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Archive for the ‘drilling’ Category

Virginia is for Leaders!

Posted in drilling, Offshore Energy - General, tagged , on July 8, 2011| Leave a Comment »

The Commonwealth of Virginia, home of BOE headquarters, continues to provide national leadership on energy issues, most notably offshore oil and gas exploration.  The Governor (Republican), both US Senators (Democrats), and both candidates for the US Senate support offshore leasing.

“Opening up and expanding Virginia’s offshore resources to responsible natural gas and oil exploration holds significant promise for boosting needed domestic energy production while bolstering the commonwealth’s economy.” Quote from Senator Jim Webb in the Richmond Times Dispatch


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Marianas damage to delay Ghana drilling?

Posted in accidents, drilling, offshore, tagged , , , , on July 7, 2011| Leave a Comment »

From Bloomberg.com:

A force majeure notice was delivered to the government of Ghana and Ghana National Petroleum Corp. after an anchor- handling accident damaged the rig, Dallas-based Kosmos said today in a statement. The Marianas was scheduled to arrive July 10 for drilling, Kosmos said.

Kosmos said it anticipates that either the Marianas or a substitute rig will be “available soon” to drill the Cedrela-1 well in the West Cape Three Points Block. Transocean, based in Vernier, Switzerland, reported yesterday it evacuated 108 of 121 workers on the rig after it took on water while preparing to leave an Eni SpA drilling site off Ghana.

The market for deep-water rigs in that part of the world is so tight that Kosmos will likely have to wait at least a month for a comparable drilling vessel, said Brian Uhlmer, an analyst at Global Hunter Securities in Houston. Moving an unused rig from the Gulf of Mexico could take about 45 days.

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Transocean Marianas questions

Posted in accidents, drilling, offshore, tagged , , , , on July 7, 2011| 1 Comment »

  1. Will Transocean be releasing any details on yesterday’s “water ingress?” Will the results of their internal investigation ever be made public? (We are still waiting for their report on the fatal crane incident last August offshore Nigeria.)
  2. Will an independent investigation be conducted? Will the authorities in Ghana participate?
  3. Did the damage that the Marianas incurred during Hurricane Ike (2008) or Tropical Storm Ida (2009) in any way contribute to yesterday’s apparent structural failure?
  4. When will we have an international system that ensures (a) prompt, independent, and complete investigations of all significant accidents, and (b) the timely release of findings?

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Transocean confirms Marianas report

Posted in accidents, drilling, offshore, tagged , , , on July 6, 2011| Leave a Comment »

Per Platts:

Deepwater driller Transocean confirmed that its semisubmersible rig Transocean Marianas operating off the coast of West Africa had taken on water early Wednesday, forcing the evacuation of some crew members.  “A water ingress was noticed onboard the Transocean Marianas during operations offshore Ghana” for Italian major Eni, Transocean spokesman Guy Cantwell said. “The rig is stable at this time. There are no injuries, and all non-essential personnel are being evacuated.” 

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Marianas Update

Posted in accidents, drilling, tagged , , , , on July 6, 2011| Leave a Comment »

Per information provided by one of our readers (see comment on the original Marianas post), the rig was in transit offshore Ghana, west of Takoradi. This report indicates that “they have got control over the list at the moment.”

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Shale gas drilling linked to earthquakes in the UK

Posted in drilling, tagged , , on June 1, 2011| Leave a Comment »

Daily Mail

The people of Blackpool may have barely felt a shudder, but the repercussions could be wide-reaching.

Measuring just 1.5 on the Richter scale, the seaside town escaped a recent earthquake totally unscathed.

But it was the latest in a series of ‘natural’ disasters, that are not considered natural at all – they are man-made.

Now the UK’s only ‘shale’ gas drilling project has been suspended after it emerged that the controversial technique may have caused the tremors.

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BOE Update: News and Views

Posted in accidents, cuba, drilling, Florida, Offshore Energy - General, tagged , , , , , , , , , , on May 31, 2011| 1 Comment »

News: BOEMRE releases report on the September 2010 Mariner Fire in the Gulf of Mexico.
BOE Comments:

  • Good report and relatively timely. Nice job by the team.
  • Good discussion of the heater-treater and production safety issues.
  • This was a very serious incident and lives were jeopardized. Sadly, no oil spill means no public attention.
  • Why didn’t the Coast Guard participate in the investigation? Will they be reporting on the haphazard evacuation?
  • Age old question: Is the rather extensive discussion of violations appropriate for an accident report? Should violations and enforcement actions be managed independently from accident investigations?
BOE: Floating liquefaction facilities open interesting possibilities for producing natural gas in remote offshore locations, possibly including the arctic.  The first FLNG facility will be 488 m from bow to stern! Offshore to the future!
BOE: Lots of posturing and not much in the way of meaningful proposals from either party. Unlike Australia, the US has not responded to its blowout with necessary legislative action, most notably the establishment of a single offshore safety and pollution prevention regulator.
BOE: Engineers solve problems when given the opportunity and encouragement. JL Daeschler is busy at the drawing board!
News: Greenland rolls on. despite Greenpeace protests. Cairn Energy has begun a second summer of drilling.
Views: Last summer’s results must have been sufficiently encouraging to justify further exploration. 
News: Hurricane season officially begins tomorrow.
BOE: There has been surprisingly little public discussion about the offshore industry’s preparations. Hopefully, everyone is ready.
BOE: Where is the worldwide commitment from industry and government? This problem can and must be fixed!

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Alan Spackman takes a look at the Scarabeo 9 and other 6th generation semisubmerisbles

Posted in cuba, drilling, tagged , , , on May 19, 2011| Leave a Comment »

This presentation from the IADC Environmental Conference in Trinidad is linked. The Scarabeo 9 is the Saipmen rig that is scheduled to drill offshore Cuba later this year.

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

Posted in drilling, offshore, tagged , , , 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 , , , , on May 14, 2011| Leave a Comment »

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

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

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