Walker Ridge News

HGIM Corp., the parent company to U.S.-based Harvey Gulf International Marine, LLC, announced on Thursday that the holders of over 85% of its common stock, including Gladiator Investments, LLC, an affiliate of Shane J. Guidry, Walker Ridge Capital Management, LLC, an affiliate of The Jordan Company LP, and certain affiliates of Black Diamond Capital Management, L.L.C., have entered into a securityholders agreement. In connection with the agreement, Sherman Edmiston and James Swent have resigned from the board of directors…

The Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) and U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) are investigating the fatality of a worker on board the Petrobras 10,000 drillship in the Gulf of Mexico. Petrobras America Inc. reported the fatality on board the Transocean Ltd. owned drillship at about 4:45 a.m., December 2, 2017. The rig was in an area of the Gulf known as Walker Ridge 469, about 172 miles south of Port Fourchon, La. The deceased worked for Spencer Ogden Ltd. and was participating in pipe handling operations at the time of his injury.

Shell E&P Offshore Services B.V. will exercise its right under the charter agreement to purchase the floating production storage and offloading vessel (FPSO) Turritella, enabling a Shell affiliate to assume operatorship of the Gulf of Mexico ultra-deepwater Stones development in its entirety. The company selling the FPSO is a joint-venture (JV) owned by SBM Offshore with 55 percent interest, Mitsubishi Corporation with 30 percent interest and Nippon Yusen Kabushiki Kaisha (NYK Line) with 15 percent interest.

SBM Offshore stated that FPSO Turritella is formally on hire as of September 2, 2016 after achieving Commencement of Commercial Production (CoCP).  The CoCP certificate was issued on September 8, 2016.   The vessel is installed in Shell's Stones development located in 2,896 meters (9,500 feet) of water approximately 320 kilometers (200 miles) offshore Louisiana in the Walker Ridge area. The lease and operate contracts include an initial period of 10 years with future extension options up to a total of 20 years.   The FPSO is owned and operated by a Joint Venture owned by affiliated companies of SBM Offshore, Mitsubishi Corporation and Nippon Yusen Kabushiki Kaisha in which SBM Offshore's shareholding is 55 percent.

InterMoor said it has completed the final tensioning and chain cutting operations on the FPSO Turritella for the Shell Stones project, located in the Walker Ridge protraction area in the Gulf of Mexico (GoM). The FPSO Turritella will connect to subsea infrastructure located beneath approximately 9,500 ft (2,896 m) of water, breaking the existing water depth record for an oil and gas production facility. This ultra-deepwater project marks the first FPSO for Shell in the GoM, and the second FPSO in the GoM.

The Turritella joint venture led by SBM Offshore has completed the project financing of FPSO Turritella for a total of $800 million. Project financing was secured by a consortium of 12 international banks with an average cost of debt of 3.5 percent over the 10 year post-completion maturity. FPSO Turritella is owned and operated by a joint venture owned by affiliated companies of SBM Offshore (55 percent), Mitsubishi Corporation (30 percent) and Nippon Yusen Kabushiki Kaisha (15 percent). The vessel is a typical Generation 2 design with a processing capacity of up to 60,000 barrels of oil per day and 15 mmscf/d of gas treatment and export.

SBM Offshore has entered an agreement with Mitsubishi Corporation (MC) and Nippon Yusen Kabushiki Kaisha (NYK Line) for the acquisition of a stake in the joint venture companies incorporated for the purpose of owning and operating Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO) Turritella, the company announced today. Mitsubishi Corporation (30 percent interest) and NYK Line (15 percent interest) have acquired a 45 percent combined stake in the joint venture companies. SBM Offshore…

The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) completed its required evaluation of bids to ensure that the public receives fair market value for tracts leased as part of the Gulf of Mexico Central Planning Area Oil and Gas Lease Sale 235. The sale held on March 18, 2015, made 7,788 unleased blocks covering about 41.2 million acres offshore Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama available for lease. After extensive economic analysis, BOEM awarded 161 leases on tracts covering 923,711 acres to the successful high bidders who participated in the sale. The accepted high bids are valued at $533,090,640.

Statoil has made an oil discovery in its Miocene Yeti prospect located in the Gulf of Mexico (GoM), the company announced today. “The Yeti discovery expands the proven sub-salt Miocene play further south and west of the Big Foot field,” said Jez Averty, Statoil’s senior vice president, exploration for North America. The Yeti discovery was made in Walker Ridge (WR) block 160, which is located approximately 15 kilometers south of the Big Foot field, and 11 kilometers from the Cascade field. All of the blocks making up Yeti were accessed by the current owners in recent years.

Chevron Corporation (NYSE: CVX) announced that crude oil and natural gas production has begun at the Jack/St. Malo project in the Lower Tertiary trend, deepwater U.S. Gulf of Mexico. Jack/St. Malo is a key part of Chevron's strong queue of upstream projects and was delivered on time and on budget. The Jack and St. Malo fields are among the largest in the Gulf of Mexico. They were discovered in 2004 and 2003, respectively, and production from the first development stage is expected to ramp up over the next several years to a total daily rate of 94…

Once again displaying their diversity for use in the domestic petroleum industry, one of Crowley’s four ocean class tugs, Ocean Sky, recently provided back-up station-keeping and holdback services during a routine blackout test of ultra-deepwater, semisubmersible oil rig Noble Jim Day in U.S. Gulf of Mexico. This Shell-leased, Noble-owned rig is currently operating in about 9,600 feet of water in the 508 section of Walker Ridge as part of the Stones Prospect. As part of routine blackout testing…

Inchcape Shipping Services has successfully supported Saipem with a major pipe laying project in the Gulf of Mexico. Providing marine agency and logistics support for Saipem’s newest pipelay vessel Castorone during its first project in the Gulf, ISS assembled a 15 person team that provided port agency and husbandry, crew logistics services, freight forwarding, warehousing and personnel logistics throughout the 9 month project. The Castorone, which is a DP3, ice classed, pipelay vessel, was employed on the 219 kilometer long Walker Ridge oil export pipeline, which connects Chevron's Jack and St Malo fields in 2,140 meters of water, north to a Shell-operated platform in Green Canyon block 10.

The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) completed its required evaluation to ensure that the public receives fair market value for tracts leased as part of Central Gulf of Mexico Oil and Gas Lease Sale 227, which was held on March 20, 2013. After extensive economic analysis, BOEM has awarded 307 leases on tracts covering 1,648,831 acres to the successful high bidders who participated in the sale, which made 7,299 unleased blocks covering about 38.6 million acres available offshore Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama. The accepted high bids are valued at $1,199,052,037. The terms of Sale 227 continued a range of incentives to encourage diligent development and ensure a fair return to taxpayers — including an increased minimum bid for deepwater tracts…

FMC Technologies, Inc. to support Shell's ultra-deepwater project in the Walker Ridge area of the Gulf of Mexico. Stones is located approximately 200 miles (322 kilometers) off the Louisiana coast in approximately 9,600 feet (2,926 meters) of water. FMC Technologies' scope of supply includes eight subsea trees, a subsea manifold, topside and subsea controls and associated equipment. "Deepwater operations in the Gulf of Mexico require advanced capabilities and innovative solutions," said Tore Halvorsen, FMC Technologies' Senior Vice President, Subsea Technologies. FMC Technologies designs, manufactures and services technologically sophisticated systems and products such as subsea production and processing systems…

Chevron Corporation has announced an oil discovery at the Coronado prospect in the deepwater U.S. Gulf of Mexico. The Walker Ridge Block 98 Well No. 1 encountered more than 400 feet (122 m) of net pay. The well is located approximately 190 miles (308 km) off the Louisiana coast in 6,127 feet (1,868 m) of water and was drilled to a depth of 31,866 feet (9,713 m). The well results are still being evaluated, and additional work is needed to determine the extent of the resource. Chevron, with a 40 percent working interest in the prospect, is the operator of the Coronado discovery well.

In the US sector of the Gulf of Mexico, Saipem has been awarded the contract for the Walker Ridge export pipeline, in the framework of the development of the Jack and Saint Malo (JSM) fields, by Amberjack Pipeline Company LLC, a partnership between Chevron Pipe Line Company and Shell Pipeline Company LP, located approximately 450 kilometres (280 miles) south of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the Walker Ridge area of the US Gulf. The scope of work encompasses the transportation and installation of a crude oil export pipeline, 61 cm (24 inches) in diameter, which will have a length of 220 kilometres (136 miles), reaching a maximum water depth of 2,140 metres (7,000 feet), connecting the JSM Floating Production Unit.

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.

FMC Technologies receives subsea equipment order for ExxonMobil's Julia Development field. The Julia field is located in the Gulf of Mexico Walker Ridge area in approximately 7,000 feet (2,100 meter) water depth. FMC Technologies' scope of supply includes six subsea trees, a manifold and associated tie-in equipment. "FMC Technologies is pleased to provide ExxonMobil with subsea systems for this offshore project," said Tore Halvorsen , FMC Technologies' Senior Vice President, Subsea Technologies. Houston-based FMC Technologies, Inc. is a leading global provider of technology solutions for the energy industry, with 18,900 employees and operates 30 production facilities in 16 countries.

The next MTS Houston Section luncheon will be held on April 28, 2011 and will feature a presentation by Carlos Ferraz Mastrangelo with Petrobras America. Mr. Mastrangelo will be discussing Petrobras’s decision to use a shuttle-tanker for its oil export system at the Cascade and Chinook developments. While the combination of shuttle-tanker and FPSO is common in the North Sea, Brazil and other parts of the world, it is a first in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico. Despite the impressive pipeline infrastructure currently available in the U.S. Gulf, none of it reaches as far as the location of the Cascade and Chinook fields, at 160 miles south of the Louisiana coast, in the deep waters of the Walker Ridge quadrant.

HOUSTON, Apr 25, 2011 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- McDermott International, Inc. (NYSE:MDR) ("McDermott"), announced today that one of its subsidiary companies was awarded fabrication and installation work from Chevron U.S.A. Inc. to support the development of the Jack and St. Malo fields in the Gulf of Mexico. The project will be included in McDermott's first quarter 2011 bookings. Work will begin in 2013, with the start of fabrication of 21 rigid jumpers at McDermott's Morgan City fabrication facility in Louisiana.

The most recent Loop Current eddy to halt operations in the Gulf of Mexico with 4.0+ knot currents shows no sign of letting up any time soon. In support of multiple projects, Horizon Marine has mobilized three of its ocean current monitoring systems to provide fine-scale monitoring of Eddy Hadal*, the latest eddy to shed from the Loop. This large, vigorous oceanographic feature has impacted operators in Mississippi Canyon, Green Canyon, and Walker Ridge since June. Over the years, the Loop Current and associated eddies have cost the offshore industry millions of dollars with operators reporting downtime as 'Waiting on Currents'. The Fast Automated Survey Technology (FAST) Eddy survey systems…

Tata Steel has been awarded a major contract worth more than £100 million to provide pipe for Discovery Producer Services L.L.C. (Discovery) gas pipeline in Keathley Canyon, Gulf of Mexico. Discovery is a 60:40 joint venture between Williams Partners L.P. and DCP Midstream Partners L.P. The company will supply Discovery’s Keathley Canyon ConnectorTM with 214 miles (345km) of 20-inch diameter submerged arc welded linepipe, weighing more than 110,000 metric tonnes. The pipe will be manufactured at Tata Steel’s 42-inch mill in Hartlepool, England.

Statoil's oil and gas production in North America continues to show strong growth. In the last decade, Statoil's North American portfolio had a Compound Annual Growth Rate of more than 20% and the company projects a strong growth rate also going forward. "Average production from our US and Canadian fields  in the first quarter 2012 was 149,000 barrels of oil equivalent (boe) per day  – up as much as 75% compared to the corresponding quarter in 2011. We are on track to reach our ambition of producing above 500…