'Wings Over TalkHearts' Politics Thread

[Big Physical Acey]

He was a donor ten years ago. "Major donor"

Try harder Mags.

[Fire Doinks]

^^^ Cybernat factchecker

[Chrambo]

Acey Over Scotland.

[Mr A]

So much woods from Acey

[shaun.lawson]

So much woods from Acey

Not remotely. Selfish right wing bastard in behaving like selfish right wing bastard shock. How awful for the SNP.

What is significant, though, is the opinion polls. Which show the Tories way clear in 2nd now, and which also show no net movement to YES at all since the EU ref. In theory, that means the SNP have probably peaked - but of course, there are very far from normal times.

[Big Physical Acey]

Surprised that a man of your TH vintage doesn't understand what a "woods" is, Mags.

[PHOODLE-OUt]

Major Donger

That Tory boy anaw.

[Patrick Bateman]

Funny how the "Scotland has a shit economy" naysayers have ghosted this FT article - https://www.ft.com/content/433e0b90-d98a...eb37a6aa8e

That "worthless" oil can be extracted for $12 a barrel, and sells at around $55 a barrel. There are between 500 million to 1 billion barrels in that part of the North Sea.

Add; whisky, which makes up 1/4 of UK food & drink exports, technology and tourism, amongst other things, and we've got a far more prosperous economy than many EU states. Yet some people continue to tell themselves otherwise. But sure, lets let Etonian/Oxbridge millionaires hoover it up to underpin their casino of an economy.

[Patrick Bateman]

What is significant, though, is the opinion polls. Which show the Tories way clear in 2nd now, and which also show no net movement to YES at all since the EU ref. In theory, that means the SNP have probably peaked - but of course, there are very far from normal times.

Given the polls backed - A hung parliament, a Remain vote, a Clinton Presidency and an SNP majority government... I wouldn't say they were.

[The Comedian]

Funny how the "Scotland has a shit economy" naysayers have ghosted this FT article - https://www.ft.com/content/433e0b90-d98a...eb37a6aa8e

That "worthless" oil can be extracted for $12 a barrel, and sells at around $55 a barrel. There are between 500 million to 1 billion barrels in that part of the North Sea.

Add; whisky, which makes up 1/4 of UK food & drink exports, technology and tourism, amongst other things, and we've got a far more prosperous economy than many EU states. Yet some people continue to tell themselves otherwise. But sure, lets let Etonian/Oxbridge millionaires hoover it up to underpin their casino of an economy.

I can't read the link. How is extraction cost reduced to twelve dollars a barrel?

[shaun.lawson]

Given the polls backed - A hung parliament, a Remain vote, a Clinton Presidency and an SNP majority government... I wouldn't say they were.

1. They didn't back a Remain vote; there were more polls with Leave up in the final few weeks than Remain

2. They were right nationally in the US, just not in terms of the electoral college

3. The common theme here is that if the polls overrate someone, it's always, always, always the more 'progressive' option - because its support is softer, flakier, more unreliable, and younger.

[Patrick Bateman]

I can't read the link. How is extraction cost reduced to twelve dollars a barrel?

Godalming, a market town in the Surrey stockbroker belt with a cobbled high street winding past timber-framed Tudor buildings, does not sound like the obvious place to go in search of the saviour of UK oil and gas.


Yet, it is here, in offices occupying a converted red-brick mill beside the River Wey, that Robert Trice can be found poring over geological surveys of what could turn out to be the biggest oil discovery in the North Sea this century.

His company, Hurricane Energy, was due to begin drilling over the weekend its third prospect in the past six months in an area west of the Shetland Islands that has already revealed an estimated 500m barrels of oil. Some analysts believe the figure could top 1bn if the latest well is successful — the kind of volume that pessimists thought was a thing of the past in UK waters.

For Mr Trice, a trained geologist who set up Hurricane in a converted garden shed in 2005, the discoveries have brought him to the cusp of vindication for a quixotic three-decade push to open a new approach to North Sea exploration.

Hurricane's 56-year-old chief executive has spent his career specialising in “fractured basements” — fissures in hard rock such as granite which lies below the softer sedimentary sandstone from which most North Sea resources have been recovered.

He spent 11 years with Enterprise Oil, the UK independent oil company, and two with Royal Dutch Shell after it bought Enterprise in 2002. He soon tired of the bureaucracy of working for a global oil major and struck out on his own in pursuit of hidden oil.

“I firmly believe that fractured basements will change the face of the UK oil industry,” says Mr Trice, whose boldness in word and deed marks him out as one of the sector's more charismatic leaders. “There's been a lot of low-hanging fruit in sandstone and a lack of intellectual curiosity to explore the unknown.”

He may never have had the chance to prove his theory correct but for a chance encounter while trying to get Hurricane off the ground. On the way to the airport for a flight to meet potential investors he explained his project to his taxi driver. “He told me he had a friend who was a multimillionaire and that I should call him,” recalls Mr Trice, who took the advice and persuaded the driver's friend, a local entrepreneur called James Huddlestone, to back him.

The taxi driver was given shares in the company as a reward for the introduction.

Further fundraising from other wealthy individuals allowed Hurricane to secure licences on the frontier between the North Sea and the Atlantic, close to BP's large Clair and Schiehallion fields. Promising initial drilling led to a listing on London's junior Aim market in 2014 — just before the oil price crashed.

North Sea exploration has since fallen to its lowest level since the 1970s but a cash injection from Kerogen, the private equity company, allowed Hurricane to press ahead with what Mr Trice describes as a “do or die” drilling campaign last summer. This produced more evidence of oil in the company's flagship Lancaster prospect, and, for the first time, in its adjacent Lincoln field. Mr Trice is hoping to complete a hat-trick with the Halifax well about to be drilled.


The true potential will only become clear after further development work. The uncharted geology and stormy location means setbacks are likely. But Hurricane's rapid progress over the past year has raised hopes that the relatively undeveloped West of Shetland region could yet breath fresh life into the struggling North Sea industry.

“These are clearly very big finds and probably transformational for the country not just the company,” says Malcolm Graham-Wood, an independent oil analyst, who reckons Hurricane could be sat on about 1.15bn barrels of oil.

Hurricane is aiming to raise $400m by the summer to begin developing Lancaster, with an aim to start production in 2019. Selling a stake in the project to a larger partner is an option, says Mr Trice; two global majors and one large independent explorer have expressed interest.

He hopes the Greater Lancaster area is just the beginning, citing widespread fractured basement opportunities across the North Sea. The UK's independent oil and gas sector has been hollowed out by the takeover of companies such as Enterprise by larger groups. Those that remain, such as Premier and EnQuest, are under severe financial strain after the downturn of the past two years.

Mr Trice says that, after investing at the bottom of the cycle, Hurricane can establish itself as a new force in the industry as prices recover. “We can make money from Lancaster at $40 [per barrel],” he says. “At $50, we're laughing.”

[Patrick Bateman]

I can't read the link. How is extraction cost reduced to twelve dollars a barrel?

Here's another article with the specifics - http://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/business/...e-12407734

"Since the price plummet in June 2014 the industry has slashed costs with BP's North Sea fields operating costs at $12 per barrel, from over $30 when oil was trading at over $100 in 2014."

[PHOODLE-OUt]

Might not need that £9b per year bail out from the rest of the UK now

[The Comedian]

Here's another article with the specifics - http://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/business/...e-12407734

"Since the price plummet in June 2014 the industry has slashed costs with BP's North Sea fields operating costs at $12 per barrel, from over $30 when oil was trading at over $100 in 2014."

Cutting our rates, changing rotations and cancelling Sky an that all adds up

[CritchSmile]

May, doing a reverse thatcher and trying to use brexit and state power to bring back some manufacturing to our shores.

Maybe the neoliberals are going for good.

[Mr A]

May and Trump holding talks to reduce tariffs and make it easier to go and work in USA.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/01/...s-tariffs/

[Rogers Mako]

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_f...7039810442

Muh violence is wrong these people must be given a platform

[Papin]

Good to know our Nuclear deterrent is reliable

[CritchSmile]

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_f...7039810442

Muh violence is wrong these people must be given a platform

Well that is horrific viewing.