Looks like the buzz may be warranted:
The well intersected the reservoir about 500 metres below the crest of the structure and penetrated an estimated 500 metre gross hydrocarbon column in high-quality pre-salt carbonate reservoir with an areal extent of greater than 300 square kilometres.
Posted in Offshore Energy - General | Tagged bp, Brazil, Bumerangue block, major oil discovery, pre-salt, Santos Basin | Leave a Comment »
North Sea pioneer, JL Daeschler, reports from Scotland that “more than 13,000 Scots oil and gas jobs have been lost in the space of just one year while over 40% of the UK’s energy needs is being imported ….”
The UK’s self destructive energy policy, while sadly not unique, is particularly troubling because of the North Sea’s enormous contribution to the domestic economy over the past 50 years. As Gillian Bowditch aptly commented:
“We all want to protect our environment and Scotland, with its vast natural resources and expertise in energy, should be leading the way. Instead, we have squandered an opportunity in favour of a facile show of moral posturing.”
Posted in climate, energy policy, Offshore Energy - General, UK | Tagged 13000 jobs lost, JL Daeschler, North Sea, Scotland, UK energy policy | Leave a Comment »
MV Times: “The recent site visit raised questions on the production of the wind farm. The Times has been able to neither verify the report independently nor confirm disparities between visuals on the ground and the Iberdrola report.”
An MV Times photo of a Vineyard Wind substation is pasted below. These substations are large structures. Per the Construction and Operations Plan (COP) for Vineyard Wind, the topsides for a conventional electrical service platform (ESP) (also known as an offshore substation or OSS) are 45 x 70 x 38 m, which is larger in surface area than a typical 6-pile oil and gas platform (~30 x 30 m), and is comparable in size to a large jackup drilling rig.
Decommissioning financial assurance requirements were relaxed to reduce development costs, thus increasing taxpayer liability risks. This policy decision should be reviewed.
Posted in decommissioning, energy policy, Offshore Wind, Regulation | Tagged decommissioning, financial assurance, MV Times, transparency, turbine production data, Vineyard Wind | Leave a Comment »
New Zealand may again issue new oil and gas permits following yesterday’s action by parliament.
The extent to which this will result in new exploration remains to be seen. Increased natural gas production is the primary objective.
USGS (2020) undiscovered resource estimates are encouraging. The fully risked total for natural gas is 17 Tcf (mean), with a range of 7.9 to 31.1 Tcf. See the table pasted below.
Policy shift at a glance:
April 2018: New Zealand is halting all new offshore oil and gas exploration to become a global leader in the fight against climate change, the centre-left government said Thursday, but opponents accused it of “economic vandalism”.
June 2024: The country’s coalition government is preparing to invite energy companies to resume exploration in the three major offshore fields that supply most of its gas. It comes after National Grid operator Transpower was last month forced to warn families to limit their electricity usage to avoid a shutdown during a cold snap.
July 31, 2025: Parliament reverses the law banning new offshore oil and gas exploration permits.
Posted in energy policy, Offshore Energy - General | Tagged New Zealand, oil and gas exploration, resource estimates, reverses ban, USGS | Leave a Comment »
On July 25, 2025, more than 2 months after Sable’s brief production restart and 7 weeks after a court decision halted further production, BSEE surprisingly announced the resumption of Santa Ynez Unit (SYU) production boasting:
“This is a significant achievement for the Interior Department and aligns with the Administration’s Energy Dominance initiative, as it successfully resumed production in just five months.“
Were the authors of the press release unaware that the SYU production, which was largely from well tests, was halted by court order shortly after it began? More philosophically, is such cheerleading appropriate for the principal safety regulator, particularly given that BSEE is engaged in litigation over its practices in facilitating SYU production?
Ironically, just 3 days after BSEE hailed the resumption of production, the attached lawsuit was filed on behalf of investors who purchased Sable Offshore securities between May 19, 2025 and June 3, 2025. BOE contributor John Smith shared the filing.
The plaintiffs allege misleading statements regarding the resumption of production. Some of the key points cited in the filing:
Posted in California, Offshore Energy - General, pipelines, Regulation | Tagged BSEE, investors lawsuit, press release, production restart, Sable Offshore, Santa Ynez Unit | Leave a Comment »
“By rescinding WEAs, BOEM is ending the federal practice of designating large areas of the OCS for speculative wind development, and is de-designating over 3.5 million acres of unleased federal waters previously targeted for offshore wind development across the Gulf of America, Gulf of Maine, the New York Bight, California, Oregon, and the Central Atlantic.”
Posted in energy policy, Offshore Wind | Tagged BOEM, de-designating, designated wind energy areas | Leave a Comment »
On Tuesday morning, the Nantucket Select Board blasted Vineyard Wind and gave the company 2 weeks to respond to their 15 demands. The Nantucket Current provides good coverage of the press conference. The specific demands are listed below.
I observed the press conference on the Town’s YouTube channel, and my sense is that this may be Vineyard Wind’s last chance to amicably resolve these issues. Board member Dawn Hill, who now regrets signing the increasingly unpopular Good Neighbor Agreement with Vineyard Wind, didn’t hold back when she said:
“These wind turbines are bigger, brighter, and much more impactful than we ever thought, and not to mention the environmental hazard from failures. But my choice would be with our new, federal administration to really wake up and try and put an end to these things, because they’re not worth it to the coast of the United States.”
Posted in Offshore Wind, energy policy | Tagged Vineyard Wind, Nantucket, Good Neighbor Agreement, press conference, 15 demands, Dawn Hill | Leave a Comment »
Background: On February 12, 2024, the bankruptcy court approved the sale of certain Cox Operating assets to Natural Resources Worldwide LLC (NRW), a company that “does not mine, drill, or produce minerals, has no operations, and conducts business solely in an office environment.”
NRW contracted with Array Petroleum to operate the former Cox Assets. Array subsequently sued NRW, asserting that NRW received $78,000,000 in revenue, but disbursed only about $48,000,000 to pay Array’s invoices and those of the subcontractor.
The court filing claimed that NRW failed to pay Array $2.5 million, the subcontractors $10.7 million, and the United States $12 million. A large share of the subcontractor costs were probably for well operations given that 21 Array workover applications were approved in 2024 and 2025. The $12 million due to the Federal government is reportedly for royalty payments. Were any revenues set aside for decommissioning liabilities?
Array’s lawsuit was dismissed by the court on January 3, 2025, after a joint motion to dismiss was filed by the defendants. Information on the reasons for the dismissal is not publicly available.
Old platforms: According to BOEM records, Array operates 154 platforms previously owned by Cox. These platforms are in the Ship Shoal, South Marsh Island, and West Delta areas of the Gulf of America. Most are >30 years old and four are more than 70 years old (see chart below). 41 are classified as major structures including 15 of the 26 platforms installed in the 1950s and 1960s. 44 are manned on a 24 hour basis. 79 have helidecks. Massive decommissioning liabilities loom.
Violations: NRW/Array ranks 37th out of 42 companies in GoA oil production (2025 YTD) and 36th out of 42 companies in gas production, but leads the pack in Incidents of Noncompliance (INCs):
| violation type | warnings | component shut-ins | facility shut-ins |
| Array | 311 | 46 | 6 |
| all others | 211 | 164 | 49 |
Lessons that should have been learned from the Cox, Fieldwood, Black Elk, Signal Hill, and other bankruptcies dating back to the Alliance Operating Corp. failure in 1989:
Posted in accidents, California, decommissioning, energy policy, Gulf of Mexico, Offshore Energy - General, Regulation | Tagged Array Petroleum, bankruptcy, Black Elk, Cox Operating, decommissioning, Fieldwood Energy, legacy, Natural Resources Worldwide, old platforms, Signal Hill, violations leader, W&T offshore | 1 Comment »
The attached petition from Save the East Coast Inc. et al requests that NOAA revoke the Empire Wind Letter of Authorization using the emergency authority delineated at 50 C.F.R. § 216.106(f).
This is a strong filing, but revocation would be difficult given the extensive development activity to date and the Administration’s decision in May to allow the project to go forward.
Posted in energy policy, Offshore Wind, Regulation | Tagged Empire Wind, NOAA, petition to revoke LOA, Save the East Coast - NJ | Leave a Comment »
HOUSTON (7/22/2025) – “Quaise Energy, a leading developer of grid-scale superhot geothermal energy, today announced it has successfully drilled to a depth of 100 meters using its proprietary millimeter wave technology at its field site in Central Texas. This achievement sets a record for millimeter wave drilling and marks a major step forward in unlocking the Earth’s vast geothermal energy as a scalable, baseload energy source.“
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Posted in drilling | Tagged drilling record, gyrotron, millimeter wave drilling, Quaise Energy, Star Wars, ultradeep geothermal | Leave a Comment »
Bud's Offshore Energy (BOE) 