Feeds:
Posts
Comments

Posts Tagged ‘offshore drilling’

All too predictable…

Posted in accidents, well control incidents, tagged , , , , , , , on May 7, 2011| Leave a Comment »

…. and gleeful. 

“Is there likely to be litigation over new drilling permits? You bet there is,” said David Petit, a senior attorney with the Natural Resources Defense Council.

“We’ll definitely litigate it,” Kieran Suckling, executive director of the Center for Biological Diversity, said of the federal approval of Shell’s plan. “It’s patently illegal.”

Environmental Suits Threaten Gulf Drilling- Wall Street Journal

Read Full Post »

Big Year for OTC

Posted in conferences, tagged , , , on May 6, 2011| Leave a Comment »

Congratulations to the many dedicated professionals who contribute to the success of this important conference.   OTC-logo-blue-black---clear.gif

Attendance at the 2011 Offshore Technology Conference (OTC) reached a 29-year high of 78,150, up 8% from last year, as offshore energy industry experts from around the world came together at the world’s largest event for offshore resources development. OTC was held 2-5 May at Reliant Park in Houston.

Read Full Post »

House passes offshore drilling bill ….

Posted in Offshore Energy - General, tagged , , , , on May 5, 2011| Leave a Comment »

….. and oil prices fall by more that $10.  See how easy this is 🙂

Even if the legislation is passed by the Senate and enacted (unlikely), the only mandated sale outside of the Gulf of Mexico would be a small wedge in the Atlantic. This wedge would likely be reduced to a sliver by Defense Department concerns.

See our previous comments on this and the two companion House bills.

Read Full Post »

More BOP innovation on display at OTC

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , , , , on May 4, 2011| 1 Comment »

From the Houston Chronicle:

“I didn’t have a lot of set ideas about how things should work in the energy industry,” Jahnke said. “So I thought ‘Why can’t we try a curved blade?’ like the curved hook on a Swiss Army Knife can opener.”

Since January, T-3 has been testing Jahnke’s design, slicing through just about every size of drill pipe and casing used in the Gulf.

National Oilwell Varco is showing customers its new shear rams — a pair of trident-like blades that puncture a drill pipe before cutting it to shreds. The ShearMax Low Force Casing Shear Rams are aimed at cutting through tool joints – the thickest section of a drill pipe where it screws into another section of pipe.

GE Oil & Gas’ Hydril line of blowout preventers include a hardware and software system that allows an operator to know exactly how far shear rams close within the blowout preventer.

Another new Hydril product captures the natural pressure thousands of feet underwater to help activate a shear ram.

Weatherford International has touted its new “closed-loop” drilling system, which allows for better monitoring for gas as mud comes back from a well during drilling.

Read Full Post »

Harper’s victory margin encouraging for offshore energy?

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , on May 4, 2011| Leave a Comment »

From Platt’s Oilgram News: 

Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper turned two minority election victories since 2006 into a clear-cut majority win May 2, giving him the freedom to govern unchallenged for four years and, if he chooses, open the door to Canada’s first offshore oil and natural gas exports, climate change legislation, a national energy strategy and increased resource sector takeovers by foreign state owned companies.

Harper wasted no time telling reporters May 3 that Western Canada, whose economies rely heavily on oil, natural gas and mineral resources, can “breathe a lot easier.” He said NDP and Liberal policies calling for a ban on crude oil and LNG tankers off the northern British Columbia coast and a cap-and-trade emissions-reduction plan “were pretty seriously threatening” to Western Canada. “It’s a great thing those policies won’t be coming to fruition,” Harper promised.

Read Full Post »

Offshore Technology Conference – Glimpses of Sunshine

Posted in conferences, tagged , , on May 4, 2011| Leave a Comment »

Helix 15000 psi Capping Stack.jpg

Helix 15000 psi capping stack on display at OTC

Houston Chronicle – Mood is brighter

Read Full Post »

PTTEP to drill 2 new wells near Montara

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , on May 3, 2011| Leave a Comment »

PTTEP Exploration Plan

PTTEPAA, through its responsible and proactive response to the Incident has shown its commitment to responsible environmental management.

Comment: Those who read the Montara submissions and closely followed the official inquiry are likely to question this conclusion. Perhaps PTTEP should have emphasized the lessons learned and their commitment to better performance in the future.


					
Read Full Post »

				

							


		
			

				

					
CNN: growing support for offshore drilling

					

					Posted in drilling, offshore, Offshore Energy - General, tagged , , ,  on April 19, 2011|
													Leave a Comment »											

				


				

					
CNN Poll


A CNN/Opinion Research Corporation survey released Tuesday indicates that 69 percent of Americans favor increased offshore drilling, with just over three in ten opposed. That 69 percent is up 20 points from last June, while the oil spill was still in progress, and is back to the level of support seen in the summer of 2008.




Confidence in government has shown a less significant increase.



					
Read Full Post »

				

							


		
			

				

					
Three offshore oil and gas bills clear House Natural Resources Committee

					

					Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , , ,  on April 18, 2011|
													Leave a Comment »											

				


				

					





    

  • Require that a Central Gulf of Mexico (GoM) oil and gas lease sale be held within 4 months of enactment, and that a second sale for that area be held within 12 months.
    • 

  • Require that a Western GoM sale be held within 8 months of enactment.
    • 

  • Stipulate that prior environmental reviews would satisfy NEPA requirements for the GoM sales.
    • 

  • Require that a Virginia offshore sale be conducted within 1 year of enactment. [Comment: While I support a sale offshore Virginia, I do not believe this can be accomplished in one year.]
    • 





HR 1231 would:


    

  • Require that specified volumes of oil and gas (per estimates made by MMS in 2006) be made available for leasing.
    • 

  • Set offshore production goals.
    • 

  • Give credits (for use in paying lease bonuses) to companies for costs associated with pre-sale seismic surveys.   [Comment:  If the legislation provides reasonable assurance that lease sales will be held, why are the seismic survey credits needed? The seismic data will have a high commercial value. Collection of these data should not have to be subsidized by the Federal government.]
    • 



HR 1229 would:


    

  • Require that DOI act on drilling applications within 60 days.
    • 

  • Extend the term leases where the approval of drilling applications was delayed following the Macondo blowout.
    • 

  • Make the 5th Circuit Court the venue for any civil actions involving GoM energy projects.
    • 

  • [Comment: The important question is not the number of days that the regulator should be given to review applications, but whether a complex permit review and approval process is the optimal regulatory approach. A lesson learned from virtually every major accident, from Santa Barbara through the Ocean Ranger, Alexander Kielland, Piper Alpha, and Macondo, is that command and control regulation is not in the best interest of offshore safety. Industry should not rely on government to manage its operations and government should focus on safety achievement, not directing the day-to-day activities of offshore companies. Over the long-term, the US would be better served if regulatory resources were dedicated to risk assessment, data analysis, assessment of operator and contractor management systems, targeted inspections and audits, participation in standards development and research, and safety leadership.]
    • 


					
Read Full Post »

				

							


		
			

				

					
Observations from the Ministerial Forum on Offshore Drilling Containment

					

					Posted in conferences, drilling, Offshore Energy - General, tagged , , ,  on April 15, 2011|
													Leave a Comment »											

				


				

					
International Guests


    

  • The conference was nicely organized by the folks in the Department of the Interior and BOEMRE
    • 

  • Angola, Australia, Brazil, Canada, India, Mexico, Netherlands, Norway, the United Kingdom, Russia, and the US were represented. The European Union also participated.
    • 

  • Brazil was represented by two Petrobras managers, rather than governmental officials. This raised some eyebrows.
    • 

  • Australia formally announced yet another offshore regulators’ conference, the International Offshore Petroleum Regulators and Operators Summit in Perth (10-11 August). Do we need better coordination of the coordination conferences? Isn’t the International Regulators’ Forum (IRF) the best means of managing all of this?
    • 

  • The need for expanded offshore oil and gas operations was recognized by all participants.
    • 

  • Malcolm Webb of Oil and Gas UK, announced that UK operators would have a capping capability for subsea wells by the end of the summer. However,  no well containment system is planned. This omission, which was attributed to North Sea weather and sea conditions, is surprising. Capping is not an option if well integrity concerns prevent a well from being shut-in, either with the BOP or a cap (if the BOP failed). The absence of a well containment option would seem to be a significant gap in their response capability.
    • 

  • A working group was formed to consider a new or strengthened international organization for offshore safety and pollution prevention. In my view, the best option would be to enhance existing cooperation mechanisms, most notably the IRF. International cooperation on safety is not a new concept. The IRF, which was mentioned positively by many of the speakers at the Ministerial Forum, has existed since 1994 and has an ongoing international standards effort. A related group, ICRARD, has been coordinating offshore safety research for more than 15 years. Various industry organizations have international programs. ISO has a good system for developing and managing standards. The International Maritime Organization has official committees that address certain offshore safety and pollution issues. Making better use of existing committees and forums would seem to make more sense than starting new ones.
    • 



With BOEMRE dynamos - (Kona) Kevin Kunkel and July (Ms. COOL) McQuilliams


link to videos

					
Read Full Post »

				

							


		
		
« Newer Posts - Older Posts »