Gulf of Mexico oil production increased to 1.853 bopd in June which is more in line with production at the beginning of the year and the EIA 2023 forecast. Production remains well below BOEM’s 2.0 million bopd forecast for 2023.
Archive for 2023
June GoM oil production closer to expectations
Posted in Gulf of Mexico, Offshore Energy - General, tagged BOEM, EIA, Gulf of Mexico production on September 1, 2023| Leave a Comment »
Louisiana, API, Chevron motion for preliminary injunction on certain Lease Sale 261 provisions
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).
$300 oil?
Posted in energy, Uncategorized, tagged 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.
Tough day for US offshore wind
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
Chevron evacuates non-essential personnel from Petronius and Blind Faith ahead of Hurricane Idalia
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.
Surprisingly weak Gulf of Mexico wind lease sale
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.
Dell executive purchased NASEM’s Jonsson Center (Quissett) estate in Woods Hole
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
Good video on bp’s Ephesus well, offshore Newfoundland
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.
BP’s Ephesus well – why was it a failure?
Louisiana, API, and Chevron challenge Sale 261 Notice of Sale
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):
- A preliminary and permanent injunction striking, setting aside, and enjoining BOEM from implementing the specific challenged provisions of the Final Notice of Sale and Record of Decision for Lease Sale 261;
- An order vacating the specific challenged provisions of the Final Notice of Sale and Record of Decision for Lease Sale 261;
- An order compelling Defendants to proceed with Lease Sale 261 on September 27, 2023, without the challenged provisions;
Shortest comment period extension in the history of the OCS oil and gas program?
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”
Bud's Offshore Energy (BOE) 