Mississippi Canyon News

A Biden administration auction of Gulf of Mexico drilling rights raised $382 million on Wednesday as oil companies claimed offshore acreage for what is set to be the last time until 2025.The auction total was the highest of any federal offshore oil and gas lease sale since 2015, according to a Reuters tally.Shell, Hess, Anadarko, BP, Chevron, Repsol and Equinor were among the 26 companies that participated in the sale.Anadarko had the auction's highest bid of more than $25 million for a block in the deepwater Mississippi Canyon area, according to an online broadcast of the sale by the U.S.

Response crews have collected more than one million gallons of oil from a Gulf of Mexico spill that has been ongoing for nearly 20 years.The U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) and partner agencies have been working to contain oil that continues to leak from damaged wells in Mississippi Canyon Block 20 (MC-20), located 11 miles south of the Louisiana shoreline, after storm surge from Hurricane Ivan in 2004 triggered an underwater mudslide that toppled Taylor Energy's MC-20 platform. The active spill is the longest-running in U.S.

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…

Offshore drilling contractor Noble Corporation has sent a force majeure notice to its client Shell over the Noble Globetrotter II drillship contract after the rig was damaged earlier this week in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico in severe weather during Hurricane Ida. The 2013-built ultra-deepwater drillship has a contract with Shell lasting until early September 2023 at a flexible day rate of at least $275,000.U.S. Coast Guard said Wednesday that the drillship, located 80 nautical miles south, southeast of Grand Isle, La., in the Gulf of Mexico, had sustained damage and that a plan was being developed to bring the vessel into port for repairs.Around 140 crew members were on board when the storm hit, Reuters reported earlier this week, citing USCG petty officer Carlos Galarza said.Noble Corp.

Oil companies bid on less than 1 percent of the parcels offered in a sweeping U.S. auction of Gulf of Mexico exploration leases on Wednesday, showing tepid interest in the region for the second time this year.Oil giant Exxon Mobil Corp was awarded 25 blocks, the largest of any company, followed by BP Plc with 19 high bids and Hess Corp and Equinor, which each had 16.Smaller companies, including Talos Energy Offshore, Houston Energy and W&T Offshore were among the top ten high bidders. In total, 23 companies bid in the U.S.

In another sign that activity in the moribund offshore sector is starting to loosen, Jumbo said that it has won the installation contract for the Shell deep-water Vito development in the US Gulf of Mexico. The Vito development is located in the Mississippi Canyon, approximately 150 miles south of New Orleans in water depth of more than 4,000 feet. Jumbo’s installation contract involves the initial pre-lay of the mooring system as well as the subsequent tow and hook-up of the FPS. "The Jumbo Offshore team is very grateful to Shell for this opportunity.

The Chief Executive of offshore oil and gas driller Fieldwood Energy LLC, Matt McCarroll, says he is not scared of the hurricanes, geological risks and costs that keep some oil companies out of the Gulf of Mexico. Instead, he is doubling down. The private equity-backed company - already the largest operator on the U.S. outer continental shelf - announced on Thursday it is closing a $480 million acquisition of Noble Energy’s assets in the Gulf of Mexico that will add 25,000 barrels per day (bpd) to its current net production of 72,000 bpd of oil equivalent.

As Shell finishes construction on its Appomattox Semi-Submersible Platform hull, Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement engineers and inspectors signed off on several topsides components during a pre-production inspection March 27, 2018. Royal Dutch Shell plc, 79 percent owner and its partner, Nexen Petroleum Offshore U.S. A. Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of CNOOC ltd, will operate the platform about 80 miles off Louisiana’s coast in the Mississippi Canyon. “The Appomattox will be Shell’s largest floating platform in the Gulf of Mexico…

Sembcorp Marine announced that its wholly-owned subsidiary Sembcorp Marine Rigs & Floaters has signed a Letter of Intent (LOI) with Shell Offshore for the construction of the hull and topside as well as the integration of the Vito floating production unit (FPU). If the project moves forward, the Vito FPU will be a new facility located in the Mississippi Canyon, approximately 150 miles south of New Orleans, Louisiana, USA, in water depth of 4,050 ft. Comprising a single topside module supported by a 4-column semisubmersible floating hull, the Vito FPU is designed with a throughput capacity of 100,000 bpd of oil and 100 MMSCFD of gas. Final contract award will be dependent upon Shell and its partners sanctioning the project.

Total announced that its subsidiary, TOTAL E&P USA, INC., has entered into an agreement to capture seven prospects operated by CHEVRON U.S.A. INC. in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico. The agreement covers 16 blocks. The associated prospects are located in two promising plays and areas of the GoM: Wilcox in Central GoM next to the Anchor discovery, and Norphlet in Eastern GoM nearby to the Appomattox discovery. Total’s participation in these wells will be between 25 percentand 40 percent.The first of these wells was spudded late July on the Ballymore prospect in Mississippi Canyon. “This agreement, together with the recently announced participation in the Jack field as part of the Maersk Oil acquisition…

TGS-NOPEC Geophysical Company (TGS) and Schlumberger today announced a new multi- and wide-azimuth (M-WAZ) multiclient reimaging program in the highly prospective Central U.S. Gulf of Mexico. Final results are expected in early 2018, ahead of a period when substantial block turnover in the area is anticipated. The new Fusion M-WAZ reimaging program comprises data covering more than 1,000 Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) blocks (~23,000 km2) from 3D WAZ programs previously acquired by TGS and Schlumberger with the WesternGeco Q-Marine* point-receiver marine seismic system between 2008 and 2012. This large reimaging program will process data from the Mississippi Canyon…

Technip was awarded by BP Exploration & Production Inc. a lump sum project for the design, engineering, fabrication, installation and pre-commissioning of the new production pipeline systems on the south side of the Thunder Horse production drilling quarters unit. At a water depth of approximately 1,900 meters, the current field development is located in Mississippi Canyon Blocks 778 and 822, in the ultra-deepwater Gulf of Mexico environment.  Pre-commissioning and testing. Technip will leverage its unique integrated approach in the subsea business. Technip's operating center in Houston, Texas, USA, will perform the overall project management. The infield flowlines will be welded at the Group’s spoolbase in Mobile, Alabama, USA.

Statoil has made an oil discovery in its Miocene Yeti prospect located in the Gulf of Mexico (GoM), the company announced today. “The Yeti discovery expands the proven sub-salt Miocene play further south and west of the Big Foot field,” said Jez Averty, Statoil’s senior vice president, exploration for North America. The Yeti discovery was made in Walker Ridge (WR) block 160, which is located approximately 15 kilometers south of the Big Foot field, and 11 kilometers from the Cascade field. All of the blocks making up Yeti were accessed by the current owners in recent years.

Apache Corp was not in breach of contract in a lawsuit brought by Houston-based oil and gas producer W&T Offshore Inc in 2011, a federal jury found on Monday, according to a court filing. The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas has accepted the jury verdict and W&T can file any post-verdict motions by Jan. W&T filed a claim against Apache in 2011, accusing the energy company of breaking the terms of a processing contract and inaccurately recording how much processed oil W&T was owed. Apache on Monday also filed a $31.5 million counter lawsuit, accusing W&T Offshore of breaching the parties' joint operating agreement by refusing to pay its 49 percent share of plugging and abandonment costs for three offshore wells in the Gulf of Mexico.

Chevron Corporation announced today that the Hess Corporation-operated Tubular Bells deepwater project, located in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico, has started crude oil and natural gas production. The field is located 135 miles (217 km) southeast of New Orleans, in approximately 4,300 feet (1,310 m) of water in the Mississippi Canyon area. The discovery well was drilled in 2003, and project construction began in October 2011. Tubular Bells is expected to deliver total production of approximately 50,000 barrels of oil-equivalent per day producing from three wells. "The deepwater Gulf of Mexico plays a significant part in our earnings and production growth.

Under a settlement agreement with the United States, ATP Infrastructure Partners, LP (ATP-IP) will pay a $1 million civil penalty and perform corrective measures to resolve claims by the U.S. under the Clean Water Act and the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (OCSLA) of unauthorized discharges of oil and chemicals from an oil platform into the Gulf of Mexico, announced the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Department of Justice, and the Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE). This is the first joint judicial enforcement action involving EPA and BSEE claims in response to alleged violations of both the Clean Water Act and OCSLA. The United States’ complaint, which was filed in February 2013, in the U.S.

On September 14, five Signet Maritime ASD/Z-Drive tugboats, the SIGNET ENTERPRISE, SIGNET RELIANCE, SIGNET MAGIC, SIGNET WEATHERLY, and SIGNET VOLUNTEER successfully completed the Towout of LLOG’s DELTA HOUSE semisubmersible production facility to the U.S. Gulf of Mexico. In June 2011, Signet also assisted with LLOG’s highly successful OPTI-EX Floating Production System (FPS) for the Who Dat development field located in Mississippi Canyon 503/504/547. Signet Maritime’s Tractor fleet escorts DELTA HOUSE to the Gulf of Mexico. Signet’s International Operations Complex located in Ingleside, Texas was responsible for assisting with the arrival of each hull on a heavy lift vessel (HLV), offload in the deep hole, lifts & sets, stability (incline) testing, and sail-out.

SBM Offshore is pleased to announce it has signed a Production Handling Agreement (PHA) with Noble Energy to produce the Big Bend and Dantzler fields to the Thunder Hawk DeepDraft (TM) Semi located in 6,060 feet of water in the Gulf of Mexico (GoM). Production fees associated with produced volumes are estimated to lead up to projected revenue of US$400 million to be delivered over the ten year primary contract period. First oil from Big Bend and Dantzler are expected in late 2015 and first quarter 2016 respectively. At these levels both fields will utilize a maximum of 85% of total daily asset capacity, and brownfield construction to upgrade the facility will be handled by Noble Energy.

Technip was awarded by Deep Gulf Energy II LLC a lump sum contract for the development of the Kodiak field, located in Mississippi Canyon Blocks 727 and 771, in the Gulf of Mexico, at water depths ranging from 1,472 meters to 1,710 meters. The project consists of a subsea tie-back to the Devils Tower Truss Spar located in Mississippi Canyon Block 773. To withstand Kodiak field’s high temperature and pressure as well as extremely corrosive production fluids, the pipeline will be of a bi-metallic construction, lined with corrosion resistant alloy(1). This solution effectively addresses the challenges of increasingly demanding operating conditions. • crossings preparation along with pre-lay and post-lay survey.

EMAS, the operating brand of Ezra Holdings, a global offshore contractor and provider of integrated offshore solutions to the oil and gas (O&G) industry, today announced that it has received a Letter of Agreement (LOA) from Noble Energy for the Gunflint Project in the Gulf of Mexico (GoM). Under the terms of the agreement EMAS’s Subsea Services division, EMAS AMC has been nominated to perform the offshore installation of pipelines, umbilicals and ancillary equipment for the Gunflint Project in the Mississippi Canyon area of the US GoM in water depths in excess of 2,000 meters. The pipelines will be installed with EMAS AMC’s flagship vessel the Lewek Constellation while the EMAS Marine Base in Ingleside…

Dr. Jason Jolliff is an oceanographer with the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory (NRL). "The emphasis here," he says, "is on developing models of the ocean environment to help the naval warfighter." His most recent paper, published in Ocean Modeling (March 2014), shows NRL can also forecast where oil will go following a major spill. "If you're going to do forecasting," he says, "you have to get the ocean circulation correct. It's fundamental to all else." Jolliff plugged the distribution…

Acteon company InterMoor completed decommissioning operations of the Innovator platform in the Gulf of Mexico’s Gomez field, Mississippi Canyon Block 711. Conducted in water depths of 910 meters, the scope of work involved disconnecting 10 risers/umbilicals; disconnecting 12 mooring lines and then towing the Innovator to Ingleside, Texas. InterMoor said it developed special procedures for disconnection and towing, procured rigging and tow equipment for all vessels including the Anchor Handling Vessel (AHV)…

InterMoor, an Acteon company, has won a contract for design, fabrication and installation of 12 suction pile anchors, preset installation of 12 chain/polyester/chain mooring lines and hook-up of the LLOG Delta House production semi-submersible (the Floating Production System “FPS”). The work will be conducted in the Mississippi Canyon 254 block of the U.S. Gulf of Mexico. The project will involve suction pile design, fabrication and installation, followed by preset mooring installation and pre-set mooring hook-up of the FPS. The 12 piles will be 85 ft. long and 16 ft.