Business confidence in the UK oil and gas industry remained positive in the third quarter of last year according to Oil & Gas UK’s business sentiment index published Wednesday, January 8, 2014.
The third quarter of 2013 saw a drop of six points from 21 to 15 but the mood of the industry remained firmly within positive territory on the -50 to +50 index.
Oonagh Werngren , Oil & Gas UK’s operations director, said: “The figures released today provide a snapshot of the UK offshore oil and gas industry’s outlook in Q3, which was slightly less optimistic than Q2. Although the Q3 results represent a drop in confidence, there continues to be high levels of activity linked to a number of UK Continental Shelf (UKCS) projects and forecasts for investment in the UKCS were at record levels in 2013. Factors such as a shortage of skilled personnel, wage inflation and growing operating costs may have dampened any rise in optimism across the industry but the figures demonstrate that , despite these, the industry has confidence in the future of the North Sea.”
Data was provided by both operator and contractor companies to Oil & Gas UK and anonymised for the purpose of the Business Sentiment Index. Oil & Gas UK, the leading representative organisation for the UK offshore oil and gas industry now represents over 400 companies.
[mappress] Press Release, January 13, 2014