Energy Producer News

The U.S. government on Friday received just a single bid, from Hilcorp Alaska, for oil and gas drilling rights off the coast of Alaska the first federal auction in the region in more than five years.The offer of nearly 1 million acres in the Cook Inlet was among the concessions to the oil and gas sector included in President Joe Biden's signature climate change law, the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA).Under the law, the Interior Department is required to hold the sale by Dec. 31.

The head of Libya's National Oil Corp (NOC) on Wednesday rejected the prime minister's authority to sack him, raising the prospect of an open struggle for control of the state energy producer.In a furious televised speech, Mustafa Sanalla said Prime Minister Abdulhamid al-Dbeibah's mandate to govern had expired and warned him not to touch NOC.An armed force deployed outside the NOC building later in the day, three witnesses said. One of them said the force was aligned with Dbeibah.

The U.S. Treasury Department is getting ready to renew in the coming days Chevron Corp's license to operate in Venezuela, but likely without the greatly expanded terms the U.S. oil major sought, four people close to the talks said.The last U.S. energy producer in Venezuela asked President Joe Biden's government in March for a license that would allow it a greater say in its joint ventures with Venezuela's state-run PDVSA, a first step to reviving output and controlling where oil is sent.In a reversal of earlier hopes for a broadly expanded authorization…

A public-private partnership will aim to establish Salem Harbor as the Massachusetts’ second major offshore wind port.Vineyard Wind, set to be the first ever commercial scale offshore wind farm in the U.S., will work with Crowley Maritime Corporation and the City of Salem for the project.The agreement, part of the “Commonwealth Wind” proposal, is contingent upon the company winning an award by the State of Massachusetts, which is currently evaluating offshore wind procurement bids.Earlier this month…

Brazilian oil giant Petrobras will concentrate its European commercial activities in Rotterdam. This will result in the transfer of Petrobras Europe Ltd.’s commercial activities from London, England to Petrobras Global Trading B.V. in Rotterdam. The change will start in the next quarter and must be completed by the second half of 2021.The focus on Rotterdam is in line with the Petrobras policy of rationalizing its international presence in 2021, taking into account the world’s three major oil markets: Europe, North America and Asia.

Fortescue Metals Group said on Tuesday it was assessing prospects to build an ammonia plant in the southern island state of Tasmania, as part of its push to become a major renewable energy producer.The project would include a 250-megawatt hydrogen plant at the Bell Bay Industrial Precinct with green ammonia production capacity of 250,000 tonnes per year for domestic and international export, Fortescue said in a statement.Bell Bay is about 41 km (26 miles) northwest of the city of Launceston.The project is targeted for an investment decision by the Fortescue Board in 2021…

Anadarko said on Thursday it would seek long-term charters for around 16 liquefied natural gas (LNG) tankers it would need to ship gas from a proposed project in Mozambique.The independent U.S. energy producer aims to take a final investment decision on the $20 billion project in the coming months, having signed up long-term buyers for its LNG.Anadarko said all the contracts signed so far, for over 9.5 million tonnes a year (mtpa) out of a capacity of 12.88 mtpa, were on a delivered ex-ship (DES) basis.The company could have sold the LNG on a free on board (FOB) basis, as do many U.S.

Portuguese renewables company EDP Renewables (EDPR) has inaugurated the Muxía Wind Farm in the homonymous municipality, in the Autonomous Spanish Region of Galicia.A press release from the wind energy producer said that its CEO Jõao Manso Neto and the Managing Director of EDPR Spain were joined at the grand opening by Galician Regional Premier Alberto Núñez Feijóo and the Mayor of Muxía Félix Porto, as well as representatives from the local and regional authorities.The Muxía facility is equipped with thirty-four 2 MW wind turbines, offering a total installed capacity of 68 MW.Including this new wind farm, EDP Renewables now has a total installed capacity in the region of 281 MW…

French energy giant Total SA will exit the Indian liquefied natural gas (LNG) venture by selling 26% stake to its partner Royal Dutch Shell, the two companies announced."Total has signed a binding Letter of Intent (LOI) with Shell for the sale of its 26% minority equity stake in Hazira LNG regasification terminal in India. The transaction remains subject to the approval of regulatory authorities," said a press statement.In parallel, Total has signed an agreement to sell 0.5 million tons of liquefied natural gas (LNG) per year to Shell over 5 years, on a delivery basis to supply the markets of India and neighboring countries. The deliveries will be sourced from Total’s global LNG portfolio and are expected to begin in 2019.“This deal enables Total to capture value through an asset disposal…

Abu Dhabi Ports announced  the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between its subsidiary, SAFEEN, a provider of world-class integrated marine and port services for Abu Dhabi Ports, and ADNOC Logistics & Services, in the area of oil spill containment, cleaning, and maintenance. Under the terms of the agreement, ADNOC Logistics & Services will support SAFEEN in handling tier two oil spill incidents through containment, cleaning and maintenance activities. Tier two oil spills cover a greater area of water and involve more quantities of oil than tier one oil spills, which SAFEEN already is equipped to deal with. Hamad Al Maghrabi…

Sentinel Marine said it has secured two new contracts bringing the Aberdeen-headquartered firm’s contract wins to a total of £26.4 million ($34.4 million) since January this year. The latest contract wins will provide continued employment for 72 seafarers in the North Sea. Sentinel Marine’s contract with Statoil UK Limited will see the provision of an emergency response and rescue vessel (ERRV) Portland Sentinel in the energy producer’s Mariner field from the beginning of August. The Portland Sentinel will join Mariner Sentinel, the latest vessel to join the Sentinel Marine fleet.

Total, the world’s fourth-ranked international oil and gas company, and CMA CGM, a leading worldwide shipping group, have signed a three-year memorandum of understanding. The two partners will be combining their expertise to prepare for stricter fuel regulations in the shipping industry and further reduce the sector’s footprint by developing solutions that make container ships ever more environmentally-friendly. - Fuel oil with a sulfur content of 0.5%. - Fuel oil with a sulfur content of 3.5% for ships equipped with exhaust gas cleaning systems, or scrubbers, which reduce the polluting emissions before they are released into the atmosphere. of nitrogen oxides (NOx) and particulate matters.

The maritime industry was front and center yesterday in Washington, D.C., as “getting more oil on the water” was touted as one piece of the puzzle in ensuring future U.S. energy security, said U.S. Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz. Sec. Moniz spoke yesterday at the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) 2015 EIA Energy Conference at the Renaissance Downtown Hotel in Washington, DC. Building U.S. energy security via a strategic evaluation of the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve  (SPR) was central to his comments…

APM Terminals has signed a two-year, €5 million ($6.23 million) contract with Amsterdam-based NV Nuon Energy for the supply of environmentally-sustainable wind-generated electricity to power the new APM Terminals Maasvlakte II cranes and container handling equipment. The new 2.7 million TEU annual capacity deepwater terminal, scheduled to receive its first commercial vessel call later this month, will reportedly be the world’s first container terminal with zero emissions on site and off site. The contract term begins January 1, 2015.

Brazil finally entered the solar power sector on Friday, granting contracts for the construction of 31 solar parks as it tries to diversify its sources of generation amid an energy crisis caused by the worst drought in eight decades. Brazil's energy regulator, Aneel, concluded its first exclusive solar power auction on Friday, clinching 20-year energy supply contracts with companies that will invest 4.14 billion reais ($1.67 billion) and start to feed the national grid in 2017. The 31 solar parks, the first large-scale solar projects to be constructed in Brazil, will have a combined installed capacity of 1,048 megawatts (MW). Market expectations were for projected total awards of 500 MW.

John Mingé, Regional President BP Alaska, appointed Chairman/President of BP Americas Inc., succeeded by Janet Weiss. John Mingé, has served as head of BP’s Alaska business since January 1, 2009. He will be based in Houston, where he will serve as BP’s lead representative in the US. “BP’s history in Alaska stretches back more than five decades and it is one of the largest and most important businesses in BP’s global portfolio,” Mr. Mingé said. Ms. Weiss serves currently in Alaska as Regional Vice President, Resources, accountable for resource progression and subsurface activities, as well as for IT. In her new role, she will be responsible for BP's oil and gas exploration, development and production activities in Alaska, as well as its interests in the Trans-Alaska oil pipeline.

Statoil and Statkraft have acquired the Dudgeon Offshore Wind Farm project through the acquisition of all shares in Dudgeon Offshore Wind Limited (DOW), a subsidiary of the UK energy company Warwick Energy Limited. Following a successful partnership in developing the Sheringham Shoal Offshore Wind Farm off the coast of North Norfolk, Statoil and Statkraft will now work together to develop the Dudgeon Offshore Wind Farm. The project could deliver many hundreds of jobs during the construction phase and, once in operation, will provide renewable energy to the UK market. Dudgeon has recently received an offshore consent that allows for up to 560 MW of installed generation capacity.

According to a Sept. 20 report from Bloomberg, Cnooc Ltd., China’s biggest offshore energy producer, fell in Hong Kong trading as a growing territorial dispute between China and Japan in the East China Sea threatens to disrupt oil and gas development in the area. The shares dropped 0.4%, compared with the less than 0.1% gain in the benchmark Hang Seng index. China Oilfield Services Ltd., which counts CNOOC as its largest customer, declined 0.7%. (Source: Bloomberg)

Independent energy producer Anglo-Suisse Offshore Partners (ASOP) has been notified by the U.S. government's Mineral Management Service (MMS) that the company will receive the 2005 District Safety Award for Excellence in the New Orleans District at agency's annual MMS Industry Awards Program this coming April in Houston. ASOP, founded in 2004 by a group of experienced industry executives and investors, operates or has interests in six fields in the Outer Continental Shelf offshore Louisiana. ASOP is recipient of the top SAFE award in the Moderate category which is reserved primarily for independent producers, versus the High Activity section for large, integrated companies. (Source: Houston Chronicle)

Lafayette, La.-based PetroQuest Energy Inc. sold an additional 195,000 shares of its 6.875 percent Series B preferred stock. The energy producer received about $70.7 million in proceeds from its recent public stick offering and will use the funds to repay debt and for other corporate purposes. The company is listed on the NASDAQ and its stock is traded under the symbol PQUE