Shell | Bud's Offshore Energy (BOE)

Posts Tagged ‘Shell’

150th Gulf of Mexico well in >8000′ of water as rig count remains strong

Posted in Offshore Energy - General, drilling, Gulf of Mexico, tagged Chevron, Shell, Baker Hughes rig count, well starts, Arena, Cantium, 150th well in greater than 8000', Gulf of Mexico milestone on May 22, 2023| Leave a Comment »

Per the BSEE borehole file, there were 2 deepwater exploratory well starts since 4/1/2023. The Shell well is another GoM milestone in that it is the 150th well spudded in >8000′ of water. The first was in the year 2000.

Operator	spud date	location	water depth
Chevron	5/5/2023	Mississippi Canyon 608	6678′
Shell	4/13/2023	Alaminos Canyon 728	8660′

Arena and Cantium continue to drive shelf drilling. Below are the shelf development wells since 4/1/2023:

Operator	spud date	location	water depth
Arena	5/6/2023	Eugene Island 261	160′
Cantium	4/8/2023	Main Pass 38	60′
Cantium	4/1/2023	Main Pass 299	217′

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Gulf of Mexico rig count is showing some life

Posted in drilling, Gulf of Mexico, Offshore Energy - General, tagged Beacon, bp, Chevron, deepwater drilling, Diamond Offshore, Gulf of Mexico, Kosmos, LLOG, Murphy, Noble, Oxy, QuarterNorth, Shell, transocean, Valeris, Woodside 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 Name	Operator
Deepwater Titan	Chevron
Deepwater Atlas	Beacon
Deepwater Poseidon	Shell
Deepwater Pontus	Shell
Deepwater Proteus	Shell
Deepwater Conqueror	not disclosed
Deepwater Thalassa	Shell
Deepwater Asgard	Murphy
Deepwater Invictus	Woodside
Globetrotter I	Shell
Globetrotter II	Shell
Faye Kozack	QuarterNorth LLOG Kosmos
Stanley Lafosse	Murphy
Valaris DS-18	Chevron
Valaris DS-16	Oxy
Ocean BlackHornet	bp
Ocean Black Lion	bp
Auriga	bp
Vela	bp Beacon

Excerpts from rig activity reports:

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Deepwater GoM platforms: the next generation has arrived

Posted in Offshore Energy - General, Gulf of Mexico, tagged Chevron, bp, Shell, Argos, Murphy, King's Quay, Vito, Whale, Anchor on April 19, 2023| Leave a Comment »

With the announcement of first oil at Argos, 3 of the 5 next generation deepwater platforms (simpler, safer, and greener) are now producing oil and gas in the Gulf of Mexico. The other 2 platforms are expected to begin production in 2024.

Prior to the installation of these platforms, the last deepwater platform addition was Shell’s Appomattox in 2018. That gap in deepwater platform installations was the longest since Bullwinkle was installed in 1988.

The 5 new structures will increase the deepwater platform count by 9% from 56 to 61, and in the next few years should account for approximately 1/4 of GoM oil production.

platform	operator	water depth (feet)	first production	design production (boe)
King’s Quay	Murphy	3725	April 2022	100,000
Vito	Shell	4000	Feb 2023	100,000
Argos	bp	4500	April 2023	140,000
Anchor	Chevron	5000	2024 (est.)	80,000
Whale	Shell	8600	2024 (est.)	100,000

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Nice bounce in January production!

Posted in Offshore Energy - General, Gulf of Mexico, tagged Shell, Murphy, King's Quay, Vito, Gulf of Mexico oil production, 2023 on March 31, 2023| Leave a Comment »

The encouraging start to 2023 GoM production is likely due, at least in part, to Shell’s Vito and Murphy’s King’s Quay ramping up production. Other deepwater startups should boost production later this year.

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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 Beacon, bp, Chevron, Equinor, Gulf of Mexico, Hess, Houston Energy, Lease Sale 259, Oxy, Red Willow, Shell, Top Ten, Woodside on March 31, 2023| Leave a Comment »

company	no. of Sale 259 high bids (Sale 257 in parentheses)	total Sale 259 high bids ($ millions)
Chevron	75 (34)	108
BP	37 (46)	46.7
Shell	21 (20)	20.1
Equinor	16 (1)	18.3
Beacon	13 (4)	9.0
Anadarko (Oxy)	13 (30)	8.6
Red Willow	13 (5)	3.8
Hess	12 (2)	8.3
Woodside	12 (8)	6.3
Houston Energy	8 (5)	11.6

from BOEM data

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OCS Lease Sale 259: more unusual bidding by Exxon, otherwise an impressive sale

Posted in CCS, Gulf of Mexico, Offshore Energy - General, tagged BOEM, bp, Chevron, Exxon, Lease Sale 259, Liz Klein, Red Willow, results, Shell on March 29, 2023| Leave a Comment »

313 blocks receiving bids
353 bids
32 companies submitting bids
High bids totaled $263.8 million

Exxon doubled down on their strategic CCS bidding; their only bids (69 in total) again appeared to be solely for carbon sequestration purposes. As previously noted, acquiring tracts for CCS purposes is not authorized in an oil and gas sale. Arguably, these bids should be rejected.

The other super-majors, BP, Chevron, and Shell, were active participants as were many independents.

It was good to see BOEM Director Liz Klein announcing bids. This shows respect for the OCS oil and gas program.

It was also good to hear that Red Willow, a native American corporation, was again an active participant.

More to follow.

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Reality check for supermajors

Posted in climate, energy, Gulf of Mexico, Offshore Energy - General, Uncategorized, tagged bp, oil and gas production, Shell on March 6, 2023| Leave a Comment »

“I am of a firm view that the world will need oil and gas for a long time to come,” (Shell Chief Executive) Sawan, who started the job on Jan. 1, told Times Radio in the U.K. on Friday. “As such, cutting oil and gas production is not healthy.”

Back in 2021, Shell predicted that its own oil production would decline every year and drop by as much as 18% by 2030. BP had a similar outlook, but CEO Bernard Looney rolled back its climate targets this year and said it will increase investment in exploration and production.

BP and Shell have trailed their U.S. peers in price to earnings ratios. Analysts have said investors interested in exposure to oil and gas have shunned them for putting more money into renewables, while investors focusing on environmental concerns haven’t rewarded them. That’s kept European energy firms trading at a discount.
Barron’s

It will never happen, but a separate company composed of BP and/or Shell upstream US assets would be very attractive to investors.

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China’s US OCS leases – exit coming?

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged Appomattox, China, CNOOC, Gulf of Mexico, Hess, JPMorgan, Nexen, Shell, Stampede on March 2, 2023| Leave a Comment »

Some may not be aware that the Chinese government, through a fully owned subsidiary of the China National Offshore Oil Corp. (CNOOC), is a leaseholder in the US Gulf of Mexico. Per BOEM records, CNOOC Petroleum USA Inc currently has ownership in 12 OCS leases. Most significantly, CNOOC holds 21% interest in the Appomattox Field, operated by Shell, and a 25% working interest in Stampede, operated by Hess. Peak oil production for these projects is expected to be 175,000 bopd for Appomattox and up to 80,000 bopd for Stampede.

CNOOC acquired the Gulf of Mexico properties through its purchase of Nexen, a Canadian company, in 2013.

The state-owned Chinese oil explorer surrendered operating control of those assets to quell U.S. national security concerns, said two people familiar with the agreement who asked not to be named because the terms aren’t public.
FInancial Post

Reuters has reported that CNOOC is considering an exit from its operations in the US, Canada, and the UK because of sanctions concerns. JPMorgan is reportedly assisting with the sale of the US assets.

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Simpler, safer, greener: Vito takes center stage!

Posted in Gulf of Mexico, Offshore Energy - General, tagged Anchor, Argos, bp, Chevron, deepwater platform, King's Quay, Murphy, Shell, simpler safer greener, Vito, Whale on February 16, 2023| Leave a Comment »

Last year, BOE featured 5 deepwater platforms that were under construction: Shell’s Vito and Whale, Murphy’s King’s Quay, bp’s Argos, and Chevron’s Anchor. These floating production units are noteworthy for their lighter, smaller designs. King’s Quay was the first to produce, beginning last April. The spotlight is now on Vito which began producing today. Vito’s peak production should reach 100,000 boe. The other 3 platforms are expected to begin production this year or next.

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2022 Safety Honor Roll: Gulf of Mexico operators

Posted in Gulf of Mexico, Offshore Energy - General, Regulation, tagged AnadarkoOxy, bp, Cantium, Chevron, compliance leaders, Contango, Gulf of Mexico, Hess, LLOG, Murphy Oil, offshore oil and gas operations, Safety Honor Roll, Shell on January 24, 2023| 1 Comment »

The Honor Roll companies for 2022 (listed alphabetically) are Anadarko (Oxy), bp, Cantium, Chevron, Contango, Hess, LLOG, Murphy, and Shell.

Our criteria:

Must average <0.3 incidents of noncompliance (INCs) per facility-inspection.
Must average <0.1 INCs per inspection-type. (Note that each facility-inspection may include multiple types of inspections (e.g. production, pipeline, pollution, Coast Guard, site security, etc). On average, each facility-inspection included 3.25 types of inspections in 2022. Here is a list of the types of inspections that may be performed.)
Must operate at least 3 production platforms and have drilled at least one well (i.e. you need operational activity to demonstrate compliance and safety achievement).
May not have a disqualifying event (e.g. fatal or life-threatening incident, significant fire, major oil spill). Due to the extreme lag in updates to BSEE’s incident tables, investigation and news reports are used to make this determination.
Pacific and Alaska operations will be considered separately.