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Archive for the ‘drilling’ Category

Noble Energy forced to abandon Israeli offshore well because of shallow water flow

Posted in drilling, offshore, tagged Israel, Leviathan, Noble Energy, offshore drilling on May 17, 2011| Leave a Comment »

Noble Energy, Inc. (NYSE: NBL) announced today that it has ended drilling operations at the Leviathan #2 appraisal well location, offshore Israel. During the drilling process, the Company identified water flowing to the sea floor from the wellbore. The source is a water sand that flowed behind the surface casing. It has been monitored closely and there are no indications of any hydrocarbons in the produced water. Drilling in the Leviathan #2 well had not yet reached the depth of the targeted gas intervals discovered in the Leviathan #1 well. Noble Energy

Costly problem, but not terribly unusual.

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President announces drilling initiatives

Posted in Alaska, drilling, Offshore Energy - General, tagged Alaska, Gulf of Mexico, leasing, offshore drilling, President Obama on May 14, 2011| Leave a Comment »

Positive measures announced by President Obama during today’s radio address:

Hold a Gulf of Mexico lease sale this year and two next year
Extend Gulf of Mexico and Alaska leases where drilling activity was suspended after the blowout
Accelerate pre-sale seismic surveys in the Mid- and South Atlantic
Conduct annual lease sales in Alaska’s National Petroleum Reserve

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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.

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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.

Design video

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Judge orders action on six drilling applications

Posted in drilling, offshore, Regulation, tagged Ensco, Judge Feldman, offshore drilling, permits, Regulation on May 10, 2011| Leave a Comment »

U.S. District Judge Martin Feldman in New Orleans today ordered offshore energy regulators to act within 30 days on six pending permit applications filed by companies that have contracts with Ensco Offshore Co., the Louisiana drilling company leading the legal challenge to the government’s offshore drilling bans. Bloomberg

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New BOP Concept from JL Daeschler

Posted in drilling, well control incidents, tagged BOP, design, JL Daeschler on May 2, 2011| Leave a Comment »

JL Daeschler, subsea engineer and inventor, sent me some preliminary drawings for a new BOP concept.

JL’s design concept is based on 2 slab gate valves, one above the other, that move in the opposite direction and are beveled for shearing.
The sealing element is fixed (solid, one-piece) to the main body of the BOP, does not move with the rams, and is fully protected in the drilling mode.
The hydraulic system would retract the gate rather than close it (fail-safe closed).
The upper and lower rams (gate valve type) are self-centered with a guiding system to minimize side movement and deflection.
Well pressure assists in forcing the upper ram against the sealing element.
JL is considering a similar concept (single shear) for xmas tree workover system.

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Bahamas Petroleum committed to 2012 well; Government says not so fast

Posted in drilling, Offshore Energy - General, tagged Bahamas, drilling, offshore oil on April 21, 2011| Leave a Comment »

click on image to enlarge

from the Bahamas Tribune:

“We hope that in the second quarter of next year we will be able to be in a position where we can go forward and drill a well. We’ve just raised $75 million on the London market last month to apply towards our exploration purposes,” Dr Crevello said during a meeting of the Rotary Club of Nassau yesterday.

It is doubtful that this timeline will be met as Government has said it will not lift its moratorium on drilling any time soon.

“Well it’s nigh impossible for this (the passing of legislation relating to oil drilling) to be accommodated within this Parliament,” Environment Minister Earl Deveaux told The Tribune last month.

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CNN: growing support for offshore drilling

Posted in drilling, offshore, Offshore Energy - General, tagged CNN poll, drilling, offshore drilling, offshore oil on April 19, 2011| Leave a Comment »

CNN Poll

A CNN/Opinion Research Corporation survey released Tuesday indicates that 69 percent of Americans favor increased offshore drilling, with just over three in ten opposed. That 69 percent is up 20 points from last June, while the oil spill was still in progress, and is back to the level of support seen in the summer of 2008.

Confidence in government has shown a less significant increase.

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Observations from the Ministerial Forum on Offshore Drilling Containment

Posted in conferences, drilling, Offshore Energy - General, tagged capping and containment, IRF, Ministerial Forum, offshore drilling on April 15, 2011| Leave a Comment »

International Guests

The conference was nicely organized by the folks in the Department of the Interior and BOEMRE
Angola, Australia, Brazil, Canada, India, Mexico, Netherlands, Norway, the United Kingdom, Russia, and the US were represented. The European Union also participated.
Brazil was represented by two Petrobras managers, rather than governmental officials. This raised some eyebrows.
Australia formally announced yet another offshore regulators’ conference, the International Offshore Petroleum Regulators and Operators Summit in Perth (10-11 August). Do we need better coordination of the coordination conferences? Isn’t the International Regulators’ Forum (IRF) the best means of managing all of this?
The need for expanded offshore oil and gas operations was recognized by all participants.
Malcolm Webb of Oil and Gas UK, announced that UK operators would have a capping capability for subsea wells by the end of the summer. However, no well containment system is planned. This omission, which was attributed to North Sea weather and sea conditions, is surprising. Capping is not an option if well integrity concerns prevent a well from being shut-in, either with the BOP or a cap (if the BOP failed). The absence of a well containment option would seem to be a significant gap in their response capability.
A working group was formed to consider a new or strengthened international organization for offshore safety and pollution prevention. In my view, the best option would be to enhance existing cooperation mechanisms, most notably the IRF. International cooperation on safety is not a new concept. The IRF, which was mentioned positively by many of the speakers at the Ministerial Forum, has existed since 1994 and has an ongoing international standards effort. A related group, ICRARD, has been coordinating offshore safety research for more than 15 years. Various industry organizations have international programs. ISO has a good system for developing and managing standards. The International Maritime Organization has official committees that address certain offshore safety and pollution issues. Making better use of existing committees and forums would seem to make more sense than starting new ones.