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Posts Tagged ‘Beacon’

FPUs rule! Add Shenandoah and Salamanca to the producing list; bp commits to Tiber.

Posted in Gulf of Mexico, Offshore Energy - General, tagged , , , , , , , , , , on October 3, 2025| Leave a Comment »

Salamanca FPU (Repsol photo)

Every deepwater platform installed since Feb. 2018, when Chevron installed its Big Foot tension leg platform (TLP), has been a Floating Production Unit (aka FPU or production semisubmersible). During that period, no new SPARs, FPSOs, or TLPs were installed.

The list (below) of these simpler, safer, greener FPUs has grown by two with the initiation of production at Shenandoah and Salamanca. Note the water depth range from 3725 to 8600 ft.

platformoperatorwater depth (ft)first production
AppomattoxShell7400May 2019
King’s QuayMurphy3725April 2022
VitoShell4050Feb 2023
Argosbp4440April 2023
AnchorChevron4600Aug 2024
WhaleShell8600Jan 2025
ShenandoahBeacon5840July 2025
SalamancaLLOG6405Sept 2025

The efficiencies achieved with the simpler platform designs combined with the high pressure (>15,000 psi) technology developed over the past 2 decades is facilitatihg production from the highly prospective Paleogene (Wilcox) deepwater fans. (For those interested in learning more about the geology, see the excellent presentation by Dr. Mike Sweet, Univ. of Texas, that is embedded in this post.)

With bp’s commitment to Tiber, 3 new high-pressure projects, ala Chevron’s Anchor, are in the pipeline:

platformoperatorwater depth (ft)discovery datefirst production
Kaskidabp600020062029
SpartaShell470020122028
Tiberbp413020092030
All of the operators note the cost-saving similarities in their FPU designs. For example, Vito and Whale are very much the same despite the 4550′ difference in water depth.

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Only 10 active rigs in the Gulf of America

Posted in drilling, energy policy, Gulf of Mexico, Offshore Energy - General, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , on September 3, 2025| Leave a Comment »

Deepwater Titan, Gulf of America

The latest Baker Hughes Rig Count Report shows only 10 rigs actively drilling in the Gulf. All are at deepwater locations – 7 in the Mississippi Canyon area, 2 in Green Canyon, and 1 in Alaminos Canyon. Per the BSEE borehole file, Shell accounts for most of the current MS Canyon wells and the Alaminous Canyon well. Beacon is also drilling in the MS Canyon, and the Green Canyon well appears to be a Chevron operation.

This current rig count, which has hovered between 9 and 12 all year, is troubling if you are concerned about long-term production. By comparison the Gulf rig count reached 22 last year and was 100+ during the 10 year period from 1994 to 2003.

Only Anadarko/Oxy, Beacon/BOE, BP, Chevron/Hess, Shell, and Talos have spudded deepwater exploratory wells in 2025 YTD. Arena and Cantium are the only shelf drillers – all development wells.

Technological advances and extensions of past discoveries have sustained Gulf production, but declines are certain over the longer term if drilling activity doesn’t increase. Oil price uncertainty is an issue, but that’s always the case. Semiannual lease sales are now legislatively required and the terms will be attractive, so those issues are off the table. Let’s see what the bidding looks like at the upcoming sale.

The decline in deepwater discoveries (BOEM data below) is particularly discouraging. Per BOEM, the last deepwater field discovery was in March 2023.

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These Gulf of Mexico operators did not incur a single civil penalty payment from 2019-2022

Posted in Gulf of Mexico, Offshore Energy - General, Regulation, tagged , , , , , on September 14, 2023| Leave a Comment »

Impressively, 4 GoM operators with significant production and well activity did not incur a single civil penalty payment during the most recent 4 year period. Each of these operators also had low incident of noncompliance (INC) to inspection ratios. The companies are as follows:

Operator2022 oil production (million bbls) 2022 oil production rank2022 gas production (bcf)No. of platformsNo. of well starts (2019-2022)
Hess21.6746.535
Kosmos8.5147.8subsea tiebacks 6
Beacon7.21512.2subsea tiebacks4
Cantium4.7196.18637
  • All of these companies deserve kudos.
  • Cantium’s record is especially impressive given that most of their platforms were installed more than 40 years ago and some date back to the 1950s. They have also been a very active development well driller.
  • Hess is the 7th biggest oil producer and 5th biggest gas producer in the GoM. Hess CEO John Hess made some encouraging comments (pasted below) about the deepwater GoM at a recent energy conference.
  • While Kosmos and Beacon have somewhat lower violation and penalty exposure because their production is via subsea wells tied back to surface facilities operated by other companies, they are demonstrating that entrepreneurial deepwater independents can also be safety leaders.

“The Pickerel-1 prospect was our first (exploration well on the Mississippi Canyon 727) and we are delighted that it was an oil discovery. Black Pearl will be the next and that will hopefully be a tieback (to Tubular Bells with first oil expected mid-2024).

“Then we have a wildcat opportunity (the Vancouver exploration prospect) later in the year in the Green Canyon. With the other 80 exploratory blocks that we have in the Gulf, we will be actively drilling for the next several years,” Hess said.

OilNow

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Gulf of Mexico rig count is showing some life

Posted in drilling, Gulf of Mexico, Offshore Energy - General, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on April 27, 2023| Leave a Comment »

Based on drilling contractor rig activity reports, the table below lists 19 deepwater MODUs under or soon to begin contracts in the GoM. (Further details are pasted at the end of this post.) Per the Valeris report, platform rigs are operating on bp’s Thunder Horse and Mad Dog platforms. Per the BSEE borehole file, Arena and Cantium continue to drill development wells on the GoM shelf.

Rig NameOperator
Deepwater TitanChevron
Deepwater AtlasBeacon
Deepwater PoseidonShell
Deepwater PontusShell
Deepwater ProteusShell
Deepwater Conquerornot disclosed
Deepwater ThalassaShell
Deepwater AsgardMurphy
Deepwater InvictusWoodside
Globetrotter IShell
Globetrotter IIShell
Faye KozackQuarterNorth
LLOG
Kosmos
Stanley LafosseMurphy
Valaris DS-18Chevron
Valaris DS-16Oxy
Ocean BlackHornetbp
Ocean Black Lionbp
Aurigabp
Velabp
Beacon

Excerpts from rig activity reports:

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Lease Sale 259 Top Ten: Chevron’s surges, BP is bullish on the GoM, Shell steady, Equinor awakens, Beacon sees the light, OK for Oxy, Red Willow surprises, Hess rebounds, Woodside has BHP, Houston means Energy!

Posted in Gulf of Mexico, Offshore Energy - General, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , on March 31, 2023| Leave a Comment »

companyno. of Sale 259 high bids
(Sale 257 in parentheses)		total Sale 259 high bids
($ millions)
Chevron75 (34)108
BP37 (46)46.7
Shell21 (20)20.1
Equinor16 (1)18.3
Beacon13 (4)9.0
Anadarko (Oxy)13 (30)8.6
Red Willow13 (5)3.8
Hess12 (2)8.3
Woodside12 (8)6.3
Houston Energy8 (5)11.6
from BOEM data

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Coming to the Gulf of Mexico to work for BOE (the E&P company, not the blog 😀)

Posted in drilling, Gulf of Mexico, Offshore Energy - General, tagged , , , , , on May 23, 2022| Leave a Comment »

Transocean Deepwater Atlas

The drilling business, particularly the deepwater sector, has never been for the faint of heart, and the past few years have included the added stresses of COVID, negative oil prices, anemic exploration activity, and offshore leasing “pauses.” Transocean nonetheless managed to build two 8th generation drillships, the Deepwater Atlas and Titan, both of which are slated to operate in the Gulf of Mexico.

The Atlas will begin drilling for Beacon Offshore Energy (unrelated to the BOE blog 😀) in the Shenandoah field (almost heaven?😀) later this year. The Titan is expected to begin drilling for Chevron next year. The rigs will be outfitted with 20,000 psi blowout prevention equipment and will be well-equipped for the growing number of high pressure prospects in the Gulf. Here is Transocean’s promotional video for the two rigs.

Both Beacon and Chevron fared well on our Gulf of Mexico scorecard. A bit of information about Beacon (BOE):

  1. Wholly owned by funds managed by Blackstone Energy Partners.
  2. CEO Scott Gutterman was previously the CEO of LLOG.
  3. There are a number of related investment partnerships under the Beacon umbrella and they are often joint lease owners.
  4. Per BOEM data, BOE has interest in 11 Gulf of Mexico leases.
  5. The company has an excellent compliance record: 12 facility inspections (presumably all were drilling units) resulted in only 1 INC (violation).
  6. Per BSEE, Beacon had 22 well starts since 2008. (Mystery: While the Blackstone and Beacon websites indicate that the company was formed in 2016, BSEE’s online borehole file shows 10 well starts prior to that year with the exact same company name. Presumably, the borehole file data are in error because BOEM data do not show any Beacon lease interest prior to 2018.)
  7. Beacon bid on one tract in Lease Sale 257 (Nov. 2021) and was the sole bidder (sale was voided by DC Federal Court).
  8. Beacon bid on 3 tracts in Sale 256 (Nov. 2020) and was the high bidder on one.
  9. Beacon acquired interest in 2 leases in Sale 254 (March 2020), 7 in Sale 252 (March 2019), and 2 in Sale 251 (Aug. 2018)
  10. In February 2022, Blackstone reportedly advised clients that they would no longer invest in oil and gas projects. Presumably, that doesn’t affect the Beacon operations (or perhaps the folks at Blackstone have come to their senses 😀).

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