Here are the stories making the business headlines this morning.
Dana Petroleum to appoint new chief executive
Dana Petroleum is set to replace chief executive Jongwoo Kim, who will return to the company’s state-backed parent group.
Aberdeen-headquartered Dana filed paperwork with the UK’s corporate registrar Companies House on August 24, in which it reported Mr Kim’s appointment on the company’s board had been terminated.
It is understood he will assume a new role within Dana’s parent group – the Korea National Oil Company (KNOC) – as part of a routine rotation of executives, according to Energy Voice.
Strike action to continue as unions reject pay offer
Unions have confirmed they will continue strike action after turning down a new pay offer from councils.
Unite and the GMB both rejected the Cosla offer while Unison, Scotland's largest council union, said it would put it to members.
The dispute led to action in two-thirds of Scotland's councils and is set to close schools and nurseries next week. Cosla told the BBC it was "disappointed" with the response from unions.
High street firms forced to pay energy suppliers millions upfront
Energy suppliers are demanding millions of pounds upfront from major high street firms as hefty deposits for gas and electricity bills risk triggering a business cash crunch.
A number of energy providers, including SSE and EDF, are asking some firms for huge deposits to cover months of bills amid fears that the crisis will cause swathes of small businesses to collapse.
Businesses are not protected by the energy price cap and are typically on contracts that last a year or more. However, The Telegraph reports that many firms are being refused quotes from suppliers and being told to cough up huge sums of money just as pressure on their finances rises.
Piper Alpha memorial could be granted special status
Opponents of plans to radically redesign the Piper Alpha memorial gardens at Hazlehead Park have applied for the site to be given special status by Scotland's top heritage body.
If granted, the rose beds would appear on the Inventory of Gardens and Designed Landscapes alongside places like Dunrobin Castle and the Royal Botanic Garden in Edinburgh.
And while the designation stops short of the statutory protections given to buildings that are listed, it would mean there would be extra steps before its appearance could be changed, according to Energy Voice.
Anger at slow roll-out of EV charge points across North-east
Only 28 electric vehicle chargers were installed in a Scottish Government scheme across a region stretching from Fraserburgh to Dundee in the past year, new figures have shown.
A total of 395 new public charging points were installed across Scotland between June 2021 to May this year on the country’s national electric vehicle charging network.
Of those, 28 were located in the Scottish Parliament’s North East region, which covers Aberdeenshire, Aberdeen, Angus and Dundee.
Conservative MSP Liam Kerr told The Press & Journal it would take 45 years for the Scottish Government to reach its national target of 30,000 EV chargers by the end of the decade if the “woeful” rollout pace continues.
Nurseries hit by European staff exit
The number of European nationals working in childcare has dropped by almost a third since Brexit, The Times reports today.
Some nurseries said they are struggling to find Scots with the same commitment and work ethic as Europeans, threatening the Scottish government’s commitment to provide 1,140 hours of free childcare.
Ipsos Mori, the polling company, was commissioned to repeat a survey of the European workforce in social care that was carried out in 2018, when there were about 2,300 Europeans employed in Scottish nurseries out of a total workforce of 33,400.
Dundee picked as assembly base for wind farm
The Port of Dundee has been selected as the pre-assembly base for Scotland's largest offshore wind project.
Up to 72 turbines will be installed 15km (9.3 miles) off the Angus coast at the Inch Cape wind farm when it is commissioned later this decade. The 1.1GW project is a joint venture between Red Rock Power Limited and Irish energy utility ESB.
The BBC says turbine blades, towers and nacelles - which house the generators - will be pre-assembled at the port.