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Archive for the ‘drilling’ Category

BSEE Safety Alert addresses recent Emergency Disconnect incidents

Posted in accidents, drilling, Gulf of Mexico, Offshore Energy - General, Regulation, tagged , , , , , on December 9, 2025| Leave a Comment »

Seconds matter – training, equipment maintenance, and effective leadership are critical!

Several BSEE Safety Alerts have just been released. Of particular importance to those interested in deepwater drilling is the attached alert describing two separate Emergency Disconnect Sequence (EDS) incidents.

The EDS (see the diagram above) is a critically important safety protocol that ensures that a well is sealed and the riser and rig are disconnected from the blowout preventer in the event of a well control emergency, unforeseen weather/ocean conditions, loss of power, or positioning system malfunction. Note that the Macondo blowout could have been prevented if the Deepwater Horizon crew had activated the EDS in a timely manner.

The two EDS events cited in the Safety Alert were presumably the March 28, 2025 and March 5, 2024 incidents investigated by BSEE district offices. The drillships were the Stanley Lafosse and the Deepwater Poseidon The investigation reports provide detailed information on these incidents.

Unintended riser disconnects not associated with EDS activations are a related safety and pollution concern that necessitated the issuance of a 2000 Notices to Lessees that was subsequently updated:

BSEE Safety Alert – 510 – Blackout and Weather-Driven EDS Incidents Underscore the Need for Stronger Operational DisciplineDownload

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Time for another look at ultradeep shelf gas in the Gulf?

Posted in drilling, Gulf of Mexico, natural gas, Offshore Energy - General, tagged , , , , , , , , , on December 3, 2025| Leave a Comment »

“Natural gas and LNG are fast becoming the gravitational center of the global energy system, but some energy experts said the world is only beginning to grasp the scale of what’s to come.” ~Natural Gas Intelligence

Demand and high well producibility are stimulating exploration in the high pressure, high temperature Western Haynesville (Texas) and other ultradeep onshore gas prospects. Is it time to revisit ultradeep gas on the Gulf of America shelf? See the above targets map from 2004.

20 years ago Newfield, Exxon, and McMoRan drilled pioneering ultradeep wells targeting gas-prone reservoirs below salt welds in Miocene and older formations (diagrams below). The water depths were <100 feet but well depths exceeding 30,000 feet, and high temperatures and pressures, pushed the limits of drilling technology at the time. Noteworthy wells:

  • Blackbeard West (Exxon): Spudded in early 2005 in 70 feet of water in South Timbalier Block 168. The target was gas in Miocene sands at 27,000-32,000 feet total depth. Drilling reached 30,067 feet by 2006, but was prudently suspended due to extreme pressures, temperatures (up to 600°F), and technical challenges with equipment.
  • Blackbeard West, part 2: In 2008, McMoRan re-entered the well with upgraded equipment and drilled to a record 32,997 feet below the mudline. They encountered hydrocarbon shows in multiple zones, including potential gas pay in Middle and Deep Miocene sands below 30,000 feet, validating the ultradeep concept.
  • Followup McMorRan wells:
    • Blackbeard East (2010-2011): Drilled to 33,400 feet in South Timbalier Block 144, logged potential hydrocarbons in Sparta and Vicksburg sands.
    • Davy Jones (2009-2010): South Marsh Island Block 230 in 20 feet of water; reached 29,122 feet; discovered gas in Wilcox sands, but faced flow-testing challenges.
    • Lafitte (2011): Eugene Island Block 223, found additional pay in ultradeep Miocene zones. These wells targeted gas reservoirs but encountered operational hurdles.

This program pioneered ultradeep drilling on the shelf, influencing later deepwater successes. Over the past 10 years, the deepwater industry has successfully demonstrated high pressure high temperature (HPHT) technology which could facilitate ultradeep exploration on the shelf.

Also, note that a company targeting hydrocarbons below 25,000 feet (true vertical depth subsurface) may earn an additional 3 years on their lease. (See the Notice for next week’s lease sale.) Will improved technology and demand expectations finally open the ultradeep gas frontier?

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Newsom’s California compromise sacrifices the SYU (Sable) to boost Kern County drilling.

Posted in California, drilling, energy policy, Offshore Energy - General, tagged , , , , , , , on September 12, 2025| Leave a Comment »

California Senate Bill 237, the compromise oil legislation supported by Gov. Newsom, Assembly Speaker Rivas, and Senate President McGuire, opens up Kern Co. drilling in exchange for pipeline safety measures that will doom the Santa Ynez Unit (SYU) if Sable fails to restart production by Jan. 1.

Particularly intriguing is the the list (below) of SB 237 supporters and opponents. The Western States Petroleum Assoc. (WSPA), is aligned with the unions for onshore drilling and against the SYU. Note that Exxon is a prominent WSPA members! Exxon assigned the SYU to Sable and is on the hook for massive decommissioning costs if production is not resumed. Perhaps Exxon has a backup plan for the SYU?

Also note that all of the environmental groups are aligned against SB 237. Compromise is not in their playbook.

John Smith’s highlighted summary of SB 237 is attached. Here is the provision that would seem to doom Sable:

Clarifies in the Coastal Act that development associated with the repair, reactivation, or maintenance of an oil pipeline that has been idled, inactive, or out of service for five years or more requires a new CDP, as provided.

REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION:
Support
Associated Builders and Contractors of California
Berry Petroleum Company, LLC
California Conference of Carpenters
California Independent Petroleum Association
California Resources Corporation and Subsidiaries
California state Pipe Trades Council
California State Association of Electrical Workers
City of Bakersfield
Consumer Watchdog
County of Kern
State Building & Construction Trades Council of California
Western States Petroleum Association

Opposition
Asian Pacific Environmental Network Action
California Environmental Justice Alliance Action
California Environmental Voters
Campaign for a Safe and Healthy California

Center for Biological Diversity
Center on Race, Poverty & the Environment
Central California Environmental Justice Network
Clean Water Action
Climate First: Replacing Oil & Gas
Communities for a Better Environment
Earthjustice
Leadership Council for Justice and Accountability
Physicians for Social Responsibility Los Angeles

Senate Bill 237 Summary (1)Download

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Only 10 active rigs in the Gulf of America

Posted in drilling, energy policy, Gulf of Mexico, Offshore Energy - General, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , on September 3, 2025| Leave a Comment »

Deepwater Titan, Gulf of America

The latest Baker Hughes Rig Count Report shows only 10 rigs actively drilling in the Gulf. All are at deepwater locations – 7 in the Mississippi Canyon area, 2 in Green Canyon, and 1 in Alaminos Canyon. Per the BSEE borehole file, Shell accounts for most of the current MS Canyon wells and the Alaminous Canyon well. Beacon is also drilling in the MS Canyon, and the Green Canyon well appears to be a Chevron operation.

This current rig count, which has hovered between 9 and 12 all year, is troubling if you are concerned about long-term production. By comparison the Gulf rig count reached 22 last year and was 100+ during the 10 year period from 1994 to 2003.

Only Anadarko/Oxy, Beacon/BOE, BP, Chevron/Hess, Shell, and Talos have spudded deepwater exploratory wells in 2025 YTD. Arena and Cantium are the only shelf drillers – all development wells.

Technological advances and extensions of past discoveries have sustained Gulf production, but declines are certain over the longer term if drilling activity doesn’t increase. Oil price uncertainty is an issue, but that’s always the case. Semiannual lease sales are now legislatively required and the terms will be attractive, so those issues are off the table. Let’s see what the bidding looks like at the upcoming sale.

The decline in deepwater discoveries (BOEM data below) is particularly discouraging. Per BOEM, the last deepwater field discovery was in March 2023.

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Hybrid drilling for superhot geothermal energy

Posted in drilling, energy, tagged , , , , , on August 26, 2025| Leave a Comment »

A short Quaise video (below) describes how conventional and millimeter wave drilling can be combined to reach superhot geothermal energy sources.

Keep in mind that superhot (300-500 deg. C) energy can be reached with conventional drilling at sites with high geothermal gradients. These “tier 1” sites will be the first targets (second video below).

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New milestone for “Star Wars” drilling technology

Posted in drilling, tagged , , , , , on July 28, 2025| Leave a Comment »

HOUSTON (7/22/2025) – “Quaise Energy, a leading developer of grid-scale superhot geothermal energy, today announced it has successfully drilled to a depth of 100 meters using its proprietary millimeter wave technology at its field site in Central Texas. This achievement sets a record for millimeter wave drilling and marks a major step forward in unlocking the Earth’s vast geothermal energy as a scalable, baseload energy source.“

  • Prior to this year, millimeter wave drilling had only been demonstrated in the laboratory (a few centimeters deep).
  • The granite drilled during the field test is the same type of hard rock found in the basement layer of the Earth’s crust.
  • Quaise has plans to build a gyrotron with 10x more power.
  • A pilot power plant in the Western U.S. is planned for as early as 2028.

Related posts

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WSJ/Rystad on tariffs

Posted in drilling, energy policy, Offshore Energy - General, tagged , , , on July 10, 2025| Leave a Comment »

WSJ opinion piece

Tariffs and their uncertainty “will certainly decrease expected investment activity in the energy sector,” says the new report. More than $50 billion of offshore investment this year has been deferred “with operators looking to wait out current market uncertainty before making significant final investment decisions,” Rystad notes.

Rystad estimates that tariffs will increase costs for offshore oil and gas projects by 8% year-over-year and 12% for onshore. “Most steel and raw material exposed cost categories are feeling the majority of the impact from tariffs and thus will take the biggest hit.”

The Tax Foundation and Wood Mackenzie have offered similar opinions.

Comment: At a glance, the number of 2025 well starts in the GOA appears to be down (more on this at a later date). While there are many factors affecting drilling decisions, lower oil prices and higher costs associated with tariffs are not compatible with a “drill baby drill” philosophy.

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“Almost Heaven” for lateral drilling!

Posted in California, drilling, energy policy, Offshore Energy - General, Russia, Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , , , , , on June 11, 2025| Leave a Comment »

“Country roads” take us to Moundsville, West Virginia where new records were set drilling a “postcard well.”

In addition to the records noted in the picture, these impressive company marks were achieved:

  • 24-hour footage record: 12,370 feet
  • daily footage record: 2,774 feet/day

The record US offshore lateral well is in the Santa Ynez Unit, which has been much discussed on this blog and elsewhere in light of Sable Offshore’s efforts to resume production. In 2010, Exxon drilled a well with a horizontal reach of 6 miles from Platform Heritage into the Sacate field (see the diagrams below).

The world’s longest horizontal reach well appears to be the O-14 well drilled by the Sakhalin-1 Consortium in the Sea of Okhotsk, Russia, in April 2015. This well had a horizontal reach of 14,129 meters (46,358 feet).

ADNOC, the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company, has the world record (2022) for the longest well (50,000′) in the Upper Zakum field. However, no horizontal reach distance is provided, so it is assumed that the Sakhalin well had the longer reach.

Artificial islands at Adnoc’s Upper Zakum field.Photo: Adnoc

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Can a quantum leap in drilling technology propel ultradeep geothermal to the forefront?

Posted in drilling, energy, tagged , , , , , , on June 3, 2025| Leave a Comment »

Recently, Quaise Energy showcased millimeter wave drilling on a full-scale Nabors rig, and moved one step closer to superhot geothermal power production.

This is the first-ever hybrid drilling rig, combining conventional and millimeter wave capabilities.

Quaise plans to drill superhot geothermal wells that can generate abundant baseload power in record time. They believe there is no other energy solution capable of the same scale and speed.

Excellent New Atlas article

“The cube sends electomagnetic energy to the drill bit to melt rock – New Atlas photo
Core showing vitrified granite/basalt walls of the borehole – New Atlas photo

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The longest subsurface journey begins with the first 10 feet

Posted in drilling, energy, tagged , , , on May 2, 2025| Leave a Comment »

Good video:

More on Quaise Energy

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