The History of Offshore Energy
Offshore exploration is a history of man v. Prospecting for oil is a dynamic art. From a lake in Ohio, to piers off the California coast in the early 1900s, to the salt marshes of Louisiana in the 1930s, to the first “out-of-sight- of-land” tower in 1947 in the Gulf of Mexico, the modern offshore petroleum industry has inched its way over the last roughly 75 years from 100 ft. of water ever farther into the briny deep, where the biggest platform today, Shell’s Perdido spar, sits in 8,000 ft. of water. As a planet, we have two unquenchable thirsts – for water and for oil.
Venezuela Orders Crude Tankers from Itochu
According to a report from the Oil & Gas Journal, Itochu Corp. has won an order to supply four Aframax tankers to a subsidiary of Venezuela’s Petroleos de Venezuela SA (PDVSA) and has commissioned Sumitomo Heavy Industries to build the vessels. The ships will have a capacity of 104,300 dwt each and are scheduled for delivery in 2012. (Source: Oil & Gas Journal)
North Sea Spending Up This Year
Record fossil fuel prices have caused a revival in the Scotland-based North Sea oil and gas industry, resulting in a near-record spend of $19 billion this year and the creation of 25,000 additional jobs across Britain, according to a recent Oil & Gas Journal report. These estimates were reported by the UK Offshore Operators' Association (UKOOA), and reflect a reverse in the development activity in the region. Over the past 11 months UKOOA companies had revised their capital expenditures from $6.5 billion to $7.8 billion, the highest level of investment since 1998. This value contributes to the overall spend of $11 billion for the year, according to the report.
Russia Relying on Offshore for Future Production
Sakhalin Island currently is the oil and gas growth engine for Russia, which will rely on offshore regions for new production after 2010, the Oil & Gas Journal reported. By 2020, offshore fields could account for 20% of Russia's total oil and gas output. However, Russia must implement regulations and taxes before its offshore oil and gas assets can be developed since offshore royalty issues remain largely unaddressed. The Russian Duma is working on the Mineral Extraction Law and on a new subsoil law. The Russian government's anticipated shift to holding auctions for oil and gas blocks instead of tenders now appears unlikely. International oil and gas companies operating in Russia probably will be prevented from taking more than 49% interest in offshore fields.
