Energy Boom News

With passage of the Inflation Reduction Act, which contains US$370 billion for climate and energy programs, policy experts are forecasting a big expansion in clean electricity generation. One source that’s poised for growth is offshore wind power.Today the U.S. has just two operating offshore wind farms, off of Rhode Island and Virginia, with a combined generating capacity of 42 megawatts. For comparison, the new Traverse Wind Energy Center in Oklahoma has 356 turbines and a 998-megawatt generating capacity.

The National Ocean Industries Association (NOIA) announced the support for the Offshore Wind Jobs and Opportunities Act.NOIA President Randall Luthi submitted a letter in support Offshore Wind Jobs and Opportunities Act, ahead of House Natural Resources Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral Resources hearing,  Building a 21st Century American Offshore Wind Workforce.“I want to share the National Ocean Industries Association (NOIA) support for the Offshore Wind Jobs and Opportunities Act. We agree with the sponsors of this legislation that the coming offshore wind energy boom in the U.S. will need a skilled workforce trained and capable of operating in the unique offshore environment…

American utilities signed contracts for 4,304 megawatts (MW) of wind power in 2018 that, when combined with non-utility purchases, reached the highest level on record for overall Power Purchase Agreements (PPA) activity with 8,507 MW in 2018.In total, the industry commissioned 7,588 MW of wind power capacity in 2018. There are now 96,488 MW of cumulative installed wind capacity in the United States, with more than 56,800 wind turbines operating across 41 states.According to a new report released today by the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA), Fortune 500 brands and a range of other non-utility entities, including cities and universities…

Guyana has put planned oil auctions on hold as the impoverished South American country works to establish a Department of Energy to oversee the energy boom, Minister of State Joseph Harmon said on Monday.Since 1999, Guyana has awarded a group led by Exxon Mobil Corp hundreds of oil blocks along Guyana's maritime borders with Venezuela and Suriname. Their finds are turning Guyana, a country with no history of oil production and relaxed energy regulation, into one of Latin America's hottest prospects for oil investments.Exxon…

The offshore energy boom: more than wind. Domestic offshore wind also promises to generate demand for new, efficiently propelled support vessels. The U.S. offshore wind farm industry, now in its infancy, is on the verge of a massive growth surge, and the boom will be felt throughout the American maritime industry. The U.S. Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy reported last year that there is a “robust pipeline of projects to ensure growth in the country’s nascent offshore wind market…

A bill to repeal the U.S. oil export ban was expected to pass the House of Representatives on Friday, but faces an uncertain future after a veto threat by President Barack Obama. U.S. representatives on Friday morning debated the bill, sponsored by Joe Barton a Republican of Texas, and were slated to vote on it later in the day. Oil policy analyst Kevin Book of ClearView Energy Partners expected the bill to pass the Republican-led House, but said it was unlikely to win the 290 votes necessary to override a White House veto. Congress passed the ban in 1975 after the Arab oil embargo caused snaking lines at gas stations and fears of global oil shortages. "Much has changed since the ban on crude was put in place," Representative Fred Upton, a Republican of Michigan, said before the vote.

U.S. Senator Lisa Murkowski said on Thursday she will unveil a bill next week to reverse the U.S. oil export ban in an effort to build support for killing the 1970s-era restriction that drillers say threatens to choke the domestic energy boom. Murkowski, the Republican chairwoman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, said she will unveil the bill on Tuesday, although it was uncertain when the measure would get a vote in her committee. "I am going to be looking for every opportunity we might have to advance it," Murkowski said in a press conference.

Our annual shipyard report comes at an appropriate, yet uncertain time for the industry. The future direction of the oil and gas markets will, to a large extent, also determine the course for domestic boat builders. That’s because the sustained rally seen in this sector over the course of the last 3 to 5 years came to be thanks to the so-called domestic energy boom. Nevertheless, there are reasons for optimism despite the lowest rig count since March of 2011. Thankfully, there are other reasons for shipyards to stay busy in the coming months. For example, the looming so-called subchapter M towboat rules will likely unleash a flurry of inland repair and newbuild activity.

It is not often that I break out the tux for my editorial picture, but this special edition dictates. I know that I should argue that all of our editions are special, but this one in particular, I must admit, stands out in a number of ways. In fact, all of 2014 has been somewhat ‘special,’ as the domestic maritime business has rebounded with a vigor, driven in no small part by an unprecedented energy boom in the U.S. that looks like it will make the country energy independent by 2020.

"Billions of dollars are being invested to meet the demands of oil production, and nearly 30 large, self-propelled, oceangoing Jones Act-eligible tankers and containerships are under construction or are on-order at U.S. Shipyards. Although times are good, throughout history, shipbuilding has followed a very cyclical pattern. Right now we are experiencing a big upswing in smaller vessels, offshore supply vessels, and large commercial ships. However, if we don’t reinforce a stable shipbuilding base, we’re going to face a similar crisis during the next downturn. Paul N. U.S.

Top oil exporter Saudi Arabia told OPEC it raised its oil production in September by 100,000 barrels per day, adding to signs it has yet to respond to a drop in prices well below $100 a barrel by trimming output. In a monthly report issued on Friday, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) said Saudi Arabia reported September production of 9.704 million barrels per day (bpd), up from 9.597 million in August. The lack of a Saudi cut could add to perceptions of traders and analysts that the kingdom is looking to defend market share, not prices. Oil in September fell below $100 a barrel, a level endorsed by Saudi Arabia, for the first time in 14 months and hit $88.11 on Friday, its lowest since 2010.

Paul “Chip” Jaenichen was appointed by President Obama and sworn in as Maritime Administrator on July 25, 2014. Before his appointment, Administrator Jaenichen served as Acting Administrator beginning in June 2013. He joined the U.S. Department of Transportation, Maritime Administration in July 2012 when he was appointed Deputy Maritime Administrator. A career naval officer, retiring in 2012 after serving 30 years as nuclear trained Submarine Officer in the U.S. Navy, Jaenichen’s…

Norway's Aker ASA may decide to merge or otherwise restructure two listed units that have seen strong benefits from the U.S. shale oil energy boom, Aker's Converto investment vehicle said in a statement released late on Monday. Converto, the top owner of both Aker Philadelphia Shipyard and American Shipping Company (ASC), seeks to "evaluate and execute potential strategic initiatives to visualize and maximize shareholder value" for the two firms. "This could include M&A and financial restructuring ... as well as investigating potential joint strategic alternatives for the two companies," it added. Converto said it had recently considered selling its shares in American Shipping Company…

The head of energy company Royal Dutch Shell said on Tuesday that U.S. policymakers should lift the crude oil export ban because allowing the shipments would make global energy system more stable. "Policy makers here in the U.S. should embrace a truly liberalized diverse and global energy market," Shell CEO Ben van Beurden told a conference on energy at Columbia University. U.S. oil and natural gas exports "would reinforce the long term future of North American energy production," significantly improve the U.S. balance of trade, and "help to make the global energy system much more stable," he said. The United States has banned oil exports since the 1970s Arab oil embargo…

Just last month, the Secretary General of the European Community Shipowners’ Association (ECSA) opined that the sixth negotiations round of the Trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) should include concessions from the American side on maritime transportation issues. Specifically, he called for European access to the “feedering” of international cargo in U.S. domestic trades and access to the American dredging and offshore sectors. They didn’t ask for anyone’s first born child, but I suppose that there’s still time to issue that edict before the end of the summer. EU and US negotiators met in mid-July for the sixth Trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) negotiations.

Along the way, ATBs gain speed, efficiency, safety – and popularity. Operators of articulated tugs and barges, or ATBs, say they like the maneuverability, weather reliability, stability, speed of these units, and the manner in which the tug pushes the barge. As a marine transportation concept, they can also simply be described as versatile. ATBs move petroleum, chemicals, coal, grain, containerized cargo and rail cars for customers on the U.S. coasts, rivers, the Great Lakes and overseas. As a result, demand for articulated units expanded in the last two decades with new technology.

Cheniere Energy's proposed liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal in Corpus Christi, Texas will not lead to widespread harm to the environment, a draft review concluded on Friday, moving the project a step closer to a possible approval later this year. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's draft review concluded the project will result in a permanent loss of more than 25 acres of wetlands, but said measures Cheniere plans to take will minimize any further disturbance on wetlands. The Corpus Christi project is one of about two dozen in the United States that hopes to ship gas from the domestic energy boom to countries in Asia and Europe eager to reduce their use of coal.

Recent meetings between U.S. oil producers and Commerce Department officials have fueled industry hopes that the Obama administration may soon begin to ease a longstanding ban on oil exports. Although it would require an act of Congress to end the four-decade export ban, some analysts and executives believe the White House may be getting ready to open up the taps a bit, allowing some export of a super-light form of oil known as condensate, which falls into a regulatory gray area. Executives and sources said a number of major shale oil producers have quietly stepped up lobbying efforts over the contentious energy issue in recent weeks, meeting with officials from the Commerce Department's Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS), which oversees exports.

Norway's energy boom is tailing off years ahead of expectations, exposing an economy unprepared for life after oil and threatening the long-term viability of the world's most generous welfare model. High spending within the sector has pushed up wages and other costs to unsustainable levels, not just for the oil and gas industry but for all sectors, and that is now acting as a drag on further energy investment. Norwegian firms outside oil have struggled to pick up the slack in what has been, for at least a decade, almost a single-track economy. How Norway handles this "curse of oil" - huge wealth that bring unhealthy dependency in its train - may hold lessons across the North Sea in Scotland…

Genco Shipping & Trading Ltd said it filed for prepackaged Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection after struggling with weak rates due to an oversupply of vessels. The drybulk shipper said it expected its operations to continue normally and did not require debtor-in-possession finance. Lenders backing a $1.06 billion credit facility would convert their debt into about 81.1 percent of company's stock, the company said earlier this month. Genco said on Monday Baltic Trading Ltd, a company formed by Genco, and its units are not included in the restructuring program.

Genco Shipping & Trading Ltd. will cut its debt by more than $1 billion by giving control of the company to its lenders in a deal that requires the dry bulk shipping company to file for bankruptcy. Lenders backing a $1.06 billion credit facility would convert their debt into about 81.1 percent of company's stock, according to a regulatory filing from Thursday. Investors who hold $125 million of Genco convertible debt would receive 8.4 percent of the company. The remaining equity would be allocated to those investors funding a $100 million rights offering…

Hundreds of construction workers in booming northern British Columbia will take up residence this week in unique digs on board a cruise ferry revamped into a floating luxury hotel. The aging ship will help relieve a housing shortage in one busy Canadian port town already bursting ahead of a promised energy boom that could last more than a decade. The Silja Festival - a Baltic ferry made over as the Delta Spirit Lodge - will spend at least a year docked outside Kitimat, British Columbia, where it will provide housing for about 600 workers in town for Rio Tinto Alcan's $3.3 billion smelter-upgrade project, which is expected to wrap up in 2015.

“Due to increasing demand and reducing reserves, oil prices currently at $40 are likely to soon enter a period of sustained rises resulting in a need to massively develop natural gas and renewable energy resources” according to John Westwood of energy analysts Douglas-Westwood. “Oil reserves are depleting and demand growing. Recent increases in oil demand from China, for example, are likely to accelerate. The average American consumes 25 times as much oil as the average Chinese yet China has 5 times the population and is industrialising rapidly. Vehicle growth in China is rising rapidly and this will cause global demand for oil to continue its increase.