Some of us remember the Brent Spar saga (1995). The subsequent Brent field decommissioning activities have been less controversial, including the removal of the Brent C topsides on July 9. The Allseas single lift technology is most impressive. Check out the video!
Posts Tagged ‘Shell’
Impressive Brent C decommissioning video – heaviest ever offshore lift – 31,000 tonnes
Posted in decommissioning, Offshore Energy - General, UK, tagged Allseas, Brent C decommissioning, Brent Spar, Pioneering Spirit, record lift, Shell on July 12, 2024| Leave a Comment »
How China became a factor in the Stabroek (Guyana) dispute
Posted in Canada, energy policy, Guyana, Offshore Energy - General, tagged CNOOC, Exxon, Guyana, Hess, Nexen, Shell, Stabroek Block on March 25, 2024| 4 Comments »
State-owned Chinese National Offshore Oil Corp. (CNOOC) has now joined Exxon in filing an arbitration claim to establish their right over Hess’s share of the prolific Stabroek block offshore Guyana. How did CNOOC acquire its 25% share in the block?
- In 1999, Exxon signed a Production Sharing Contract with Guyana.
- Shell was Exxon’s original partner in the block. However, because of poor results from past wells and concerns about territorial disputes with Venezuela and Suriname, Shell relinquished its share.
- Interest in sharing the Stabroek exploration risk was limited, but Hess and Nexen agreed to participate with 30% and 25% shares respectively.
- In what Forbes called “just the beginning of the great American oil and gas grab,” CNOOC sought to acquire Nexen (Canada) in 2012.
- Both the Canadian and US governments expressed reservations about the Nexen takeover in light of national security concerns.
- US government approval was needed because Nexen owned Gulf of Mexico assets.
- Canadian and US approvals were granted and CNOOC acquired Nexen (Canada) in 2013.
- Nexen’s Guyana interest was not mentioned in the press announcement, and appears to have been a rather minor consideration in the acquisition.
So, an apparent afterthought in CNOOC’s takeover of Nexen has (1) proven to be extremely profitable, (2) given the company and the Chinese government leverage in the Exxon-Chevron supermajor dispute, and (3) opened the door for CNOOC to increase their interest in the massive Stabroek field.
2023 Safety Honor Roll: Gulf of Mexico operators
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged Anadarko, bp, Cantium, Chevron, Eni, Hess, LLOG, Murphy, QuarterNorth, Shell on February 6, 2024| Leave a Comment »
The Honor Roll companies for 2023 (listed alphabetically) are Anadarko, bp, Cantium, Chevron, Eni, Hess, LLOG, Murphy, QuarterNorth, and Shell.
BOE Honor Roll 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 3.3 types of inspections in 2023. 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, district investigations and media reports are used to make this determination.
| platforms | 2023 well starts | 2023 (10 mos.) oil prod. (million bbls) | 2023 (10 mos.) gas prod. (bcf) | |
| Anadarko | 10 | 11 | 66 | 60 |
| BP | 7 | 11 | 105 | 65 |
| Cantium | 96 | 10 | 5 | 6 |
| Chevron | 8 | 10 | 67 | 39 |
| Eni | 3 | 1 | 6 | 13 |
| Hess | 3 | 3 | 18 | 36 |
| LLOG | 10 | 7 | 25 | 35 |
| Murphy | 7 | 4 | 42 | 57 |
| QuarterNorth | 9 | 1 | 13 | 23 |
| Shell | 20 | 20 | 141 | 140 |
Also noteworthy:
- Zero shut-in violations for Anadarko in 2023
- <1 INC for every 10 facility inspections for Anadarko, Chevron, and Murphy
- <1 INC for every 20 inspections (all types) for Anadarko, bp, Chevron, LLOG, Murphy, and QuarterNorth
- Hess and Cantium did not incur a civil penalty payment for the 5th consecutive year.
- No US OCS fatalities in 2023.
Saluting the Christmas lease sale (261)
Posted in Gulf of Mexico, Offshore Energy - General, tagged Anadarko, bp, Chevron, Christmas, Equinor, Gulf of Mexico, Hess, Lease Sale 261, Red Willow, Shell, Woodside on December 22, 2023| Leave a Comment »
- Biggest prize at the holiday party went to Anadarko: Mississippi Canyon 389 – 5 bids, $25.5 million high bid
- Biggest holiday shopping spree: Shell’s 65 high bids accounted for 24% of the sale’s high bids (excluding CCS bids).
- Big spender award: Hess – $88.3 million on only 20 high bids. Does Chevron approve? 😀
- Aussie, Aussie, Aussie, Oi, Oi, Oi: Strong performance by Woodside. 18 high bids, $24.8 million
- Heia Norge!: Equinor continues to shine in the GoM! 13 high bids, $20.6 million
- Spirit of America award to Red Willow Offshore which is owned by the Southern Ute tribe. 22 high bids!
- Deepwater independents for (energy) independence: Beacon, Murphy, LLOG, Kosmos, Talos, Houston Energy, Ridgewood, QuarterNorth, Alta Mar, CSL, CL&F, and Westlawn
- Smart shelf shoppers: Arena, Byron, Focus, Cantium
- Even pace wins the race: Another solid lease sale for bp – 24 high bids.
- So happy together 😀: Chevron and Hess combined for 48 high bids, $114 million
- Coal in their stockings? Repsol (Sale 261) and Exxon (Sales 257 and 259) made up their own rules for acquiring carbon dumping leases. Perhaps some solid carbon in their Christmas stockings would be appropriate.
- Christmas in July?: A lease sale in 2024 is needed. Sometime near the 4th of July holiday would be good. It’s up to you Congress!
Holiday greetings to our friends around the world!
Stocking stuffer for that special person! 😉
Suriname’s new production licenses
Posted in energy policy, Offshore Energy - General, tagged Petronas, production licences, Qatar Energy, Shell, Staatsolie, Suriname, Total on December 16, 2023| Leave a Comment »
| Block | Operator | Partners | water depth (m) | area (sq km) |
| 63 | Petronas (100%) | <1300 | 5425 | |
| 64 | Total (40%) | Qatar Energy (30%) Petronas (30%) | 1300-1700 | 6262 |
| 65 | Shell (60%) | Qatar Energy (40%) | 1300-1700 | 5000+ |
Through the PSCs, Staatsolie extends the rights for exploration, development and production to these companies. The costs and risks during the exploration period are fully covered by the latter. The exploration period consists of three phases and will last seven years. An exploration well will be drilled in both Block 64 and Block 65 in the first phase, which will last three years. In Block 63 the first exploration well follows in the second phase of the exploration period. In the event of an oil or gas discovery that is declared commercial, Staatsolie has the right to participate in all three blocks for a maximum of twenty percent from the development period
Staatsolie
Endangered Whale sighting in the Gulf of Mexico 😉
Posted in energy policy, Gulf of Mexico, Offshore Energy - General, tagged 5 year leasing plan, Coast Guard, floating production units, Lars Herbst, Shell, Whale on November 17, 2023| Leave a Comment »
Lars Herbst noted another endangered whale sighting by the US Coast Guard. Unlike their erroneous Rice’s whale report in September (still waiting for their mea culpa), the Coast Guard has gotten this one right. The 25,000 ton Whale is pictured above.
Whale’s species is indeed endangered with the most serious threats coming from a faraway place on the Potomac River. The “newborn” Whale is one of only 15 of its species in the Gulf of Mexico. The entire platformus deepis genus numbers only 59, but their importance to society is enormous (read more).
Perhaps the wise people who control our offshore lands will do more to encourage and support these floating behemoths. Unfortunately, their 5 year management plan is not encouraging in that regard.
June production bump continues through July
Posted in Gulf of Mexico, Offshore Energy - General, tagged Argos, bp, Deepwater, Gulf of Mexico production, July 2023, Shell, Vito on October 2, 2023| Leave a Comment »
This is presumably due to the new production at Vito and Argos. Will we see 2 million bopd again? Perhaps later this year or next, but production increases are unlikely beyond that given the current state of the offshore leasing program. You can’t efficiently develop and supplement new discoveries without consistent, predictable leasing.
Impressive deepwater diligence
Posted in Offshore Energy - General, drilling, Gulf of Mexico, tagged bp, Chevron, deepwater drilling, diligence, Gulf of Mexico, Hess, Shell, Talos, transocean on September 27, 2023| Leave a Comment »
Seven of the deepwater exploratory wells drilled in the Gulf of Mexico in 2023 (YTD) were spudded within 4.5 years of the effective date of their leases. Three of these wells were spudded within 3 years of their lease effective dates (see table below).
These are impressive achievements when you consider the time required for consultation with partners (if any) and contractors, site surveys, exploration plan development and approval, well planning, and drilling permit preparation and approval.
The subject wells accounted for 28% of the deepwater exploratory well starts in 2023 (25 net YTD wells after subtracting restarts at the same location).
| date lease effective | spud date | elapsed time (months) | water depth (ft) | operator |
| 3/1/2021 | 8/27/2023 | 30 | 6498 | Shell |
| 8/1/2020 | 5/21/2023 | 34 | 2211 | Talos |
| 8/1/2020 | 3/15/2023 | 31 | 3338 | Talos |
| 12/1/2019 | 6/5/2023 | 42 | 4228 | Chevron |
| 11/1/2019 | 6/1/2023 | 43 | 4603 | Hess |
| 7/1/2019 | 7/11/2023 | 48 | 7486 | Kosmos |
| 12/1/2018 | 6/6/2023 | 54 | 4127 | bp |
Below are the exploration plan (EP) and permit (APD) approval timeframes for these 7 wells. With the exception of the Kosmos EP which required a number of modifications, the regulator actions appear to have been timely. For the bp, Shell, and Chevron wells, only 4-6 months elapsed between EP submittal and APD approval.
| operator | block | date EP received | date EP approved | APD received | APD approved |
| Shell | WR 365 | 3/1/2023 | 5/17/2023 | 5/11/2023 | 8/8/2023 |
| Talos | GC 78 | 1/19/2021 | 4/16/2021 | 3/8/2023 | 5/26/2023 |
| Talos | MC 162 | 4/1/2022 | 7/13/2022 | 8/2/2022 | 3/2/2023 |
| Chevron | MC 937 | 12/7/2022 | 5/19/2023 | 4/21/2023 | 5/21/2023 |
| Hess | MC 727 | 8/30/2022 | 11/3/2022 | 12/21/2022 | 4/24/2023 |
| Kosmos | KC 964 | 1/3/2020 | 10/12/2022 | 4/18/2023 | 7/3/2023 |
| bp | GC 436 | 1/18/2023 | 4/14/2023 | 3/29/2023 | 6/5/2023 |
150th Gulf of Mexico well in >8000′ of water as rig count remains strong
Posted in drilling, Gulf of Mexico, Offshore Energy - General, tagged 150th well in greater than 8000', Arena, Baker Hughes rig count, Cantium, Chevron, Gulf of Mexico milestone, Shell, well starts 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′ |
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:
