Central Gulf News

Captain Morgan McManus will serve as the Ship’s Master on the Empire State VII, the first in a series of five National Security Multi-Mission Vessel (NSMV), which at press time was getting its post-sea trial finishing touches at Philly Shipyard. The project to design, build and deliver the NSMV series is one of the most exciting shipbuilding programs in the U.S. – a government shipbuilding project leveraging commercial shipbuilding efficiencies. For insights, we visited with Captain McManus to discuss the ship, it’s technology suite and its role in helping to educate a new generation of U.S.

Hurricane Ida damaged a Louisiana grain export elevator owned by global grain trader Cargill Inc and disrupted export operations at the busiest bulk grain export facilities in the United States on Monday.Cargill said its Reserve, Louisiana, terminal, one of two the company operates along the Mississippi River near the Gulf of Mexico, "sustained significant damage" from the storm, which roared ashore as a powerful Category 4 hurricane.Rival crop traders Bunge Ltd and Archer-Daniels…

U.S. energy companies on Thursday began airlifting workers from Gulf of Mexico oil production platforms and moved vessels from the path of what could become a devastating hurricane by the weekend.A storm is brewing in the Caribbean Sea and is forecast to grind through the main oil-producing region of the Gulf. It could become a major hurricane ahead of landfall on the central Gulf Coast, the National Hurricane Center said. Hurricanes with winds of up to 111 miles (178 km) per hour are classified as major and can bring devastating damage onshore.BHP…

The first storm to hit oil-producing regions of the U.S. Gulf of Mexico this year sent workers fleeing offshore oil platforms and cut some production.A weather disturbance in the central Gulf of Mexico was expected to become a tropical storm on Friday. It was moving north at about 14 miles per hour (22 kmh) and could bring up to 12-inches of rain to the central U.S. Gulf Coast by Saturday, the National Weather Service said.Equinor ASA on Friday said it had removed staff and shut production at its Titan platform, which is about 65 miles (105 km) off the coast of Louisiana.

Chevron Corp and Occidental Petroleum Corp said on Thursday they were withdrawing staff and implementing storm precautions at their U.S. Gulf of Mexico offshore facilities ahead of a brewing tropical storm.A weather disturbance over the Gulf of Mexico could become a tropical storm by Friday and take aim at the Louisiana and Mississippi coasts, the U.S. National Weather Service said on Thursday.“All of our facilities have plans to prepare for weather-related events and are implementing those procedures,” Occidental said on its website.

Energy companies on Monday began evacuating offshore oil platforms as the 25th named storm of the year formed in the Caribbean and was forecast to become a major hurricane before it entered the Gulf of Mexico and threatens the U.S. mainland.Tropical Storm Delta was expected to rapidly strengthen and become a Category 3 hurricane with up to 120 mile per hour (194 kilometers per hour) winds. It was about 160 miles south southwest of Negril, Jamaica, on Monday evening and moving west at 8 mph.Delta will bring rain…

As oil and gas companies began shutting offshore production before the first tropical storm of the season in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico, experts said restarting wells and refineries will take longer and prove more costly this year because of COVID-19.Well shut-ins typically last a few days or weeks at most, but oil companies have adopted stringent virus precautions for refinery and offshore staff, including frequent health checks, travel restrictions, onsite protective gear, and…

BP Plc began turning off production at three platforms in the northern Gulf of Mexico and evacuating workers because of the threat from Tropical Storm Cristobal, forecast to make landfall in Louisiana over the weekend, the company said.Norwegian state-oil company Equinor ASA began evacuating non-essential workers on Wednesday and plans to shut production on Friday at its Titan oil platform if the storm continues along its projected path, spokesman Hasting Stewart said.Occidental Petroleum Corp also began flying non-essential workers to shore from central Gulf of Mexico operations…

The end of the 2019 saw some unprecedented funding measure pass through Congress and signed into law by President Trump. The Gulf and East Coast have continued to receive significant funding to help deepen and widen navigational channels and gateways. One of the projects passed into law included the Gulf Coast Regional Demonstration Project. Some of the ports receiving funding and underway include Mobile, Baltimore, Houston, Port Everglades and Norfolk. All these projects funded by Congress draw a direct correlation to the expanded Panama Canal.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' FY2020 Work Plan release on Monday places dredging at the forefront.“We welcome the FY 2020 Work Plan released by the Army Corps,” said William P. Doyle, CEO of the Dredging Contractors of America. “We’re ready – our dredging companies are hard at work on projects and continue to build new dredging ships for America’s ports, waterways and beaches.”The Work Plan is based on the FY2020 Energy and Water Development appropriations bills signed into law by President Trump in December 2019.In December 2019…

Florida's largest port,  Port Tampa Bay has marking a major milestone and partnership with CMA CGM as Port customers, local officials, and business leaders gather to celebrate the inaugural call of the CMA CGM DALILA at The Ports America Terminal.CMA CGM Group, a world leader in shipping and logistics, begin their weekly direct ocean carrier service between Asia and Port Tampa Bay today. CMA CGM's excellent transit times will significantly improve the competitiveness of the region's importers and exporters, transforming Tampa Bay's economic landscape.With a capacity of 8,500 to 9,500 TEUs (container units) per vessel, these are also the largest container ships ever to call at the Port.

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…

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.

The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) Director Abigail Ross Hopper announced the bureau will offer more than 48 million acres offshore Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama for oil and gas exploration and development, in a lease sale that will include all available unleased areas in the Central Planning Area (CPA). “As one of the most productive basins in the world, the Gulf of Mexico remains an important component of our domestic energy strategy to create jobs, foster economic opportunities, and reduce America’s dependence on foreign oil,” Hopper said. BOEM will livestream Central Gulf of Mexico Lease Sale 247 on March 22, 2017. Livestreaming the sale enables BOEM to deliver pertinent bid information immediately to a much broader national and international audience.

A vessel from Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps came within 100 yards of a U.S. military ship in the central Gulf on Sept. 4, two U.S. Defense Department officials told Reuters on Tuesday.   The officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said the Iranian vessel sailed directly in front of the USS Firebolt, a 174-foot (53 m) coastal patrol vessel, forcing the U.S. ship to change course in a maneuver they described as "unsafe and unprofessional." (Reporting by Idrees Ali)

TGS and Schlumberger today announce commencement of the Dual Coil Shooting* multi-vessel full-azimuth acquisition Revolution XII and XIII surveys in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico. The surveys will cover approximately 7,150 km2 (306 blocks) in the Green Canyon, Atwater Valley and Ewing Bank protraction areas of the Central Gulf of Mexico. The Revolution XIl and XIII surveys will be acquired using the Schlumberger WesternGeco Q-Marine* point-receiver marine seismic system combined with the proprietary multivessel, Dual Coil Shooting acquisition technique, which will provide broadband, long-offset, full-azimuth data. This combination of leading-edge technology and technique will improve illumination and imaging of the sub-salt and other complex geologic features in this highly active region.

As part of President Obama’s all-of-the-above energy strategy to continue to expand safe and responsible domestic energy production, Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) Acting Director Walter Cruickshank today announced that the bureau will offer 40 million acres offshore Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama for oil and gas exploration and development in a sale that will include all available unleased areas in the Central Gulf of Mexico Planning Area. Proposed Central Gulf of Mexico Lease Sale 235, scheduled to take place in New Orleans, Louisiana, in March of 2015, will be the seventh offshore sale under the Administration’s Outer Continental Shelf Oil and Gas Leasing Program for 2012-2017 (Five Year Program).

Sneed operates out of its main facility, nearly 40 acres in Channelview, Texas, as well as a smaller yard (three acres) in Orange, Texas, and the Central Gulf Shipyard, LLC, in New Iberia, La., a full-service shipyard located on the Commercial Canal, specializing in offshore liftboat newbuild and repair; cornerstone to the company’s plan to further diversify its business from its inland core to include the offshore industry. Martin M. Sneed founded Sneed Shipbuilding in 1965 and sold it to his son Clyde Sneed and business partner Mitch Jones in 2009.

In the International Bid Round 2013, RWE Dea has been awarded two new offshore concessions with operatorship by the Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation (EGPC). The concessions are located in the Gulf of Suez, where the company is producing oil as operator for more than 30 years. Dea will become operator of two new concessions in the Gulf of Suez. Dea will hold a share of 100% of the East Ras Fanar Offshore and 50% of the Northwest El Amal concession, with Edison International SpA holding the remaining 50%. “We are very pleased with the result of the latest Bid Round, as both new concessions provide a valuable addition to our balanced oil and gas license portfolio in Egypt,” says Maximilian Fellner, General Manager RWE Dea Egypt.

The US Department of Defense informs that nine companies have each been awarded indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity fixed-price option-year two modifications for international ocean and intermodal distribution services (Universal Services Contract-7). Matson Navigation Company Inc., Oakland, California, estimated $9,645,286 (P00034 to HTC711-12-D-W014). The modifications bring the total cumulative face value of the program to $5,932,834,105. Work will be performed worldwide as specified on each individual order, with an expected completion date of Aug. 31, 2015. Type of appropriation is fiscal 2014 and 2015 transportation working capital funds to be obligated on individual task orders. U.S.

Established in 1946, the family owned and operated, Bollinger Shipyards group provides quality maritime construction, boat repair and conversion products and services to both the U.S. Military and the commercial marine industry. Four generations of Bollingers have been challenged to match the innovation, integrity and deep sense of responsibility that have become synonymous with the Bollinger way of doing business. Bollinger Shipyards specializes in new construction, steel fabrication, vessel repair and conversion of a wide variety of U.S.

Beier Radio, LLC says that with Sentinel Controls it has relocated operations to a new facility in Gray, Louisiana, along the bustling Central Gulf coast near Houma. In addition, Beier Radio’s corporate office for administration and sales has moved from Belle Chasse to Mandeville, Louisiana, north of New Orleans. The move consolidates Beier Radio’s engineering, service, parts, and training departments, and Sentinel’s manufacturing operations at the new Gray campus, putting the companies in closer proximity to Port Fourchon, the intermodal port of choice for much of the Central Gulf energy activity. The new facility is located along U.S. Highway 90, providing both Beier Radio and Sentinel with more efficient access to their marine clients for equipment design, installation and service.

The Marine Training Institute advises that classes are filling up quickly for ECDIS & DP training at its new technologically advanced facility situated on the central Gulf Coast near Houma, Louisiana. Beier Radio explain that it opened The Marine Training Institute in January 2014, specializing in USCG approved ECDIS certification courses and type-specific ECDIS training, as well as basic and advanced DP Operator training. Students can master there the operations of vessel technology using simulators that apply real-world skills to the real-world challenges of the marine environment during four and five day sessions. The Marine Training Institute is the only full time ECDIS training facility along the Gulf of Mexico, say Beier.