MMA data as of noon ET today.
Posts Tagged ‘hurricanes’
Isaias looks like a problem for the Eastern Gulf; 25% of oil production shut-in
Posted in Gulf of Mexico, hurricanes, Offshore Energy - General, tagged hurricanes, Isaias, oil production, shut-in production on October 7, 2026| Leave a Comment »
GoM production: 2 million barrels per day in Sept!
Posted in energy policy, Gulf of Mexico, hurricanes, Offshore Energy - General, tagged 2 million bopd, Argos, Gulf of Mexico, hurricanes, oil production, Vito on November 30, 2023| Leave a Comment »
Per EIA, September Gulf of Mexico production averaged 2 million bopd on the button! New production from Vito and Argos were no doubt contributors, as production reached the 2 million bopd mark for only the third month in the history of the OCS program. The other 2 months were in 2019.
Imagine what US offshore production might be if the OCS oil and gas program was actually managed to succeed!
Also, as the official hurricane season comes to a close today, we are fortunate in that there have been no production shut-ins from tropical storms in 2023.
Eye on the tropics
Posted in hurricanes, tagged hurricanes, Joe Bastardi, tropical storm on August 27, 2022| Leave a Comment »
I fully expect feature number 4 to be a TC by Wednesday and Hurricane by Friday as it threatens the NE Caribbean first. Eventual track toward Bahamas SE US in 10-15 day period. Feature in Africa develops, stays way out. 1,2,3 weaker right now
Joe Bastardi Twitter
For the heretics who have doubted climate evangelists like Al Gore, John Kerry, and AOC, and who continue to support responsible offshore production…..
Posted in climate, hurricanes, Offshore Energy - General, Uncategorized, tagged Al Gore, AOC, climate, hurricanes, John Kerry on May 3, 2022| Leave a Comment »
BOE Update: News and Views
Posted in accidents, cuba, drilling, Florida, Offshore Energy - General, tagged Australia, BOEMRE, BOP, Cairn, Coast Guard, FLNG, Greenland, hurricanes, Mariner Energy, NOAA, Shell on May 31, 2011| 1 Comment »
News: BOEMRE releases report on the September 2010 Mariner Fire in the Gulf of Mexico.
BOE Comments:
- Good report and relatively timely. Nice job by the team.
- Good discussion of the heater-treater and production safety issues.
- This was a very serious incident and lives were jeopardized. Sadly, no oil spill means no public attention.
- Why didn’t the Coast Guard participate in the investigation? Will they be reporting on the haphazard evacuation?
- Age old question: Is the rather extensive discussion of violations appropriate for an accident report? Should violations and enforcement actions be managed independently from accident investigations?
News: Shell takes a FLNG.
BOE: Floating liquefaction facilities open interesting possibilities for producing natural gas in remote offshore locations, possibly including the arctic. The first FLNG facility will be 488 m from bow to stern! Offshore to the future!
BOE: Lots of posturing and not much in the way of meaningful proposals from either party. Unlike Australia, the US has not responded to its blowout with necessary legislative action, most notably the establishment of a single offshore safety and pollution prevention regulator.
News: BOP innovation.
BOE: Engineers solve problems when given the opportunity and encouragement. JL Daeschler is busy at the drawing board!
News: Greenland rolls on. despite Greenpeace protests. Cairn Energy has begun a second summer of drilling.
Views: Last summer’s results must have been sufficiently encouraging to justify further exploration.
Views: Last summer’s results must have been sufficiently encouraging to justify further exploration.
News: Hurricane season officially begins tomorrow.
BOE: There has been surprisingly little public discussion about the offshore industry’s preparations. Hopefully, everyone is ready.
BOE: Where is the worldwide commitment from industry and government? This problem can and must be fixed!
Update: 2011 Atlantic hurricane season forecast
Posted in Offshore Energy - General, tagged 2011, forecasts, hurricanes on May 13, 2011| Leave a Comment »
Earth Networks: 13 to 14 named storms, with 7 to 8 becoming hurricanes and 4 becoming major hurricanes.
Colorado State University: 16 named storms, with 9 becoming hurricanes and 5 becoming major hurricanes.
Probabilities per Colorado State:
— A 72 percent chance that at least one major hurricane will make landfall on the U.S. coastline in 2011.
— A 48 percent chance that a major hurricane will make landfall on the U.S. East Coast, including the Florida peninsula.
— A 47 percent chance that a major hurricane will make landfall on the Gulf Coast from the Florida Panhandle west to Brownsville, Texas.
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration: expected to issue its forecast May 19
Hurricane Damage, Decommissioning, and Macondo
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged deco, Gulf of Mexico, hurricanes, macondo on February 25, 2011| Leave a Comment »
from Offshore
Mark Kaiser (LSU) has published a nice summary in Offshore Magazine of the damage to Gulf of Mexico facilities from recent hurricanes and the associated decommissioning challenges.
Comment: Hurricane issues were an enormous challenge for the offshore industry and regulators in the five years prior to Macondo. Did the focus on hurricane damage and repairs increase the risk of a drilling incident? Not directly, but hurricane issues were the primary concern of industry and governmental personnel during that period. Resources that might have addressed other identified needs (e.g. cementing standards) were necessarily involved with hurricane projects.
The Gulf of Mexico hurricane season is over
Posted in Offshore Energy - General, tagged Gulf of Mexico, hurricanes, macondo, offshore oil, safety on December 13, 2010| Leave a Comment »
Based on the chart above, I think we can now safely declare that the 2010 hurricane season is over. While the threat of tropical storms posed some problems for the Macondo response, the Gulf of Mexico was spared any significant damage or suspensions of production.
During the post-Macondo discussion about safety and regulatory issues, not much has been said about the major disruptions caused by Hurricanes Ivan, Katrina, Rita, Gustav, and Ike, and the attention and resources that have been dedicated to hurricane issues for the past five years. Major advances have been made in mooring capabilities and assessments, design standards, securing topsides equipment, and other aspects of hurricane preparedness.
How much did hurricane issues affect the assessment and management of other operating risks? This question may merit further attention.
Mars TLP took a direct hit from Hurricane Katina with sustained winds >150 mph
Cuba Drilling Article in the NY Times
Posted in cuba, tagged accidents, cuba, Gulf of Mexico, hurricanes, macondo, mooring, offshore oil, oil spill, safety on September 30, 2010| Leave a Comment »
In our last Cuba update, we noted that their next deepwater well always seems to be a year away. So it came as no surprise when we saw this in a New York Times article:
Yet next year, a Spanish company will begin drilling new wells 50 miles from the Florida Keys — in Cuba’s sovereign waters.
Comment: We have been hearing this for five years. Will the well really be spudded next year?
The nascent oil industry in Cuba is far less prepared to handle a major spill than even the American industry was at the time of the BP spill. Cuba has neither the submarine robots needed to fix deepwater rig equipment nor the platforms available to begin drilling relief wells on short notice.
Comments: (1) Not a good time for the US to be lecturing Cuba about oil spills. (2)In the event of a spill, all well intervention, relief well, and spill response equipment would no doubt be made available to Cuba without hesitation and with the full support of the US government. (3)A Cuban blowout is unlikely because every operator and contractor in the world will be focusing on well integrity and BOP performance issues that were factors in the Macondo blowout. (4)Informed international contacts have advised us that Cuban offshore officials are knowledgeable and committed to internationally accepted safety and pollution prevention standards.
My biggest concern with regard to Cuban offshore operations, assuming a moored rig is used, is that the rig would be set adrift during a hurricane and that anchors, mooring lines, or hulls could damage coral reefs and other sensitive seafloor features. In the US, the MMS and industry did a lot of good work on mooring risk assessments and improved anchoring systems and mooring lines. Given the significant probability that Cuban rigs will be exposed to hurricane conditions, it is imperative that US and Cuban specialists meet to discuss these issues. Once a rig is adrift, there is not much that can be done to stop it.
Also, in an award winning project, a multi-agency US government team demonstrated enhanced satellite monitoring capabilities that provide timely information on the location of evacuated rigs. These capabilities can be combined with gps systems to ensure continuous rig-tracking.
US-Cuban cooperation on offshore safety and pollution prevention issues is in the best interest of both countries, and should be encouraged without hesitation.
What’s next? Static (top) kill? Relief well intercept? Weather is the key.
Posted in accidents, well control incidents, tagged accidents, blowouts, Deepwater Horizon, drilling, Gulf of Mexico, hurricanes, macondo, relief well, top kill on July 20, 2010| Leave a Comment »
- As indicated in the Weather Undergound map above, a tropical system may be approaching, and weather may be the key factor in determining the next step at Macondo. Is the hurricane season about to begin in earnest? Fortunately the well is shut-in, and will likely remain shut-in (this is good news despite attempts to describe it otherwise).
- BP is now considering a static kill operation – slowly injecting mud and killing the well from the top. This should work, but timing is the key. Could the operation be completed in what remains of the weather window?
- With regard to the relief well, is it prudent to initiate the Macondo intercept given the weather uncertainties? Clearly, you do not want to have to relocate the DD3 in the middle of a bottom kill operation.
- Keep a close watch on the weather, as tropical waves and storms can appear and intensify overnight.
