Posts Tagged ‘Doug Burgum’
Informative Sable update; Burgum and Wright to visit
Posted in California, energy policy, Offshore Energy - General, Regulation, tagged California, Chris Wright, Doug Burgum, finances, oil and gas reserves, production, Sable Offshore, Santa Ynez Unit, update on June 4, 2026| Leave a Comment »
Those who have been following the Santa Ynez Unit saga should take a look at Sable’s informative PowerPoint update (attached). The presentation includes reserve data, well operation plans, production forecasts, financial and legal updates, and regional energy supply information.
Also, Sable CEO Jim Flores has announced that Energy Secretary Wright and Interior Secretary Burgum will be visiting the project this week. Transportation Secretary Duffy was also expected, but he will not be attending.
Details of US agreement with TotalEnergies to end offshore wind projects
Posted in energy policy, Offshore Energy - General, Offshore Wind, tagged $1 billion, Attentive, Carolina Long Bay, Doug Burgum, leases terminated, LNG, New York Bight, Offshore Wind, Total on March 24, 2026| 1 Comment »
Per the Dept. of the Interior:
- TotalEnergies commits to invest approximately $1 billion—the value of its renounced offshore wind leases—in oil and natural gas and LNG production in the United States.
- Following their new investment, the United States will reimburse the company dollar-for-dollar, up to the amount they paid in lease purchases for offshore wind.
- Specifically, TotalEnergies will invest $928MM, in the following projects in 2026:
- The development of Train 1 to 4 of Rio Grande LNG plant in Texas;
- The development of upstream conventional oil in Gulf of America and of shale gas production.
- Following theseTotal investments, the U.S. will terminate the following leases and reimburse the company:
- Lease No. OCS-A 0535 (now 0545). The lease is located in Carolina Long Bay area. This lease was fully executed by TotalEnergies Renewables USA, LLC on June 1, 2022, after payment of $133,333,333.
- Lease No. OCS-A 0538. The lease is located in the New York Bight area. The lease was fully executed by Attentive Energy, LLC on May 1, 2022, after payment of $795,000,000.
- Total pledges not to develop any new offshore wind projects in the United States.
Comments:
- This is a good deal for Total.
- They grossly overpaid for these leases during an offshore wind bidding frenzy.
- In particular, the bid of $795 million for the New York Bight lease seemed irrational even at the time of the sale (more so now).
- Construction had not begun on either wind project.
- The LNG project looks like a good investment, and there are good opportunities to buy into deepwater and onshore shale projects.
BOE energy news update
Posted in California, CCS, climate, energy policy, natural gas, Offshore Energy - General, Uncategorized, tagged BOEM, BSEE, California Coastal Commission, carbon capture, Doug Burgum, Grok climate crisis, Santa Ynez Unit, shale gas on April 7, 2025| Leave a Comment »
Santa Ynez Unit items (thanks to John Smith for the links):
- Sable lawyers respond to Coastal Commission Staff Report
- Major LA Times article on Sable: reasonably well balanced; Linda Krop gets the last word (as always 😉); surprised that they didn’t talk about the OS&T and the early days of the SYU.
- Coastal Commission is coming to Santa Barbara (hIde your ORVs 😉)
- CBD sues BOEM and BSEE separately. If BOEM and BSEE were combined (as they should be), litigation would be more efficient 😉
Cuts in carbon capture spending coming? These are cuts that both climate activists and skeptics can support.
In a peer reviewed paper, AI (Grok-3) debunks the man-made climate crisis narrative.
Doug Burgum: Hydraulic fracturing technology is “one of the reasons why the U.S. shale revolution is a miracle. But that miracle keeps on getting better and better. It’s the thing that has literally turned around the economy.” Posted here 15 years ago: Natural Gas Bonanza – Why Aren’t We Celebrating?
Interior Secretary Burgum directs BOEM to hold first Gulf of America oil and gas lease sale by end of year
Posted in energy policy, Gulf of Mexico, Offshore Energy - General, tagged 2025, Doug Burgum, energy policy, Fox News, Gulf of America, oil and gas lease sale on April 4, 2025| Leave a Comment »
The announcement was during an interview this morning (4/4/2025) with Lawrence Jones on Fox News, and is consistent with expectations and the current 5 year leasing plan.
SECRETARIAL ORDER NO. 3418: Unleashing American Energy
Posted in decommissioning, energy policy, Offshore Energy - General, Regulation, tagged 5 year leasing plan, bop requirements, decommissioning, Doug Burgum, financial assurance, SECRETARIAL Order 3418, US Dept. of the Interior, well contro on February 5, 2025| Leave a Comment »
Of particular interest are mandated reviews of the:
- RIsk Management and Financial Assurance Rule: Those who want to gut this rule should come to the table with proposals that better protect the taxpayer from decommissioning liabilities. Pretending that decommissioning financial risks don’t exist or that they are someone else’s (or the govt’s) problem is unacceptable.
- 5 Year leasing program – This review is urgently needed. See this and this!
- BOP/Well Control Rule – This keystone safety rule has undergone multiple reviews in recent years. Because of the rule’s importance, further review for continuous improvement purposes may nonetheless be warranted. Here are the blog comments on the current version of the rule.
Not on the list, but should have been: A review of the fragmented regulatory regime for offshore pipelines, and the outdated and inconsistent regulations.
These 18 senators voted against the confirmation of Doug Burgum as Secretary of the Interior
Posted in energy policy, Offshore Energy - General, tagged 18 opposed, confirmation vote, Doug Burgum, offshore energy, US Dept. of the Interior on January 31, 2025| Leave a Comment »
The Secretary of the Interior is, by far, the most important offshore energy official in the Federal government. Yesterday, Doug Burgum was easily confirmed to be the next Secretary. Nonetheless, the following 18 senators chose to vote against his confirmation:
Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum’s confirmation hearing
Posted in energy policy, Offshore Energy - General, Offshore Wind, tagged confirmation hearing, Doug Burgum, Secretary of the Interior on January 17, 2025| Leave a Comment »
Burgum on offshore oil and gas lease sales: “The fact that during the current administration the lease sales have been so unpredictable and disruptive, and the fact that they’re projecting forward to have among the fewest we’ve ever had, almost would guarantee that we would see a decline in energy production in offshore in the years ahead because of the lead times.”
Thoughts on the appointment of Doug Burgum as Secretary of the Interior
Posted in CCS, energy policy, Offshore Energy - General, Regulation, tagged Bakken Shale, carbon disposal, Chris Wright, Doug Burgum, Energy Czar, Gulf of Mexico, North Dakota, offshore oil, Secretary of the Interior on November 19, 2024| Leave a Comment »
- The Secretary of the Interior is the most important energy production position in the US govt, particularly for the offshore sector.
- In recent years energy policy has been increasingly influenced (if not directed) by White House staff, most notably the White House Climate Office. Given that Burgum will also lead the new created National Energy Council, direction from White House staffers or other departments should not be an issue.
- Burgum should work effectively with Dept. of Energy appointee Chris Wright, an engineer who understands energy production.
- There is no apparent Republican dissent, so Burgum should have no problem being confirmed.
- All of the offshore policy forecasts in the post-election post still stand.
- Burgum is currently the Governor of North Dakota. Some energy production stats for the state:
- 2023 oil production: 435,080,323 bbls. ND is the 3rd leading oil production state behind TX and NM. Most ND production is from the Bakken formation (shale).
- ND ranks 4th if the OCS, for which Bergum will soon be responsible, is included. The OCS ranked 2nd in oil production, behind only TX, despite seemingly being managed to fail.
- 2023 gas production: 1.2 tcf. ND ranks 10th in natural gas production.
- Current number of active drilling rigs: 39
- Wind: In 2023, wind was the second-largest electricity generating source in ND behind coal. At the beginning of 2024, ND had about 4,000 megawatts of installed wind power generating capacity.
- What about carbon sequestration (disposal)?
- As Governor, Burgum supported CCS projects that could be lucrative for North Dakota.
- As Interior Secretary and Energy Czar, he will have to consider the high Federal subsidy costs, efficacy, and net environmental benefits.
- Companies looking to benefit from publicly financed CCS projects will lobby hard for Federal support. Budget hawks and most environmental activists will be strongly opposed. It will be interesting to see who prevails.
- This blog has consistently opposed offshore carbon disposal.
Bud's Offshore Energy (BOE) 