Next week, BOE will rank the 2025 Gulf of America Safety Compliance Leaders according to the number of incidents of non-compliance (INCs) per facility inspection.
How is your company’s safety culture?
Posts Tagged ‘Gulf of America’
Coming next week: 2025 Gulf of America Safety Compliance Leaders
Posted in accidents, Gulf of Mexico, Offshore Energy - General, Regulation, tagged 2025 safety compliance, fewest violations, Gulf of America, safety culture, safety leaders, top operating companies on January 30, 2026| Leave a Comment »
Massive Christmas deal! Harbour Energy acquires LLOG for $3.2 billion.
Posted in Gulf of Mexico, Offshore Energy - General, UK, tagged acquisition, Gulf of America, Harbour Energy, LLOG on December 23, 2025| Leave a Comment »
The UK’s Harbour Energy is acquiring Louisiana’s LLOG Exploration Company for $2.7 billion in cash and $0.5 billion in shares.
“Today’s announcement delivers on Harbour’s long-standing ambition to establish a presence in the deepwater Gulf of America. With LLOG, we found the right combination of high-quality assets and a talented team, providing a strong strategic and cultural fit with our company. The transaction positions us as a leading player in a region with well-established infrastructure, a supportive fiscal and regulatory environment and opportunities for additional growth.”
LLOG was the 6th largest Gulf of America producer of both oil and gas in 2024 with production of 27 million bbls of oil and 34 BCF of gas. LLOG was the high bidder on 11 tracts in the recent BBG1 sale.
Harbour is not currently a Gulf of America leaseholder.
Reuters had reported that Shell was in advanced talks to acquire LLOG. Apparently, either Shell lost interest or Harbour made a more attractive offer.
OCS lease sale BBGI – questions answered
Posted in energy policy, Gulf of Mexico, Offshore Energy - General, tagged BOEM, Gulf of America, OCS Sale BBG1, questions answered, sale results on December 11, 2025| Leave a Comment »
See the updated comparison table in the previous BOE post.
The questions raised prior to the sale have been answered:
- Which majors will be the most active bidders? BP (50 high bids), Chevron (22), and Shell (12)
- Will former Gulf of Mexico stalwarts Exxon and Conoco Phillips participate for the first time in years? They did not.
- How many companies will submit bids? Would like that to be a number >35. Only 30 companies participated.
- How many tracts will receive bids? A number >300 would be very encouraging. Only 181 tracts received bids.
- Will the total high bids exceed $400 million? No, the total was $279.4 million.
- Will we see an increase in shelf interest? Shelf bidding continued to be limited (map). Renaissance, Byron, Arena, GOM Shelf LLC, Walter, W&T, Cantium, and WYOTEX Offshore submitted bids for shelf leases.
- Which independents will be the most active? Woodside and Murphy are large independents, and their participation was most impressive. Murphy submitted 14 high bids totaling $27.4 million. Woodside had 8 high bids including the sale’s two highest for a total of $38.1 million, second only to BP in terms of the sum of their high bids.
See the sale summary data. The top bidders list is pasted below.
Gulf of America lease sale BBG1- beautiful, but not particularly big
Posted in energy policy, Offshore Energy - General, tagged Gulf of America, lease sale, Lease Sale BBG1, Leslie Beyer, Matt Giacona, oil and gas on December 10, 2025| Leave a Comment »
The sale was beautifully conducted by BOEM, and Leslie Beyer – Assistant Secretary for Land and Minerals Management, Dept of the Interior – and Matt Giacona, Acting BOEM Director, delivered strong messages in support of the OCS oil and gas program.
However, as a colleague commented just after the sale, it was beautiful but not big. He and I expected more given the time since the last sale and the attractive terms.
Below is a comparison with the previous 3 Gulf sales. More to follow.
| Sale No. | 257 | 259 | 261 | BBG1 |
| date | 11/17/2021 | 3/29/2023 | 12/20/2023 | 12/10/2025 |
| companies participating | 33 | 32 | 26 | 30 |
| total bids | 2233 | 2842 | 3161 | 219 |
| tracts receiving bids | 2143 | 2442 | 2751 | 181 |
| sum of all bids $millions | 198.5 | 309.8 | 441.9 | 371.9 |
| sum of high bids ($millions) | 101.7 | 263.8 | 382.2 | 279.4 |
| highest bid company block | $10,001,252.00 Anadarko AC 259 | $15,911,947 Chevron KC 96 | $25,500,085 Anadarko MC 389 | $18,592,086 Chevron KC 25 |
| most high bids company sum ($millions) | 46 bp 29.0 | 75 Chevron 108.0 | 65 Shell 69.0 | 50 bp 61.0 |
| sum of high bids ($millions) company | 47.1 Chevron | 108 Chevron | 88.3 Hess | 61.0 bp |
| most high bids by independent | 14-DG Expl. | 13-Beacon 13-Red Willow | 22-Red Willow | 14-Murphy |
1excludes 36 leases improperly acquired for carbon disposal purposes; 2excludes 69 leases improperly acquired for carbon disposal purposes; 3excludes 94 leases improperly acquired for carbon disposal purposes
Only 6 days until the long-awaited Gulf lease sale. Will it be big and beautiful?
Posted in energy policy, Gulf of Mexico, Offshore Energy - General, tagged bp, carbon disposal, Chevron, Gulf of America, Lease Sale 257, Lease Sale 259, Lease Sale 261, Lease Sale BBG1, offshore oil and gas, Oxy, Red Willow, Shell on December 4, 2025| Leave a Comment »
Will the oil and gas lease sale boldly named Big Beautiful Gulf 1 (BBG1) live up to its grand name? Given the more favorable lease terms and the 2 year gap since the last sale, BBG1 should surpass the previous 3 sales (table below). Questions:
- Which majors will be the most active bidders? Chevron? Shell? BP? Oxy/Anadarko?
- Will former Gulf of Mexico stalwarts Exxon and Conoco Phillips participate for the first time in years? Probably not, but US super-majors should participate in the US offshore program.
- How many companies will submit bids? Would like that to be a number >35.
- How many tracts will receive bids? A number >300 would be very encouraging.
- Will the total high bids exceed $400 million?
- Will we see an increase in shelf interest?
- Which independents will be the most active?
- After the not-so-clever carbon disposal acquisitions in the last 3 sales, will the number of carbon disposal bids be zero? For the first time ever, the Federal government felt compelled to stipulate the obvious (see the proposed notice for OCS Sale 262) – that an Oil and Gas Lease Sale is only for oil and gas exploration and development.
See the summary data below for the last 3 Gulf lease sales. We’ll fill in the blanks next week.
| Sale No. | 257 | 259 | 261 | BBG1 |
| date | 11/17/2021 | 3/29/2023 | 12/20/2023 | 12/10/2025 |
| companies participating | 33 | 32 | 26 | |
| total bids | 2233 | 2842 | 3161 | |
| tracts receiving bids | 2143 | 2442 | 2751 | |
| sum of all bids $millions | 198.5 | 309.8 | 441.9 | |
| sum of high bids ($millions) | 101.7 | 263.8 | 382.2 | |
| highest bid company block | $10,001,252.00 Anadarko AC 259 | $15,911,947 Chevron KC 96 | $25,500,085 Anadarko MC 389 | |
| most high bids company sum ($millions) | 46 bp 29.0 | 75 Chevron 108.0 | 65 Shell 69.0 | |
| sum of high bids ($millions) company | 47.1 Chevron | 108 Chevron | 88.3 Hess | |
| most high bids by independent | 14-DG Expl. | 13-Beacon 13-Red Willow | 22-Red Willow |
Time for another look at ultradeep shelf gas in the Gulf?
Posted in natural gas, Offshore Energy - General, drilling, Gulf of Mexico, tagged Blackbeard, Exxon, Freeport-McMoRan, Gulf of America, HPHT, lease sale, natural gas, Newfield, Treasure Island, ultra-deep gas on December 3, 2025| Leave a Comment »
“Natural gas and LNG are fast becoming the gravitational center of the global energy system, but some energy experts said the world is only beginning to grasp the scale of what’s to come.” ~Natural Gas Intelligence
20 years ago Newfield, Exxon, and McMoRan drilled pioneering ultradeep wells targeting gas-prone reservoirs below salt welds in Miocene and older formations (diagrams below). The water depths were <100 feet but well depths exceeding 30,000 feet, and high temperatures and pressures, pushed the limits of drilling technology at the time. Noteworthy wells:
- Blackbeard West (Exxon): Spudded in early 2005 in 70 feet of water in South Timbalier Block 168. The target was gas in Miocene sands at 27,000-32,000 feet total depth. Drilling reached 30,067 feet by 2006, but was prudently suspended due to extreme pressures, temperatures (up to 600°F), and technical challenges with equipment.
- Blackbeard West, part 2: In 2008, McMoRan re-entered the well with upgraded equipment and drilled to a record 32,997 feet below the mudline. They encountered hydrocarbon shows in multiple zones, including potential gas pay in Middle and Deep Miocene sands below 30,000 feet, validating the ultradeep concept.
- Followup McMorRan wells:
- Blackbeard East (2010-2011): Drilled to 33,400 feet in South Timbalier Block 144, logged potential hydrocarbons in Sparta and Vicksburg sands.
- Davy Jones (2009-2010): South Marsh Island Block 230 in 20 feet of water; reached 29,122 feet; discovered gas in Wilcox sands, but faced flow-testing challenges.
- Lafitte (2011): Eugene Island Block 223, found additional pay in ultradeep Miocene zones. These wells targeted gas reservoirs but encountered operational hurdles.
This program pioneered ultradeep drilling on the shelf, influencing later deepwater successes. Over the past 10 years, the deepwater industry has successfully demonstrated high pressure high temperature (HPHT) technology which could facilitate ultradeep exploration on the shelf.
Also, note that a company targeting hydrocarbons below 25,000 feet (true vertical depth subsurface) may earn an additional 3 years on their lease. (See the Notice for next week’s lease sale.) Will improved technology and demand expectations finally open the ultradeep gas frontier?
Gulf production inched closer to 2 million bopd in Sept.
Posted in Gulf of Mexico, Offshore Energy - General, tagged 2 million bopd, Gulf of America, oil production, tropical storms on December 1, 2025| Leave a Comment »
- Sept. production (1.983 million bopd) was the highest since Feb. 2020 (1.995 million bopd).
- Will the 2 million bopd mark be surpassed in the last quarter of 2025?
- The last month with ave. daily production >2 million bopd: Nov. 2019 (2.001million bopd)
- Record high Gulf oil production: Aug. 2019 (2.044 million bopd). That record may soon be surpassed given the ongoing deepwater ramp up.
- Good fortune: complete absence of tropical storm shut-ins
Will bearish oil price forecasts constrain bidding at Gulf lease sale?
Posted in energy policy, Gulf of Mexico, Offshore Energy - General, tagged BBG1, deepwater development, Gulf of America, JPMorgan, oil and gas lease sale, oil price forecast on November 26, 2025| Leave a Comment »
In JPMorgan’s view, the stage is set for a potential decline of as much as 50% in oil prices through the end of 2027, taking Brent crude down to the low $30s per barrel range from its current level of around $63.50.
Will bearish forecasts by JPMorgan and others temper bidding at the highly anticipated, and long awaited, Gulf lease sale to be held on 12/10/2025? Probably not for these reasons:
- This will be the first lease sale in 2 years.
- The terms are very attractive.
- Given the longer term nature of deepwater development, production will not begin for years following lease issuance. Note that anticipated first production for 3 new high-pressure deepwater projects, Kaskida, Sparta, and Tiber, will be 23, 16, and 21 years after the field discovery dates.
- To the extent that price forecasts are reliable at all (see no. 9 in the image below), the degree of uncertainty for longer term forecasts is particularly high.
- The sale has to live up to its name Big Beautiful Gulf 1 (BBG1). 😉
Lucky again in 2025; no tropical storm shut-ins for the 2nd time in 3 years!
Posted in Gulf of Mexico, hurricanes, Offshore Energy - General, tagged 2025 hurricane season, Charles Smith, Gulf of America, Hurricane Andrew, platform shut-ins, tropical storms on November 24, 2025| Leave a Comment »
As was the case in 2023, there were no tropical storm production shut-ins in the Gulf in 2025. Per the chart below derived from BSEE data, only 4 tropical storms caused platform shut-ins in the past 5 years. This lull followed a 6-storm year in 2020.
The Minerals Management Service Technology Assessment and Research Program began closely studying hurricane damage to offshore facilities following Hurricane Andrew in 1992. Dr. Charles Smith was a leader in these efforts. Attached is a comprehensive study report on Andrew’s effects on offshore platforms. Three background paragraphs are pasted below.
The Draft Proposed Leasing Program has been published!
Posted in Alaska, California, energy policy, Gulf of Mexico, Offshore Energy - General, Uncategorized, tagged Alaska, California, Draft Proposed OCS Leasing Program, Florida, Gulf of America on November 20, 2025| 2 Comments »
The press release and full program are linked. It looks like the most recent leaks were accurate. See the maps below with the locations and dates. This will stir the pot!
Bud's Offshore Energy (BOE) 