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Mineral Management Service News

13 Jan 2015

Cold and Calculating: Dealing with Ice in Domestic Waterways

The Coast Guard Cutter Thunder Bay breaks ice in the Straits of Mackinac between Lake Huron and Lake Michigan. (U.S. Coast Guard photo)

Army research laboratory helps vessels deal with ice in domestic waterways. Ice, snow and extremely low temperatures can put a big chill on maritime operations in ports, lakes, rivers and waterways. Thanks to the U.S. Army’s Corps of Engineers Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory (CRREL) in Hanover, New Hampshire, mariners have a better understanding regarding phenomena such as icing on superstructures, brash ice and propulsion systems and controlling ice dams. And…

04 Jun 2013

USCG, BSEE Sign Agreement for Regulating Mobile Offshore Drilling Units

Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement Director James Watson

U.S. Coast Guard Rear Admiral Joseph Servidio, Assistant Commandant for Prevention Policy and Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) Director James Watson signed a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) for regulating mobile offshore drilling units (MODU) on the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS). “The Coast Guard and BSEE share the goal of keeping our oceans clean and offshore workers safe,” said Servidio. Under the current regulatory system, both the U.S. Coast Guard and BSEE have shared responsibilities for the regulation of safety management systems on the OCS.

19 Apr 2013

The Macondo Spill Trial

Fire boat crews battle blazing remnants of the Deepwater Horizon rig the day after it exploded on April 20, 2010.  (Photo U.S. Coast Guard)

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…

17 Mar 2011

First FPSO Approved for Gulf of Mexico

Pictured is the Espirito Santo Floating Production, Storage and Offloading (FPSO) vessel, the type of vessel that will soon be working offshore in the Gulf of Mexico. (Photo courtesy Shell)

The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement (BOEMRE) today provided the final approval necessary for Petrobras America, Inc. to begin oil and natural gas production at its Chinook-Cascade project using a Floating Production Storage Offloading (FPSO) facility. This will be the first time this technology is used in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico. BOEMRE approved the project’s Production Safety System permit and Supplemental Deepwater Operating Plan (DWOP), to ensure that stringent safety regulations were met.

25 Feb 2009

Photo: Yasa Golden Dadanelles Grounded

In this photo by the U.S. Coast Guard, the 800 ft grounded tank ship Yasa Golden Dardanelles is moored next to the lightering vessel SPT Crusader, Monday, Feb. 23, 2009. The Yasa Golden Dardanelles became grounded 22 miles off the Galveston coast, Friday, Feb. 20, 2009. Lightering operations commenced Monday afternoon in an effort to refloat the tank ship. An estimated 3.5 million gallons of the tank ship's cargo will be offloaded during the lightering procedure. Marine Safety Unit Galveston is working on the response effort with the following organizations: Texas General Land Office…

11 Sep 2008

Expanded Offshore Drilling: Challenges Ahead

Each rise in the price of oil and its companion hike in gasoline prices moves us further and further into uncharted territory. What was once an academic argument over peak oil and how long our oil and gas would last is now front page news. There is now a very public debate raging over whether new areas of 's coastline should be opened to exploration. It seems likely that new areas will be leased. But from there the crystal ball gets a little murky. What areas might be opened and when? How long will it take to do the initial surveys of these undersea areas and what will we find? For the workboat industry and its customers, this period of uncertainty will bring its own questions.

10 Sep 2008

U.S. Offshore Wind Projects Move Closer To Reality

Dow Jones reported that deal making and development in the wind arena continue even as the economy slows down, with the federal government moving ahead to grant leases for the U.S.'s first offshore wind projects in history and other state-based projects moving to the front burner. Comments on federal rules to govern a host of alternative energy projects proposed in federal waters off the coast of the drew about 225 responses by Monday's deadline, as the U.S. Mineral Management Service, or MMS, moves ahead with plans to lease the outer continental shelf to several companies. Maureen Bornholdt, program manager of the MMS offshore alternative energy program, said the Interior Department remains on track to complete drafting the rules by the end of the year, wrapping up a three-year process.

29 Sep 2003

New Offshore Completes Workover Deck for the Nansen Spar

New Offshore, Inc. has completed the fabrication of a deck extension for Kerr McGee’s Nansen spar, a deepwater (3,678 feet) floating production facility in East Breaks block 602 in the Gulf of Mexico. The deck extension will support compression equipment. Fabrication of the 40-ton, 24-foot by 68-foot structure was carried out at New Offshore’s waterfront fabrication facility in Morgan City and included the fabrication of five plate girders. Because the Nansen spar is a floating structure, all fabrication and welding was performed in accordance with requirements of the U.S. Mineral Management Service, U.S. Coast Guard and the American Bureau of Shipping (ABS). ABS issued a certification of compliance on completion.

15 Oct 2007

MMS Names New Gulf Director

The federal Mineral Management Service named Lars Herbst the new regional director of the agency’s Gulf of Mexico Outer Continental Shelf Region. Herbst will manage the leasing of OCS lands off five Gulf Coast states for oil, gas and other mineral development. The region includes more than 7,000 leases, which involve more than 4,000 platforms. A staff engineer with MMS since 1983, Herbst has previously served as district manager of the New Orleans district, deputy regional supervisor and regional supervisor of field operations.

21 Sep 2007

Oil Prices Rise as Storm Threatens GoM

According to AFP, oil prices rose to new record highs on global markets as concerns about squeezed supplies were heightened by a storm threatening Gulf of Mexico installations. New York's main futures contract, light sweet crude for delivery in October, jumped 1.39 dollars to close at 83.32 dollars a barrel. The contract expired at the close. In London, the price of Brent North Sea crude for November delivery added 62 cents to settle at $79.09 a barrel, after earlier hitting an all-time high of 79.28 dollars. The price of New York crude has hit a series of record peaks in recent days, including Wednesday after the US Department of Energy (DoE) said crude oil reserves had tumbled last week, underscoring global supply tightness.

31 Aug 2006

Analysis: Looming Disaster in the Gulf

Even as Ernesto was downgraded into a tropical depression, U.S. energy security may still be at risk in the Gulf of Mexico, UPI reported. At stake this hurricane season is another round of devastating storms, which could further hinder crude oil and natural gas production off the Gulf of Mexico. The deep waters of the Gulf of Mexico bring in nearly 1.5 million barrels of oil a day, or 25 to 30 percent of the nation's overall production, and 10 billion cubic feet of gas, according to the Department of Energy's Mineral Management Service. As of late June, offshore oil production was down 12 percent from last year and gas extraction was running 9 percent below normal levels.

07 Feb 2006

ASOP to Receive Award

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)

24 Aug 1999

Interest Declining In Offshore Acreage Leases

Preliminary results of the latest government sale of offshore oil and natural gas exploration acreage leases in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico show a decline in oil company interest in the properties, according to the U.S. Mineral Management Service. The declining interest could be explained, at least in part, by the fact that a lot of inventory from past sales is unexplored and undeveloped, and companies are now focusing on developing those properties before acquiring more acreage, an MMS spokesman said.

30 Apr 2001

USCG Regulations Lag Behind Offshore Activity

The loss of the world’s largest floating deepwater production platform, Petrobras’ P-36, last month off the coast of Brazil with the loss of 10 men will reverberate throughout the oil industry for years to come. We do not yet know what happened to the unit other than that there were reported to be three separate explosions after which the unit took on severe list of about 24 degrees and sank several days later. Was the unit unsafe? Was it operated improperly? We do not yet know the answers and may never know all the answers. Here in the U.S., the USCG continues to go forward with the regulatory project that would modify the rules on the US Outer Continental Shelf (OCS).

18 Jun 2001

U.S. Shipbuilding Industry: A Bright Future Tempered with Challenges

Not since the heady days of the late 1970s has the outlook for shipbuilding in U.S. yards looked brighter, but that outlook is tempered somewhat by the threat of federal budget cuts that could jeopardize many present and future shipbuilding projects. The U.S.'s decision to unilaterally eliminate construction differential subsidies and end tax credits for vessel construction in the early 1980s resulted in 15 years of stagnation, retrenchment and consolidation for the domestic shipbuilding industry. Today the domestic shipyard industrial base in terms of employment, active facilities and building berths/dry docks is approximately half as large as it was in 1981.

27 Aug 1999

Interest Declining In Offshore Acreage Leases

Preliminary results of the latest government sale of offshore oil and natural gas exploration acreage leases in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico show a decline in oil company interest in the properties, officials from the U.S. Mineral Management Service (MMS) said on Tuesday. The latest sale, the Western Gulf Lease Sale 174, received 177 bids from 37 companies on a total of 153 acreage tracts. Bids in the previous sale, held in March, resulted in 272 bids from 67 companies for 207 tracts. The sales are held twice annually, the first for acreage in the central Gulf and the second in the west for acreage offshore Texas and Louisiana. Gulf of Mexico…

02 Mar 2000

MMS Requests $247.7 Million FY 01 Budget

The U.S. Department of the Interior's Mineral Management Service (MMS) is requesting $247.7 million for the FY 2001 budget to manage mineral resources on the Nation's Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) in an environmentally sound and safe manner. "The MMS programs are vitally important to the security of the Nation and the well-being of the national economy. This year, we are particularly pleased revenues from oil and natural gas production in the Federal OCS will support the President's Lands Legacy initiative," said MMS Director Walt Rosenbusch. This year's request of $247.7 million is $7.3 million above the FY 2000 enacted level. The FY 01 budget request includes $124.1 million in current appropriations (an increase of $13.9 million)…

30 Aug 2005

In Katrina’s Wake, Oil Surges Past $70

Hurricane Katrina swept ashore yesterday as a Category 4 hurricane, and has left untold destruction to the Gulf states of Louisian, Mississippi and Alabama. Another effect of the storm could be felt for months to come, as crude oil futures briefly touched above $70 per barrel for the first time, and natural gas futures jumped nearly 20 percent. According to an AP report, the Bush administration is considering releasing some oil from the nation's emergency petroleum stockpile to help refiners once the storm passes, though a final decision apparently has not been made. According to AP, wholesale gasoline prices in the New York and Gulf Coast markets jumped 25-35 cents a gallon on Monday following reports that about eight percent of U.S.

16 Sep 2005

USCG Forms Maritime Recovery, Restoration Task Force

ST. LOUIS - The U.S. Coast Guard announced the formation of a Maritime Recovery and Restoration Task Force here to assist incident commanders engaged in Hurricane Katrina relief efforts. The task force, headed by Rear Adm. Larry Hereth, will identify maritime issues affecting people, the environment, infrastructure and the economy. By working in concert with local, state and federal partners as well as maritime industry and other stakeholders, the task force will be able to identify those actions necessary for the short-term recovery and long-term restoration of the Maritime Transportation System (MTS). The task force uses a variety of measurements to quantify the short-term recovery rate for the MTS while also identifying actions needed for long-term restoration of the MTS.