Storm Brewing in Gulf of Mexico Set to Strengthen
A storm system brewing in the Gulf of Mexico could strengthen into a named storm as it takes aim at the Texas coast, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said on Monday.The system, named Potential Tropical Cyclone 9, was about 480 miles (770 km) east-southeast of Port Mansfield, Texas and was packing maximum sustained winds of 30 miles (45 km) per hour, the Miami-based hurricane center said. It could cause coastal flooding along the south Texas coast between Monday night and Tuesday…
Normal Atlantic Hurricane Activity Forecast over Next Two Weeks
There will likely be normal levels of tropical storm activity over the next two weeks as the Atlantic Ocean hurricane season hits its peak, forecasters at Colorado State University said on Thursday.An upper-level trough in the atmosphere is expected to continue bringing near-normal to above-normal wind shear over the tropical Atlantic and Caribbean, the forecasters said.“This increased shear is likely due to a vigorous tropical upper-tropospheric trough which has been one of the primary reasons why the Atlantic hurricane season has not been as active as projected…
New U.S. Hurricane Outlook Sees Five Major Storms
Forecasters on Thursday amped up their outlook for the U.S. Atlantic hurricane season, saying warm sea temperatures and the absence of a moderating wind shear portend a "well-above average" number of storms.Colorado State University researchers raised their estimate for tropical storms, hurricanes and major hurricanes by one apiece to 20, 10 and five, respectively. There is a 50% chance or more of at least one major hurricane apiece hitting the East and Gulf Coasts, it said.The 2022 Atlantic hurricane season began on Wednesday and continues through Nov.
U.S. Judge Annuls Gulf of Mexico Oil Auction Over Climate Impact
A federal judge invalidated the results of an oil and gas lease sale in the Gulf of Mexico on Thursday saying the Biden administration failed to properly account for the auction's climate change impact.The decision has cast uncertainty over the future of the U.S. federal offshore drilling program, which has been a big source of public revenue for decades but also drawn the ire of activists concerned about its impact on the environment and contribution to global warming.The Gulf of Mexico accounts for 15% of existing U.S.
US Gulf of Mexico Oil Production Losses Lead to Cargo Cancellations
U.S. oil offshore losses remained at 76% on Thursday after Hurricane Ida hit the Gulf of Mexico, according to government data, which prolonged outages and caused the first oil cargo shipment cancellations to buyers in Asia.Production should be disrupted for several more days amid lasting damages to transfer stations and offshore facilities used by different companies, analysts said, with impact to oil prices."It seems to be at least more than a week away until most of the shut-in Gulf of Mexico production is restored…
Over 80% of U.S. Gulf of Mexico Oil Output Still Offline
More than 80% of oil production in the Gulf of Mexico remains shut in after Hurricane Ida, a U.S. regulator said on Monday, more than a week after the storm made landfall and hit critical infrastructure in the region.Energy companies have been struggling to resume production after Ida damaged platforms and caused onshore power outages. About 1.5 million barrels per day of oil production, or 84%, remains shut, while another 1.8 billion cubic feet per day of natural gas output, or 81%…
U.S. Offshore Oil Output Still Mostly Down a Week after Hurricane Ida
Damage to oil production facilities in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico kept output largely halted on Sunday, a week after Hurricane Ida made landfall, according to offshore regulator the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE).Energy companies have been coping with damaged platforms and onshore power outages and logistical issues, slowing efforts to restart production. Some 88% of crude oil output and 83% of natural gas production remained suspended.About 1.6 million barrels of crude oil remained offline, with only about 100,000 barrels added since Saturday.
Frequent Hurricane Shutdowns Weigh on US Energy Results
As crews began returning to U.S. Gulf of Mexico offshore facilities on Thursday, this year's repeated oil and gas production halts were already hitting energy firms' results.Eight named storms entered the U.S. Gulf of Mexico this year, most spiraling up to damaging storms that required offshore facility evacuations or temporary well shutdowns."It has been a difficult and challenging year because of the number of storms," said Erik Milito, president of trade group National Ocean Industries Association. U.S.
Hurricane Closes 92% of Gulf of Mexico Oil Output in Biggest Shutdown in 15 Years
A strengthening Hurricane Delta dealt the greatest blow to U.S. offshore Gulf of Mexico production in 15 years, halting most of the region's oil and nearly two-thirds of its natural gas output.An already large and powerful storm, Delta could intensify further on Friday as it churns through the Gulf's prime oil-producing area. Its winds reached 120 miles per hour (195 kmh), according to the National Hurricane Center.Delta has shut 1.67 million barrels per day, or 92% of the Gulf's oil output…
US Gulf Platforms Shutting as Hurricane Delta Strengthens
Energy companies were securing offshore production platforms and evacuating workers on Tuesday, some for the sixth time this year, as a major hurricane took aim at U.S. oil production in the Gulf of Mexico.Hurricane Delta, the 25th named storm of the 2020 Atlantic Hurricane season, was churning in the Caribbean with sustained winds of 140 miles per hour (225 kph), already a dangerous Category 4 storm that is expected to scrape across Mexico's Yucatan peninsula and re-enter the…
Offshore Oil Wells, Ports Shut as Hurricane Sally Advances on U.S. Gulf
Energy companies, ports and refiners raced on Monday to shut down as Hurricane Sally grew stronger while lumbering toward the central U.S. Gulf Coast, the second significant hurricane to shutter oil and gas activity over the last month.The hurricane is disrupting oil imports and exports as the nation's sole offshore terminal, the Louisiana Offshore Oil Port (LOOP), stopped loading tanker ships on Sunday, while the port of New Orleans closed on Monday.The U.S. government said 21%…
Hurricane Michael Races Northeast, Leaving Devastation in Florida
Hurricane Michael, the third most powerful storm ever to strike the U.S. mainland, headed northeast on Thursday, weakened but still set to soak Georgia and the Carolinas after devastating the Florida Panhandle.By 6 AM on Thursday, heavy rain and wind had reached as far north as Charlotte, North Carolina and the Western North Carolina mountains. The center of the storm was located over Augusta, Georgia, moving north rapidly at more than 20 MPH in a north / northeast heading. Charlotte…
U.S. East Coast Ports Await Yet Another Storm
Hurricane Michael, now a Category 4 storm, will be the second hurricane in two months to significantly affect ports on the U.S. eastern seaboard. Eastern North Carolina in particular is only now recovering from Florence.The U.S. Coast Guard has set conditions X-Ray for ports in Georgia and South Carolina in preparation for Hurricane Michael. The storm is now expected to make landfall by Wednesday afternoon. While gale force winds are expected within the next 48 hours, these ports can remain open to commercial traffic.
US Gulf Oil Output Takes a Hit from Storm
Tropical Storm Gordon forced a cut of 9.36 percent of crude oil production in U.S.-regulated areas of the Gulf of Mexico, slightly more than Tuesday, the U.S.
Storm Gordon Starts Kicking Up Waves on U.S. Gulf Coast
Waves began to batter parts of the U.S. Gulf Coast on Tuesday as the region felt the first hit of Tropical Storm Gordon, which is expected to become a hurricane before it comes ashore with high winds and heavy rain, forecasters said.The storm also caused a jump in global oil prices after the evacuation of two oil platforms in the Gulf of Mexico.Gordon was due to come ashore late on Tuesday near the border between Louisiana and Mississippi, and drop as much as 12 inches (30 cm) of rain in areas still recovering from last year's hurricanes…
Record-size US Offshore Oil Lease Sale Draws Modest Bidding
Oil and gas drillers bid modestly on Gulf of Mexico acreage in the largest lease sale in American history on Wednesday, dealing a setback to the Trump administration's efforts to rapidly pump up investment in the region. The Interior Department had offered up a record 77 million acres (31.2 million hectares) for development in the Gulf with discounted royalty rates on the shallower tracts as part of a broader effort by President Donald Trump's administration to ramp up U.S. fossil fuels output.
Asia VLCC Rates Fall to Four-year Low
Freight rates for very large crude carriers (VLCCs) on Asian routes show little sign of reviving although Hurricane Harvey, which threatens to ravage the U.S. Gulf coast oil refining industry over the weekend, could provide a fillip, brokers said. That came as average weighted VLCC freight rates on all routes sank to their lowest in four years this week to around $9,000 per day. Rates are even lower on some routes after CPC fixed a VLCC late Thursday for a trip from the Middle East to Taiwan at 36.75 on the Worldscale measure and S-Oil fixed a VLCC to South Korea at W36.
Oil Firm Evacuate Workers as Storm Approaches Texas
Oil companies evacuate workers as storm takes aim at Texas. Royal Dutch Shell, Anadarko Petroleum and Exxon Mobil announced they were curbing some oil and gas output on Wednesday at facilities in the Gulf of Mexico ahead of a storm expected to hit the Texas coast later this week. The U.S. National Hurricane Center (NHC) issued a hurricane watch Wednesday for much of the Texas coast, calling for slow-moving Tropical Depression Harvey to intensify as it nears landfall. Shell said it was evacuating all personnel from the roughly 100,000 barrel-per-day (bpd) Perdido oil and gas production platform as a precaution. Anadarko said it had shut in production and was evacuating workers from its Boomvang, Gunnison, Lucius and Nansen platforms in the Gulf of Mexico.
Tropical Storm Cindy Rolls in on US Gulf Coast
Tropical Storm Cindy is likely to hit the Gulf Coast near the Texas-Louisiana border on Wednesday night, threatening to bring flash floods from Texas to Florida, according to the National Hurricane Center. Cindy was located about 165 miles (265 km) south of Morgan City, Louisiana, early on Wednesday with maximum sustained winds of 60 miles (95 km) per hour, the NHC said. The storm was moving northwest at nearly 8 miles (13 km) per hour, and forecasters said they expected this motion to continue until it hits the coast.
Petrobras Average Daily O&G Output Rose 4.3% in 2015
Oil and natural gas output at Petróleo Brasileiro SA rose 4.3 percent last year, the second annual increase after two years of declines, as long-delayed offshore production systems came on line. Petrobras, as the company is known, produced an average 2.79 million barrels of oil and natural gas equivalent a day (boepd) in Brazil and abroad in the 12 months ending Dec. 30, compared with 2.67 million boepd a year earlier, according to data on its website. December output fell 0.4 percent from a year earlier to 2.85 million boepd. December output was 5.2 percent higher than in November, a month affected by the worst strike at the Rio de Janeiro-based company in 20 years. (Reporting by Jeb Blount)
LNG Destination Clauses May End: IGU
Destination clauses on contracts for liquefied natural gas (LNG)shipments will soon be a thing of the past because of the shale revolution in the United States, the head of the International Gas Union said in an interview. Japan and other buyers of LNG have long complained that the destination clauses on multiple-year term contracts place an unfair restriction on trade of the fuel. Those objections have been rebuffed by producers up until recently, but that is changing as the United States is on the verge of becoming a gas exporter. The conversion of U.S. sites formerly planned as import terminals into liquefaction plants - after its…
Oil Traders Brace for US Gulf Coast Storm
Oil traders from Texas to Louisiana braced on Tuesday for supply disruptions as Tropical Storm Cindy, formed in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico, threatened to hit refining and production centers with wind and rain later this week. Cindy was located about 265 miles (430 km) south of Morgan City, Louisiana with maximum sustained winds of 45 miles (75 km) per hour. It is expected to approach the coast of southwest Louisiana late Wednesday or Wednesday night, and move inland over western Louisiana and eastern Texas on Thursday, the NHC said. The Louisiana Offshore Oil Port, the largest privately owned crude storage terminal in the United States…
Norwegian Unions Say 755 O&G Workers Could Strike
About 755 Norwegian workers on seven oil and gas fields could go on strike from Saturday, hitting output from western Europe's top producer, if a new wage deal is not agreed before a Friday deadline, trade unions said on Monday. A final round of mandatory talks will be hosted by a state mediator on June 30 and July 1 in an effort to avoid disruption that could start the following day. The affected fields account for nearly 18 percent of Norway's oil output and a little more than 17 percent of its natural gas, Reuters calculations show. Combined oil output was about 285,000 barrels per day in the first four months of the year, with natural gas output at 48.5 million cubic metres (mcm) per day.
