Press and Journal, The Aberdeen (UK) back issues from October 2006:
Eat out, eat well and eat healthy Scotland might not enjoy the best of reputations when it comes to healthy eating, but a quiet revolution has begun and a charity's coffee shop in the Highland capital is leading the way, as Mike Lowson discovers
Oct 02, 2006 ... Scotland might not enjoy the best of reputations when it comes tohealthy eating, but a quiet revolution has begun and a charity'scoffee shop in the Highland capital is leading the way, as MikeLowson discovers Life on a Monday morning is an emotional rollercoaster. Somepeople can ...
Origins of terrorism
Oct 02, 2006 ... Sir, - A disturbing fallacy being peddled by the US and Britishgovernments and repeated partially by Nick Stott (Letters, September28) is being allowed credibility by not being challenged. Theirargument appears to hinge on the fact that as Middle East terrorismexisted prior to 9/11, the ...
Language of the illiterate
Oct 02, 2006 ... Do You smirt, krump or stooze? Are you a lamestreamer or acelebutard? Perhaps you spend your spare time peacocking? Or are you one of the silent majority left baffled by new sub-languages springing up across the country? Help, of sorts, is at ...
Taking chemical route to get slim
Oct 02, 2006 ... Pills, in one form or another, have liberated people from manythings. The pursuit of an answer in a chemist's bottle has become apreoccupation of life in the 21st century. So it comes as little surprise to learn that record numbers ofobesity drugs are being used by Scots. Excessive ...
Rallying the true-blue Tory troops
Oct 02, 2006 ... David Cameron began his first party conference as leader of theConservatives yesterday in much the same way as Tony Blair did inManchester - much to gain but little to lose. At worst, this week will confirm in the minds of some Torysupporters that Mr Cameron is simply a product of ...
At last, I have an admirer in high places . . . I think
Oct 02, 2006 ... This week, I am thrilled to be basking in the glow of successhaving been highly praised, apparently, by no less a person than ajudge who sleeps regularly with the prime minister. Wow. I hope shewas talking about me, because I only have the story secondhand from aTV producer who heard it ...
Key questions to ask when shopping around for credit
Oct 02, 2006 ... Equifax, the online credit information provider is advisingconsumers that if they are shopping around for credit they should asklenders to log the search as a "quotation search" and not a "creditsearch". This is to ensure inquiries do not have a negative impact on aperson's ...
Sensible credit controls could help to ward off debt misery
Oct 02, 2006; ... We Were told last week that overspending Britons are responsiblefor a third of all unsecured debt in western Europe. The UK consumer credit market hit pounds214billion last year,making it the most indebted country in western Europe. The average Briton owes just over pounds3,000 ...
Buy-to-let rates are worth checking out to get best deal
Oct 02, 2006; ... Ten years ago you would have been hard pushed to find a buy-to-let mortgage deal that was anywhere near as competitive as a normalresidential mortgage. Over the last decade things have changed enormously with buy-to-let lending becoming a very important part of overall ...
Barbie dolls are among gems worth collecting
Oct 02, 2006 ... A Brunette Barbie, clad in a zebra-print swimming costume, wassold for pounds2,880 last week at a special Christie's auction. Wearing hoop earrings, white sunglasses and with her hair swept upin a ponytail, Barbie looked as elegant as she did when she was madein 1959. The ...
Bank's card is height of fashion
Oct 02, 2006 ... Uk Private bank Coutts & Co has launched a new current accountcard designed by fashion designer Stella McCartney. With cards being, in essence, a contemporary take on cash, herdesign combines the intricacies found on banknotes and on the Couttschequebook with aspects of the British ...
Company pension scheme concerns
Oct 02, 2006 ... - I AM SEEKING clarification on something about my company pensionscheme. My retirement date was August 4, 2005. In November that yearI was offered 25% of my fund and additional voluntary contributionsin cash tax free, the remainder being available for an annuity. InMay 2006, I requested ...
Tax decimates Europe effort
Oct 02, 2006 ... International oil companies (IOCs) have so few growthopportunities on their radar screens that they poured more than120billion into share buy-backs and dividends last year - more thantwice as much as was invested in reserves replacement, warn analystsat Harrison Lovegrove (UK) and John ...
Taiwan hydrates
Oct 02, 2006 ... Gas hydrates, possibly the most dangerous and unstable hydrocarbonnatural resource known, has become the focus of attention at Taiwan'sCentral Geological Survey office, which has reported more than17.5trillion cu ft of the stuff off its south-west coast. Last year, state-owned ...
Addax primes for sao tome et principe success
Oct 02, 2006 ... It Is reported that Addax Petroleum is planning to hire up to twodeepwater capability rigs for drilling block 4 of the Nigeria-SaoTome et Principe Joint Development Zone (JDZ). The company has athree-well phase-one commitment to its exploration licence. Addax's anticipation of ...
Chinese imports rocket
Oct 02, 2006 ... China's net import of crude oil rose to 70.33million tons andrefined oil products, 12.03million tons, in the first half of theyear, said an official with China's General Administration ofCustoms. China imported 73.33million tons of crude oil and exported3million tons in the first ...
Chevron sets out its shopping list for Europe technology unit
Oct 02, 2006 ... Just recently, Chevron delivered a positive surprise to Aberdeenby committing to establishing an upstream R&D function in the city.It will be one of two satellites outwith the corporation's USresearch and development capability. By the end of next year, writesJeremy Cresswell, the ...
Poor progress to dominate bwea bash in Glasgow
Oct 02, 2006 ... All is not rosy in the UK renewables garden, writes Energy'seditor, Jeremy Cresswell. Big issues confront the still immatureindustry and the overall UK power generation target of 10% to beaccounted for by renewables by 2010 is near certain to be missed. Nothing short of a miracle ...
Finnish group bids for lead in biodiesel business
Oct 02, 2006 ... Finnish group Neste Oil has pledged to become the world's leadingbiodiesel producer. Oil refining will remain as Neste Oil's central business, however,and the company will continue to invest in new conversion capacity atits current refineries. "We are aiming to be the world's ...
Petrobras to take on world's first 'bean can' drilling unit
Oct 02, 2006 ... Petrobras is hiring the world's first "bean can" drilling unit forlong-term work in the US Gulf of Mexico. The Sevan Driller contract is scheduled to kick-in in Q1 2009 andrun for six years. Nominal value is 800million. Meanwhile, theinnovative rig is under construction in the Far ...
Magnificent men with fuel-cell flying machine
Oct 02, 2006 ... A Fuel cell generating just 500 watts of power - equivalent to ahandful of domestic light bulbs - has shown it is capable ofsuccessfully powering a 22ft wingspan robot aircraft. This is about 1% of the power needed to shift a car like Toyota'sground-breaking hybrid, the ...
Micro fuel cell for your mp3?
Oct 02, 2006 ... Are you frustrated by frequently losing battery power in yourlaptop computer, digital camera or portable music player? Then takeheart - a better source of "juice" is in the works. Scientists at Arizona State University have created a tinyhydrogen-gas generator that they say can be ...
Libya and algeria to start cross-border study
Oct 02, 2006 ... Libya and Algeria are to jointly study the geological connectionbetween the Al-Wafa (Libya) and Alrar (Algeria) fields that lie onthe boundary between the two North African states. Alrar was explored in the early-1970s. It delivers natural gas andcondensates and has a gas ...
Broadway in liberia
Oct 02, 2006 ... Uk Independent Broadway Consolidated has secured block 13 inLiberia's first hydrocarbons licensing round. The company says good progress has been made to negotiate mutuallyacceptable terms between itself and state operator NOCAL. Broadway isalso ...
Celtic sea seismic
Oct 02, 2006 ... Irish company Providence Resources has awarded a comprehensive 2Dand pseudo 3D seismic survey contract to Gardine Geosurvey to becarried out over specific assets within its Celtic Sea and StGeorge's Channel Basin license portfolio, blocks 50/6 and 50/7. Survey work should start ...
African well comes up trumps
Oct 02, 2006 ... Tanzania - Artumas Group's Mnazi Bay-2 well has come up trumps,encountering more than 30m of net pay in Miocene and Oligoceneformations dating from the Tertiary period. Drillstem tests completed in two separate reservoir sand zoneshave flowed natural gas at 7.6 and 8.6million cu ft ...
Bringing North Sea history alive with top-name talks
Oct 02, 2006 ... A New lecture series on the history of the North Sea kicks off onOctober 5 at Aberdeen University. Energy's editor quite literally stumbled across what should be afascinating oral history record while searching the net for somethingelse. No one at the university had advised us ...
Malaria threat hoisted up oil&gas industry agenda
Oct 02, 2006 ... With malaria back on the agenda as a growing global threat, aguide on the topic by the International Association of Oil & GasProducers (OGP), joining forces with the International PetroleumIndustry Environmental Conservation Association (IPIECA), is timely. It is published at a ...
Eidesvik opts for avant-garde gas solution
Oct 02, 2006 ... Norwegian offshore support vessel owner Eidesvik Offshore hasordered an LNG-fuelled version of the radical Avant class developedoriginally by maritime design house Vik Sandvik. A build contract has been placed locally at the West Contractorsyard in lensvg, Norway, with delivery ...
Sowing the seeds of change
Oct 02, 2006 ... One of the shrewdest moves that O'Donnell made relatively early inhis career was to go contract - take charge of his own destiny,unknowingly (at the time) paving the way to CSL. "I initially wanted to be staff, but it didn't seem to be worth itso I went contract after the first ...
Csl takes root on fertile ground
Oct 02, 2006 ... It Was seven/eight years ago that O'Donnell really started tothink about becoming more than a peripatetic one-man band. He waslooking after his own affairs anyway, so setting up one's own companywas surely just a further step. The pivot point was meeting up with Keith Wallace - CSL ...
Growing a business - and nurturing one's own abilities
Oct 02, 2006 ... Growing a company can be hard work. There are thresholds to cross,such as cracking the pounds10million turnover - then perhaps gettingpast pounds25million; building a workforce from a personally hand-picked handful to 100, and many more besides. It is a balancing actwhere the risk of ...
Night firefighting training courses first for Petrofac
Oct 02, 2006 ... Petrofac Training has become the first training provider in the UKto offer night fire training. Sub-unit RGIT Montrose was first approached in 2004 by Joint Oiland Industry Fire Forum (JOIFF) to develop and operate night-timefirefighting courses for its members. In December, ...
Foot on the first rung of ladder
Oct 02, 2006 ... This month, we take a different slant by introducing Energyreaders to Peter Sutherland, who has, quite literally, just startedto read mechanical engineering at University of Strathclyde. He has agreed to write a column for us every two months or so,charting his progress - warts and ...
You want energy? Then bridge the education gap!
Oct 02, 2006 ... Society, Western society especially, needs to realise that if itwants copious quantities of energy then it had better bridge thegeneration gap that currently threatens the future of the upstreamoil&gas industry, according to Eve Sprunt, current president of theSociety of Petroleum ...
Does city understand e&p game?
Oct 02, 2006 ... Quite a time has passed since I last paid close attention to UKexploration & production company Dana Petroleum. Its shares were thenabout 300p, since when DNX stock has been as high as 1,356p and istrading around 1,140p as I pen this column. QUITE a time has passed since I last ...
Total success
Oct 02, 2006 ... Total has notched up its fifth oil discovery on the Usan licence,located in Nigeria's deepwater Block OPL222. This latest discoverytested at 5,800 barrels per day on a restricted choke. The ...
- oil&gas -
Oct 02, 2006 ... October October 3-6: SPE 2006 Russian Oil & Gas Technical Conference &Exhibition, Moscow. Organisers: The Society of Petroleum Engineers/Spearhead Exhibition - e-mail russianoilgas@spearhead.co.uk; URLwww.russianoilgas.com October 3-6: 14th Kazakhstan International Oil & Gas ...
French and us groups combine in seismic event
Oct 02, 2006 ... French seismic survey group Compagnie Generale de Geophysique(CGG) is taking over US rival Veritas in a part-cash, part-stocktransaction valued at 3.1billion. The process should be completedaround the end of the year. The combined group will employ 7,000 worldwide and trade under ...
Hat-trick for leader class
Oct 02, 2006 ... Transocean is to build another Enterprise-class drillship, thistime on the back of a long-term contract from Chevron, the secondsuch commitment from the super-major and the third contract of itskind this year. The enhanced Enterprise-class drillship, like the Discoverer ...
Cnpc teams up with pdvsa
Oct 02, 2006 ... China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) appears to havesecured agreements with state operator PDVSA to participate in thedevelopment of not fewer than 19 oilfields in Venezuela at a cost ofabout 5billion. Venezuela's minister of energy and CEO of Petroleos de ...
Europa harbours aquitaine ambition
Oct 02, 2006 ... It Seems that Europa Oil & Gas will secure the Aquitaine Basinpermit it is seeking, thanks to no competitive bids being tabledwithin the 90-day period set by the French authorities. The exclusive award of this onshore exploration licence to Europais now subject to Paris approval ...
Ioc's spending more on buy-backs than the hunt
Oct 02, 2006 ... Set against a stagnating reserves base, Martin Lovegrove, CEO atHarrison Lovegrove, said: "Our study found that 63billion wasdistributed to shareholders as dividends and another 65billion wasreturned through share buy-backs. "In contrast, during 2005, the industry earmarked only ...
Share fair set fair
Oct 02, 2006 ... Pilot Share Fair 8 looks set to be among the best ever, with 16operators and main contractors signed up to present their 18-monthforward plans for North Sea projects. Acergy, Amec, BG Group, BP, Chevron, ConocoPhillips, Halliburton,Maersk Oil North Sea UK Ltd, Marathon Oil UK Ltd, ...
Caithness are ready for Falkirk
Oct 02, 2006 ... Caithness set out their stall for the match against titlefavourites Falkirk this weekend with a nine-try crushing of haplessDuns. The Thurso club's coach Colin Sangster was pleased with the side'sperformance. He said: "We played pretty well. I was particularlypleased with two ...
Great to see team's efforts rewarded with win Caley Thistle Supporters' Trust vice-chairman david sutherland gives his views on Saturday's match
Oct 02, 2006 ... Caley Thistle Supporters' Trust vice-chairman david sutherlandgives his views on Saturday's match Caley Thistle's victory against Dunfermline on Saturday may havecome late but it was welcome nonetheless. For the most part this was a scrappy game with neither teamlooking ...
Loons maddened by a crazy situation
Oct 02, 2006 ... Forfar manager George Shaw blamed the SFL for turning down aLoons appeal to have this match postponed due to illness and injuryhitting the Station Park squad. The frustrated Loons finished with nine men as Gribben and Rattrayboth saw red. Shaw said: "I'm not making ...
This wylde bunch no longer football's whipping boys
Oct 02, 2006 ... East Stirling 2 Queen's Park 1 TEN points from the first quarter of the season is the best Shirehave managed in years. It is two more than they collected in the whole of the 2002-03season and boss Gordon Wylde believes it is the basis from which tomove on after four ...
Caley Jags need touch of luck to tame Pars
Oct 02, 2006 ... If Fortune favours the brave, then Caley Thistle must feel as ifthey won the lottery on Saturday. For 90 minutes it looked as if Inverness were still missing thatvital spark at home and on course for their third goal-less draw ofthe season. There was plenty of effort on ...
We got the break our work deserved
Oct 02, 2006 ... The game epitomised how teams are approaching matches atCaledonian Stadium now. With 25 minutes remaining Dunfermline committed no midfieldersforward and they made it very difficult. We dictated the second halfwhich I was pleased with, but we did not get enough shots on goal ...
Wilson: Pars won't climb table if we play more games like that
Oct 02, 2006; ... Dunfermline defender Scott Wilson admitted his side only haditself to blame for its defeat at Caledonian Stadium. The Pars have taken just three points from a possible 27 againstCaley Thistle and, while Ross Tokely left it late to score theInverness winner, Wilson conceded his ...
Stirling side on a run to a title challenge
Oct 02, 2006 ... Cowdenbeath 2 Stirling Albion 2 STIRLING stretched their impressive unbeaten run to eight matchesto complete the first quarter of the season in second place in theSecond Division. All four goals came in the first 24 minutes. Stirling defender and assistant ...
Artist unveils global work
Oct 02, 2006 ... An Artist has unveiled a string of scenic landscape paintingsfeaturing views from around the globe. Chris Bushe visited Crieff on Saturday to launch his exhibition,entitled Recent Paintings, at the Strathearn Gallery. His work includes oil paintings inspired by the skies, hills ...
Events
Oct 02, 2006 ... Dunbar Street Community Hall, Old Aberdeen. Taoist Tai Chi forbeginners. Phone 07929 332036 or visit www.taoisttaichi.org.uk forfurther details, 7-9pm, tonight. Florians' Little Theatre, Bught Park, Inverness. Wee Storiespresent Is this A Dagger? - The Story of Macbeth, 1.30pm ...
Contract wins mean big business for capcis
Oct 02, 2006 ... Corrosion engineering expert Capcis is gearing up for rapid growthin Aberdeen on the back of recent contract wins in the North Sea oiland gas sector. The Manchester-based company, which specialises in findingsolutions for managing and controlling asset integrity, hasexperienced ...
Dip in optimism for small firms
Oct 02, 2006 ... There has been a drop in the number of owners of small firms inBritain who believe their companies will continue to grow over thenext 12 months. The latest quarterly small business economicconfidence survey from Bank of Scotland Business Banking revealedmore than four-fifths of UK ...
Sainsbury's team is dedicated to getting Scots produce on shelves
Oct 02, 2006 ... North-east food and drink companies can this week learn how toget their products on to the shelves of leading supermarkets. Sainsbury's has announced plans to source 1,000 new lines fromScotland this year and the supermarket wants to work with suppliersto achieve that ...
Rgb plans acquisitions as it reveals pounds8m profits
Oct 02, 2006; ... Aberdeen group RBG (Holdings) yesterday said it was planning moreacquisitions as it seeks to grow the business. This came as the services provider to the international oil, gasand petrochemicals industries revealed it had made pre-tax profits ofpounds8million in its first full year ...
Portlethen energy outfit on course for turnover of pounds90m
Oct 02, 2006; ... North-east oil and gas services company PSL Energy Servicesrevealed yesterday that pre-tax profits more than doubled last yearto pounds5.3million. The Portlethen company's latest accounts also show turnoverincreased by 85% to pounds74million. PSL said the accounts showed it ...
Dingwall it company wins frontier deal
Oct 02, 2006 ... Highland company Alchemy Plus has been awarded an informationtechnology services contract by Frontier Science (Scotland) believedto be worth a six-figure sum. Alchemy said it is making significant progress in its aim ofpositioning itself as one of Scotland's leading providers of ...
Support may see runway extension plan take off
Oct 02, 2006; ... A Proposed extension to the main runway at Aberdeen Airport camecloser to fruition last night as Aberdeenshire Council voiced itssupport for the project. In a letter to go before the council's Garioch area committeetomorrow, the council's Alison McInnes said the 984ft extension ...
Corrie trio come up trumps for cancer care fundraiser
Oct 02, 2006; ... A Trio of Coronation Street celebrities joined forces and crowneda north-east cancer charity's weekend fundraising efforts in Doricstyle. Young soap stars Sam Aston, alias Chesney Battersby-Brown, andHelen Flanagan, who plays Rosie Webster, were scheduled to join in amorning ...
Children find out about renewable energy
Oct 02, 2006; ... North-east youngsters have been given a three-dimensional tour ofwhat the Aberdeen coast will look like should a proposed windfarmreceive the go-ahead. Satrosphere Science Centre in Aberdeen staged a special event atthe weekend which allowed youngsters to get hands-on with science ...
Inverness book festival likely to be a page-turner
Oct 02, 2006; ... The number of tickets sold in advance of the start of InvernessBook Festival has exceeded last year's total, organisers revealedyesterday. The four-day cultural event takes place at the Royal HighlandHotel and will feature appearances by 14 top authors. The festival starts ...
Scenic castle sheds concrete coat in facelift
Oct 02, 2006; ... One of Aberdeenshire's most scenic castles has taken a step backin time, with traditional skills and materials used to recapture itsoriginal look. A four-year conservation project has been completed at CorgarffCastle, dramatically set on a bleak hillside guarding the Lecht ...