Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged legislation, offshore oil, oil spill, safety, Senate Energy and Natural Resources, well control | Leave a Comment »
-The duration of the Montara blowout was 75 Days. Ironically, Day 76 of the Macondo blowout will be the 4th of July.
-Eleven days have elapsed since the Montara Report was presented to Minister Ferguson, who has apparently retained his cabinet position in the new government. Now that the cabinet has been settled, perhaps there will be more public clamor for the report?
-Cap Summit in DC? – According to Admiral Allen, government and industry experts will convene on Wednesday to decide whether to change the collection cap. Other designs would provide a better seal and facilitate higher recovery rates via free-standing risers, but the well would flow unabated during the changeover.
-More Macondo irony: Since the oil spilled is “avoidably lost,” royalties will presumably be due on both the oil spilled and the oil “produced” at Macondo. However, for fields in water depths greater than 800m, the Deepwater Royalty Relief Act of 1995 exempts the first 87.5 million barrels of oil equivalent from Federal royalties. Court interpretations of this poorly written legislation have determined that this relief must be applied on a lease (not field) basis, making the royalty exemption much more generous. Ironically, Kerr McGee (now part of Macondo partner Anadarko) filed the law suit that resulted in this favorable decision for industry. MMS, which has been repeatedly (and incorrectly) denounced for being “too cozy with industry,” fought hard for the less generous interpretation.
Posted in accidents, well control incidents | Tagged 76, Australia, blowouts, BOE, Deepwater Royalty Relief Act, macondo, Montara, offshore oil | Leave a Comment »
From Offshore Magazine
The deepwater Jubilee field development offshore Ghana is on track to deliver first oil late in 2010, according to partner Tullow Oil.
Tip-of-the-hat to Ghana which advanced in the World Cup at the expense of my Yanks. They deserved the win.
In a recent update, Offshore Magazine says Ghana ” is fast becoming one of the E&P bright spots for offshore Africa.” I hope representatives from Ghana are able to join us at the International Regulators’ Offshore Safety Conference in October.
Good luck to Ghana in the next round of the World Cup!
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Africa, Ghana, Jubilee, offshore oil | Leave a Comment »
A coalition of nine individuals, environmental organizations and the project’s primary opposition group, the Alliance to Protect Nantucket Sound, filed a lawsuit yesterday in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C. They claim the U.S. Department of Interior violated a host of federal laws in granting Cape Wind permission to build 130 wind turbines in the Sound.
Posted in Offshore Wind, Wind Energy | Tagged Cape Wind, Offshore Wind, Wind Energy | Leave a Comment »
The House Energy and Commerce Committee has posted a discussion draft of the Blowout Prevention Act of 2010. A hearing is scheduled for 30 June.
Posted in accidents, well control incidents | Tagged accidents, Blowout Prevention Act, blowouts, Deepwater Horizon, macondo, oil spill, safety, well control | 1 Comment »
Hurricane Juan - "Sudden Storm" killed 9 offshore workers in 1985
The offshore industry has an outstanding hurricane evacuation record, but the Macondo blowout adds a significant new dimension to the decision making process. Disconnect the production risers and 35,000 to 60,000 bopd flow directly into the Gulf. Suspend the relief wells and the final Macondo solution gets moved that much farther into the future.
There will be pressure to minimize the downtime and that would be a mistake. Days, not hours, will be needed to prepare for the evacuations. Decisions will have to be made well in advance of a storm’s arrival and will be based on less reliable long-term weather forecasts. If a shutdown decision is made too soon, hundreds of thousands of additional barrels of oil pour into the Gulf. If the decision is delayed, lives are threatened.
The most frightening scenarios are associated with “sudden storms” which can form in or near the Gulf and explode into hurricanes in hours, not days. The rapid formation and development of these storms precludes an orderly shutdown and evacuation process, and poses a major safety threat to workers. In 1985, nine offshore workers were killed when Hurricane Juan formed suddenly in the Gulf and personnel could not be safely evacuated.
Let’s hope that the well is brought under control before any hurricanes enter or form in the Gulf. If not, decision makers need to exercise extreme caution and shutdown operations before lives are threatened.
Posted in accidents | Tagged accidents, blowouts, Deepwater Horizon, Gulf of Mexico, hurricanes, macondo, offshore oil, oil spill, safety, sudden storms | Leave a Comment »
Kudos to the National Academies and the very distinguished panel of experts who will be advising the government on the best approach for regulating offshore wind turbines.
I look forward to speaking to them next week.
Posted in Offshore Wind, Wind Energy | Tagged NAS, Offshore Wind, Regulation, safety, Wind Energy | Leave a Comment »
The Mimosa Dancing Girls strip joint on the edge of New Orleans was probably not what BP chairman Carl-Henric Svanberg had in mind when he promised last week that the company would look after the “small people” affected by the Gulf oil spill. But then every day seems to be full of unpleasant surprises for BP.
Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment »
As some of you know, my wife wouldn’t let me name our wonderful daughter Elmer IV (or even Elmira!). This disappointment has now been completely forgotten thanks to the stunning announcement that the Department of the Interior’s newest bureau has been named after our modest blog. Congratulations have been pouring into BOE headquarters from around the world.
We don’t know how the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement got shortened to BOE. Have Management, Regulation, and Enforcement already lost status? Nonetheless, BOE Senior is flattered by the endorsement and welcomes its namesake (BOE Junior?) to the BOE family 🙂
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged BOE | 1 Comment »
