Offshore Drilling: It’s Going to Get Worse Before It Gets Better
The Offshore Rig Market – At $30 Oil Offshore Drillers May Be Out of OptionsCOVID-19 and low oil prices are already having an impact on the offshore rig market as contractors face crew and logistical challenges and E&Ps attempt to prioritize drilling campaigns.Contract scrutiny has already led to a few contract cancellations and the first claims of force majeure.However, contract options are at most risk. Over $1.6 billion in contract value is at stake for options that are due to be exercised this year. Africa, Southeast Asia, and the Middle East make up over 50% of the total.With the oil
ORCA Hub Readies Drones for Offshore Energy
system for asset inspection and maintenance requirements.Commenting on the importance of events of this type, Professor David Lane CBE, from Heriot-Watt University and director of the ORCA Hub, said: “The international offshore energy industry faces many challenges, including near-permanent low oil prices and expensive decommissioning commitments from historic infrastructure, particularly in the North Sea. The ORCA Hub is providing game-changing, remote solutions that can be easily integrated into existing and future assets and sensors for both the renewables sector and traditional industries
Trump Aims to Open Nearly All US Offshore to Oil Drilling
115 million acres (46.5 million hectares) of waters off Alaska and 3.8 million acres (1.5 million hectares)in the Atlantic from New England to the Chesapeake Bay. Trump in April ordered the Interior Department to overhaul the leasing schedule to promote increased drilling. At the time, low oil prices and soaring onshore production were curtailing demand for offshore leases, raising questions about the benefits of the move. Oil prices have since risen to around three-year highs. Industry groups welcomed Thursday's announcement. "Expanding access to additional offshore
US Sets Gulf of Mexico O&G Lease Auction for March
77 million acres, to energy companies in March 2018 to conduct oil and gas development. The proposed lease of offshore Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida blocks continues U.S. President Donald J. Trump's efforts to encourage domestic energy production despite relatively low oil prices, the department said. The proposed lease sale includes 14,375 blocks that are located from three to 230 miles offshore in the Gulf's Western, Central and Eastern sectors in water depths ranging from nine to more than 11,115 feet (three to 3,400 meters). The blocks on offer potentiall
New Offshore Oil Investments Needed to Avoid Shortages -Hess
Higher investments in offshore oil production are critical to avoiding a supply squeeze by 2020, as expanding shale output will not match projected demand increases in the next few years, U.S. oil producer Hess Corp said on Thursday. The past four years of low oil prices have major producers pulling back on needed offshore investment, and the gap between supply and demand should help prices rebound, Hess Chief Operating Officer Greg Hill said at an energy conference at Rice University's Baker Institute. "The world is going to have to invest in more than shale," said Hill
Latest Gulf of Mexico Auction Signals Offshore Return
Bureau of Ocean Energy Management's (BOEM) Outer Continental Shelf auction last summer. Winners will be announced after a 90-day review. Some producers have signaled that they expect Gulf of Mexico projects to become more profitable now that they have trimmed operations to adapt to low oil prices. Offshore drilling typically requires higher prices for producers to break even. Royal Dutch Shell claimed the largest number of blocks, with 19 high bids valued at a combined $25.1 million. Chevron Corp followed with 15 high bids totaling $27.9 million. Anadarko Petroleum Corp won 10
Trump Administration Approves Eni Plan to Drill Offshore Alaska
been off limits to support the industry. Eni's leases, which were set to expire by the end of the year, were outside of an area protected by former President Barack Obama weeks before he left office. The company's plan to move ahead with risky and expensive drilling comes despite years of low oil prices and dangerous Arctic conditions. Royal Dutch Shell Plc quit its exploration quest offshore Alaska in 2015 after a ship it had leased suffered a gash in mostly uncharted waters and environmentalists had discovered an existing law that limited the company's ability to drill. Environmen
BP Doubles Down on Deepwater
them expanding drilling," said Raleigh Hoke, campaign director at Gulf Restoration Network in New Orleans. Richard Sears - who served as chief scientist on the National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling - said such projects can be managed safely at low oil prices. The causes of the BP disaster had more to do with poor decision-making and slipshod safety systems than cost-cutting, said Sears, who previously managed production projects at Shell. BP said it has bolstered safety operations globally since the spill, introducing a safety and
Consolidation – A Path to Subsea Vessel Sustainability
In recent years, the speed with which newbuild vessels have entered the market has amplified the subsea vessel demand/supply imbalance, says a report by Douglas-Westwood London. This has been further exacerbated by sustained low oil prices, as operators defer the sanctioning of new offshore projects which could have supported vessel utilisation. As a result, the average vessel dayrates declined by an average of 35% between 2014 and 2016. The weak market conditions have meant that many low specification vessels have struggled to hold on to existing charter rates, whilst
February 2024
