Posted in Uncategorized on March 5, 2022| 2 Comments »
What are the issues?
Posted in energy policy, Gulf of Mexico, Offshore Energy - General, Russia, Uncategorized, tagged Exxon, Russia, Sakhalin on March 1, 2022| Leave a Comment »
BP, Equinor, and Shell are exiting Russia, but Exxon’s response seems to be something less. Per Upstream:
US supermajor ExxonMobil is scaling back its operations on its flagship offshore development project in Russia’s Sakhalin Island region in response to the fallout from the crisis in Ukraine, according to the Sakhalin Online news website.
A consortium source cited by the Russian website claimed that foreign managers have been told to leave the project for an initial period of one month.
Upstream
Exxon accepted the political risks associated with lucrative Russian production, and they now have a massive moral and public relations dilemma. Will they try to wait this crisis out or take more permanent actions?
It would be nice to see Exxon return to the Gulf of Mexico where they haven’t drilled a well since 2019. Currently, Exxon’s primary interest in the Gulf is for carbon sequestration purposes. Perhaps they can focus more on the Gulf’s still promising production potential and less on its potential as a disposal site.
Posted in energy policy, Norway, UK, Uncategorized, tagged bp, Equinor, Norway, Russia, UK on February 28, 2022| Leave a Comment »
On Sunday, the Norwegian government announced that its sovereign wealth fund, the world’s largest, wwould divest its Russian assets, worth around 25 billion Norwegian crowns ($2.80 billion).
Reuters
“In the current situation, we regard our position as untenable,” Equinor Chief Executive Anders Opedal said in a statement. “We will now stop new investments into our Russian business, and we will start the process of exiting our joint ventures in a manner that is consistent with our values.”
Reuters
British oil giant BP said Sunday that it is “exiting” its $14 billion stake in Russian oil giant Rosneft over Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine in one of the biggest signs yet that the Western business world is cutting ties over the Kremlin’s invasion of Ukraine.
Washington Post
Posted in accidents, Uncategorized, tagged FPSO fire, Nigeria, SEPCOL on February 7, 2022| Leave a Comment »
Ikemefuna Okafor, the executive officer of Shebah Exploration & Production Company Ltd (SEPCOL), the vessel owner, said late Sunday “three crew members have been found alive in the community”.
Barron’s
Posted in Uncategorized on January 21, 2022| Leave a Comment »
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged gratitude on January 14, 2022| Leave a Comment »
Gratitude and positive messaging should be incorporated into safety management plans.😃
Posted in energy, Health, Norway, Regulation, Uncategorized, tagged Industri Energi, Norway, Oilfield workers, vaccine mandate on January 13, 2022| Leave a Comment »
A Norwegian union representing offshore oil and gas workers has criticized Aker BP’s process to introduce a Covid-19 vaccine mandate for its offshore employees.
offshore-energy.biz
“We agree that we must protect our employees and our suppliers in the best possible way, but it also requires that we are involved in how it should happen and how our employees and suppliers are taken care of in this process.”
Ingard Haugeberg, Industri Energi
Seems like a reasonable position on the part of the workers. As previously reported, many US oilfield workers are skeptical of the vaccine mandate and have warned that they will quit.
Posted in decommissioning, rigs-to-reefs, Uncategorized, tagged rigs-to-recreation, rigs-to-resorts, rigs-to-rides, rigs-to-roar, Saudi Arabia on January 9, 2022| Leave a Comment »
Per our 10/20/2021 post about this Saudi recreation venture, below is a nice promotional video. This greatly exceeds what we had envisioned many years ago!
Posted in energy policy, Gulf of Mexico, Offshore Energy - General, Uncategorized, tagged DOE, drilling trends, energy justice, oil discoveries, oil price forecast, Rystad on January 4, 2022| 2 Comments »
Declines in drilling activity and discoveries suggest that higher real oil prices are on the horizon. We may be fortunate enough to escape significant price hikes and supply disruptions over the next couple of years, but they are coming.
Rystad’s not-so-cheery pre-Christmas press release reported that, on a volume basis, 2021 oil and gas discoveries had sunk to the lowest level in 75 years.
US offshore trends are even more troubling. Per BOEM’s database, no deepwater fields were discovered in 2021 and there were only 2 discoveries in the past 3 years (see chart below). HartEnergy reports 5 announced discoveries in 2021, none of which has been determined by BOEM to be commercially producible. Regardless of the status of those 2021 determinations, recent discoveries have not been sufficient to reach and sustain GoM production volumes at the 2019 peak (August) of 2.044 million BOPD. 2019 was the first year since 1982 without a confirmed deepwater discovery and the trend (below) is not encouraging. Schlumberger data through 2016 indicated GoM depletion rates greater than 20%, and the subsequent low discovery rates do not bode well for future production trends.
You can’t make discoveries without drilling and only 9 companies drilled deepwater GoM exploratory wells in 2021 (34 wells total). With the Pacific in decommissioning mode, the Atlantic and Eastern GoM off-limits, limited options offshore Alaska, and the decline of the GoM shelf, the deepwater GoM is the only important US offshore production option. The exploration numbers below are therefore concerning.
The shale revolution made the US a net oil exporter, but skepticism about shale production forecasts suggests the need for other supply sources. Given the shale uncertainty and the unrealistic expectations regarding the energy transition, greater US dependence on imported oil is on the horizon. This bodes well for OPEC, but not so well for US and international consumers.
Meanwhile, the US Dept. of Energy shows no evidence of concern about oil and gas production. Although oil and gas account for about 70% of our energy consumption, there has been no mention of either on the DOE homepage for months. DOE does express a strong interest in “energy justice.” Perhaps they can explain how increased imports and higher energy prices benefit the poor. They should also explain how oil imports are environmentally and economically superior to domestic oil and gas production, when the reality is exactly the opposite.
Posted in Offshore Energy - General, Uncategorized, tagged offshore safety regulators on January 1, 2022| Leave a Comment »
As we enter 2022, BOE salutes the outstanding Minerals Management Service (MMS) professionals who retired from the successor bureaus in 2021:
With very few exceptions, the career staff in the US offshore program are highly competent and dedicated to their safety, environmental, and resource management missions. I have also found this to be true for the professionals occupying similar positions elsewhere in the offshore world. Cultures, legislation, policies, and practices differ, but the objectives and commitment are similar.
Bud's Offshore Energy (BOE) 