Shell Oil Co News

Wärtsilä said it will provide a broad scope of products and solutions for a new articulated tug barge (ATB) that will be used to supply liquefied natural gas (LNG) fuel to cruise ships along the east coast of Florida, U.S. The 4,000 m3 capacity ATB is being built at the VT Halter Marine (VTHM) shipyard in Pascagoula, Miss. on behalf of Quality Liquefied Natural Gas Transport LLC (Q-LNG). When delivered, the vessel will be on a long-term charter with Shell Oil Co. The barge will be fitted with a Wärtsilä LNG cargo storage, handling and control system.

Shell Oil Co. marine vessels Noble Discoverer and the semisubmersible drilling unit Transocean Polar Pioneer were inspected by two Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) personnel in Dutch Harbor, Alaska July 7-12, BSEE announced. BSEE said its inspectors were on board the vessels to review drilling equipment, assess overall readiness and test key safety devices, also verifying BOEM lease stipulations, environmental mitigation measures and air quality equipment, as well as Environmental Protection Agency National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permit requirements.

Shell Oil Co is poised to restart oil drilling in the Arctic in the near future once it receives the go-ahead from the U.S. government, which could happen soon. The decision to allow the oil company access has been controversial among environmentalists groups as well as local communities that could be affected by the drilling. Seattle city leaders are fighting to keep Arctic oil drilling equipment out of the Puget Sound as the Shell works on a deal to store the equipment with the Port of Seattle near the mouth of the Duwamish River. The Obama administration may reaffirm a 7-year-old government auction of oil leases in the Chukchi Sea - a decision critical to Shell's plans to resume drilling in those Arctic waters this summer. Even before the pending decision, Shell Oil Co.

The largest U.S. refinery strike in 35 years entered its fourth week on Sunday as workers at 12 refineries accounting for one-fifth of national production capacity were walking picket lines. Sources familiar with the negotiations said talks may resume by mid-week to end the walkout by 6,550 members of the United Steelworkers union (USW) at 15 plants, including the 12 refineries. Representatives of both sides said no date has been set to restart negotiations, however. The strike comes as U.S. workers seek more pay in a strengthening economy. Wal-Mart Stores Inc has said its U.S. workers will get a raise to at least $9 an hour, while West Coast port workers have reached a tentative deal for a new contract after a months-long dispute. The refinery work stoppage began on Feb.

1806  - Spring pole cable drilling developed in US. 1844  - Fluid circulating rotary well drilling patented in England. 1845  - Circulated fluid used to remove drill cuttings for first time. 1860  - Fluid circulation rotary diamond coring drill developed in France. 1869 – T homas Fitch Rowland  patents  a “submarine drilling apparatus,” a fixed, working platform for drilling offshore to a depth of almost 50 feet. The anchored tower had telescoping legs, similar to modern offshore platforms. 1878  - First bulk oil tanker begins operation in the Caspian Sea. 1891  - First ocean-going tanker launched. 1897  - Wells drilled off piers in Summerland, Calif. 1905 – Oil discovered in the Caddo Pine Island field in Lousiana. 1911  -  Gulf Refining Co.

The Coast Guard is investigating the report of a rainbow sheen, approximately 56 miles offshore Venice in the Gulf of Mexico. Watchstanders at the U.S. Coast Guard National Response Center received notification from Shell Oil Co., that a rainbow sheen one mile by 10 miles in length was spotted near the Mississippi Canyon Block 807. The Captain of the Port Morgan City Coastguard, Capt. Jonathan Burton, issued a Notice of Federal Interest to Shell Offshore. The source of the sheen and the responsible party are unknown at this time. Pollution investigators from Coast Guard Sector New Orleans conducted an overflight, aboard a Coast Guard Air Station New Orleans MH-65C Dolphin helicopter. “We are treating this very seriously, as we do all reports of possible pollution.

For the first time in history the Coast Guard will be stationing responders at Alaska’s North Slope this summer, when Shell Oil begins drilling in the Chukchi and Beaufort seas. Coast Guard Commandant Adm. Robert J. Papp Jr. said that the Arctic doesn't represent a security threat for at least the next decade, but that the Coast Guard has "a much wider aperture," beyond strictly defense. Papp told the Pentagon Channel and American Forces Press Service that the Arctic has economic, energy and environmental implications for national security.

The cyclical nature of the oil business has blossomed into full bloom during the latter part of 2000, as a host of political power plays have sent oil prices on a virtual rollercoaster, albeit mostly up, helping to send it soaring as high as $37/barrel at the time of this writing. The business of accurately predicting the direction in which oil pricing will go has seemingly become less of a science and more of a speculative game. While it was the Asian financial crisis which led prices to the cellar in 1997, it is another crisis — the potential advancement of hostilities in the Middle East — which have helped to send the price back up to near decade (read: Gulf War) heights.

Tropical Storm Barry veered away from oil and natural gas fields in the Gulf of Mexico on Sunday, but by that point the erratic tempest had already knocked a big dent in U.S. offshore energy production, at least temporarily. Two of the biggest players in the Gulf of Mexico energy industry said that as a precaution against the storm they had suspended large volumes of oil and gas production, which taken together, represent a big slice of total output from the Gulf. Shell Oil Co. -- the main U.S. subsidiary of European oil giant Royal Dutch/Shell -- said it suspended or "shut in" gross daily production of more than 300,000 barrels of crude oil and 1.2 billion cubic feet of gas. Chevron Corp. said it shut in gross daily production of 118,000 barrels of oil and 452 million cubic feet of gas.

California's governor, attorney general and the California Coastal Commission filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Interior Department to allow the state a say in the fate of oil drilling leases off the state's coast. California Coastal Commission Chair Sara Wan said the state was denied its mandatory right to review the leases for environmental issues. "It doesn't mean we would necessarily seek a ban on offshore drilling," Wan said. "The commission is saying (the leases) could have serious impacts on coastal resources and the state needs the right to look at the leases. The lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court in Oakland, Calif., the state attorney general's office said.