Posted in energy policy, Norway, pipelines, Russia, Uncategorized, tagged NATO, Nord Stream, pipelines, sabotage on February 8, 2023| 1 Comment »
I’m posting this link without comment.
Last June, the Navy divers, operating under the cover of a widely publicized mid-summer NATO exercise known as BALTOPS 22, planted the remotely triggered explosives that, three months later, destroyed three of the four Nord Stream pipelines, according to a source with direct knowledge of the operational planning.
Seymour Hersch
Posted in Gulf of Mexico, Norway, Offshore Energy - General, tagged Gulf of Mexico production, Norway oil and gas production, Norway vs. the GoM on February 1, 2023| Leave a Comment »
…and were in fact identical in August (1.763 million BOPD). GoM production should strengthen a bit in 2023 as new deepwater projects come online. Norwegian production should also increase. The longer term is more uncertain, particularly for the US OCS which is seemingly being managed to fail.
Natural gas production is a different story. Norway has been sustaining and growing offshore gas production, while Gulf of Mexico gas production has been in free-fall. Total US production has nonetheless grown sharply over the past 17 years thanks to the shale boom (see the chart below). In the 1980’s, the GoM accounted for 20-25% of US gas production. The GoM share is now only 2%, most of which is gas that is associated with deepwater oil production. Nonassociated offshore gas has important advantages that should not be ignored.
Posted in energy policy, Norway, Offshore Energy - General, tagged Heidrun, licensing pause, Norway, NPD, Terje Aasland on December 1, 2022| Leave a Comment »
Symbolic gesture or troubling precedent?
OSLO, Nov 29 (Reuters) – Norway will not issue licences for energy companies to explore for oil and gas in frontier areas during the life of the current parliament, which ends in 2025, its oil and energy minister told Reuters on Tuesday.
“SV (Socialist Left Party) has had this as a demand for this year and we went along with that. And have accepted that this can be held off for this parliamentary period,” (per Minister of Petroleum and Energy Minister Terje Aasland).
Aasland said there was “no drama” in the decision as authorities still issue licences to oil companies in a parallel licensing around called the APA round, in so-called mature areas that are already open to oil companies.
Reuters
Meanwhile NPD reports a dry hole 17 km north of the Heidrun field in the Norwegian Sea.
Posted in Norway, Offshore Energy - General, tagged drones, Nord Stream, offshore security, PSA Norway, special meeting on September 29, 2022| Leave a Comment »
-The government has decided to implement measures to strengthen preparedness related to infrastructure, land facilities and installations on the Norwegian continental shelf.
-Part of the background for the increased preparedness is reports of increased drone activity on the Norwegian continental shelf that we have seen in recent weeks. It concerns drones of various sizes. Activity has been increasing, especially in September.
We have called for increased vigilance from all operators and shipowners on the Norwegian continental shelf.
Circumstances where drones have violated safety zones around facilities are now being investigated by the police. We refer to Sør-Vest Police District for questions about this.
-On Tuesday, it became known that the Nord Stream 1 and 2 gas pipelines were damaged, probably due to sabotage. The Norwegian Petroleum Safety Authority does not want to speculate on who is behind it, or other circumstances related to the incident.
-On Thursday 29 September, we invited the parties in the oil and gas industry to an extraordinary meeting in the Security Forum to discuss the ongoing events
PSA Norway
Posted in accidents, natural gas, Norway, pipelines, Uncategorized, tagged germany, leaks, NordStream, Norway, pipelines, Sweden on September 28, 2022| Leave a Comment »
The quote below is encouraging. Hopefully, the technical team will be able to function independently, and will have strong leadership. I would like to see participation by the Petroleum Safety Authority of Norway.
“There are good teams in place to handle pipeline accidents, there are emergency pipe inventories and experts for onshore and offshore,” Jens Schumann, managing director of gas pipeline grid company Gasunie Deutschland, said.
Reuters
Meanwhile the seemingly straightforward Huntington Beach pipeline spill investigation drags on one year after the incident.
Posted in accidents, Norway, Offshore Energy - General, pipelines, tagged leaks, Nord Stream, Norway, pipelines, PSA on September 27, 2022| Leave a Comment »
This notice from the Petroleum Safety Authority of Norway adds yet another twist to the Nord Stream saga:
In recent times, Ptil has received several notices/messages from operator companies on the Norwegian continental shelf about observations of unidentified drones/aircraft in the vicinity of offshore facilities. We have called for increased vigilance from all operators and shipowners on the Norwegian continental shelf.
Here is Nord Stream’s update on their investigations into the pipeline leaks:
Nord Stream AG has started mobilization of all necessary resources for a survey campaign to assess the damages in cooperation exchange with relevant local authorities. Currently, it is not possible to estimate a timeframe for restoring the gas transport infrastructure. The causes of the incident will be clarified as a result of the investigation.
Meanwhile, Swedish seismologists have reported explosions near the leaks.
Posted in energy policy, Norway, Offshore Energy - General, tagged Minister of Oil and Energy, Norway, Terje Aasland, TFO2022 on September 14, 2022| Leave a Comment »
Comments from Terje Aasland, Norwegian Minister of Oil and Energy, after a strong licensing round during which 26 applications were received:
We need exploration and new discoveries to maintain the production of oil and gas over time, which is important both for Norway and Europe. The applications in TFO 2022 show very good interest among the companies active on the Norwegian continental shelf in looking for new petroleum resources. This is very gratifying, says Oil and Energy Minister Terje Aasland (Ap)
Posted in conferences, energy policy, Norway, tagged Elon Musk, energy security, ONS 2022, Zelenskyy on August 23, 2022| Leave a Comment »
Energy security will be a featured topic at the conference. Note the lineup for the Zelenskyy session:
President Zelenskyy will be introduced by the Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre, and will be followed on stage by Elon Musk, Ben Van Beurden (CEO, Shell), Patrick Pouyanné (CEO, TotalEnergies) and Anders Opedal (CEO, Equinor) among others.
ONS 2022
Posted in gas, Norway, Offshore Energy - General, tagged energy security, natural gas, PSA Norway, Troll on July 22, 2022| Leave a Comment »
Good article from our friends at the Petroleum Safety Authority of Norway. When old guys reminisce, people need to listen 😉
“Reagan feared that the world, and especially Europe, would become too dependent on Soviet gas, and saw Troll as an opportunity to create greater independence.”
“Lerøen sees parallels to the current situation, with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and the importance Norwegian gas has for the EU, which wants to become independent of Russian gas.”
Posted in energy policy, Norway, Offshore Energy - General, tagged Norway, offshore workers, strike on July 5, 2022| Leave a Comment »
“Norwegian offshore oil and gas workers went on strike Tuesday. The stoppage could reduce the country’s gas output by almost a quarter and intensify supply chain shortages due to Russian gas boycotts by EU nations.”
dw.com
I couldn’t find any data on the typical length of these strikes, but my recollection is that they are usually rather brief.
