Posted in accidents, Gulf of Mexico, well control incidents, tagged 11 workers, Deepwater Horizon, macondo, Trace Atkins, tribute on April 18, 2022| 1 Comment »
This week I’ll be posting background information, new details, and personal opinions about the April 20, 2010 Macondo tragedy. As a prelude, I wanted to share this touching tribute to the 11 men who died on the Deepwater Horizon. These American heroes gave their lives exploring for energy to power our economy. The video is introduced by singer Trace Atkins, a former Gulf of Mexico rig worker.
Posted in energy, Gulf of Mexico, Offshore Energy - General, tagged EIA, Gulf of Mexico production, production forecast on April 13, 2022| Leave a Comment »
U.S. crude oil production in the forecast averages 12.0 million b/d in 2022, up 0.8 million b/d from 2021. We forecast production to increase another 0.9 million b/d in 2023 to average almost 13.0 million b/d, surpassing the previous annual average record of 12.3 million b/d set in 2019.
EIA
The short-term forecast doesn’t say how much of that production will come from the Gulf of Mexico. Last year, EIA forecast 2022 Gulf production to average 1.75 BOPD which seems about right based on the the most recent production data.
Posted in Gulf of Mexico, Offshore Energy - General, tagged deepwater production, King's Quay, Murphy Oil, RIdgewood Energy on April 12, 2022| Leave a Comment »
Murphy has announced first oil from the King’s Quay floating production unit in the Gulf of Mexico. The initial production rate has not been released, but the facility is expected to process up to 80,000 BOPD and 100 million cu ft of gas per day from subsea wells.
Murphy’s six partners all appear to be investment companies. This type of support is essential given the reduced Gulf of Mexico participation by some of the major oil companies. Ridgewood Energy has the largest stake among the Murphy partners. In the “old days,” the partners were typically other exploration and production companies.
Posted in Alaska, energy policy, Gulf of Mexico, Offshore Energy - General, tagged Five Year Program, House Natural Resources Committee, offshore leasing, Senator Kelly, Senator Manchin on April 12, 2022| Leave a Comment »
These bills probably aren’t going anywhere at this time, but would help strengthen the integrity of the US offshore program. The bills are generally consistent with the views expressed by Senators Manchin (D-WV) and Kelly (D-AZ) in a letter to the President.
Posted in Gulf of Mexico, Offshore Energy - General, rigs-to-reefs, tagged deepwater production, Gulf of Mexico, number of platforms, platform density, rigs-to-reefs on April 11, 2022| Leave a Comment »
Deepwater production is noteworthy for widely dispersed surface structures supplemented with subsea systems. In the past 30 years, the total number of Gulf of Mexico platforms declined by 50% while the oil production doubled. Of course, this level of production is not sustainable without regular lease sales and increased exploration. In that regard, the signs are not good.
435 GoM shelf platforms have been removed in just the last 5 years (2017-2021). The loss of platforms is accompanied by a loss of marine habitat that the rigs-to-reefs program has partially compensated for. There have been a number of other interesting proposals for the use of old platforms, some more serious than others.
Current number of Gulf of Mexico platforms by water depth:
| water depth | floating and fixed production platforms |
| all depths | 1757 |
| >400 m | 52 |
| >1000 m | 35 |
| >1500 m | 16 |
| >2000 m | 7 |
Posted in drilling, Gulf of Mexico, Offshore Energy - General, tagged Baker Hughes rig count, Gulf of Mexico on April 8, 2022| Leave a Comment »
Posted in Gulf of Mexico, Regulation on April 8, 2022| Leave a Comment »
Per BSEE’s online Incident of Non-Compliance (INC) data, 4 operating companies accounted for 64% of the INCs during Q1 of 2022 (see chart below). Fieldwood was once again cited for the most INCs (132), but GOM Shelf LLC had the highest INC/inspection ratio (1.53). All 55 of the Whitney Oil & Gas INCs resulted in Facility Shut-In orders. Whitney was cited for failing to comply with damage inspection and records requirements following Hurricane Ida.
The overall violations rate during Q1 of 2022 was essentially unchanged from 2021. A number of companies had outstanding records. We’ll comment on them later in the year.
Posted in energy policy, Gulf of Mexico, Offshore Energy - General, tagged exploratory drilling, Gulf of Mexico exploration slump, well starts on April 5, 2022| Leave a Comment »
With regard to shelf drilling activity (<1000′ water depth), a total of 55 wells were started in 2021 and 2022 (first quarter). Only 2 of these wells, both by Walter Oil and Gas, were classified as exploratory. The most active drillers (by far) were Arena Offshore (30 well starts) and Cantium LLC (16 well starts). Ankor, EnVen, and Talos were the only other operators with drilling activity.
Reasons for concern:
Posted in energy policy, Gulf of Mexico, Offshore Energy - General, Regulation, Russia, tagged 500 days since the last offshore lease sale, Lease Sale 257, offshore oil and gas, Senator Kelly, Senator Manchin on April 4, 2022| Leave a Comment »
500 days (and counting) since the last US offshore oil and gas lease sale. Abbreviated chronology:
Posted in energy policy, Gulf of Mexico, natural gas, Offshore Energy - General, tagged Gulf of Mexico LNG, Louisiana, New Fortress Energy on April 3, 2022| Leave a Comment »
New Fortress Energy’s Fast LNG liquefaction solution is particularly interesting.
New Fortress Energy Inc. (NASDAQ: NFE) (together with its affiliates, “NFE”) today announced that it has concurrently filed applications with the U.S. Maritime Administration, the U.S. Coast Guard and U.S. Department of Energy to request all necessary permits and regulatory approvals to site, construct and operate a new offshore LNG liquefaction terminal off the coast of Louisiana (“the Project”) with a capacity of exporting approximately 145 billion cubic feet of natural gas per year, equivalent to approximately 2.8 million tons per annum (MTPA) of LNG.
The Project will be located in federal waters approximately 16 miles off the southeast coast of Grand Isle, Louisiana, and will access abundant U.S. gas supply by leveraging existing infrastructure. Procurement of all long-lead materials is complete and modular assembly of equipment is underway. Subject to the receipt of all required permits and approvals, NFE targets beginning operations in the first quarter of 2023.
businesswire
Bud's Offshore Energy (BOE) 