Petrobras to Resume Building Its Own Platforms
Brazil's Petroleo Brasileiro SA will build its own oil platforms again from 2023, regardless of who wins the presidential election next month, an executive at the state-run oil company said.Petrobras' 2019-2023 business plan, set to be released in December, should include a resumption of platform construction thanks to the company's improving finances, Petrobras' director for production and technology development Hugo Repsold said."We will build platforms independently of who is president…
Oil Explorers Update on Thailand Assets
US-based Coastal Energy Company updates progress on Thailand rig location and pilot offshore facturing program. The Atwood Manta has arrived on location at the Bua Ban North B field and is currently rigging up. The Company plans to drill eight development and appraisal wells at Bua Ban North with the Manta. Following completion of these eight wells, the Company plans to mobilize the Manta to the KBM cluster offshore Malaysia in early Q213 to begin appraisal drilling there. The Company has recently tested hydraulic fracturing ("fraccing") with a three stage fracturing program in the Lower Oligocene in the Bua Ban South A-01 well. All three zones which were fracced have flowed back oil naturally during cleanup.
President Lifts Ban on Bristol Bay Offshore Exploration and Drilling
The Bush administration recently announced that it has lifted a ban on offshore oil drilling in Bristol Bay, Alaska. The move is a shot in the arm for the Alaska oil and gas industry, which is hoping for approval to build a new natural gas pipeline. A recently elected oil-friendly governor, the pipeline project and now expanded offshore drilling possibilities mean increased demand for workers. On January 9, 2007, the Bush administration lifted a long-standing moratorium on oil exploration in a 5.6 million acre area in the North Aleutian Basin of Alaska's Bristol Bay region. New Alaska Governor Sarah Palin welcomed the news that the moratorium has been lifted.
Fla. Senators Fight Drilling Plan
Citing environmental concerns, Florida senators sought to scale back oil and gas drilling plans for a part of the Gulf of Mexico, hoping to push development farther from the state's coast, the Washington Post reported. But the Republican chairman and top Democrat on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee indicated they would press ahead with legislation that would open more of the area to gas development at least 50 miles closer to Florida. Proponents of the exploration say the area offers the best chance for significant new natural gas production in the next five years. The bill would require the Interior Department to begin selling leases for oil and gas development in the "181 area" of the central Gulf within a year.
French PM Tours Oily Coast, Vows Safety Crackdown
French Prime Minister Lionel Jospin, touring beaches devastated by oil seeping from a sunken tanker off the Atlantic coast, pledged to press for stricter global safety rules. Jospin, who cut short a trip to Egypt to return to France as it was hit by violent storms that killed some 60 people and drove two separate oil slicks to its coastline, vowed to use the French presidency of the European Union next year to push for new laws. "We are going to draw the lessons for international regulations," he said. "We are going to make precise proposals. French media reported that the oil slicks, which seeped from the tanker Erika after it sank on Dec. 12, were now threatening 250 miles of France's rugged Atlantic coast, which is heavily dependent on fishing and tourism.
