Posted in energy policy, Gulf of Mexico, Offshore Energy - General, tagged API, BOEM, Chevron, injunction, Lease Sale 261, Louisiana, Rice's whale on August 31, 2023| Leave a Comment »
The court filing is attached. See the previous post on this matter.
This Court should grant Plaintiffs—the State of Louisiana, the American Petroleum Institute (“API”), and Chevron U.S.A. Inc. (“Chevron”)—a preliminary injunction and prevent those unlawful provisions from permanently disrupting the result of the fast-approaching lease sale (which Congress has directed must occur by September 30, and which cannot be delayed without causing Plaintiffs even more serious injury).
Posted in energy, Uncategorized, tagged $300 per barrel, Forbes, oil price forecast on August 31, 2023| Leave a Comment »
Forbes article: “Oil Is Going To $300 A Barrel”
The title grabs your attention, but the justification isn’t terribly compelling. The author simply adjusts the brief 2008 price spike ($200/barrel) for inflation to justify his forecast.
Per the author:
The thing about commodities like oil is that while they can be acutely volatile because of supply and demand and political events, long term their price is a function of the technology needed to create them and the state of inflation in the denominating economy.
Posted in Gulf of Mexico, Offshore Wind, tagged Gulf of Mexico, interest rates, Orsted, supply chain, tax credits, wind leases on August 30, 2023| Leave a Comment »
Yesterday was not a good day for US offshore wind. Not only was the Gulf of Mexico wind lease sale disappointing, but Orsted announced US impairments of $2.3 billion causing their share price to fall to the lowest level in more than 4 years.
Unsurprisingly, Orsted management assumes no responsibility for the company’s poor performance, blaming supply chain problems, high interest rates and “a lack of new tax credits.” Outsiders might suggest that there were other factors such as irrational exuberance in the acquisition of wind leases at inflated prices, and unrealistic expectations regarding a complementary power source that is dependent on government mandates and subsidies.
“The situation in U.S. offshore wind is severe,” Chief Executive Mads Nipper told reporters on a conference call.
Reuters
Posted in Gulf of Mexico, hurricanes, tagged Blind Faith, Chevron, Gulf of Mexico, Idalia, Petronius on August 29, 2023| Leave a Comment »
Genesis, which is being decommissioned, has been fully evacuated. BSEE will no doubt have information on all evacuations and shut-ins tomorrow.
Posted in Gulf of Mexico, Offshore Energy - General, Offshore Wind, tagged Galveston, Gulf of Mexico wind auction, Lake Charles, RWE Offshore on August 29, 2023| Leave a Comment »
Only 1 of the 3 tracts was sold, and the amount bid was a modest $5.6 million. Given the extensive lease sale planning and promotion, this would seem to be a rather embarrassing outcome.
RWE Offshore US Gulf LLC won the Lake Charles tract. Neither of the 2 Galveston tracts received bids. RWE’s headquarters are located in Essen, Germany.
By comparison, the 5 California offshore wind leases, each of which is smaller and in far deeper water than the GoM tracts, received bids of $130 to 173 million. These leases were sold in December 2022. Smaller Atlantic wind tracts have also received much higher bids. State mandates and subsidies no doubt contributed to the inflated bidding in the Atlantic and Pacific.
Posted in conferences, Uncategorized, tagged Bill Scannell, Jonsson Center, NASEM, Quissett estate, Woods Hole on August 29, 2023| Leave a Comment »
As a followup to the post on the sale of the Quissett estate, previously owned by the National Academies and used for conferences and meetings, the purchasers are William F Scannell and his wife Elizabeth A Scannell. Bill Scannell is President of Global Sales & Customer Operations at Dell Technologies.
The property was on the market for 2 years, and the purchase price was only about half of what NASEM was asking. NASEM must have really wanted to unload this great property which served the marine science community well for nearly 50 years
Posted in Canada, drilling, Offshore Energy - General, tagged bp, Ephesus well, Newfoundland, Trove on August 28, 2023| Leave a Comment »
Newfoundlander Howard Pike shared this interesting video.
Posted in energy policy, Gulf of Mexico, Offshore Energy - General, Regulation, tagged API, BOEM, Chevron, Lease Sale 261, Louisiana, Rice's whale on August 26, 2023| Leave a Comment »
See the attached document.
From a regulatory policy standpoint, this appears to be a strong filing. Operationally, the most important points pertain to the costly and premature Rice’s whale restrictions first discussed on this blog.
Most notably, the plaintiffs seek (p.39):
Posted in decommissioning, Offshore Energy - General, Regulation, tagged decommissioning, financial assurance on August 25, 2023| Leave a Comment »
The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) is extending the public comment period on our notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM), “Risk Management and Financial Assurance for Outer Continental Shelf Lease and Grant Obligations,” by 10 days.
Federal Register
These comments were submitted 7 days (now 17 days) early 😀
Federal regulations: “decades to draft, days to comment”
Posted in energy policy, Gulf of Mexico, Offshore Energy - General, Regulation, tagged BOEM, Gulf of Mexico, Lease Sale 261, NOAA, Rice's whale, Senator Manchin on August 25, 2023| Leave a Comment »
In addition to the lease stipulation, the entire expanded Brice’s whale area has been excluded from the lease sale. Senator Manchin strongly criticized that decision:
Let me be clear, the exclusion of more than 6 million productive acres from the upcoming offshore oil and gas lease sale in the Gulf of Mexico based on a settlement reached in the name of protecting Rice’s whale while conveniently only targeting oil and gas is yet another example of this Administration’s intentional undermining of the strong energy security provisions in the Inflation Reduction Act.
Senator Manchin
Bud's Offshore Energy (BOE) 