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Not offshore, but close😉 Fond memories of my stay at NPRA many years ago.
Strong participation; nice mix of big dogs – Exxon, Shell, ConocoPhillips (CPAI), and Repsol – and independents.
Stats – 3/18/2026 NPRA lease sale:
- Tracts offered: 625
- Tracts receiving bids: 187
- Sum of high bids: $ 163,696,722.2
- Highest bid: $ 3,649,920.00 by Epoch Resources
- Companies participating: 11
- Total bids: 430
| Company | High Bids |
| North Slope Exploration | 78 |
| Shell/Repsol (joint bids) | 42 |
| CPAI | 30 |
| Exxon | 24 |
| Epoch | 8 |
| Peritas | 2 |
| Beacon | 1 |
| Oil Search | 1 |
| SE Partners | 1 |
Posted in Alaska, energy | Tagged Alaska, CPAI, Epoch Resources, Exxon, North Slope, NPRA, oil and gas lease sale, Repsol, Shell | Leave a Comment »
Per EIA data, the Appalachia, Permian, and Haynesville regions accounted for 67% of the total marketed gas production in the US in 2025 and 81% of the growth last year.
In 2025, more natural gas was produced in the Appalachia region of the Northeast than in any other US region, accounting for 31% of marketed natural gas production. (See the chart below.) Were it not for pipeline capacity limitations, recent growth in Appalachia production would have been greater.
OCS gas production, 80% of which is now associated gas from deepwater oil wells, continues to lag the shale basins. This is a big change from 25 years ago when the OCS produced more gas than any state but Texas. (See the chart below.) Interest in ultradeep (subsurface) OCS shelf gas prospects remains scant despite favorable demand forecasts and technological advances.
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Meanwhile, New York continues to block development of the State’s ample shale gas resources. foregoing the economic and environmental benefits.
Posted in energy policy, Gulf of Mexico, natural gas, Offshore Energy - General, pipelines | Tagged Appalachia Region, Haynesville, leading natural gas producer, Marcellus Shale, New York, OCS gas, Pennsylvania gas, Permian, Utica shale | Leave a Comment »
Although bidding at Sale BBG2 was rather subdued, Gulf heavyweights BP, Chevron, Shell, and Oxy/Anadarko, along with increasingly important Woodside Energy, competed for the 4 red blocks in the Green Canyon area (map above and table below). These elephant hunters presumably see excellent Paleogene (Wilcox) prospectivity in those blocks.
17 of the sale’s 38 bids (45%) and $32.8 milion of the sale’s $47 million in high bids (70%) were for these 4 blocks. BP’s $21 million bid for GC 404 was by far the sale’s highest bid.
| Green Canyon Block No. | No. of bidders | High Bidder | Bid |
| 404 | 5 | BP | $21,009,990 |
| 405 | 2 | BP | $885,99 |
| 448 | 5 | Chevron | $4,967,067 |
| 492 | 5 | Chevron | $5,887,188 |
At this time, the high costs and technical complexities (e.g. deepwaterand high pressure/high temperature reservoirs) limit Wilcox development to major oil companies and well financed, technically savvy independents. Expect some of the international majors that did not participate in BBG2 to acquire lease interest at a later date, which will again raise questions about the merits of joint bidding restrictions.
Imbedded below is a good presentation on the Paleogene Wilcox by Dr. Mike Sweet, Univ. of Texas:
Posted in energy policy, Gulf of Mexico, Offshore Energy - General | Tagged BBG2, bp, Chevron, Dr. Mike Sweet, Green Canyon, lease sale, Paleogene, Shell, sweet spot, Wilcox, Woodside | Leave a Comment »
Add the unprecedented events of the last two weeks to the long and troubled history of the Santa Ynez Unit dating back to the Offshore Storage & Treatment facility days. There are no parallels in the history of the US OCS program.
To date in March:
3/3/2026: The Dept. of Justice issues an opinion asserting that, under the Defense Production Act of 1950 (DPA), an order issued by the President or his delegee would preempt California laws currently impeding Sable from resuming production and operating the associated pipeline infrastructure.
3/13/2026: Secretary of Energy Chris Wright issues an order to Sable invoking the DPA to immediately prioritize and allocate pipeline transportation services for hydrocarbons from the SYU through the Santa Ynez Pipeline System (SYPS).
3/14/2026: A letter from California Parks and Recreation demands that Sable remove all four miles of its pipeline from Gaviota State Park.
3/14/2026: Sable resumes the transportation of Santa Ynez Unit oil through the SYPS from Las Flores Canyon (LFC) to Pentland Station. Prior to resuming hydrocarbon transportation from LFC to Sable’s sales point at Pentland Station, Sable had approximately 540,000 barrels of processed crude oil in storage at LFC, representing more than the line fill volume for the SYPS between LFC and Pentland Station.
3/16/2026: Sable resumes oil production at anticipated rate of 50,000 bopd and expects first sales by April 1, 2026. Production ramp-up is anticipated to proceed with full production resumption at Platforms Harmony and Heritage this month and Platform Hondo in June 2026
Posted in California, energy policy, Offshore Energy - General, pipelines, Regulation | Tagged Chris Wright, Dept. of Justice, DPA, Gaviota Park, Los Flores Canyon, production resumes, Sable Offshore, Santa Ynez Unit | Leave a Comment »
Per Recharge: The first blade break at the wind farm was probably caused by a manufacturing defect, and the second was damaged during installation. According to regional newspaper Jämtlandstidning, local residents were complaining about not getting sufficient information about the third such incident.
“We don’t know what’s happening because we’re not told anything,” Terese Björk, who witnessed the broken blade on Friday, told the newspaper.
This is reminiscent of the delay in informing the public about the Vineyard Wind GE Vernova failure. The investigation report about that incident has still not been issued nearly two years after the blade failure.
Posted in accidents, Offshore Wind, Wind Energy | Tagged incident details, public not informed, Sweden, turbine blade failure, Vineyard Wind | Leave a Comment »
This follows the directive from Energy Secretary Chris Wright on Friday.
However, quoting Nick Welsh of the Santa Barbara Independent: “With Sable Offshore, one thing’s for certain; there’s always more to come.”
Posted in California, energy policy, Offshore Energy - General, pipelines, Regulation, Uncategorized | Tagged Chris Wright, resumes production, Sable Offshore, Santa Ynez Unit | Leave a Comment »
Vineyard Wind has finished installing turbine blades at their 62 turbine (186 blades) project. Yet the Federal investigation report on the July 2024 blade failure has still not been published. How is this acceptable?
The primary purpose of the independent investigation is to prevent recurrences at this or other projects in the US and worldwide. Available data suggest that blade failures are far too common.
Nearly two years have now elapsed since the Vineyard Wind blade failure. Important questions remain about the failure mechanisms, the manufacturing, testing, and quality control, a fabrication report waiver, the role of the CVA, debris recovery, and environmental impacts. Where is the investigation report?
Posted in accidents, energy policy, Offshore Wind, Regulation | Tagged blade failure, CVA, debris, installation, investigation report, last blade, quality control, Vineyard Wind | Leave a Comment »
(Bloomberg) — The Trump administration on Friday took action to clear the way for oil production off the California coast in a bid to ease the global fuel pressures created by the war with Iran.
The announcement by Energy Secretary Chris Wright follows an executive order signed by President Donald Trump on Friday and directs Sable Offshore Corp., a Houston-based company, to begin restoring operations for the Santa Ynez Unit and Santa Ynez Pipeline System in California.
What about Judge Geck’s injunction and the case before the 9th Circuit? How are they affected by the EO and DOJ opinion?
Perhaps Four World Capital Management wasn’t crazy after all.
Posted in California, energy policy, Offshore Energy - General, pipelines, Regulation | Tagged Chris Wright, Executive Order, Judge Geck, NInth Circuit, restart production, Sable Offshore, Santa Ynez Unit | Leave a Comment »
DOE (3/11/2026): “Earlier today, 32 member nations of the International Energy Agency unanimously agreed to President Trump’s request to lower energy prices with a coordinated release of 400 million barrels of oil and refined products from their respective reserves.
“As part of this effort, President Trump authorized the Department of Energy to release 172 million barrels from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, beginning next week. This will take approximately 120 days to deliver based on planned discharge rates.
This will reduce the SPR to ~ 243 million bbls, 1/3 of capacity and the lowest level since it was initially filled in 2010. Market disturbances and national elections are too frequent to have confidence that the SPR will be refilled, even to the 500 million bbl level.
Meanwhile, the oil markets didn’t seem to be impressed by the announcement.
Posted in energy policy | Tagged 172 million barrel withdrawal, IEA, SPR, Strategic Petroleum Reserve | Leave a Comment »
Only 13 companies participated in the lease sale:
- Chevron .
- Shell
- Walter
- Houston Energy
- LLOG (now owned by Harbour Energy)
- Oxy/Anadarko
- Woodside
- BP
- Red Willow
- Focus Exploration
- Renaissance Offshore
- Navitas Petroleum
- CL&F Offshore
The No-Shows:
US supermajors once active in the Gulf that have become perennial No-Shows:
- Exxon
- ConocoPhillips
International majors with a Gulf presence:
- Equinor
- Eni
- Total
- Petrobras
- Repsol
Typically active independents
- Arena
- Cantium
- Beacon Offshore
- Talos
- Kosmos
- Murphy
Why was the participation so poor?
- Only 3 months between BBG1 and BBG2
- Lease sale certainty reduces urgency
- Concerns about longer term policy changes?
- Mergers reduce participation and competition?
- New ownership, change in priorities?
- More limited geologic prospectivity?
It would be helpful to hear from some of the companies that chose not to participate.
Posted in energy policy, Gulf of Mexico, Offshore Energy - General | Tagged BBG2, low participants, no-shows, OCS lease sale, poor results | Leave a Comment »
Bud's Offshore Energy (BOE) 