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Despite strong support from the State, California’s offshore wind sector faces major challenges:
- Deepwater technology: California offshore wind development is totally dependent on expensive and still unproven floating turbine technology. Norway, once a world leader in floating wind, has lost enthusiasm and is now requiring floating projects to be ‘quality-assured.’
- Infrastructure: Major port upgrades, new transmission lines to bring power ashore, and specialized vessels are required. The supply chain is immature.
- Costs: High capital costs plus storage costs (e.g. batteries) for reliability.
- Environmental and stakeholder issues: Opposition to industrializing the coast.
- Worldwide struggles for the wind industry.
Two of the three Central Coast wind lessees (diagram below) have agreed to lease buyback deals. A lease cancellation letter is attached. The State is challenging the buyback agreements, and is thus in the difficult position of opposing deals that the wind developers voluntarily agreed to and believe are in their best interest. Does the State lose regardless of the outcome of their challenge?
The third Central Coast lessee, Equinor, is curtailing wind investments and has no plans to pursue new offshore wind projects in the US. A buyback deal with Equinor would be complicated by the company’s Empire Wind commitments, and is probably unnecessary given that Equinor has taken itself out of the game.
The two Northern California leases are still active, but the focus has been on regional planning. Funding for necessary infrastructure projects is uncertain and any wind lease development is far in the future.
Posted in California, energy policy, Offshore Wind | Tagged California, challenges, Equinor, floating turbines, infrastructure, Invenergy, lease buybacks, Offshore Wind | Leave a Comment »
The National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), as passed by the House this week, includes an amendment (attached) authorizing the Federal govt to acquire all lands along the Santa Ynez Pipeline System route. Wesley Hunt (TX), who introduced the amendment, comments in the short video below. The Senate has yet to approve the bill.
Assuming Sable’s attorneys are able to continue navigating through the legal minefield, the success of the project will depend on the performance of Sable’s well operations and production teams, and the extent to which they have the authority and confidence to curtail operations when deemed necessary to protect workers and the environment. In that regard, MMA engineers and inspectors have an important role in identifying risks and assuring that they are mitigated.
Excerpt from the amendment:
SEC. 28ll. ACQUISITION OF EASEMENTS FOR DEFENSE FUEL SUPPLY INFRASTRUCTURE.
(a) AUTHORITY TO ACQUIRE.—The Secretary of Defense is authorized to acquire, by purchase, donation, exchange, or condemnation, on behalf of the United States, such permanent easements over all lands along the route of the Santa Ynez Pipeline System, including all lands owned or otherwise held by the State of California or any agency, department, or instrumentality thereof, as the Secretary of Defense determines necessary to ensure continuous pipeline transportation of crude oil from the Santa Ynez Unit to domestic refineries supplying Department of Defense installations in the State of California
Posted in California, energy policy, Offshore Energy - General, Regulation | Tagged amendment, NDAA, pipeline, Sable Offshore, Santa Ynez Unit, Wesley Hunt | Leave a Comment »
MMA and NRC signed an MOU (attached) to strengthen cooperation on potential nuclear projects on the OCS. Nuclear power has been on the alternate use list (Rigs-to-Reefs+++) from the outset, so this is pretty exciting. Challenges and opportunities!
“Submerged reactor systems have been safely deployed in naval applications for decades, demonstrating their potential as a reliable source of energy in demanding marine environments. While no commercial deployment on the Outer Continental Shelf is planned or approved at this time, it could greatly strengthen America’s energy security in the future,” said MMA Acting Director Matt Giacona. “With nearly 3.2 billion acres of the Outer Continental Shelf under federal jurisdiction, this MOU is an important step toward building the technical expertise, regulatory clarity, and interagency coordination needed to assess whether and how this technology could be responsibly implemented in the years ahead.”
Posted in energy policy, Offshore Energy - General, rigs-to-reefs, Uncategorized | Tagged MMS, MOU, NRC, Offshore nuclear plants, Rigs-to-Reactors | Leave a Comment »
On February 12, 2024, the bankruptcy court approved the sale of certain Cox Operating assets to Natural Resources Worldwide LLC (NRW), a company that had no prior offshore experience. NRW contracted with Array Petroleum to operate 154 Cox legacy platforms (per MMA data). NRW is listed as the operator of just one platform.
The bankruptcy court had previously approved the sale of Cox assets in 6 Gulf of America fields to W&T Offshore.
As noted in previous posts, the Cox legacy of non-compliance has continued under new ownership. In 2026 YTD, Array Petroleum accounted for 52% of Gulf of America Incidents of Non-Compliance (INCs) while operating only 12% of the platforms, and producing only 0.06% of the oil and 0.17% of the gas (2025 production data). Their 2026 YTD INCs/inspection ratio is 7.55 times the Gulf average and 14.6 times the Gulf average if Array inspections are excluded.
The only platform operated directly by NRW was cited for 3 INCs on 2 inspections.
Per MMA data, W&T operates 117 platforms in the Gulf. The number of platforms that were included in the acquisition of the 6 Cox fields is unknown. W&T’s INC/inspection ratio in 2023, the year before the Cox acquisition, was 0.72 (80/111), which was better than their 2026 performance (0.94), but worse than the Gulf-wide 2023 average of 0.57. So W&T’s compliance relative to other Gulf operators was about the same before and after the acquisition.
According to the borehole file, neither Array, NRW, nor W&T conducted any drilling operations in 2026 YTD.
Kudos to the MMA inspectors for their diligence in identifying INCs and issuing citations. The 2026 YTD data table is below.
| W | CSI | FSI | total INCs | facility insp | INCs/isp | |
| Array | 403 | 115 | 4 | 522 | 88 | 5.93 |
| NRW | 1 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 1.50 |
| W&T | 38 | 46 | 4 | 88 | 94 | 0.94 |
| GoA total | 653 | 296 | 56 | 1005 | 1280 | 0.785 |
Posted in Gulf of Mexico, Offshore Energy - General, Regulation | Tagged Array Petroleum, bankruptcy, compliance, Cox Operating, INCs, inspections, Natural Resources Worldwide, violations, W&T offshore | Leave a Comment »
Quotes and graphics from S&P Global:
“Profound growth of LNG is exceeding all expectations,” said Daniel Yergin. “Economic gains in terms of jobs, GDP and labor income are on track to surpass all prior expectations, while the abundance of U.S. gas means that domestic prices remain among the lowest in the world.”
“More than 45 years of identified commercial gas resource in the United States at today’s production levels and the world’s most interconnected pipeline network are what enable both exports and low domestic prices,” said Eric Eyberg, Vice President, Gas and LNG, S&P Global Energy. “Since 2010, domestic prices have trended downward even as demand for U.S. gas has grown 70 percent. The recent Iran conflict has proven the U.S. domestic gas market resilient to external shocks relative to global gas and other commodities. U.S. Henry Hub gas prices declined during the conflict.”
More than 50 years ago as a graduate student, I wrote a paper entitled “The Use of Natural Gas in Improving Air Quality.” My professor, Dr. Richard Gordon, a brilliant economist who greatly influenced my thinking about energy, liked the paper (grade of 93), but thought I was too optimistic about the availability of natural gas (the title page and his comment are captured below). The sense at the time was that natural gas was a premium energy source in short supply, but technical innovation unlocked massive shale gas resources and justified my optimism.
BOE has been celebrating the natural gas revolution since the blog began in 2010. Methane (CH4) is essentially a hydrogen transporter that emits far less CO2 than other fossil fuels when burned. Natural gas’s other important air quality advantages – low NOx, SO2, and particulate emissions – have far greater significance from a human health standpoint. (Many in the US and Canada learned a lot about particulates last weekend!)
The environmental case for offshore natural gas is particularly strong. However, Gulf of America gas production has struggled to compete with the onshore shale sector. Total Gulf production fell to 757 bcf in 2025. 91% of that gas production was from oil wells, primarily high rate deepwater wells.
Sobering resource conservation and emissions fact: The top two 2025 flarers, Russia and Iran, each flared 300 bcf more than the entire 2025 gas production in the Gulf of America. On top of that, keep in mind that the World Bank flaring estimates are probably low.
Posted in natural gas, flaring and venting | Tagged natural gas, shale gas, LNG, Russia, flaring, Iran, US production, air quality | Leave a Comment »
See attached. This is a well written directive. Kudos to the authors.
Retaining the revenue management functions in ONRR is prudent.
There has been no specific announcement regarding the MMA Director, but a quote in the American Samoa lease sale announcement cites Matt Giacona, Acting MMA Director. Congrats to him.
Posted in energy policy, Offshore Energy - General, Regulation | Tagged BOEM, BSEE, Marine Minerals Administration, Matt Giacona, MMS, ONRR, SECRETARIAL Order 3451 | 1 Comment »
The cessation of production at Platform Holly 10 years ago has contributed to the periodic surges in natural seepage that soil Santa Barbara area beaches (see the Instagram post above).
The correlation between production at Platform Holly, which lies just offshore from the Univ. of California at Santa Barbara (UCSB), and seepage in the Coal Oil Point area (map below) was apparent to those who worked at Holly. That association was confirmed by UCSB studies:
“Emeritus Professor James Boles collected and analyzed decades of data on methane seeping from the seafloor southeast of Platform Holly, just offshore from Isla Vista. He and colleagues Grant Garven at Tufts University and Chris Peltonen at Beacon West Energy Group determined that production of oil and natural gas from the platform reduced natural methane seepage into the waters of the Santa Barbara Channel, confirming earlier regional studies. The findings appear in the journal Marine and Petroleum Geology.“
This blog called Platform Holly a “net negative hydrocarbon polluter,“ because production from Holly reduced natural seepage and methane pollution from shallow formations beneath the Channel. Steel subsea pyramids (“tents”) installed by Arco in 1982 collected seafloor methane seepage, an added environmental benefit from the platform operations. As described in a 2014 presentation posted by the California State Lands Commission,“production at Platform Holly has resulted in significant improvement in local air quality.”
Further per UCSB:
After combing through 20 years of data, the authors found that production at Platform Holly significantly reduced the amount of methane seeping into the tents. For example, production from a well drilled 1 kilometer beneath the tents immediately reduced the natural seepage. In contrast, the seepage increased when production ceased from that well. “This indicates a direct link between the oil reservoir and the natural seepage in the area,” Boles noted.
Production at Holly ceased 10 years ago; the tents have been removed and the platform is being decommissioned. However, methane bubbles in the Channel and periodic beach tar will continue to remind us of Holly’s positive environmental legacy.
Posted in California, Offshore Energy - General, seeps | Tagged beach tar, Coal Oil Point, methane emissions, natural seeps, negative polluter, Platform Holly, Santa Barbara Channel, subsea tents, UCSB | Leave a Comment »
The Proposed Notice is attached:
- Two large lease areas (map above)
- 20 year primary term
- Minimum Bonus Bid Amount: $3,000,000 for each lease area
- Oral auction bidding to be livestreamed at https://www.boem.gov.
Royalty rates
- 2% on all mineral production during the first five years of production
- 5% on production in years 6+
Rental and Minimum Royalty rates:
Note the names of the Protraction Diagrams on p. 3 of the Notice! Who could resist operating in Flowery Flounder or Dusky Frillgoby! 😉
Posted in deep sea mining, energy policy | Tagged American Samoa, Flowery Flounder, lease sale, marine minerals, MMA, royalty, sale terms | Leave a Comment »
Sable Offshore and Exxon had alleged that Santa Barbara County’s refusal to transfer title and permits for Santa Ynez Unit facilities from Exxon to Sable amounted to an unconstitutional taking of their property rights. Judge Gee disagreed.
As colorfully put by Nick Welsh at the Santa Barbara Independent, Judge Gee told Sable and Exxon to “go pound sand” (not literally, but the judicial equivalent). The judge refused to even allow Sable to amend their filing. The judge will however allow Exxon to file an amended complaint, given that the company still has vested rights to the facilities and is still on the hook for the decommissioning costs.
As always with these Santa Ynez Unit matters, there is much more to come!
Posted in California, energy policy, Offshore Energy - General, pipelines | Tagged permits, Exxon, Sable Offshore, Santa Ynez Unit, Santa Barbara County, Judge Dolly Gee, ownership transfer | Leave a Comment »
The World Bank (WB) Global Gas Flaring Tracker is the only worldwide flaring data source. Offshore and onshore data are segmented, so offshore flaring can be considered separately for each country.
The WB estimates that 21600.03 million cu m (762.5 bcf) of gas were flared at offshore locations worldwide in 2025. This is an increase from 2024 when the total offshore flaring volume was 21159.91 million cu m.
The flaring totals for prominent offshore producers are entered in the table below. Also included are the largest offshore flares for each country.
Unsurprisingly, Norway led the pack in minimizing offshore flaring. Their total of 36.11 million cu m (1.3 bcf) is very impressive for such a large producer. The US offshore total of 160.95 cu m (5.7 bcf) is also quite respectable relative to production.
At the other end of the scale are Iran – 3329 million cu m (118 bcf), Nigeria – 2566 (91 bcf), Angola – 2300 (81 bcf), and Mexico 2068 (73 bcf). These 4 countries accounted for nearly half of all 2025 offshore flaring. They were also massive offshore flarers in 2024: Iran – 3753 million cu m, Nigeria – 2867, Angola – 2040, and Mexico – 2223.
If both onshore and offshore flaring are considered, Iran flared 29931 million cu m in 2025. That equates to 1.057 trillion cu ft!
| 2025 WB flaring total million cu meters | largest flare | largest flare volume | |
| Angola | 2300.26 | Lombo East | 862.02 |
| Australia | 268.36 | Santos | 61.89 |
| Brazil | 969.16 | Albacora Leste | 118.93 |
| Canada | 145.12 | Terra Nova | 95.83 |
| China | 535.56 | Weizhou 12-1 | 68.26 |
| Congo, Rep. | 788.98 | Kitina | 384.12 |
| Gabon | 368.91 | Tchatamba Marin | 37.46 |
| Ghana | 351.81 | Sankofa East | 184.97 |
| Guyana | 227.38 | Yellowtail | 164.06 |
| Indonesia | 292.16 | Belida | 30.84 |
| Iran | 3329.19 | Foroozan | 1360.09 |
| Libya | 313.78 | Bouri | 74.07 |
| Malaysia | 1459.32 | Kasawari | 205.8 |
| Mexico | 2067.62 | Akal | 386.44 |
| Nigeria | 2565.88 | Oso | 308.37 |
| Norway | 36.11 | Balder | 6.38 |
| Qatar | 688.19 | Ras Laffan LNG | 54.65 |
| Russia | 227.27 | Yuri Korchagin | 82.07 |
| Trinidad | 87.66 | Atlantic LNG | 53.23 |
| UK | 234.08 | Penguins | 22.94 |
| US | 160.95 | NA* | 22.77 |
The WB tracker identifies the Gulf of America facilities with the highest flaring volumes. The 2025 list is pasted below. Repeat top ten Gulf flarers from 2024 were Vito (14.55 million cu m in 2024), Pompano (11.68), and Lucius (5.72).
Per the WB tracker, the Terra Nova FPSO, offshore Newfoundland, was the top North American offshore flarer by a considerable margin (data for Canada below). Terra Nova was also the top flarer in 2024 (95.56 million cu m).
The location of the only flare identified offshore California corresponds with that of the Dos Cuadras field in the Santa Barbara Channel. The estimated 2025 flaring volume was 0.10 million cu m.
The WB flaring tracker is an excellent data source, but doesn’t capture vented gas and likely understates the total volume flared. The WB estimated that 160.95 million cu m (5.68 bcf) were flared at US offshore facilities in 2025. This compares with the 9.7 bcf (flaring and venting) and 8.0 bcf (flaring only) totals derived from ONRR data (chart below). The flaring difference is not surprising given that the WB numbers are dependent on satellite imagery and the ONRR data are from mandated/audited production reports. A previous comparison also showed that the WB flaring estimates are significantly lower than the ONRR numbers. From a regulatory oversight perspective, this is rather reassuring given that the reverse (WB>ONRR) would imply serious reporting issues.
Posted in Offshore Energy - General, Norway, Regulation, flaring and venting | Tagged Angola, Dos Cuadras field, flaring, Gulf of America, Iran, Mexico, Newfoundland, Nigeria, Norway, Terra Nova, World Bank | Leave a Comment »
Bud's Offshore Energy (BOE) 