Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category
Ouch!
Posted in oil spill response, Uncategorized, Wind Energy, tagged bird killed by turbine, oiled bird on April 16, 2025| Leave a Comment »
BOE energy news update
Posted in California, CCS, climate, energy policy, natural gas, Offshore Energy - General, Uncategorized, tagged shale gas, BOEM, BSEE, Santa Ynez Unit, carbon capture, California Coastal Commission, Doug Burgum, Grok climate crisis on April 7, 2025| Leave a Comment »
Santa Ynez Unit items (thanks to John Smith for the links):
- Sable lawyers respond to Coastal Commission Staff Report
- Major LA Times article on Sable: reasonably well balanced; Linda Krop gets the last word (as always 😉); surprised that they didn’t talk about the OS&T and the early days of the SYU.
- Coastal Commission is coming to Santa Barbara (hIde your ORVs 😉)
- CBD sues BOEM and BSEE separately. If BOEM and BSEE were combined (as they should be), litigation would be more efficient 😉
Cuts in carbon capture spending coming? These are cuts that both climate activists and skeptics can support.
In a peer reviewed paper, AI (Grok-3) debunks the man-made climate crisis narrative.
Doug Burgum: Hydraulic fracturing technology is “one of the reasons why the U.S. shale revolution is a miracle. But that miracle keeps on getting better and better. It’s the thing that has literally turned around the economy.” Posted here 15 years ago: Natural Gas Bonanza – Why Aren’t We Celebrating?
Congratulations to SEACOR Marine and Proceanic – 2025 NOIA Safety in Seas Award winners
Posted in Offshore Energy - General, Uncategorized, tagged Culture of Safety, NOIA, Proceanic, Safety in Seas Award, Safety Practices, Seacor Marine on April 7, 2025| Leave a Comment »
Every year since 1978, Safety in Seas Awards have been presented at NOIA’s Annual Meeting. This is the world’s oldest, and in my opinion, most prestigious safety award program for the offshore energy industry.
Last week NOIA presented the Safety Practices Award to Proceanic and the Culture of Safety Award to Seacor Marine. These comments from NOIA President Erik Milito sum up the selections nicely:
“The Safety in Seas awards spotlight an industry-wide truth: safety isn’t just a priority—it’s the heartbeat of what we do. SEACOR Marine and Proceanic exemplify this ethos with extraordinary resolve. SEACOR’s relentless safety culture, driven by innovative tools and a zero-incident vision, and Proceanic’s pioneering Mini-ROV inspections, safeguarding lives and assets with remarkable precision, reflect the best of our collective mission. Their leadership amplifies a broader tide of excellence, where every company, every worker, and every breakthrough pushes us toward a safer, stronger offshore future. We honor them, and we extend our deepest gratitude to all entrants—each one a vital contributor to a safer, more resilient offshore industry.”
As a Safety in Seas judge for many years, I can assure you that the selections are based solely on the award criteria and supporting data, and that the process is free from interference or campaigning. As is normally the case, there were many outstanding nominations.
I recommend that you review NOIA’s announcement for more information. You may also want to contact the companies directly to learn more about their safety programs. Industry adaptability is one of the selection criteria for both awards.
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Posted in Uncategorized on April 6, 2025| Leave a Comment »
It’s always great to spend time with former colleagues
Posted in energy policy, Offshore Energy - General, Uncategorized, tagged Minerals Management Service on April 5, 2025| Leave a Comment »
Great people who were dedicated to the OCS program’s safety, environmental, and resource management missions! Much wisdom was shared! 😉
Exploratory drilling for freshwater offshore Nantucket
Posted in drilling, Uncategorized, tagged Brandon Dugan, freshwater lenses, IODP, Mark Willett, Nantucket, NSF, offshore freshwater, shelf hydrogeology on March 26, 2025| Leave a Comment »
Excerpt from the expedition summary:
The northeast coast of the United States is perhaps the best understood example of an offshore freshwater system, and multiple studies have been undertaken to determine the origin and volume of offshore freshwater. Coring and sampling the subseafloor offshore Massachusetts, USA, will provide data for understanding the processes driving emplacement of freshwater lenses offshore New England and elsewhere globally, and lead to a better understanding of this worldwide hydrogeological phenomenon. This is essential for protection and sustainable management of offshore freshwater systems and for better understanding biogeochemical and elemental cycling in continental shelf environments.
With regard to the potential freshwater resources (from the Nantucket Current):
“I’m just excited about the science, and that finally, after all these years, someone’s trying to get the truth,” said Nantucket Water Department director Mark Willett. “Computers predicted it. Everybody thinks it’s there. These guys are the first ones in the world who are going to go drill a hole and prove it.”
Willett and (lead scientist Brandon) Dugan are particularly intrigued by the possibility that the offshore freshwater aquifer could be connected to a lower, untapped aquifer beneath Nantucket that Willett calls “ancient glacier lake Nantucket.”
“If it is connected and it’s young water that’s being recharged actively today, that’s really exciting, because it’s a renewable source,” Dugan said.
Deepwater “Space Station” – science or geopolitics?
Posted in energy policy, Uncategorized, tagged China, deepwater habitat, disputed waters, geopolitics, hydrates, Lockheed one atmosphere chamber, natural blowouts, Proteus, seep ecosystems, Sentinel, South China Sea, underwater space station on March 18, 2025| Leave a Comment »
China plans to build an “Offshore Space Station” 2,000 meters below the ocean surface in the South China Sea. The plan is to complete the station, which will accommodate 6 scientists, by 2030.
This is by far the deepest water for which a subsea human habitat has been proposed. By comparison, the planned Proteus (Fabien Cousteau) underwater station will be in just 20 meters of water off the northeast coast of Curaçao. A Sentinel/UK habitat is planned for depths up to 200 meters in the Mediterranean.
The primary focus of the deepwater South China Sea facility will reportedly be the study of deepwater seep ecosystems which are rich in marine life and deposits of methane hydrates. Hydrates are an energy resource that has much potential. However, because of the risk of uncontrolled methane releases and seafloor instability, there is limited support for the production of hydrate methane.
A deepwater science station near hydrates and methane seeps would be a dangerous operating environment given the potential for methane blowouts and cratering caused by destabilized hydrates. Given that nearly all of the research could be conducted safer and cheaper with Autonomous Underwater Vehichles (AUVs) and advanced robotics, the scientific value of a deepwater station seems questionable.
The offshore oil and gas industry considered subsea habitats in the 1970s but has since abandoned the idea. Lockheed designed a one atmosphere seafloor chamber (diagram below) that was installed in the Gulf in 1972 at a water depth of 375 ft.
Dry chamber well and production systems lost favor because of concerns about flooding, high costs, and safety risks associated with transporting workers to the chambers and placing them in close proximity to “live” wells and production equipment.
Perhaps the main drivers for China’s deepwater “space station” are geopolitical. Taiwan, Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia, and Brunei reject Beijing’s claims of sovereignty and each claim parts of the South China Sea (see map below).
By establishing a seafloor community in a strategic location, China could strengthen its highly questionable claim to the entire South China Sea. China would also have reason to increase Navy vessel activity in disputed waters to support and defend their subsea community.
This will be a project to watch if it actually goes forward.
Mars vs. Mars
Posted in drilling, Gulf of Mexico, Offshore Energy - General, Uncategorized, tagged deepwater development, deepwater drilling, Gulf of America, planet Mars, Shell Mars, space vs. offshore, SpaceX on March 11, 2025| Leave a Comment »
In light of the recent NASA/SpaceX advances in rocketry, a manned mission to Mars seems inevitable, perhaps within the next 5 years. See the SpaceX Mars landing video below.
While the space program generates more media buzz given the sci-fi appeal, the achievements of the offshore oil and gas industry are similarly impressive. The Gulf of America has its own Mars, a massive deepwater project that has been ongoing and expanding for 30 years, and may ultimately produce more than 1 billion barrels of oil equivalent (boe).
Like a mission to Mars, the successful development of deepwater oil and gas resources is a technical marvel that requires:
- Identifying prospects deep beneath the seafloor using advanced subsurface imaging capabilities.
- Drilling exploratory wells from floating rigs, using advanced stationkeeping systems that maintain a precise location on the water surface.
- Drilling deep beneath the seafloor while transmitting real-time geologic, temperature, and pressure data to the rig and distant onshore locations.
- Ensuring well integrity by installing and cementing multiple strings of protective casing.
- Processing production at buoyant surface facilities designed to withstand worst case storm conditions.
- Connecting clusters of subsea wells to a host surface facility that may be many miles away.
- Increasing ultimate recovery with reservoir engineering studies and advanced well completion practices.
Life on the planet Mars will be dependent on technology developed for the offshore Mars and other deepwater projects.
Wow! New direction for the Washington Post
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged free markets, Jeff Bezos, new direction, personal liberties, Washington Post on February 26, 2025| Leave a Comment »
Jeff Bezos (owner) has informed Washington Post staff, that the focus of opinion pieces will now be on personal liberties and free markets.
German elections: Strong showing by the AfD (Alternative für Deutschland), but significant change seems unlikely
Posted in energy policy, Uncategorized, tagged AfD, CDU, coalition, eastern Germany, energy policy, fracking, German elections, nuclear energy, renewable energy on February 23, 2025| Leave a Comment »
The nominally conservative CDU has vowed not to form a coalition with the “far-right” (actually conservative libertarian) AfD, and will thus have to join hands with the left-leaning SPD and Greens. This doesn’t bode well for the significant changes many believe are needed.
On the plus side for AfD supporters, the party’s growth in just 8 years has been most impressive:
- 2017: AfD – 0 seats (4%)
- 2021: AfD – 94 seats (12%)
- 2025: AfD – 150+ seats (20%)
AfD was dominant in the East which fears a return of the Marxism they experienced prior to the “Wende.”
AfD’s energy policy (p.77) seems pretty sensible given the supply and cost challenges facing Germany. A few highlights:
- The AfD supports “Protection of the Environment”, but not the “German Climate Protection Policy” and plans for “decarbonization” and the “Transformation of Society”. They want to end the perception of CO² as an exclusively harmful substance and stop Germany’s maverick policy in the reduction of CO² emissions.
- Because the average output is so variable, renewable energy generators are not viable replacements for conventional large power stations.
- Renewable sources necessitate a massive expansion of the electric grid systems and jeopardize grid stability.
- Fracking: Explore Opportunities and Risks, Involve Citizens
- Nuclear Energy: Explore Alternatives, Grant Lifetime Extensions in the Interim
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