Archive for the ‘drilling’ Category
Gulf of Mexico rig count unchanged
Posted in drilling, Gulf of Mexico, Offshore Energy - General, tagged Baker Hughes rig count, Gulf of Mexico on June 24, 2022| Leave a Comment »
Jim Galloway and the Glomar Challenger
Posted in California, drilling, Uncategorized, tagged Glomar Challenger, Jim Galloway, Pacific oil and gas on June 20, 2022| Leave a Comment »
I recently learned about the passing of yet another former colleague <sigh>. This has become an all too frequent occurrence. Here is a link to Jim Galloway’s fascinating and informative obituary, which even includes some geology humor 😀
“While attending USC, Jim met his future wife and love of his life, Sarah Ann Mason, a fellow geology student. It was crystal clear from the moment he met her in the Mineralogy lab, Sarah was a gem and despite all his faults he wouldn’t take her for granite.“
After high school, Jim worked as a cook on the Glomar Challenger scientific drilling vessel, which no doubt inspired him to study geology. As part of the Deep Sea Drilling Program, the Challenger recovered cores that provided conclusive evidence of plate tectonics, which until that time was just a theory. From 1968 to 1983, the Challenger recovered over 19,000 cores in water depths up to 7044 m!
Jim became a leading expert on oil and gas resources offshore California, which were once (and still should be) considered nationally important. Much respect for his many contributions to our understanding of Pacific geology!
Gulf of Mexico rig count back up to 15
Posted in drilling, Gulf of Mexico, Offshore Energy - General, tagged Baker Hughes rig count, Gulf of Mexico on June 17, 2022| Leave a Comment »
Gulf of Mexico rig count down another tick
Posted in drilling, Gulf of Mexico, Offshore Energy - General, tagged Baker Hughes rig count, Gulf of Mexico, offshore drilling on June 10, 2022| Leave a Comment »
9th Circuit to BOEM: comprehensive EA for very limited, low risk well stimulation is not enough!
Posted in California, drilling, Offshore Energy - General, tagged 9th circuit, court decision, offshore California, well stimulation on June 6, 2022| Leave a Comment »
A full EIS is needed!
Further to the summary from the 2016 EA announcement, it appears that the only Pacific Region well operations over the past 2 years have been for plugging and abandonment purposes. The legal circus continues with or without actual operations.
There have been 24 well stimulation treatments (21 of which involved hydraulic fracturing) on the OCS offshore California between 1982 and 2014, and these were conducted on four of the 23 platforms. Reservoirs on the OCS off Southern California tend to be much more permeable than onshore reservoirs, and are already highly naturally fractured. Therefore, little permeability enhancement has been required for their development. As described in the scenario evaluated in the EA, the future use of Well Stimulation Treatments is expected to continue to be occasional rather than essential to hydrocarbon production from these platforms.
BOEM, 2016
Gulf of Mexico rig count back down to 15
Posted in drilling, Gulf of Mexico, Offshore Energy - General, tagged drilling, Gulf of Mexico, rig counts on June 4, 2022| Leave a Comment »
Good investigation report from Alaska
Posted in Alaska, drilling, tagged Alaska, Alpine field, AOGCC, ConocoPhillips, gas release on May 24, 2022| Leave a Comment »
In March, a gas release incident occurred while drilling a disposal well in the Alpine field on the North Slope of Alaska. While there were no injuries or environmental impacts, the investigation and findings will help minimize well construction risks during future operations. The report is attached.
Some comments:
- I like the way the report, related information, and all situation reports were posted in a timely manner on the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission (AOGCC) homepage. It’s refreshing that the AOGCC homepage is 100% substantive and completely devoid of the spin and propaganda you find on most government and corporate websites. (For comparison purposes, check out the Department of Energy and Department of the Interior homepages.)
- The ConocoPhillips (CP) incident report is concise, logically organized, and clearly written.
- The findings are consistent with the data, and the supporting figures are legible and understandable.
- Instead of blaming the crew or using the “human error” cop out for the leak-off test execution and subsequent monitoring issues, the report rightfully attributes those failures to company procedures and communications. This reflects well on CP’s understanding of the human and organizational factors that contribute to safety performance, and CP/AOGCC efforts to foster a strong safety culture. (Remember the shameful prosecution of well site leaders Bob Kaluza and Don Vidrine following the Macondo blowout.)
Lithium shortage? Petroleum engineers to the rescue!
Posted in climate, drilling, energy, tagged Kyung Jae Lee, lithium, Marcellus Shale, Pennsylvania, Petroleum Engineer, University of Houston on May 23, 2022| Leave a Comment »
Through her research of Pennsylvania’s Marcellus Shale play, Lee found that highly concentrated lithium was found in the produced water (water produced as a byproduct during the extraction of oil and natural gas) along with produced natural gas and oil.
“We found lithium in the petroleum-based rock brines, which opens new pathways to address the shale plays as a substantial source of lithium, given that they are ubiquitous in the U.S.,” Lee said.
University of Houston
Coming to the Gulf of Mexico to work for BOE (the E&P company, not the blog 😀)
Posted in drilling, Gulf of Mexico, Offshore Energy - General, tagged atlas, Beacon, Blackstone, BOE, titan, transocean on May 23, 2022| Leave a Comment »
The drilling business, particularly the deepwater sector, has never been for the faint of heart, and the past few years have included the added stresses of COVID, negative oil prices, anemic exploration activity, and offshore leasing “pauses.” Transocean nonetheless managed to build two 8th generation drillships, the Deepwater Atlas and Titan, both of which are slated to operate in the Gulf of Mexico.
The Atlas will begin drilling for Beacon Offshore Energy (unrelated to the BOE blog 😀) in the Shenandoah field (almost heaven?😀) later this year. The Titan is expected to begin drilling for Chevron next year. The rigs will be outfitted with 20,000 psi blowout prevention equipment and will be well-equipped for the growing number of high pressure prospects in the Gulf. Here is Transocean’s promotional video for the two rigs.
Both Beacon and Chevron fared well on our Gulf of Mexico scorecard. A bit of information about Beacon (BOE):
- Wholly owned by funds managed by Blackstone Energy Partners.
- CEO Scott Gutterman was previously the CEO of LLOG.
- There are a number of related investment partnerships under the Beacon umbrella and they are often joint lease owners.
- Per BOEM data, BOE has interest in 11 Gulf of Mexico leases.
- The company has an excellent compliance record: 12 facility inspections (presumably all were drilling units) resulted in only 1 INC (violation).
- Per BSEE, Beacon had 22 well starts since 2008. (Mystery: While the Blackstone and Beacon websites indicate that the company was formed in 2016, BSEE’s online borehole file shows 10 well starts prior to that year with the exact same company name. Presumably, the borehole file data are in error because BOEM data do not show any Beacon lease interest prior to 2018.)
- Beacon bid on one tract in Lease Sale 257 (Nov. 2021) and was the sole bidder (sale was voided by DC Federal Court).
- Beacon bid on 3 tracts in Sale 256 (Nov. 2020) and was the high bidder on one.
- Beacon acquired interest in 2 leases in Sale 254 (March 2020), 7 in Sale 252 (March 2019), and 2 in Sale 251 (Aug. 2018)
- In February 2022, Blackstone reportedly advised clients that they would no longer invest in oil and gas projects. Presumably, that doesn’t affect the Beacon operations (or perhaps the folks at Blackstone have come to their senses 😀).
BSEE/USCG issue Safety Alert on the Globetrotter II incident during Hurrricane Ida (8/29/2021)
Posted in accidents, drilling, Gulf of Mexico, hurricanes, tagged BSEE, Globetrotter II, Gulf of Mexico, Hurricane Ida, Noble, Shell on May 17, 2022| Leave a Comment »
BOE was troubled by this incident and the contractor’s statements that followed.
BSEE has posted a strong safety alert.
The BSEE investigation concluded that the operator and contractor representatives failed to promptly start the Temporary Abandonment (TA) procedures.
BSEE’s investigation report provides complete details on the incident.
Bud's Offshore Energy (BOE) 