Energy Operators News

The remnants of Tropical Storm Cindy brought tornadoes and flooding to the U.S. Gulf Coast on Thursday and its heavy rains will drench much of the eastern United States in coming days, forecasters said. Flooding and road closures stretched from east Texas into northwestern Florida after Cindy made landfall early on Thursday near the Louisiana-Texas border and weakened to a tropical depression, the National Weather Service said. Cindy is expected to dump 3 to 6 inches (7.5 to 15 cm) of rain as it heads north and east into the Ohio Valley and the Appalachian Mountains through Saturday, said Brian Hurley, a weather service meteorologist. Totals could reach 9 inches (22.5 cm) in some areas. "We're looking at quite a bit of rain. That's going to be the main threat," he said.

Mitigating the risk of collision at sea requires an understanding of the causes. The new industry guidance issued by Lloyd’s Register aims to help make offshore operations safer for marine and energy operators. Lloyd Register’s new Guidance Notes for Collision Analysis assist owners, operators and designers of offshore units with identifying potential collision scenarios, assessing the relative risks and conducting numerical analysis, establishing representative collision loads and measuring the impact of these loads on the structural integrity of offshore units. A collision may occur as a result of a vessel losing its positioning or navigational abilities due to structural, mechanical or electrical failure, human error and environmental conditions.

Following on from the formal call of May 21, 2013 to the European Council, Gérard Mestrallet CEO of GDF SUEZ and Paolo Scaroni CEO of ENI appeared before a European Parliament hearing. The event was jointly organized with Amalia Sartori (Chair of the EU Parliament’s Energy Committee) and took place in the presence of the European Commissioner for Energy, Günther Oettinger. The hearing was aimed at highlighting the risks of the EU’s present energy policy. Indeed, the efforts made…

Offshore U.S. Gulf energy operators have already paid a steep price; more pain could come. Drilling in the Gulf of Mexico is now close to levels seen before the April 2010 Macondo spill that took 11 lives and caused the nation’s worst offshore oil spill. Almost two years after the disaster, companies operating in the Gulf are trying to comply with safety requirements finalized last year, according to the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement. BSEE’s new safety rules for offshore drillers set standards for casing and cementing…

ABS has issued a series of notations in support of critical well testing activities being undertaken by energy operators worldwide to determine the commercial nature of their reservoirs. The importance of well testing to determine the nature of reservoirs has become even more critical lately as ultra deepwater exploration with pre-salt fields now has operators exploring in water depths surpassing 10,000 feet. Not only is the depth a challenge but also the complexity of the reservoir structures. A vessel or mobile offshore drilling unit (MODU) with the equipment and capabilities to engage in well testing, either short-term or extended, is key in gathering onsite data to determine the size and quantity of the hydrocarbon potential.

ABS has now issued an Approval in Principle (AIP) for a second floating Gas to Liquids (GTL) concept and is currently involved with the review of several additional GTL concepts from leading energy operators. ABS provided its first AIP for a GTL concept (a floating production barge facility) in 2006. Since then, it has seen a steady increase in the number of requests it has received from designers for the review and preliminary assessment of proprietary technologies that have been developed for floating GTL facilities. The identity of the operator behind the most recent AIP remains confidential given the commercial opportunities this new technology may open up.

ABS is currently involved with the review of or being considered for the selected class society for several Floating LNG (FLNG) and Floating Storage and Re-gasification Unit (FSRU) concepts. “We’ve been approached by leading energy operators to help them evolve gas technology that has typically been developed for land-based facilities,” said Ken Richardson, ABS Vice President Energy Project Development. Richardson pointed out that the recent increases in the size of LNG carriers may create commercial challenges for the continued flexible operation of some of the existing LNG carriers. “LNG carriers are some of the best maintained vessels that can be found,” Richardson pointed out. “Strict maintenance regimes mean these ships may have many years of serviceable life ahead of them.

The much anticipated turnaround in the Gulf of Mexico Oil Patch is happening, and the companies that supply boats and services in the area are feeling the impact. Consolidation has touched every facet of the marine business — every facet of business — for nearly a decade. Following the economic slowdown and resultant "weeding out of the weaklings" in the early 1990s, a new business plan stressing size and economic resource emerged. The plan, obviously, has not worked universally, as some companies overextended just as the market came crashing down in 1997. Today, for better or worse, a handful of enormous companies reign over the business of owning and operating vessels and rigs in the Gulf of Mexico region.