Details on the Santa Barbara blowout from last year’s BOE post.
Note that the license covers 22,400 sq km, as compared to ~25 sq km for a typical US offshore lease block.
“In Jamaica, the farm-out of our high impact exploration licence with 2.4 billion barrels of unrisked mean prospective oil resource is picking up pace with a timetable for receipt of indicative offers due in Q2 2023.
In Jamaica, as part of the licence extension that was granted, technical studies that have provided additional positive support to the farm-out process have been completed
United Oil and Gas
Posted in Jamaica, Offshore Energy - General | Tagged Jamaica, United Oil and Gas, Wilson-Morant license | Leave a Comment »
“Former U.S. Rep. David Rivera, a well-connected Florida Republican, has been arrested on federal charges that include failing to register as a foreign agent. The case centers on Rivera’s signing of a $50 million contract with Venezuela’s government in early 2017, and his subsequent attempts to thaw Venezuela’s icy relationship with the U.S.”
NPR
Perhaps Mr Rivera’s conduct at a 2012 hearing on Cuban offshore drilling was a hint of things to come. Mr. Rivera inappropriately pressed BSEE, represented by Lars Herbst, to find ways to “bleed” Repsol should there be an incident while they were drilling in Cuban waters.
“So, we need to figure out what we can do to inflict maximum pain, maximum punishment, to bleed Repsol of whatever resources they may have if there is a potential for a spill that will affect the U.S. coast. So, I hope you will look into that and verify that for us.”
Congressman David Rivera, 2012 Hearing on Cuban offshore drilling
Posted in cuba, energy policy, Regulation, Uncategorized | Tagged BSEE, cuba, Repsol | Leave a Comment »
For the first time in 71 weeks the Strategic Petroleum Reserve has not declined. DOE reports that the SPR was unchanged during the week ending 1/20/2023. The reserve remains at 371.6 million bbls, about 51% of capacity.
Bob McNally, founder and president of the consulting firm Rapidan Energy Group, said any effect on pump prices has been modest.
“Pump prices are largely driven by global crude oil prices,” McNally said in an email. “SPR releases have at most temporary and small impacts on global crude oil prices. Therefore the SPR is a bad tool for trying to manage pump prices.”
Washington Post
Posted in energy policy | Tagged Rapidan Energy, SPR depletion, Strategic Petroleum Reserve | Leave a Comment »
The Honor Roll companies for 2022 (listed alphabetically) are Anadarko (Oxy), bp, Cantium, Chevron, Contango, Hess, LLOG, Murphy, and Shell.
Our criteria:
- Must average <0.3 incidents of noncompliance (INCs) per facility-inspection.
- Must average <0.1 INCs per inspection-type. (Note that each facility-inspection may include multiple types of inspections (e.g. production, pipeline, pollution, Coast Guard, site security, etc). On average, each facility-inspection included 3.25 types of inspections in 2022. Here is a list of the types of inspections that may be performed.)
- Must operate at least 3 production platforms and have drilled at least one well (i.e. you need operational activity to demonstrate compliance and safety achievement).
- May not have a disqualifying event (e.g. fatal or life-threatening incident, significant fire, major oil spill). Due to the extreme lag in updates to BSEE’s incident tables, investigation and news reports are used to make this determination.
- Pacific and Alaska operations will be considered separately.
| oil (million bbls) | gas (BCF) | |
| Shell | 145.8 | 163.5 |
| bp | 82.4 | 57.1 |
| Chevron | 79.4 | 45.2 |
| Anadarko | 59.6 | 50.8 |
| Murphy | 28.1 | 45.5 |
| LLOG | 19.6 | 34.3 |
| Hess | 17.9 | 39 |
| Cantium | 3.9 | 5.3 |
| Contango | 0.02 | 3.5 |
Posted in Gulf of Mexico, Offshore Energy - General, Regulation | Tagged AnadarkoOxy, bp, Cantium, Chevron, compliance leaders, Contango, Gulf of Mexico, Hess, LLOG, Murphy Oil, offshore oil and gas operations, Safety Honor Roll, Shell | 1 Comment »
Nine operating companies have qualified.
Posted in Gulf of Mexico, Offshore Energy - General, Regulation | Tagged compliance leaders, Gulf of Mexico, nine operators, Safety Honor Roll | Leave a Comment »
A rare photo of a Big-Fin Squid, caught on camera on November 11th 2007 by a Shell Oil company ROV, at a depth of 2,386 meters (1.5 miles). This species of Squid dwell at extreme depths, and are characterised by their long, thin tentacles. They can reach almost 20ft long when fully grown.
Hasan Jasim
ROV video:
Of course, much of our knowledge about deepwater biology is attributable to oil and gas exploration and the associated environmental studies. This includes the discovery and study of chemosynthetic communities in the Gulf of Mexico:
Some of the same conditions responsible for petroleum deposits also provide the basis for biological communities that receive energy from chemicals through a process called chemosynthesis (in contrast to photosynthesis that provides energy to terrestrial and shallow-water communities through processes in which sunlight is the basic energy source).
NOAA
Posted in Gulf of Mexico, Offshore Energy - General, Uncategorized | Tagged Big Fin Squid, chemosynthetic communities, Gulf of Mexico, Perdido, Shell | Leave a Comment »
This week’s loss was by a small margin, only 800,000 barrels (down to 371.58 million barrels total), suggesting that the record losing streak may end soon. EIA data
Posted in energy policy | Tagged SPR depletion, Strategic Petroleum Reserve, streak | Leave a Comment »
A firm with a licence to drill for natural gas in Manx waters expects to begin exploratory works in October, its chief executive has said.
Crogga has appointed Three60 Energy to drill an appraisal well to understand how much gas is under the seabed 17km (10.5miles) off Maughold Head.
BBC
Posted in drilling, energy policy, Offshore Energy - General, UK | Tagged Atlantic drilling, exploratory drilling, Isle of Man | Leave a Comment »
The attached NTSB report includes details on the timing of the accident, observations from personnel remaining on the platform, condition of the helipad, nature and location of the debris, and the recovery of the fuselage and separated tail boom. The engine control unit (ECU) was recovered and sent to an NTSB lab for data extraction.
Posted in accidents, Gulf of Mexico, Offshore Energy - General | Tagged 4 fatalities, Bell 407, helicopter crash, NTSB, Rotorcraft, Walter Oil and Gas | Leave a Comment »
