Posted in energy policy, Gulf of Mexico, Offshore Energy - General, tagged December 2024, Gulf of America, large increase, new deepwater platforms, oil production on February 28, 2025| Leave a Comment »
Actually, the latest data are for December 2024, so that was before the name change. It’s a nice story nonetheless, very patriotic.😉
Most likely, the jump in production is related to increased output from the new deepwater facilities we have been following.
Posted in energy policy, Gulf of Mexico, Offshore Energy - General, tagged Argos, beyond petroleum, bp, Gulf of America production, increase oil and gas investments on February 28, 2025| Leave a Comment »
BP has announced it will cut its renewable energy investments and instead focus on increasing oil and gas production.
The energy giant revealed the shift in strategy on Wednesday following pressure from some investors unhappy its profits and share price have been lower than its rivals.
BP said it would increase its investments in oil and gas by about 20% to $10bn (£7.9bn) a year, while decreasing previously planned funding for renewables by more than $5bn (£3.9bn).
It’s more than okay to be an oil and gas producer – no need to apologize or pretend to be something else. Oil and gas are, and will continue to be, essential to economies worldwide. Companies should focus on safely and cleanly achieving production objectives.
If a company thinks other types of energy investments make good business sense, they should engage in those activities. However, they should not do so to curry favor with anti-oil factions who can never be placated. Attempts to do so will only weaken your company.
BP is doing well in the Gulf of America – no. 2 producer in 2024.
Posted in California, energy policy, Offshore Energy - General, tagged Environmental Defense Center, Exxon, pipeline permits, Sable Offshore, Santa Barbara County, Santa Ynez Unit on February 27, 2025| Leave a Comment »
The Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors tie vote on the transfer of permits from Exxon to Sable has both sides declaring victory! (And I thought I was the only one who was confused!)
Per Noozhawk:
“During Wednesday’s meeting of the county Planning Commission, Lisa Plowman, director of Planning & Development, expressed uncertainty about the future of the permits and said the split vote meant that the board took no action.
“We are in the process of (…) determining what that actually means in the long run for Sable and the opponents,” Plowman said.”
“The county has not in recent memory had a tie vote under this section. The county is looking into what happens next.”
Sables’ take: “Sable is pleased the appeals failed and the Planning Commission’s approval of the Santa Ynez Unit permit transfer to Sable stands. We look forward to continuing to work with the county to finalize the permit transfer and to safely restarting production as soon as possible.”
Environmental Defense Center’s take: “We applaud the Board of Supervisors’ decision to NOT transfer permits to Sable to operate a defective pipeline and dangerous processing facilities on our shores.”
Just when you thought this couldn’t get more complicated!😖😣
Posted in Gulf of Mexico, Offshore Energy - General, Offshore Wind, tagged biological opinion, BOEM, court order, deadline, NTL, rescinded, Rice's whale on February 27, 2025| Leave a Comment »
Although Rice’s Whale lease stipulations were deleted from Sale 261 leases by court order, similar NTL restrictions remained in effect for all oil and gas operations in the Gulf of America. Those NTL restrictions, some of which may be excessive and premature, have now been rescinded.
A previous post compared the Rice’s Whale restrictions applicable to Gulf oil and gas operations with the less onerous Right Whale restrictions for the Atlantic wind industry.
Of course, this is not the end of the Rice’s Whale dispute. A Federal judge in Maryland has ordered the National Marine Fisheries Service’s (NMFS) to prepare a new biological opinion that better protects the Rice’s whale. The deadline for the new biological opinion was extended to May 21, 2025. After that date, no new Gulf leases may be issued and no new operating plans may be approved pending a new biological opinion that is acceptable to the Court.
Stay tuned.
Posted in California, Offshore Energy - General, tagged Exxon, pipeline, Sable Offshore, Santa Barbara County, Santa Ynez Unit on February 26, 2025| Leave a Comment »
SANTA BARBARA, Calif. — A controversial oil project on California’s Central Coast remains unresolved after the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors deadlocked 2-2 on a vote regarding a permit transfer for a pipeline linked to the 2015 Refugio oil spill. The stalemate means Sable Offshore Corp.’s application remains pending without approval or denial, leaving the next steps up to the company.
“They still have a pending application with no action taken on it,” said Kelsey Gerckens Buttitta, public information officer with Santa Barbara County. “It hasn’t been approved or denied. It’s now up to Sable to decide what to do next.”
Posted in California, energy policy, Offshore Energy - General, tagged Exxon, Sable Offshore, Santa Barbara County, Santa Ynez Unit, transfer of ownership on February 25, 2025| Leave a Comment »
Per the Daily Compounder on X:
The Board voted 2-2 to uphold the approval of the transfer of permits from Exxon to Sable. The tie vote meant the appeal of the previous approval failed.
Interestingly, one of the Supervisors reportedly slammed the California Coastal Commission for being politically motivated and abusing the law.
Posted in California, Offshore Energy - General, pipelines, tagged Exxon, Independent, production restart, pros and cons, Sable Offshore, Santa Barbara County, Santa Ynez Unit on February 25, 2025| Leave a Comment »
The Santa Barbara Independent has published a long, balanced article on Sable’s Santa Ynez Unit production restart which has reached a critical juncture. Today (2/25/2025), the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors will be asked to approve the transfer of the project from Exxon to Sable.
This will be the Board’s “first and last chance to have any influence over restarting the pipeline, and thus allowing the three offshore platforms to begin drilling again.” (Expect initial production to be from existing wells supplemented over time with new drilling, well workovers, and recompletions.)
The Board has limited authority in this matter: “The county’s legal advisors and energy planners have told the supervisors that there are no grounds to say no. It is not up to them to determine whether Sable’s liability insurance is enough to cover the costs of a reasonable worst-case oil-spill scenario; it’s only up to them to ascertain whether Sable has filed a certificate of insurance with the proper state agency.“
“All the essential questions regarding the pipeline’s safety measures are in the hands of California state agencies, headquartered in cities far away, with names so confusing that even people working there can’t tell you what the acronyms mean.” (see Regulatory fragmentation)
Interesting tidbits: “Danielson (the Sable representative) let me know that he would not be answering these questions. He was cordial, but he was not happy about a recent Independent story featuring attorney Linda Krop of the Environmental Defense Center perhaps Sable’s most implacable and formidable opponent, expounding in an unchallenged format on what a threat the pipeline still posed. Interviewing Krop was Victoria Riskin, herself a committed anti-oil advocate. Actress and Montecito resident Julia Louis-Dreyfus — of Seinfeld and Veep fame — apparently liked the article enough to send it to her social media followers.“
Below are the pros and cons of the SYU restart as cited by the Independent. (Clarification: The 10 billion bbl oil reserves number (“pros” slide) is at least an order of magnitude too high and is perhaps a typographical error. BSEE’s June 2023 data sheet (excerpt pasted at the end of this post) indicates remaining oil reserves of 190 million bbls for the 3 SYU fields. Adding the gas reserves ups the total to 243 million bbls of oil equivalent (boe). Additional reserves could likely be confirmed with new extended reach wells, but anything more than 1 billion bbls would be highly unlikely. Sable’s investor presentation (p.5) indicates 646 million bbl of Remaining Total Net Estimated Contingent Resources.)
Posted in Mexico, Offshore Energy - General, tagged Bay of Campeche, Ku-Maloob-Zaap complex, Mexican offshore production, Pemex, pirates, platform security, platforms attacked on February 20, 2025| Leave a Comment »
Mexico’s state-owned oil company, Pétroleos Mexicanos (Pemex), has confirmed an attack on a platform in the Ku-Maloob-Zaap (KMZ) oil complex located off the coast of Campeche state.
From the Pemex statement:
Not mentioned by Pemex, but reported elsewhere:
Posted in accidents, Canada, Offshore Energy - General, tagged 84 fatalities, Grand Banks, Hibernia, Newfoundland, Ocean Ranger, tragedy on February 18, 2025| Leave a Comment »
Posted in California, energy policy, Offshore Energy - General, pipelines, tagged permitting, Sable Offshore, Santa Barbara County, Santa Ynez Unit on February 17, 2025| Leave a Comment »
Sable’s stock soared on Thursday following a favorable Santa Barbara County decision (letter pasted below).
Sable’s path is still rocky. Decommissioning specialist John Smith notes that “Sable faces a number of permitting obstacles not to mention litigation by the Environmental Defense Center and others who are committed to trying to stop the SYU restart. The next hurdle will be a Feb 25 Santa Barbara County hearing on an appeal of the ownership transfer from XOM to Sable. And we should not overlook the OCS related litigation on ownership transfer, SYU Development and Production Plan updates, and Court ordered prohibition on fracking absent a Fracking EIS and consultation.”
The County’s letter is pasted below. Note the diverse responsibilities of this SBC division: Energy, Minerals, Compliance & Cannabis 😀
Bud's Offshore Energy (BOE) 