Impressively, 4 GoM operators with significant production and well activity did not incur a single civil penalty payment during the most recent 4 year period. Each of these operators also had low incident of noncompliance (INC) to inspection ratios. The companies are as follows:
| Operator | 2022 oil production (million bbls) | 2022 oil production rank | 2022 gas production (bcf) | No. of platforms | No. of well starts (2019-2022) |
| Hess | 21.6 | 7 | 46.5 | 3 | 5 |
| Kosmos | 8.5 | 14 | 7.8 | subsea tiebacks | 6 |
| Beacon | 7.2 | 15 | 12.2 | subsea tiebacks | 4 |
| Cantium | 4.7 | 19 | 6.1 | 86 | 37 |
- All of these companies deserve kudos.
- Cantium’s record is especially impressive given that most of their platforms were installed more than 40 years ago and some date back to the 1950s. They have also been a very active development well driller.
- Hess is the 7th biggest oil producer and 5th biggest gas producer in the GoM. Hess CEO John Hess made some encouraging comments (pasted below) about the deepwater GoM at a recent energy conference.
- While Kosmos and Beacon have somewhat lower violation and penalty exposure because their production is via subsea wells tied back to surface facilities operated by other companies, they are demonstrating that entrepreneurial deepwater independents can also be safety leaders.
“The Pickerel-1 prospect was our first (exploration well on the Mississippi Canyon 727) and we are delighted that it was an oil discovery. Black Pearl will be the next and that will hopefully be a tieback (to Tubular Bells with first oil expected mid-2024).
“Then we have a wildcat opportunity (the Vancouver exploration prospect) later in the year in the Green Canyon. With the other 80 exploratory blocks that we have in the Gulf, we will be actively drilling for the next several years,” Hess said.
OilNow
Bud's Offshore Energy (BOE) 