Comet collides with the sun. Check out the stunning NASA video.
Archive for May, 2011
Way, Way Offshore
Posted in Uncategorized on May 14, 2011| Leave a Comment »
Cuba discusses regulatory program at IADC Environment Conference
Posted in conferences, cuba, tagged Bahamas, cuba, drilling, offshore oil, Regulation, safety on May 13, 2011| Leave a Comment »
“For us, the major goal is to prevent these major accidents from happening,” said Fidel Ilizastigui Perez, an official of Cuba’s Office for Environment and Nuclear Safety Regulation.
“The companies must show that they meet all international standards,” he told the conference in Port of Spain.
Perez said Cuban officials had studied and already implemented oil industry safety practices from Britain and incorporated others from the United States.
Mr. Perez participated in the 2005 International Regulators’ Offshore Safety Conference in London and made a very favorable impression.
Dan Whittle, a senior attorney at the U.S.-based Environmental Defense Fund, said the Cuban government appeared to be taking the safety issue seriously because of the potential economic benefit of the project.
“Cuba has a lot at stake,” he said. “They’re doing the best they can with limited resources and with obstacles to access those resources.”
“I think we’re seeing the beginning of a more international dialogue on what the Cubans are planning,” he added.
Sensible comments from the EDF.
Also, Cuba and the Bahamas have agreed on a maritime boundary.
Update: 2011 Atlantic hurricane season forecast
Posted in Offshore Energy - General, tagged 2011, forecasts, hurricanes on May 13, 2011| Leave a Comment »
Earth Networks: 13 to 14 named storms, with 7 to 8 becoming hurricanes and 4 becoming major hurricanes.
Colorado State University: 16 named storms, with 9 becoming hurricanes and 5 becoming major hurricanes.
Probabilities per Colorado State:
— A 72 percent chance that at least one major hurricane will make landfall on the U.S. coastline in 2011.
— A 48 percent chance that a major hurricane will make landfall on the U.S. East Coast, including the Florida peninsula.
— A 47 percent chance that a major hurricane will make landfall on the Gulf Coast from the Florida Panhandle west to Brownsville, Texas.
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration: expected to issue its forecast May 19
Gullfaks B report (English) now posted
Posted in accidents, Norway, tagged accidents, gas release, Gulfaks B, lifting incident, Njord A, Norway, offshore oil, PSA on May 12, 2011| Leave a Comment »
PSA has posted the Gullfaks B gas release report in English. Also posted is the report on a lifting incident at Njord A. The reports are comprehensive and timely.
The gas leak occurred during leak testing after maintenance work on a production well. The gas derived from a volume trapped between the downhole safety valve and the Xmas tree. It proved impossible to operate the emergency shutdown valves on the well. The leak lasted about an hour, with an initial rate of 1.3 kilograms of gas per second. The volume of gas released is estimated at about 800 kilograms.
No people were injured in the incident, but the leak created a serious position on the installation.
Gas Cloud - Gullfaks B
Posted in Uncategorized on May 12, 2011| Leave a Comment »
So, this morning I received an email message (pasted below) from Amazon.com. Observations:
- The internet marketers know all about us (no surprise there).
- Rightly or wrongly, book publishers are quick to respond to crises. Maybe we should ask them to prepare reports on the accidents for which no official reports have been published.
- Seems kind of strange to see the National Commission report being hawked by internet vendors. What’s up with the $.07 discount?
- Who is going to write about Montara? Lots of interesting story lines there, some of which have received very little attention.
| elmer danenberger,Are you looking for something in our History Books department?If so, you might be interested in these items. |
|
||||||||
|
|
||||||||
|
||||||||
|
|
||||||||
|
||||||||
|
|
||||||||
|
Oil industry CEOs now testifying before Senate Finance Committee
Posted in Uncategorized on May 12, 2011| Leave a Comment »
House votes to impose permitting deadlines
Posted in Offshore Energy - General, Regulation, tagged drilling, Gulf of Mexico, House of Representatives, offshore oil, safety on May 12, 2011| Leave a Comment »
The U.S. House of Representatives has voted to impose deadlines on the Obama administration to issue offshore drilling permits, as Republicans renew calls for greater amounts of domestic oil production amid rising gasoline prices. Dow Jones
Don’t you have to decide how you are going to regulate before setting deadlines? Now that the House has spoken and the bill is likely to die in the Senate, can we engage in a substantive discussion about how to regulate most effectively and efficiently? Congressional hearings?
Kudos to IADC
Posted in conferences, cuba, drilling, tagged conference, cuba, IADC, offshore drilling, safety, Trinidad on May 11, 2011| 1 Comment »
While US politicians continue to gnash their teeth or express outrage, the International Association of Drilling Contractors (IADC) has been busy promoting constructive dialogue about Cuban exploratory drilling. IADC has overcome major administrative obstacles and arranged for the participation of Cuban regulators in the Environmental Conference which begins tomorrow in Trinidad.
“This will pretty much be the first time the Cuban deepwater drilling project managers will make a presentation of what their regulatory requirements are going to be for the companies that drill in Cuban waters,” said Lee Hunt, president of the Houston-based International Association of Drilling Contractors, which is organizing the conference. Reuters
The Cuba session is scheduled for tomorrow afternoon. I look forward to seeing the news reports and posted presentations.
Upstream: Gryphon Alpha FPSO down for a year
Posted in accidents, Offshore Energy - General, UK, tagged FPSO, Gryphon Alpha, Maersk, mooring failures, North Sea, UK on May 11, 2011| Leave a Comment »
A Maersk Oil-owned FPSO which was damaged during heavy storms in the North Sea in February will be out of action for another year as it heads for drydock repairs. Upstream
Compact drillship
Posted in drilling, Offshore Energy - General, tagged COSCO, drillship, Inocean, offshore drilling on May 11, 2011| Leave a Comment »
COSCO and Inocean are partnering to build a more compact and cost-effective deepwater drillship.
INO-80 is a compact dynamically positioned drillship with large free deck areas, designed for year-around operations in ultra deep waters. The vessel has well planned utility arrangement with safe and reliable material handling. The hull is shaped for cost efficient and easy fabrication, as well as for challenging conditions during station keeping and transit. INO-80 features for exploration, appraisal and development drilling.
Bud's Offshore Energy (BOE) 