By Starr Spencer | April 26, 2013 01:31 PM Comments (0)
After hopeful talk for much of the past year about its Phobos prospect in the ultra-deep waters of the Gulf of Mexico, Anadarko Petroleum finally revealed an oil discovery there this week.
And even though much-watched Phobos–sited in in 8,553 feet of water near the marine border with Mexico–turned up a respectable 250 net feet of high-quality oil pay in the Gulf’s emerging Lower Tertiary trend, Wall Street appeared crestfallen that the pay size wasn’t bigger.
By News Desk | March 11, 2013 12:01 AM Comments (0)
No one could argue that major changes haven’t jolted the oil industry in the last several years, which have galvanized upstream companies and demanded major changes. Between the so-called “shale gale” of frenzied drilling for unconventional gas and later oil, the Macondo oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico that raised safety standards for offshore drilling, and the severest economic recession since the 1930s, operators have been forced to adapt. They have pared down balance sheets, merged, partnered up in joint ventures and found ways to shave costs from projects through continually improving technology.
In this week’s Oilgram News column, “New Frontiers,” Starr Spencer, senior editor for oil, looks at where E&P companies have been and how they are transforming and re-positioning for the years ahead.
By Starr Spencer | February 13, 2013 02:28 PM Comments (0)
The lowly bolt is rarely considered an exciting or controversial subject. We largely ignore them in the assumption they will do their job of fastening together two pieces of wood, steel, ceramic or other materials in our cars, homes and equipment.
So when reports began to widely circulate last week that the US Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement, and separately also General Electric Oil & Gas, had asked drillers to inspect and replace any defective bolts used on GE-manufactured H-4 connectors, it seemed like potentially a Big Deal. After all, we’re less than three years out from the US’ biggest marine oil spill which erupted from the BP-operated Macondo well in the Gulf of Mexico in April 2010, and ensuring safe rigs and equipment has become the top priority of all operators there.
By Starr Spencer | January 25, 2013 04:45 PM Comments (1)
Offshore exploration in the oil industry is percolating furiously like a pot of Maxwell House, and brewing up a handsome lot of discoveries to whistle at.
To that end, here’s a tidbit extracted from the fourth-quarter earnings conference call of contract driller Noble Corporation on January 24.
During the call, Roger Hunt, Noble’s senior vice president of marketing and contracts, said that in 2012, global customers announced 52 deep- and ultra-deepwater discoveries in waters 4,000 feet of water and deeper. This eclipsed by 40% the previous record in 2010 of 37 discoveries.
By News Desk | November 21, 2012 02:18 PM Comments (0)
There was a question when the Jones Act was waived — to allow freer movement of product from the Gulf Coast to the beleaguered Sandy-hit Atlantic Coast — whether it would make much of a difference. This week’s Energy Information Administration report certainly indicates there was an impact. You can read Platts’ analysis of this week’s statistics here.
By Gary Gentile | November 16, 2012 03:48 PM Comments (0)
While the $4.5 billion settlement announced between the US and BP is getting all the attention, a smaller number deserves notice.
Part of the fines and penalties BP will pay over five years for its negligence in the 2010 blowout and spill at its Macondo well in the Gulf of Mexico will go to establish a program designed in part to make such tragedies less frequent.
By News Desk | September 17, 2012 09:41 AM Comments (0)
Soon after the Macondo disaster, a report was put together that spelled out various policy options. It proved to be both controversial and prescient. In this week’s Regulation & The Environment column from Oilgram News, Gary Gentile looks at the impact of that report, more than two years on.
By News Desk | September 10, 2012 10:43 AM Comments (0)
With Macondo fresh on their minds, and drilling activity rising in the Caribbean or GOM areas close to it, some hard questions are being asked about the region’s approach toward the potential for a spill. In this week’s Oilgram News column “At the Wellhead,” Leslie Moore-Mira discusses some of the issues facing the Caribbean’s littoral nations.
By News Desk | September 6, 2012 05:04 PM Comments (0)
As expected, the weekly Energy Information Administration inventory report showed the impact of Hurricane Isaac. With almost 95% of normal Gulf of Mexico oil production shut in at one point, a large drop in inventories was expected, and that’s what happened. You can see Platts’ analysis of it here.
By Samantha Santa Maria | August 9, 2012 11:24 AM Comments (0)
As Tropical Storm Ernesto veers away from Gulf of Mexico production and the market shrugs off this force of nature, one has to wonder: Will hurricanes ever affect the gas markets again?
The last time gas markets–both spot and futures–reacted sharply to such storms was the year of Katrina and Rita, when hurricanes effectively took out the benchmark Henry Hub and its surrounding infrastructure.
That same year, GOM production went from a seven-year high of 10.63 Bcf/d (16.4% of total US production) to 4.35 Bcf/d once the storms struck, according to Energy Information Administration data.
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