Natural gas exploration and production company BG Group has appointed Andrew Gould as chairman. Mr Gould succeeded Sir Robert Wilson with effect from 16 May 2012. The Berkshire-based company recorded turnover of £10.3bn in 2010 and had 6,079 employees.

Belfast headquartered Phoenix Supply, the largest natural gas supplier in Northern Ireland, is to be purchased by energy giant SSE Plc for 19.1m. The company, which has 130,000 customers, is being acquired from its private equity owner Terra Firma. SSE has agreed a deal through its wholly-owned subsidiary Airtricity Energy Supply (Northern Ireland) to buy the entire issued share capital in Phoenix Supply and to purchase Phoenix Energy, which supplies gas in the Republics deregulated commercial supply market. Peter Dixon is Group Chief Executive of Phoenix Energy.

Oil and gas exploration and production company Forum Energy recorded 2012 first quarter revenues of 0.2m dollars, an 86% decline from the 2011 first quarter. The fall was due to temporary suspension of production at the Galoc oil field during an upgrade, and production has now returned to normal.

Centrica Energy is planning to build a new green power station at Scawby Brook, North Lincolnshire as part of its ongoing expansion. The development would create up to 50 full-time jobs as well as 500 during the building phase. The proposed site is next to an existing Centrica gas-fired power station.