License Applications News

The U.S. Department of Energy on Thursday issued a rule to exclude environmental reviews for marine transport of liquefied natural gas (LNG), as the Trump administration unleashes last minute rules supporting the fossil fuel industry.The rule, which the Energy Department issued in a pre-publication notice in the Federal Register, frees LNG transport license applications from including environmental reviews that have been required under a bedrock environmental law, the National…

Venezuelan state-run oil firm PDVSA has begun offering to ship its own oil, figuring in the costs in crude supply deals to help customers who have struggled to hire vessels to carry the country’s oil due to U.S. sanctions, according to company documents seen by Reuters.The United States has blacklisted vessel owners, shipping operators and threatened to sanction any tanker facilitating the country’s oil exports as it tightens restrictions on trade with the South American country.Washington has been trying to weaken socialist President Nicolas Maduro by choking the OPEC member’s oil exports, depriving the government of petrodollars — its main source of revenue.Most shipping firms are avoiding Venezuela because of the sanctions…

The Maritime Administration (MARAD) is seeking comments on the agency’s proposed policy to accept, evaluate and process license applications for the construction and operation of offshore deepwater export facilities. The agency is proposing to use the existing Deepwater Port License regulations, found in 33 CFR Parts 148, 149 and 150, for such purposes. However, due to the considerable technical, operational, and environmental differences between import and export operations for natural gas or oil projects, a separate and complete license application, conforming to all licensing requirements and regulations, is required for export applications. The Federal Register Notice may be viewed at https://federalregister.gov/a/2014-24609

The United States imposed fresh sanctions on Russian firms and government officials on Monday, a move that financial markets largely shrugged off and U.S. Republican lawmakers dismissed as too little to deterMoscow from further action in Ukraine. The reaction underscored the dilemma facing President Barack Obama: how to use sanctions to punish Moscow for its intervention in Ukraine without hurting European countries and foreign companies with deep financial ties to Russia. Washington slapped sanctions on seven Russian government officials and 17 companies linked to President Vladimir Putin, in response to what the White House said was Moscow's failure to adhere to an April 17 agreement on ways to resolve the crisis.

Arctic Fibre Inc plans to construct a 15,167 km (9,424 mile) subsea fibre optic cable; North Alaska Slope residents to benefit. Arctic Fibre announce that it will partner with Anchorage-based Quintillion Networks, LLC to provide broadband telecommunications services to more than 26,500 Alaska residents living along the Alaskan North Slope and Bering Sea coastline, and to provide a geographically diverse alternate fibre route for traffic from the United States to Europe and Asia. Arctic Fibre was established in 2009 to explore deploying a fibre optic telecommunications system through the Canadian Arctic. Arctic Fibre plans to construct a 15…

Norwegian state-controlled energy company Statoil is to start drilling for oil off the North Atlantic Faroe Islands this week in the first test well on the Faroe shelf. "The well will be spudded in the middle of the week by the drilling rig Sovereign Explorer, which is contracted by Statoil to drill the first exploration well on the Faroe shelf," the Faroe Islands Ministry of Petroleum said. Sovereign Explorer was due to reach Faroese waters at the weekend and the positioning and anchor handling at the well site were expected to take four days. The well on the so-called Longan prospect is located to the southeast of the Faroe Islands close to the British boundary. The work is scheduled to take two to three months.

Commanding Officers conference. At the meeting, Admiral Casto and his staff outlined Coast Guard proposals to reorganize the Eighth District, splitting much of the inland rivers and the Gulf Coast into two separate regions. The proposal would have the effect of recreating the old Second District, which was closed in a cost cutting measure in 1996. As a part of the previous reorganization effort, staff levels were cut. For instance, prior to 1995, the old Eighth District had Marine Safety Division staff of 27 people to cover the Gulf Coast. Today the division has only 25 people to cover the Gulf Coast and all of the inland system. Admiral Casto said that the new security responsibilities of the Coast Guard make the current structure unworkable.

On October 17, 2005, the Deputy Maritime Administrator issued letters to Governor Kathleen Blanco of Louisiana, Governor Haley Barbour of Mississippi and Governor Robert Riley of Alabama, informing them that due to the disruption caused by Hurricane Katrina, the Maritime Administration (MARAD) and the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) have temporarily suspended the processing of pending Gulf Coast region Deepwater Port license applications.