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Archive for February, 2011

Bahamas Petroleum Co. Announcement

Posted in cuba, drilling, offshore, tagged , , , on February 6, 2011| Leave a Comment »

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Bahamas Petroleum, the oil and gas exploration company with licences in The Bahamas, is pleased to announce that the company has completed the acquisition of 1120 km of long-cable (8km) 2D seismic in its southern licences.  The new seismic survey has confirmed the presence of multiple prospects, some of which are 4-way closure in nature and some of which are combination stratigraphic-structural traps.

I’ll defer to the geologists regarding the significance of this announcement, but the results would seem to provide further encouragement for the island nation’s exploratory drilling plans. Will Florida politicians try to bully the Bahamas the way they have been bullying Cuba?

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New job for Tony Hayward?

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , on February 6, 2011| Leave a Comment »

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Tony Hayward, the former BP chief executive who stepped down in the wake of the Deepwater Horizon explosion, is in talks to launch a new global oil company, according to press reports.

Mr Hayward was approached by representatives from Abu Dhabi’s sovereign wealth fund who offered to bankroll him to the tune of several billion dollars to enable him to build a global oil and gas group, according to the Sunday Times.

BTW, are journalists required to use the phrase “in the wake of” in every article about the blowout? It sure seems that way. This short article uses the phrase twice (bonus points?).


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Biology Lab and the Deepwater Horizon BOP

Posted in accidents, well control incidents, tagged , , , , , , , , , , on February 6, 2011| Leave a Comment »

This cartoon reminded BOE sage Odd Finnestad of the Deepwater Horizon BOP “forensics” testing.

While the BOP testing is now in its 4th month with no official updates and no information on the badly neglected investigation website (where items from last August are listed as the “latest news”), there is online video evidence that gives us good clues about what happened.  However, this is partial evidence, and concerned operators, contractors, and regulators need complete information. While we wait, wells are being drilled around the world without the benefit of even preliminary findings.

When a plane crashes, information is released as soon as possible so that future accidents can be prevented.  Why is that not the case with this investigation? The absence of urgency and transparency is most disappointing.

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Deep Water Hysteria

Posted in accidents, tagged , , , , , , on February 6, 2011| 2 Comments »

BOE’s Chery Anderson has alerted us that the Petrobras P-33 platform, which had been shut-in at the direction of the Brazilian regulators, has resumed production. Unfortunately, as has been the case with many post-Macondo articles, the author felt compelled to link the Petrobras problem to deep water.

…the accident once again raised concerns about the safety of deep-water oil output in the wake of last year’s disaster in the U.S Gulf of Mexico.

Contrary to popular opinion, water depth was a relatively minor factor in the Macondo blowout, and had nothing to do with the maintenance issues at the P-33 and other Campos basin facilities. Shallow water was a more significant contributing factor to the Montara blowout (batched completions, mudline suspensions, and two-stage platform installation) than deep water was at Macondo.

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Mooring Line Failures, Evacuation at Gryphon Alpha FPSO

Posted in accidents, UK, tagged , , , , on February 5, 2011| 3 Comments »

Gryphon Alpha FPSO

A BBC report (forwarded by Cheryl Anderson) indicates that 70+ workers were safely evacuated from the Gryphon Alpha Floating Production Storage and Offloading facility in the UK sector of the North Sea. Four of the FPSO’s ten mooring lines failed in 30-foot seas and high winds which allowed the vessel to roll up to 12 degrees.  40 essential personnel remained aboard the facility.

While mooring system failures have been relatively common during hurricanes and other major storms (in the Gulf of Mexico, this problem was addressed through comprehensive MMS-industry programs after the 2005 hurricane season), such failures are much less common at floating production facilities. We await the findings of the UK’s inquiry.

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Mitsui gets a bill

Posted in accidents, well control incidents, tagged , , , , , , , , , on February 5, 2011| 7 Comments »

From Platts Oilgram News (3 February 2011):

Mitsui affiliate MOEX Offshore has received invoices from BP seeking $2.64 billion in reimbursement related to the Macondo oil spill in the US Gulf of Mexico, Mitsui said February 2.

A wise attorney (not an oxymoron :)) recently mentioned that you had to be very careful about ventures that you are buying into (as a partner) or selling into (as a contractor or manufacturer). If something horrible happens, your company’s economic future could be jeopardized, even if your role was rather small.

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PTTEP gets the green light for Montara development

Posted in accidents, well control incidents, tagged , , , , , , , , on February 4, 2011| Leave a Comment »

Australian Department of Resources, Energy, and Tourism

The Independent Review concluded that the Montara Action Plan effectively responds to the issues identified by the Montara Commission of Inquiry and sets PTTEP Australasia on the path to achieving industry best practice standards for both good oil field practice and good governance.

Comments:

  1. Perhaps the results of the “Independent Review” should have been released before PTTEP announced that it was moving ahead with development of the Montara field.
  2. Macondo was a model operation compared to Montara which was suspended for months with only a flawed casing shoe and a corrosion cap as barriers. When well activities resumed after the suspension, and the corrosion cap was removed, they could have tied back the 13 3/8″ casing and installed the BOP stack, but instead moved to another well so they could optimize efficiency. When the well began to flow, there was no means of even attempting to shut it in or install a surface cap.
  3. PTTEP has not been fined or penalized in any way by the Australian government. I wonder how Commissioner Borthwick and the folks who participated in the Montara Inquiry, which did an admirable job and was very critical of PTTEP, feel about that.

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New York Times on NEPA

Posted in accidents, Regulation, tagged , , , , , , , , , , on February 4, 2011| Leave a Comment »

The future pace of drilling approvals in the Gulf of Mexico might be slowed less by new laws or regulations stemming from last year’s massive spill but by a decades-old law that opens the door to longer environmental reviews and litigation. New York Times

We know the NEPA process is slow and repetitive, but how much value is added? NEPA reviews don’t improve well integrity, BOP performance, or safety management programs; nor do they even address these fundamental safety and pollution prevention considerations, at least not in a substantive way.  Why not publish a single, comprehensive online environmental review for drilling and production operations in the region?  The review would cover all possible impacts for every type of operation. This detailed “living document” would be continuously updated as new environmental information is acquired, technology advances, and regulations and standards are updated.  The public could comment on specific operations as they are proposed, and could otherwise comment on the document at any time. Periodic public meetings could be held as necessary and desirable.

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Scientific Drilling Controversy in Anarctica

Posted in drilling, Uncategorized, tagged , , , on February 4, 2011| Leave a Comment »

From NPR:

Russian scientists are on the verge of punching a hole into a vast Antarctic lake that’s buried under more than two miles of ice. If the Russians break through, they may tap into and disturb a primitive and pristine ecosystem has been untouched for millions of years.

One major concern is the Russians have filled the hole they’re drilling with more than 14,000 gallons of kerosene and Freon to prevent it from freezing shut. The Russians have engineered their system so that when they break through into the lake, water pressure from below is supposed to push the drilling fluids up the hole, rather than letting them pour into the lake and contaminate it.

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PSA gives consent to BP’s Use of Valhall PH living quarters

Posted in Norway, tagged , on February 4, 2011| Leave a Comment »

Valhall Field with new PH facility (from psa.no)

The Petroleum Safety Authority Norway has consented to BP Norge’s use of the new Valhall PH platform as a living quarters facility.

BP will use the living quarters module on Valhall PH until the entire facility is ready for start-up/use. This will provide greater bed capacity and flexibility during the preparations for start-up.

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