Northern Endurance Partnership (bp, Equinor, and Total) has been awarded the UK’s first permit to “store” CO2 beneath the North Sea.NEP plans to begin construction in the middle of 2025 with start-up expected in 2028 (bet the over!). Climate solution or costly virtue signaling at the public’s expense?
Fortunately, from the standpoint of US consumers and taxpayers, the push for carbon disposal in the Federal waters of the Gulf of Mexico has stalled, perhaps permanently. Oct.1 marked the 2 year anniversary of the 94 leases improperly acquired by Exxon at Sale 257 for carbon disposal purposes. Those leases will expire in 33 months (with the remaining 105 rogue leases expiring 1-2 years later) barring another legislative maneuver by industry advocates.
All of the previously posted questions about carbon disposal in the Gulf of Mexico remain, and most apply elsewhere. In particular, detailed cost-benefit analyses and risk assessments for these projects have not been provided. The intended permanency of offshore, subsurface carbon disposal raises complex monitoring, maintenance, liability, and decommissioning issues.
What are the carbon disposal proponents selling and why should governments be buying? If CO2 emissions are a significant threat to society (and informed opinions differ), is carbon disposal a cost effective solution?Policy decisions on subsidies for carbon disposal will be a good indication of how serious the new administration is about cutting Federal spending.
199 GoM oil and gas leases were wrongfully acquired for carbon disposal purposes. At Sale 261, Repsol acquired 36 nearshore Texas tracts in the Mustang Island and Matagorda Island areas (red blocks at the western end of the map above). Exxon had acquired 163 nearshore Texas tracts (blue in map above) at Sales 257 (94) and 259 (69).
The Town of Nantucket calls on you to help safeguard one of the nation’s most treasured National Historic Landmarks. We ask that you contact the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation (ACHP) and the Massachusetts State Historic Preservation Officer (SHPO) to urge them to decline signing the Section 106 Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) for SouthCoast Wind. Section 106 requires federal agencies to consider the effects on historic properties of projects they carry out, assist, fund, permit, license, or approve throughout the country, and to find ways to avoid, minimize, or mitigate adverse effects on those properties.
Former Dept. of the Interior and House Natural Resources Committee attorney, Jack Coleman, has been elected Mayor of his hometown, Rosedale, Mississippi. Jack is also restoring a historic distillery in Rosedale.
It’s great to see a former colleague making such important social and economic contributions following his “retirement.”
On average, solar produces full power 25% of the time, whereas wind does so 35% of the time.
Without fossil fuels, Texas would need to scale up its wind and solar capacity by 3.4x and energy storage by 42.4x just to meet the average hourly demand.
Despite these high values for renewables and 5 GW of firm nuclear power, the system only meets demand 76% of the time, equivalent to 176 days over the two-year period when generation and storage fall short.
Even with a 5x overbuild and corresponding 10x in storage capacity, only 88% of demand can be fully satisfied, not considering transmission challenges.
Just meeting the average demand, with a 3.4x capacity expansion, would require more than 50,000 km2 of land, equivalent to the size of Lake Michigan.
Timeframe for government and industry actions following the 2005 hurricane season.
Optimally, the regulator establishes clear objectives for the operating companies and a schedule for achieving those objectives. This approach was demonstrated with great success following the 2005 hurricane season (Katrina and Rita) when numerous mooring system and other stationkeeping issues were identified.
Minerals Management Service Director Johnnie Burton sent a letter (attachment 1) to industry leaders calling for a face-to-face meeting with Department of the Interior Secretary Gale Norton. The Secretary outlined her concerns and informed offshore operators that there would be no drilling from moored mobile drilling units or jackup rigs during the next hurricane season until the issues identified during Hurricanes Katrina and Rita were addressed.
The collaborative effort that followed was a resounding success (2nd attachment). In addition to addressing station keeping concerns, a comprehensive list of hurricane issues was developed. Industry and government then worked together to assess mitigations and develop new standards and procedures. The essential MODU standards were completed before the 2006 hurricane season, and all of the related concerns were effectively addressed prior to the 2009 hurricane season. Had the government elected to promulgate regulations to address all of these issues, much of this work would have never been completed.
BusinessWire: “These turbines destroy our culturally sacred viewshed, destroy our traditional and historic fishing grounds, and threaten the continued existence of the North Atlantic right whale,” said William “Buddy” Vanderhoop, a member of the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head.
“We are known as ‘The People of the First Light,’” said Tribal Chairwoman Cheryl Andrews-Maltais. “The unobstructed eastern view of the ocean from our ancestral lands from Nantucket, Cape Cod, Martha’s Vineyard (‘Noepe’) and southeastern Massachusetts is inextricably intertwined with who we are as a people and our cosmology, and is essential to our spiritual beliefs and practices.”
The attached BSEE document provides guidance for determining pollution inspection frequencies for unmanned facilities. Thoughts:
Reasonable risk-based approach
A minimum of bi-weekly visual and physical inspections for low risk platforms producing dry gas
Any platform with significant oil production and storage, and no real time monitoring system, will have to be visually inspected at least every 3 days (daily if other risk factors apply) and boarded weekly
Any platform that had spillage totaling > 1 bbl in the past 2 years will have to be visually inspected every other day and boarded weekly.
Provides for the application of technology (cameras, drones, innovative monitoring systems) to reduce inspection frequencies.
“GE Vernova is aiming to deploy small nuclear reactors across the developed world over the next decade, staking out a leadership position in a budding technology that could play a central role in meeting surging electricity demand and reducing carbon dioxide emissions.“
Jens Christiansen offers this explanation for the absence of bids for wind leases offered in the recent Danish sale:
“The value of offshore wind energy in Denmark has declined.
The capture price remains consistently lower than the market price throughout 2024. When the wind blows, the market saturates and the capture price drops This is why the latest offshore wind tender yielded nothing.”
A related BOE post points to the sharp decline in bids for US offshore wind leases.
Bud's Offshore Energy (BOE) 