Control-room operators, in a mock-up of a real off-shore control room, can be trained to deal with a range of tricky situations including explosions, leaks of poisonous gas and oil-well blow-outs, without the risk of so much as a scratch.

ECONOMIST: Virtual reality

One of the worst environmental accidents so far, at the Union Carbide factory in India where thousands of people were killed by a leak of poisonous gas in 1984, made companies everywhere think again about how to manage crises on such a scale.

ECONOMIST: Idea

The two companies will develop the Bab field, a potentially tricky project because it contains so-called sour gas, a poisonous and foul smelling product.

BBC: Royal Dutch Shell wins huge UAE gas deal