus Andaman on oil and gas exploration in the Asian region of the Commonwealth of Independent States. 20-Aug-1996 Costain is in discussions to sell its US coal operations, with interested companies including Mapco and Ziegler Coal Holdings. 19-Aug-1996 National Power plans to start using petroleum-coke at its Drax power station, instead of coal, but the local council is condemning the move. 17-Aug-1996 The government has begun issuing licences to allow UK oil companies to start importing crude from Iraq under a United Nations-brokered deal. 17-Aug-1996 Fibrowatt is planning to build a £69m 38.5MW power station fuelled by poultry litter in Thetford, Norfolk. 16-Aug-1996 BP is linking up with Entergy of the US to seek planning approval for a 1,100MW gas-fired power station near Hull, which would be operated by Entergy with the gas provided by BP. 16-Aug-1996 Eastern Natural Gas, the Eastern Group subsidiary, has agreed a £100m deal to take British Borneo's and Lasmo's shares of the Boulton natural gas field in the North Sea. 15-Aug-1996 The electricity industry regulator is proposing a review of price controls which will cut about £1.2bn from the profits of the National Grid over the next four years, with the savings being passed on to consumers. 14-Aug-1996 PowerGen is planning a £35m offshore wind farm near Great Yarmouth, which will have 25 giant wind turbines with a total generating capacity of 37.5MW. 14-Aug-1996 BP wants to accelerate the $5bn plan to merge its European downstream operations with those of Mobil, in order to see how well the two companies can work together under pressure. 12-Aug-1996 Talisman of Canada is planning to acquire three mature North Sea fields from BP, including Clyde, Buchan and Beatrice. 10-Aug-1996 BP and Mobil have received European approval for the $5bn merger of their European refining and marketing businesses, despite the possible loss of up to 3,000 jobs. 08-Aug-1996 Shell and BP have reached agreement with the Shetland Islands council to ensure the continued operation of the Sullom Voe oil terminal past the year 2000. 07-Aug-1996 Exxon was won government approval for the $140m development of the Gannet E and Gannet F oil fields in the North Sea. 07-Aug-1996 Offer, the electricity industry regulator, has ruled that Scottish Power and Hydro-Electric will be able to use the full capacity of the electricity interconnector between Scotland and England. 06-Aug-1996 Capital spending on new oil and gas projects in the North Sea could fall to under £1bn at the beginning of the next decade, compared to over £5bn last year, according to a study by Wood Mackenzie. 06-Aug-1996 National Power is investing £340m in a consortium that has just bought the privatised 1,600 MW Hazelwood power station in Australia. 05-Aug-1996 BP has set up a new company to market its North Sea Gas output, called BP Gas. 02-Aug-1996 British Energy is considering the construction of a natural gas-fired generating unit at Heysham, Lancashire. 30-Jul-1996 Cairn Energy is to fund the development of the offshore Sangu field in Bangladesh by raising £50m in a rights issue. 26-Jul-1996 Shell UK has won government approval for the fast-track development of the £300m Curlew oil and gas field in the North Sea. 24-Jul-1996 RJB Mining is extending the operating licence for its Rossington colliery in South Yorkshire from 10 to 25 years, thus securing the future of its 320 miners. 22-Jul-1996 Dana Petroleum has acquired a 5% stake in Evikhon, the Russian company that has interests in some west Siberian oilfields, for £1.7m cash plus shares. 20-Jul-1996 RJB Mining has applied for council permission to open an open-cast 1.6m tonne coal mine at North Walbottle near Newcastle upon Tyne, which would create 70 jobs. 19-Jul-1996 PowerGen says it will try again to acquire a regional electricity company next summer, having failed to acquire Midlands Electricity in April. 18-Jul-1996 Electrabel of Belgium has acquired a 1.5% stake in Scottish Power and may build the stake up to 5%. 16-Jul-1996 Shell is to combine its petroleum additives businesses with Exxon Chemicals' Paramins division to form a joint venture unit with 25% of the $6bn world petroleum additives market. 11-Jul-1996 The operating lives of two nuclear power stations - Calder Hall in Cumbria and Chapelcross in Dumfries - are being extended by ten years following a safety review. 04-Jul-1996 The UK's first purpose-built gas filling station has been opened in Southampton, and it will fuel the 16-strong fleet of buses powered by compressed natural gas and run by Citybus. 03-Jul-1996 PP&L Resources of the US has bought a 25% stake in South Western Electricity Board from Southern Company of Atlanta for £122m. 02-Jul-1996 The government has announced proposals to introduce competitive bidding for offshore oil and gas licences in order to boost investment in exploration and development. 02-Jul-1996 Tullow Oil of Dublin has launched a £30m rights issue in order to fund the development of existing licences and further exploration. 25-Jun-1996 Westmount Energy and Greenwich Resources have bought 20% stakes in Desire, a private company set up to bid in the next Falklands oil licensing round. 25-Jun-1996 Bula Resources of Dublin is setting up a joint venture with Aki-Otyr of Russia to develop oilfields in western Siberia. 24-Jun-1996 Hyder, the water and power utility formed when Welsh Water bought Swalec, is to cut 10% of its 9,000 jobs to save £100m a year by the year 2000. 20-Jun-1996 Eastern Group, the regional electricity company, has negotiated to buy over £850m of gas from Shell and Esso for use in its power stations at King's Lynn and Peterborough. 18-Jun-1996 Edison Mission Energy of the US says it is planning to make more UK acquisitions, probably in generation, following its purchase of First Hydro. 18-Jun-1996 Scottish Hydro-Electric is planning to acquire more power stations, and aims to set up alliances with supermarkets in order to expand into the domestic electricity market. 14-Jun-1996 The levy on electricity bills to support the nuclear industry is to be scrapped when British Energy is privatised, thus reducing domestic bills by up to £20 a year. 12-Jun-1996 British Energy is expected to announce plans to extend the working lives of four of its eight nuclear power stations by up to ten years. 08-Jun-1996 Ofgas, the industry regulator, has announced a new range of price controls for British Gas Energy, which could result in a £8 reduction in household gas bills next year. 07-Jun-1996 The government has given the go-ahead for Avon Energy Partners' bid for Midlands Electricity and Eastern Group's acquisition of 4,000MW of generating capacity from National Power. 06-Jun-1996 Scottish Power has bought a 15MW commercial windfarm near Douglas in Lanarkshire for £15m from the developer Trigen. 03-Jun-1996 Direct Line, the telephone insurance company, is in discussions with electricity companies about the possibility of selling electricity by phone when the market is opened up to competition in 1998. 31-May-1996 UK oil production fell 3.6% to 2.44m barrels a day in April, down 8% on last year, according to the Royal Bank of Scotland. 31-May-1996 The nine international gas companies planning the gas pipeline from the UK to Belgium have agreed a £450m leasing deal with Abbey National to finance the construction. 30-May-1996 Scottish Power has launched a £1.56bn bid for Southern Water, and if it succeeds it would become the country's largest multi-utility. 29-May-1996 The flotation of British Energy, the nuclear power utility, has been launched with a £4m publicity campaign, and it is expected to raise about £1.8bn with 30% of the flotation going to the public. 29-May-1996 Intersolar Group, the maker of photovoltaic cells, is considering plans for a quotation on the Alternative Investment Market in order to fund expansion. 27-May-1996 Asda is to sell petrol "at cost" at its 10 hypermarkets in the latest move in the petrol price war. 24-May-1996 RJB Mining is acquiring up to 43% of CIM Resources, the Australian coal and resources company, for £72m, in its first move abroad. 22-May-1996 RJB Mining, the coal company, is planning a £200m drive to cut costs by 5% in order to help it win new contracts with power generators. 20-May-1996 Southern Company of Atlanta is discussing the sale of a minority stake in South Western Electricity (Sweb) to PP&L Resources of Pennsylvania. 17-May-1996 Shell is in discussions with other companies about the restructuring of its European refining operations, but details are unlikely to be announced until later this year. 17-May-1996 Ofgas, the industry regulator, has proposed a new pricing formula for Transco, British Gas' pipeline operation, which would cut household bills by 10%. 14-May-1996 Scottish Power plans to become a multi-utility by moving into telecoms and retail gas supply. 10-May-1996 The government has said it will keep its special shares in National Power and PowerGen and restrict individual voting stakes to 15%, effectively preventing bids for the power generators. 03-May-1996 Hanson has sold its 12.5% stake in the National Grid for £405m, and the shares are currently held by HSBC James Capel, the stockbroker. 02-May-1996 The government is proposing to allow companies that generate their own electricity to sell excess power to domestic consumers. 01-May-1996 United Energy, the oil and gas exploration company, is planning a full market listing and looking for acquisitions in the US, while it has also moved into renewable energy with the acquisition of a 30% stake in Agripen. 30-Apr-1996 National Power has bought a Massachusetts gas-fired power station from Enron for £108m as it continues its overseas expansion in electricity generation. 27-Apr-1996 British Gas is discussing the acquisition of the old Belfast coal gas network, which it could supply gas to using the new pipeline from Scotland. 24-Apr-1996 National Power has rejected merger talks with the Southern Company, until the US concern can clarify terms of the deal. 19-Apr-1996 Cairn Energy is to go-ahead with plans to develop the Sangu offshore gas field in Bangladesh, and is looking for a development partner. 19-Apr-1996 ICI and Intergen of the US have started placing orders for equipment for their controversial £250m power plant at ICI's chemicals plant in Runcorn. 19-Apr-1996 Utilicorp of the US is pulling out of gas joint ventures with Midlands Electricity, Seeboard, and Scottish Power, but retaining interests in ventures with Norweb, Sweb and Eastern Group. 17-Apr-1996 Marine & Mercantile is linking with Energie Kladno in a joint venture to develop methane and natural gas reserves in the Czech Republic. 15-Apr-1996 The DTI is expected to give the go-ahead for National Power and PowerGen to acquire Southern Electric and Midlands Electricity. 13-Apr-1996 Shell and Enterprise Oil are planning to bid for some of the 15 onshore and offshore oil blocks being offered by the Romanian government this month. 09-Apr-1996 Schlumberger, the oil services group, has predicted that the average world recovery rate from oil wells will rise from 35% to 50% over the next ten years, increasing world reserves by billions of barrels. 09-Apr-1996 The National Grid has forecast that 10,000 MW of mainly coal-based power plants will be closed over the next six years, but about 12,000 MW of mainly gas-fired capacity will come on-stream in the same period. 08-Apr-1996 PowerGen is moving into India as part of a consortium to build and operate a £460m power station in Gujarat, and is in discussions about new power stations in two other Indian states. 07-Apr-1996 The Harland and Woolf shipyard in Belfast has won a £100m contract to build a floating production, storage and offloading vessel, for a BP-led consortium for use in the new oilfields west of the Shetlands. 04-Apr-1996 Brunner Mond is planning a £100m combined heat and power plant at its Winnington chemicals plant in conjunction with PowerGen, with excess electricity being sold to the grid. 04-Apr-1996 The government is said to be considering the use of surplus meat as a fuel for power stations, following the fall in beef demand due to the BSE controversy. 03-Apr-1996 Exports by the UK nuclear industry rose £100m to a record £600m in 1995, and are likely to reach £1bn by the year 2000, according to the British Nuclear Industry Forum. 03-Apr-1996 Powerhouse Resources is to restructure and then withdraw from its oil and gas business in the US in order to concentrate on electrical power generation in east Asia. 02-Apr-1996 The government has approved the onshore disposal for five North Sea gas production platforms, four of them operated by Conoco. 02-Apr-1996 Calor Group has gained £24m from the sale of its 21% stake in Pamgas, the east European gas joint venture, as it wants to focus on investing in India, east Asia and South America. 30-Mar-1996 The government has agreed to cut the amount of debt loaded onto British Energy from £1.5bn to £700m in order to save this summer's privatisation of the nuclear utility. 29-Mar-1996 RJB Mining, the coal company which bought British Coal's English mines, is buying back £100m of shares following a surge in profits. 29-Mar-1996 The governments of Britain and Ireland are to jointly launch a feasibility study into the building of a gas pipeline between Northern Ireland and the Republic. 28-Mar-1996 The government has issued pollution limits to individual power stations in order to cut emissions and comply with European restrictions. 27-Mar-1996 The government has now decided to contribute £230m to cover liabilities over the closure of nuclear power plants, a move which should put the privatisation of British Energy back on track. 26-Mar-1996 British Gas is trying to resist tough price controls on Transco, the pipeline business which is to be demerged, by offering to share future profits with customers. 22-Mar-1996 Frost Group, the petrol retailer, has forecast that the price war will put about 400 private dealer sites out of business, and it also says it may become a takeover target, possibly by Statoil. 22-Mar-1996 National Power plans to convert its Pembroke power station to use the controversial Orimulsion fuel, and is facing opposition from environmentalists particularly following the recent Sea Empress accident nearby. 21-Mar-1996 Ofgas has granted licences to nine companies to compete in the open gas market in the south west from April 29. 20-Mar-1996 The government has approved 22 licences for land-based oil and gas exploration, mainly in Lincolnshire and the east Midlands. 15-Mar-1996 Enterprise Oil expects production to reach 300,000 barrels a day by 1999 with new output from Norway and Italy, and it is looking at further exploration possibilities in Peru, Australia and Vietnam. 15-Mar-1996 BP wants to sell stakes in four North Sea fields - Buchan, Clyde, Beatrice and Thistle. 15-Mar-1996 BP is aiming for 8% yearly earnings growth until 2000 with capital expenditure rising 4% a year, while the surplus will be used to cut debt and possibly fund a share buyback. 14-Mar-1996 Northern Ireland Electricity is to get a £16m government subsidy to cut prices by 3%, as Northern Ireland prices are 23% higher than the UK average. 13-Mar-1996 The UK will remain a net exporter of oil until 2010, while gas output will continue to rise until 2000, according to the United Kingdom Offshore Operators Association. 12-Mar-1996 Shell is said to have made a big oil discovery off the Nigerian coast, a find which could lead to renewed criticism of its role in Nigeria. 08-Mar-1996 PowerGen is planning to build a gas-fired power station in Lanarkshire in two phases, each with 350MW capacity, creating 700 construction jobs and 35 permanent ones. 07-Mar-1996 Hanson has sold the remaining 122 Powerhouse electrical retailing stores in the Midlands and south of England to a management buy-out team. 07-Mar-1996 Capital spending on UK oil exploration should increase this year even with softer oil prices, according to a survey of executives by Arthur Andersen. 06-Mar-1996 PowerGen has gained a 49.9% stake in the Yallourn power station in Australia, which has been sold off by the Victorian government. 05-Mar-1996 British Energy, the soon-to-be-privatised nuclear power generator, would have made losses of between £50m and £550m a year had it existed over the past 5 years, and is expected to lose £150m in the year to March 1996, according to BZW the stockbrokers involved in the sale. 05-Mar-1996 UK oil output is forecast at a record 2.71m barrels a day this year, up 5% on last year, and it could reach 3m barrels by the year 2000, according to Wood Mackenzie's annual review. 04-Mar-1996 The introduction of competition to the domestic gas market is likely to be speeded up, with Ofgas expected to get permission to bring forward the schedule for full competition to January 1 1998. 01-Mar-1996 North Norfolk District Council has finally approved plans for the £500m UK-Continent Gas Interconnector pipeline between Bacton and Zeebrugge, and it should now be finished by October 1998. 01-Mar-1996 RJB Mining is planning to replace a long coal face at the Asfordby colliery with two shorter ones in order to get round major geological problems and save the pit from closure. 01-Mar-1996 BP and Mobil are merging their European downstream operations, creating a refining, motor oils and service station business with sales of over $20bn. 29-Feb-1996 The government has agreed to delay the introduction of competition in the south west domestic gas market until April 29th, as computer systems are not ready. 28-Feb-1996 The government is launching a fund to cover nuclear decommissioning costs, which will include initial lump sums from Nuclear Electric and Scottish Nuclear, and will come into effect when the industry is privatised in the summer. 28-Feb-1996 Industrial demand for electricity rose at an annual rate of 1.5% between 1991 and 1995, with demand for natural gas up 0.7%, petroleum up 0.3% and coal down 6.2%, according to a survey by Marketline International. 27-Feb-1996 RJB Mining, the coal producer, is to campaign the electricity industry regulator for reforms to the operation of the electricity pool to stop the alleged bias against the use of coal. 26-Feb-1996 DCC of Dublin is trying to acquire Flogas, the liquified natural gas company which is already 60% owned by DCC, with a £28m bid. 24-Feb-1996 Coalite Products, the smokeless fuel concern, has been fined £150,000 for the emission of dioxins from its Bolsover incineration plant in Derbyshire. 22-Feb-1996 British Gas is planning a 45% cut in staff at its Reading headquarters as part of a plan to save £25m a year. 20-Feb-1996 Conoco has won a contract with Wingas to export 1m cubic metres of North Sea gas a year through the planned pipeline between Norfolk and Zeebrugge, thus beating British Gas in winning the first contract. 20-Feb-1996 The number of petrol stations is forecast to fall from 16,000 to 15,000 by 2000, according to a study by Mintel. 20-Feb-1996 RJB Mining has won a £5m contract to supply coal to 16 local authorities in the North and the Midlands. 20-Feb-1996 Rolls-Royce plans to construct a £40m combined heat and power plant to supply energy to its Derby factories, with the surplus going to local consumers or the National Grid. 19-Feb-1996 Burmah Castrol is selling its filling stations in Turkey and Chile and hopes to sell its Swedish network soon, as part of a strategy to pull out of fuel retailing. 17-Feb-1996 Royal Dutch Shell has cut 30% of its head office staff since April, with the number employed at its centralised service companies in London and the Netherlands falling from 3,900 to 2,800. 15-Feb-1996 Amoco, Enterprise Oil and Amerada Hess are to spend £57m on the development of an oil field 150 miles east of Aberdeen. 13-Feb-1996 Coal Investments, the mining concern, has been placed in administration following the failure of an attempted rescue. 07-Feb-1996 Clyde Petroleum is buying Marathon International's 31.25% stake in the Kapap Production Sharing Contract for $51m, giving it control of four Indonesian oilfields. 07-Feb-1996 Consolidated Coal is discussing the possible acquisition of Glotec Mining, which has mining interests in the Neath Valley. 07-Feb-1996 British Gas is splitting into two companies, one covering trading and the other exploration, international and pipelines, as it tries to protect its profitable activities from the financial problems on its gas purchase contracts. 06-Feb-1996 North Sea oil output rose 2% in 1995 to 2.54m barrels a day, while gas output rose 8%, according to the Royal Bank of Scotland. 02-Feb-1996 Elf Aquitaine and Enterprise Oil have ended their Elf Enterprise Petroleum joint venture, but say there will be no affect on the three North Sea fields run by EEP. 01-Feb-1996 Hanson is to be spilt into four separate business areas later this year - energy, tobacco, chemicals and building materials, thus breaking up the major industrial conglomerate. 31-Jan-1996 PowerGen is considering the construction of a £300m 700MW gas-fired power station in Gratcosh, Lanarkshire, in what is seen as a threat to the two Scottish electricity companies. 30-Jan-1996 British Nuclear Fuels is to build a £100m R&D centre at Sellafield, creating 200 jobs during construction. 30-Jan-1996 Brunner Mond has shelved plans to build a coal-fired power station at its Northwich site due to falling gas prices. 29-Jan-1996 Scottish Power is considering plans to build a £400m 1,000MW gas-fired power station near Leicester. 29-Jan-1996 Abbot Group, the oil and gas services company, is now expected to win its battle to acquire OIS International Inspection, after beating a bid from OGC. 27-Jan-1996 Mobil has announced a new diesel fuel that is claimed to cut black smoke emissions by up to 80%. 26-Jan-1996 British Energy is in a dispute with the government over who should be liable for decommissioning after the nuclear industry is privatised. 24-Jan-1996 British Gas and Hydro-Electric are to build a £315m 755MW gas-fired power station at Avonmouth, with Siemens winning the construction contract. 23-Jan-1996 PowerGen's insurers have agreed to pay for damage caused to cars by emissions from its Richborough orimulsion-fuelled power station. 23-Jan-1996 There was a sharp fall in oil and gas discoveries in the North Sea in 1995, but production was at its highest since 1987, according to Wood Mackenzie. 19-Jan-1996 DCC has sold its 29.4% stake in Greenway Holdings, the lubricant distribution and waste oil recycling concern, to institutional investors. 19-Jan-1996 Scottish Power is aiming to reduce costs by £63m a year following the purchase of Manweb, which is being reorganised from 10 districts into 3 regions. 19-Jan-1996 Esso is lowering petrol prices at its service stations to match local competitiors at each location, prompting fears of a price war. 18-Jan-1996 Royal Dutch Shell is transferring the employment contracts of its tanker fleet's 1,000 officers to Singapore in order to cut costs. 18-Jan-1996 British Gas has acquired gas reserves and exploration blocks in Italy from Fiat Rimi for about £20m. 18-Jan-1996 Ofgas has said it will not take into account the British Gas financial problems from long-term contracts when it sets new price controls this year. 17-Jan-1996 BP is leading a consortium of seven companies planning a £1.6bn development of seven oil and gas fields 150 miles east of Aberdeen. 16-Jan-1996 PowerGen is leading a consortium that has bid to build a power station in Victoria, Australia. 13-Jan-1996 Mobil is to install the Hot Card system from Card Clear, the credit card fraud prevention concern, at its petrol stations. 13-Jan-1996 BP is cutting its refinery capacity by 30% with plans to sell its refineries in Lima, Ohio, and Lavera, France, and to close the Pernis section of a complex in Rotterdam. 12-Jan-1996 Clyde Petroleum is in discussions with Novus Petroleum over the purchase of a 31.25% stake in a Marathon International oilfield in Indonesia. 11-Jan-1996 National Power is making a further 400 job cuts, and will make additional savings by disposing of non-power station businesses. 10-Jan-1996 UK oil output rose 3.2% to 37.6m tonnes in the 3 months to Nov 1995 compared to 1994, and natural gas output rose 7.8%, according to preliminary government figures. 10-Jan-1996 Deep-mined coal production increased 13% in 1995, with coal sales up 18% and imports down 16%. 09-Jan-1996 North Sea oil production is forecast to hit record levels by 1999, at about 7m barrels per day, according to the International Energy Agency. 08-Jan-1996 Dragon Oil of Dublin has agreed funding with the Turkmenistan government over the development of the Caspian Sea's Larmag Chelekan project. 04-Jan-1996 Dana Petroleum plans to raise £16m for production development at the South Vat-Yoganskoye field, with a London listing. 02-Jan-1996 The information below comes from the UK Activity Report. 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