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The U.S. House of Representatives has voted to impose deadlines on the Obama administration to issue offshore drilling permits, as Republicans renew calls for greater amounts of domestic oil production amid rising gasoline prices. Dow Jones
Don’t you have to decide how you are going to regulate before setting deadlines? Now that the House has spoken and the bill is likely to die in the Senate, can we engage in a substantive discussion about how to regulate most effectively and efficiently? Congressional hearings?
Posted in Offshore Energy - General, Regulation | Tagged drilling, Gulf of Mexico, House of Representatives, offshore oil, safety | Leave a Comment »
While US politicians continue to gnash their teeth or express outrage, the International Association of Drilling Contractors (IADC) has been busy promoting constructive dialogue about Cuban exploratory drilling. IADC has overcome major administrative obstacles and arranged for the participation of Cuban regulators in the Environmental Conference which begins tomorrow in Trinidad.
“This will pretty much be the first time the Cuban deepwater drilling project managers will make a presentation of what their regulatory requirements are going to be for the companies that drill in Cuban waters,” said Lee Hunt, president of the Houston-based International Association of Drilling Contractors, which is organizing the conference. Reuters
The Cuba session is scheduled for tomorrow afternoon. I look forward to seeing the news reports and posted presentations.
Posted in conferences, cuba, drilling | Tagged conference, cuba, IADC, offshore drilling, safety, Trinidad | 1 Comment »
A Maersk Oil-owned FPSO which was damaged during heavy storms in the North Sea in February will be out of action for another year as it heads for drydock repairs. Upstream
Posted in accidents, Offshore Energy - General, UK | Tagged FPSO, Gryphon Alpha, Maersk, mooring failures, North Sea, UK | Leave a Comment »
COSCO and Inocean are partnering to build a more compact and cost-effective deepwater drillship.
INO-80 is a compact dynamically positioned drillship with large free deck areas, designed for year-around operations in ultra deep waters. The vessel has well planned utility arrangement with safe and reliable material handling. The hull is shaped for cost efficient and easy fabrication, as well as for challenging conditions during station keeping and transit. INO-80 features for exploration, appraisal and development drilling.
Posted in drilling, Offshore Energy - General | Tagged COSCO, drillship, Inocean, offshore drilling | Leave a Comment »
U.S. District Judge Martin Feldman in New Orleans today ordered offshore energy regulators to act within 30 days on six pending permit applications filed by companies that have contracts with Ensco Offshore Co., the Louisiana drilling company leading the legal challenge to the government’s offshore drilling bans. Bloomberg
Posted in drilling, offshore, Regulation | Tagged Ensco, Judge Feldman, offshore drilling, permits, Regulation | Leave a Comment »
The HSE has told Shell to submit a revised safety case for the Brent Charlie platform after gas was detected on its topsides following leaks on 12 January this year and 27 September 2010, Upstream can reveal.
Shell, which took the decision itself to close the platform after the January incident, has been battling for some time to resolve technically complex issues related to the venting of gas from inside one the platform’s huge concrete legs — Column 1 (C1) — and dispersing it effectively away from the platform.
The operator now expects the ageing Brent field to remain shut down for several more months.
Posted in accidents, Norway, Offshore Energy - General, Regulation, UK | Tagged accidents, gas leaks, HSE, Norway, safety, UK | Leave a Comment »
In a report into the future of energy, the influential Committee on Climate Change calls on the Government to scale back plans to build thousands of turbines off the coast of Britain.
Instead, the report calls for hundreds more wind turbines to be built onshore at a lower cost over the next eight years.Daily Mail UK
On the other hand, offshore locations have stronger, more consistent winds, and minimal aesthetic and noise impacts. Is the public going to accept massive onshore wind development?
I continue to be intrigued by the concept of offshore energy units which integrate natural gas and wind projects to ensure consistent power supply. (See slide below from a presentation by George Hagerman, Virginia Tech Advanced Research Institute)
Posted in Offshore Energy - General, Offshore Wind, Wind Energy | Tagged Committee on Climate Change, George Hagerman, UK, wind turbines | Leave a Comment »
The federal and provincial governments both say they have no plans for offshore oil and gas exploration on B.C.’s coast any time soon. CBS News
Posted in Offshore Energy - General | Tagged British Columbia, Canada, offshore drilling | Leave a Comment »
Mariel Boatlift
Mariel — the town 30 miles west of Havana that was a departure point for more than 100,000 Cubans who left the island in the 1980 Mariel boatlift — is being remade into a servicing hub for the Cuban oil industry of the future. NPR
Posted in cuba | Tagged cuba, offshore drilling | Leave a Comment »
