Posted in drilling, Offshore Energy - General, tagged Australia, drilling, Montara, offshore on December 8, 2010| Leave a Comment »
It looks like Montara has not affected frontier exploratory drilling offshore Australia. Per Upstream:
New Seaclem-1 will be the first well to be drilled off the New South Wales coast and will target an estimated 6 trillion cubic feet of gas in the Great White & Marlin prospects.
Well site is in PEP-11 (Advent Energy map)
Posted in gas, Offshore Energy - General, tagged offshore, UK, West of Shetlands on November 26, 2010| Leave a Comment »
The Economist reports on the Laggan-Tormore gas project :
The £2.5 billion project, approved earlier this year, should deliver its first gas in 2014—a full 28 years after the Laggan field was discovered, a delay that exemplifies the region’s challenges. The field was too small and remote to justify the construction of a pipeline until the nearby Tormore field was discovered in 2007.
Posted in Norway, Offshore Energy - General, tagged Bjorn Vidar Leroen, Drops of Black Gold, North Sea, Norway, offshore oil, Phillips Petroleum, Statoil on November 19, 2010| Leave a Comment »
Yesterday, I was fortunate to receive a copy of Bjørn Vidar Lerøen’s excellent book “Drops of Black Gold” which chronicles the history of Statoil and Norwegian offshore oil and gas development. Of particular interest was a letter on page 17 of the book (not available online) that I had heard about but hadn’t seen. The letter, dated October 29, 1962, is from Phillips Petroleum to the chairman of a Norwegian government committee considering offshore oil and gas exploration.
Phillips’ request is quoted below. You have to give Phillips high marks for taking an aggressive negotiating position (or was it pure chutzpah?). No small lease blocks for them. Phillips asked for the whole Norwegian shelf including any future additions! And what would they offer in return – a seismic survey program costing an estimated $1 million.
We have reason for believing that the geologic basin in which large reserves of natural gas have been discovered in Holland may be extended northward into the Norwegian portion of the North Sea. Therefore, Phillips Petroleum Company is interested in obtaining from the Norwegian government an oil and gas concession covering the lands lying beneath the territorial waters of Norway plus that portion of the continental shelf lying beneath the North Sea which may now or in the future belong to or be under the control of Norway.
Posted in IRF, Offshore Energy - General, Regulation, tagged international, IRF, Jan de Jong, regulations, safety culture, single regulator, SSM, vancouver on November 5, 2010| Leave a Comment »
The above slide is from the excellent presentation that Jan de Jong (Inspector General, State Supervision of Mines, the Netherlands) never got to deliver in Vancouver. As session chair, Jan graciously yielded his time to his panelists.
Jan’s presentation notes the growing importance of international cooperation. This trend has the potential to improve regulatory capabilities, expand data availability and access, reduce regulatory costs through the sharing of resources, reduce costs for industry through greater international consistency and regulatory certainty, and improve international relations. The Netherlands, Russia, Norway, Cuba, the US, and everyone else should be on the same team when it comes to offshore safety and pollution prevention. Some near-term suggestions follow:
Posted in accidents, drilling, Offshore Energy - General, well control incidents, tagged accidents, blowouts, Deepwater Horizon, drilling, Gulf of Mexico, macondo, moratorium, safety, well control on October 12, 2010| Leave a Comment »
The White House said Tuesday the government will lift a moratorium on deep water oil drilling in the Gulf of Mexico “very soon” – likely this week. Washington Post
Posted in gas, natural gas, Offshore Wind, Wind Energy, tagged natural gas, noise, Offshore Wind, Vinalhaven, Wind Energy on October 12, 2010| Leave a Comment »
-Locating wind projects offshore minimizes noise and visual issues, but increases costs and operational complexity. There are always trade-offs.
-When all environmental impacts are considered, offshore natural gas is tough to beat: minimal visual impacts, none of the freshwater issues that are complicating shale gas development, few land use issues, little or no spill risk (depending how dry the gas is). The trade-off is CO2 emissions. While combustion of natural gas emits 30% and 45% less CO2 than oil and coal respectively, the CO2 emissions are still significant.
Posted in offshore, Offshore Energy - General, Uncategorized, tagged BOE, Canada, coastline, Columbus Day, EEZ, offshore, Thanksgiving on October 11, 2010| 2 Comments »
In recognition of the earlier fall harvests to our north, Canada celebrates Thanksgiving a month ahead of the US. As a result, Canada’s Thanksgiving coincides with our Columbus Day. So Happy Holiday to folks on both sides of the border, even if you have to work! 🙂
Canada, which is on our minds this week as we get ready for the big conference in Vancouver, is especially significant to our offshore scholars because of its long coastline, by far the longest of any nation (see below and this slightly different Wiki ranking). 80% of the world’s nations have coastlines bordering an open sea, and about 1/3 of all nations have an existing or planned offshore oil and gas program.
Posted in Offshore Energy - General, Uncategorized, tagged Carolita Kallaur, IRF, offshore oil, safety, vancouver on October 7, 2010| Leave a Comment »
There is tremendous benefit from collaboration between governments and between industry and governments working together on a global scale. Half of the remaining oil and gas resources are located offshore, and the demand for energy continues to grow. While each country may have unique societal demands that must be addressed, we also share many common technical and environmental challenges as we continue to explore the deep water. Carolita Kallaur, 2001, London
Carolita Kallaur
Carolita Kallaur’s words ring stronger today than ever, and the need for international cooperation on offshore safety issues has never been clearer. Carolita, who directed the US offshore oil and gas program at the end of her outstanding career with the Department of the Interior, was the spirit of offshore safety. Her highest priorities were improving international standards and working together on safety and pollution prevention matters, and she worked tirelessly to promote these objectives.
Carolita also believed in recognizing outstanding organizations and individuals who demonstrated exceptional commitment to safety achievement. She was instrumental in establishing an awards program in Houston that honored these outstanding leaders.
Shortly after she retired in 2002, Carolita contracted amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, an incurable nervous system disorder that is commonly known as ALS or Lou Gehrig’s disease. She died just before Christmas in 2003. Carolita’s indomitable spirit lives on with an awards program that honors outstanding offshore safety leaders. These awards were first presented at the International Regulators’ Offshore Safety Conference in London in 2005, and were again presented at the second conference in Miami in 2007. The International Regulators’ Forum has completed its latest round of deliberations, and will again be presenting Carolita Kallaur Awards at the Vancouver conference on 18 October.
I look forward to joining international leaders in honoring Carolita’s legacy and recognizing the deserving winners of these prestigious safety awards. See you in Vancouver!
Posted in gas, Offshore Energy - General, oil, tagged Kathryn Klaber, Marcellus Shale, offshore oil, principles, safety on October 4, 2010| Leave a Comment »
While unveiling their “Guiding Principles,” Kathryn Klaber, Executive Director of the Marcellus Shale Coalition, said this:
We’re all in this together. We’re all only as good as whoever had a mistake this morning.
Posted in Offshore Energy - General, oil, UK, tagged Chevron, Deepwater, drilling, offshore oil, UK on October 3, 2010| Leave a Comment »
Greenpeace Photo
It was a choice between producing oil and gas here in U.K. waters, where we have one of the most robust safety and regulatory regimes in the world, with all the economic benefits that will bring, or paying to import oil and gas from elsewhere. UK Department of Energy and Climate Change statement
It’s pretty hard to argue with that logic.
Bud's Offshore Energy (BOE) 