Horizon Oil News

An oil production and storage vessel exploded off the coast of Nigeria early on Wednesday with 10 crew members on board though it was not yet clear if there were any casualties or how much crude might have spilled into the sea.Nigeria's Shebah Exploration & Production Company Ltd (SEPCOL) said on Thursday that flames had engulfed the Trinity Spirit floating production, storage, and offloading (FPSO) vessel following the blast a day earlier."At this time there are no reported fatalities…

The Biden administration has announced ambitious plans to scale up leasing for offshore wind energy projects along the Atlantic, Gulf, and Pacific coasts. In an announcement released on Oct. 13, 2021, the U.S. Department of the Interior stated that it will “use the best available science as well as knowledge from ocean users and other stakeholders to minimize conflict with existing uses and marine life.” University of Massachusetts Boston public policy scholar David W. Cash, who worked at senior levels in state government for a decade…

Oil spills into ocean waters, subject to winds and tides and spreading swiftly over wide areas, are difficult to clean up.The 3,000-barrel weekend spill off the coast of southern California is nowhere near as disastrous as mega-spills like the Deepwater Horizon explosion that sent millions of barrels of oil into U.S. waters of the Gulf of Mexico. But swift movement of the liquids can kill wildlife and foul beaches before cleanup teams are deployed. Federal and state responders begin fighting oil spills by deploying diving teams…

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) on Friday awarded a $139 million construction contract to Great Lakes Dredge & Dock Company, LLC. (GLDD), to complete the third phase of the landmark Port of Corpus Christi Ship Channel Improvement Project (CIP). The four-phase infrastructure project will increase the Corpus Christi Ship Channel depth from -47 feet Mean Lower Low Water (MLLW) to -54 feet MLLW and widen it to 530 feet, with an additional 400 feet of barge shelves.Phase 3 will extend west of the La Quinta Junction through the Chemical Turning Basin in the Port’s Inner Harbor.

Freehill Hogan & Mahar LLP Partner Daniel Fitzgerald retired from the U.S. Coast Guard Reserve in a ceremony at U.S. Coast Guard Headquarters in Washington D.C., this summer.Rear Admiral Melissa Bert presided over the ceremony, which was attended by family, friends and Coast Guard colleagues who worked with Fitzgerald over the past 28 years. Fitzgerald retired from his last duty assignment in Washington D.C. where he served as the Senior Reserve Judge Advocate (RJAG) for the entire Coast Guard Reserve.

Great Lakes Dredge & Dock Co. announced Thursday it is moving its corporate headquarters to Houston, positioning the nation’s largest dredging services provider nearer to major regional projects and opportunities. The firm will also open regional offices in Jacksonville, Fla., and Staten Island, N.Y.The move to Houston from from Oak Brook, Ill., which stems in part from changing industry dynamics, places the company closer to key regional customers and new markets, especially along the Gulf Coast and the Mississippi River…

HudsonAnalytix, announced that Admiral Thad Allen, U.S. Coast Guard retired, has joined their operation as a Senior Executive Advisor.Admiral Allen served as the 23rd Commandant of the Coast Guard from 2006 to 2010. He will be focusing on risk management for the global maritime transportation sector served by Hudson. Focus areas include regulatory and policy issues, crisis response and disaster management, environmental compliance, and cyber risk to shipping, ports, and supply chains.

The Trump administration on Thursday proposed opening nearly all U.S. offshore waters to oil and gas drilling, a move aimed at boosting domestic energy production that sparked protests from coastal states, environmentalists and the tourism industry. The effort to open previously off-limits acreage in the Atlantic, Arctic and Pacific oceans comes less than eight years after BP Plc's Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico - the largest in American history. The disaster…

A U.S. regulator has proposed rolling back safety measures put in place after the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill, which would reduce the role of government in offshore oil production, the Wall Street Journal reported on Monday. The Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE), which regulates offshore oil and gas drilling, proposes relaxing requirements to stream real-time data on oil production operators to facilities onshore, where they are available for review by regulators, the Journal reported. The BSEE has also proposed cutting a provision requiring that third-party inspectors of critical equipment - such as the blowout preventer that failed in the Deepwater Horizon case - be certified by the BSEE, the Journal reported.

Sinking a 6,000-ton, 371-foot former cargo vessel to help create an artificial reef in the Gulf of Mexico is a herculean feat, one only accomplished with strict adherence to rigorous federal and state environmental regulations. When the cargo ship Kraken was recently sunk 67 miles off the Galveston coast, Matrix New World Engineering helped the Texas Parks & Wildlife Department Artificial Reef Program ensure that the vessel was free of environmental hazards and safe to support coral, fish, sea turtles and other aquatic life.

Brian Salerno was sworn in as the Director of the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) on August 26, 2013. He is responsible for promoting safety, protecting the environment and conserving resources through the vigorous regulatory oversight and enforcement of offshore operations on the U.S. Outer Continental Shelf. Prior to his appointment as Bureau Director, Salerno served as the U.S. Coast Guard’s Deputy Commandant for Operations where he was responsible for establishing and providing operational strategy…

The U.S. government agency created after the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill plans in coming weeks to unveil tougher financial requirements for offshore oil producers aimed at protecting taxpayers from the risk of cleaning up abandoned oil rigs, an agency executive told Reuters. Under the new guidelines, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) will demand additional guarantees to cover producers' legal obligation to plug offshore wells and dismantle rigs in the Outer Continental Shelf once they have extracted oil and gas…

In a sign the massive Alberta wildfire is taking a toll on oil transport, Canadian crude exports to the United States dropped 12 percent last week, while another blend of Canadian sweet crude oil rallied as concerns grow about supply. Overall, trading in Canadian crude was quiet, as the second half of the month is generally inactive. Hot and dry weather and strong winds were expected to push the wildfire burning near Fort McMurray, Alberta eastward on Wednesday, continuing to threaten facilities and work camps in Canada's prized oil sands. With the fire projected to grow further, producers are starting to scramble for needed oil supply.

The Obama administration on Thursday unveiled new oil well control rules to prevent the kind of blowout that happened six years ago on a BP Plc rig in the Gulf of Mexico. The Interior Department's Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement announced the finalized regulations, which include more stringent design requirements and operational procedures for offshore U.S. oil and gas operations. The new standards come nearly six years after a deadly explosion and fire on the Deepwater Horizon oil rig off the cost of Louisiana, which led to the worst oil spill of all time.

Governor Robert Bentley on Thursday announced that Alabama has agreed to a settlement with Transocean Offshore Deepwater Drilling, Inc., which owned the Deepwater Horizon. Alabama will receive $20 million. “The State of Alabama suffered tremendous environmental and economic losses because of the BP/Deepwater Horizon oil spill in April 2010,” Governor Robert Bentley said. “I appreciate the entire Alabama team for working to ensure Alabama is fairly compensated. On April 20, 2010, the Deepwater Horizon floating drilling rig owned by Transocean and used by BP, experienced a well destabilization that ultimately led to an explosion causing catastrophic fires, a leak of over 3 million barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico, and the death of 11 people.

U.S. Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell Thursday commended the Gulf Coast Ecosystem Restoration Council for issuing its initial list of proposed projects for natural resource restoration for Gulf Coast communities in the wake of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. The RESTORE Council proposed using approximately $139.6 million from the recent settlement with Transocean Deepwater, Inc. to support restoration projects in key regional watersheds. Interior’s role in these projects is primarily focused on resiliency building efforts across the Gulf Coast.

U.S. Coast Guard Commandant, Adm. Paul Zukunft presented at last week’s 6th Symposium on the Impacts of an Ice-Diminishing Arctic on Naval and Maritime Operations in Washington, DC. Summarizing Adm. In my role as the Commandant of the Coast Guard, I view the Coast Guard as the lead federal maritime agency when it comes to all things Arctic. By “all things Arctic,” I mean everything from safety of life at sea, to marine environmental protection, to fisheries enforcement and a whole host of Coast Guard missions. They all reside within one service, the United States Coast Guard.

ASV has collaborated with the Littoral Acoustic Demonstration Center Gulf Ecological Monitoring and Modeling (LADC-GEMM) consortium to conduct 10 days of Passive Acoustic Monitoring (PAM) data collection for its BP/Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative (GoMRI) funded project. ASV worked closely with Seiche Measurements Limited to integrate its PAM technology on both the C-Worker 6 and C-Enduro Autonomous Surface Vehicles (ASVs). The ASV crew operated from the R/V Pelican coastal research vessel to collect extensive data, which will undergo analysis in the coming months. The two ASV’s were able to identify approximately 30 marine mammals whilst operating in challenging sea conditions up to sea state 5.

ASV informs it has collaborated with the Littoral Acoustic Demonstration Center Gulf Ecological Monitoring and Modeling (LADC-GEMM) consortium to conduct 10 days of Passive Acoustic Monitoring (PAM) data collection for its BP/Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative (GoMRI) funded project. ASV worked with Seiche Measurements Limited to integrate its PAM technology on both the C-Worker 6 and C-Enduro Autonomous Surface Vehicles (ASVs). The ASV crew operated from the R/V Pelican coastal research vessel to collect extensive data, which will undergo analysis in the coming months.

An interview with NOIA’s Randall Luthi provides unique perspective on where the offshore energy business has been, where it is now, and where it could be headed next. It is a predictable but at the same time, an important anniversary to examine: five years beyond the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, which began on 20 April 2010 on the BP-owned, Transocean-operated Macondo Prospect in the Gulf of Mexico. Widely considered to be the largest accidental marine oil spill in the history of the energy industry, oil flowed from the sea floor for 87 days until capped in mid-July. The environmental impact is well documented, the ultimate impact of the incident on the offshore and oil industries today has been profound, lasting and without a doubt, it made the offshore business safer.

A record dolphin die-off in the northern Gulf of Mexico was caused by the largest oil spill in U.S. history, researchers said on Wednesday, citing a new study that found many of the dolphins died with rare lesions linked to petroleum exposure. Scientists said the study of dead dolphins tissue rounded out the research into a spike of dolphin deaths in the region affected by BP Plc's oil spill that was caused by the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil rig explosion. Millions of barrels of crude oil spewed into Gulf waters…

Oregon 10th grader Sahil Veeramoney received the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Region 10 President’s Environmental Youth Award for his development of a novel and efficient method to clean up marine oil spills. Veeramoney, a student at Oregon Episcopal School in Portland, Oregon, developed a method to remediate marine oil spills after studying the environmental impact of the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill that occurred in the Gulf of Mexico and subsequent oil spills.

The trustees and BP have identified approximately $134 million in projects to be included in the next proposed phase of early restoration. This milestone comes five years after the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. The 10 proposed projects would benefit sea turtles, birds and fish; increase recreational opportunities; and improve nearshore and reef habitats. It is anticipated that these projects will be included in a draft Phase IV Early Restoration Plan that will be made available for public review and comment.