Archive for the ‘Offshore Energy – General’ Category
This Nord Stream scenario is credible, but the big question is “who,” not “how”
Posted in Offshore Energy - General, pipelines, Russia, tagged explosions, Nord Stream, pipelines, who did it? on November 28, 2022| Leave a Comment »
Well Control Rule commenters
Posted in Offshore Energy - General, Regulation, well control incidents, tagged BSEE, commenters, Well Control Rule on November 22, 2022| Leave a Comment »
Per Regulations.gov. BSEE received 30 comments on the proposed revisions to the Well Control Rule, 25 of which have been posted. The other comments were presumably deemed inappropriate for posting per the guidance at Regulations.gov.
Two of the responses were submitted collectively by 8 industry trade associations. Only 3 operating companies commented and their comments largely echoed the trade association responses. Only 2 drilling contractors responded independently. Four service and engineering companies commented.
Three environmental organizations, a group of Atlantic states, a government watchdog, and a law school provided comments.
Three individuals and 4 anonymous or unknown parties commented.
Below is a list of the respondents preceded by their comment identifiers. More to follow.
- 0003 Foley Engineering
- 0004 Frank Adamek
- 0005 Anonymous
- 0006 Project on Government Oversight (POGO)
- 0007 E.P. Danenberger
- 0008 Chevron
- 0009 B. Mercier
- 0010 Anonymous
- 0011 Anonymous
- 0012 Foley Engineering (2nd comment)
- 0013 HMH (?)
- 0014 NYU School of Law
- 0015 Beacon Offshore
- 0016 Shell
- 0017 Diamond Offshore
- 0018 7 industry trade associations: API, IADC, IPAA, NOIA, OOC, EWTC, USOGA
- 0019 NOV (service company)
- 0020 NRDC
- 0021 Oceana
- 0022 Transocean
- 0023 Louisiana Mid-Continent Oil & Gas Association
- 0024 Kinetic Pressure Control Limited
- 0025 Attorneys General of Maryland, Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New York, and North Carolina
- 0026 Ocean Conservancy
- 0027 Rigscope International
Which Sale 257 bid was rejected?
Posted in CCS, Gulf of Mexico, Offshore Energy - General, tagged BHP, CCS, Gulf of Mexico, Lease Sale 257, rejected bid on November 21, 2022| Leave a Comment »
On September 14, 2022, BOEM announced that 307 high bids from Lease Sale 257 in the Gulf of Mexico were accepted. BOEM also announced that one high bid was rejected for not providing the public with fair market value. BOEM has not identified the rejected bid.
Per BOEM’s Lease Area Block Online Query file, 306 Sale 257 leases were effective on Oct. 1, 2022. A comparison of these data with the sale results identified 2 Sale 257 leases that have not been awarded:
| lease | block | high bidder(s) | bid | comments |
| G37261 | GC 70 | BHP | $3.6 million | lone bid; 7th highest bid in sale |
| G37294 | GC 777 | BP (75%), Talos (25%) | $1.8 million | 2 bids; next highest $1.185 million |
So one of these 2 bids was rejected and the other has lease not yet been awarded for some reason (or perhaps there has been a clerical/IT issue).
Which bid was rejected? I would guess it was the BHP bid even though that bid was the 7th highest bid in the entire sale. The fact that this bid was $2.5 to $3 million higher than the other 7 BHP bids (all of which were accepted) tells us that the company valued this tract highly. Perhaps BOEM, which has all of the geologic data, thought the value was even higher, which is why the bid may have been rejected.
There was another bidder (Chevron) for the BP/Talos tract, so the competition makes it less likely that the bid would have been rejected.
Ironically, the 94 carbon sequestration bids, which made something of a mockery of the lease sale, could not be rejected on fair market grounds. The bids exceeded the minimum required, and the tracts have little or no value from an oil and gas production standpoint. A competitive process would be require to repurpose these leases for carbon sequestration.
Stemming the decline in deepwater Gulf of Mexico exploration?
Posted in Gulf of Mexico, Offshore Energy - General, tagged bp, Chevron, ConocoPhillips, deepwater exploration, Exxon, Gulf of Mexico, Hess, LLOG, Murphy, Shell, Talos, Woodside on November 18, 2022| Leave a Comment »
Was 2021 the low point? Hopefully that is the case, but consistent leasing is essential.
Looks like Woodside is now officially the GoM operator of record (was BHP prior to merger). Kudos to them.
Shell continues to be the GoM bellwether. There is no OCS program without them.
What’s up with BP and Chevron? Big declines from both.
US super-majors Exxon and ConocoPhillips remain out of the picture, both in terms of lease acquisition and exploration. Disappointing.
Tip of the hat to Hess, LLOG, Murphy, and Talos – independents committed to deepwater production.
Nord Stream explosives confirmed
Posted in energy, Offshore Energy - General, pipelines, Russia, tagged explosives, Nord Stream, Sweden on November 18, 2022| Leave a Comment »
Sweden’s prosecutor’s office said Friday that an investigation into gas leaks from two underwater pipelines connecting Russia to Germany found traces of explosives, confirming that it is a case of “serious sabotage.”
CNBC
RIP Mike Conner, deepwater safety leader
Posted in Gulf of Mexico, Offshore Energy - General, Regulation, Uncategorized, tagged BSEE, deepwater production, DWOP, Mike Conner, MMS on November 16, 2022| Leave a Comment »
On Monday, the offshore world lost Mike Conner, an outstanding engineer and a major contributor to the success of the US offshore program.
Mike is the person most responsible for the Deepwater Operations Plan (DWOP), a pioneering safety-case approach to regulating deepwater oil and gas development. The DWOP program was initiated 30 years ago and facilitated deepwater production at a time when there were no deepwater-specific regulations or standards. Innovative tension leg platform, compliant tower, spar, production semisubmersible, and subsea projects would not have been possible without the DWOP program. 93% of Gulf of Mexico oil production and 76% of the gas is now attributable to deepwater production facilities. Thanks in large part to the DWOP program, these facilities have had a nearly flawless safety and environmental record.
While his obituary is no yet available, this link announces Mike’s well-deserved selection for the OTC Heritage Award in 2017, and provides good information on Mike and his career.
2021 Flaring Intensity – 10 largest flaring nations vs. US Gulf of Mexico
Posted in climate, flaring and venting, Gulf of Mexico, Offshore Energy - General, tagged flaring, flaring intensity, Gulf of Mexico, World Bank on November 15, 2022| Leave a Comment »
Using the World Bank’s worldwide flaring data and ONRR flaring and venting data for the GoM, I compared GoM flaring intensity for 2021 with that of the World Bank’s top ten flaring nations. This is just one example of why US offshore production is a preferred and vital component of our energy mix.
Further discussion: Kudos to the World Bank for their use of satellite data to estimate flaring volumes worldwide. Their primary performance indicator is flaring intensity (volume flared per bbl of oil produced). Absent better worldwide reporting regimes, satellite data are essential. However, there are issues with the World Bank’s system that merit further consideration:
- Satellites miss some flares and vented gas (a more significant GHG concern) is not detected
- A prior review of Gulf of Mexico data indicated that the World Bank flaring estimates are low.
- The flaring intensity indicator penalizes higher gas-oil ratio (GOR) wells. Production upsets of the same duration yield higher flaring intensity scores at higher GOR facilities.
- Associated gas is an environmentally favorable energy source that should not be discouraged. Most Gulf of Mexico gas production is now from oil wells. Efficient collection and utilization is the key.
- There will always be some production upsets that result in flaring. The objective should be to minimize the % of oil-well and gas-well gas that is flared, irrespective of the amount of oil production. See the recent GoM summary data posted here and here.
Comments on revisions to BSEE’s Well Control Rule
Posted in Offshore Energy - General, Regulation, well control incidents, tagged BSEE, comments, Well Control Rule on November 10, 2022| Leave a Comment »
Comments on the proposed revisions to BSEE’s Well Control Rule are due on Monday (11/14/2022). My comments were submitted yesterday, and I have attached a copy for those who might be interested. Bud
Is Israel (plus Cyprus and Lebanon) the Guyana of natural gas?
Posted in energy policy, Guyana, Offshore Energy - General, pipelines, tagged Cyprus, Eastern Mediterranean, Israel, Lebanon, natural gas on November 9, 2022| Leave a Comment »
100+ tcf and the discoveries keep coming. Here’s the latest:
London, 7 November 2022 – Energean plc is pleased to announce that i) the Zeus 01 exploration well has made a commercial gas discovery of 13 bcm ii) contingent resources at Athena have been upgraded following post-well analysis; and iii) the Stena IceMax drilling rig has moved to block 23 to drill the Hercules structure, the final well in Energean’s 2022 drilling campaign.
OK, but what do you think about the revisions to the Well Control Rule? 😀
Posted in Offshore Energy - General, Regulation, well control incidents, tagged BSEE Director, comments, Well Control Rule on November 23, 2022| Leave a Comment »
Diverse input on proposed regulations is healthy and desirable. However, comments should not be posted at Regulations.gov unless (1) the commenter is identified and (2) the comments include at least one sentence about the regulation being proposed.
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