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Gulf Of Mexico Region News

30 May 2023

BOEM Completes Environmental Review of Gulf of Mexico Wind Lease Areas

© Thomas / Adobe Stock

The United States' Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) on Tuesday issued a final environmental assessment (EA) on potential impacts from offshore wind leasing on the U.S. Outer Continental Shelf in the Gulf of Mexico, marking another step toward the potential first-ever offshore wind lease sale in the Gulf.The assessment, completed with the help of the Gulf of Mexico Intergovernmental Renewable Energy Task Force—a collaboration between Tribal, Federal, state, and local government agencies—found "no significant impacts to environmental resources"…

25 May 2023

First US-Built Offshore Wind Substation Sets Sail

©Orsted

Offshore wind developers Ørsted and Eversource marked the sailaway of the first U.S.-built offshore wind substation, which departed a Texas fabrication facility Wednesday. The substation is transiting across the Gulf of Mexico and then up the East Coast for installation at the South Fork Wind project site in a few weeks.Kiewit Offshore Services, Ltd. (Kiewit), the largest offshore fabricator in the U.S., designed and built the substation, which will be deployed at Ørsted and Eversource’s South Fork Wind project serving Long Island…

18 Jan 2023

Nonprofit Honors Boysie Bollinger for Outstanding Achievements

Donald T. “Boysie” Bollinger (Photo: Horatio Alger Association of Distinguished Americans, Inc.)

Horatio Alger Association of Distinguished Americans, Inc., a nonprofit educational organization honoring the achievements of outstanding individuals and encouraging youth to pursue their dreams through higher education, today announced that Donald T. “Boysie” Bollinger, Chairman and CEO of Bollinger Enterprises, LLC and retired Chairman and CEO of Bollinger Shipyards, has been selected for membership in this prestigious organization. Mr. Bollinger joins 12 other exceptional business, civic and cultural leaders from across North America in receiving 2023 honors.

29 Sep 2022

Subsea 7 Charters Otto Candies, Bordelon Marine Vessels for GOM Ops

Credit; Subsea 7

Subsea 7 has signed four long-term vessel charter agreements in the Gulf of Mexico with Otto Candies and Bordelon Marine to boost offshore construction, inspection, maintenance, and repair (IRM), ROV survey, and pipe/umbilical laying support activities. in the Gulf of Mexico. Grant Candies, Wyatt Candies, and Ross Candies are IRM, survey, and light construction vessels under charter with Otto Candies LLC. The Connor Bordelon is a multipurpose supply vessel under charter with Bordelon Marine LLC. The contracts have differing start dates and durations, with options for extensions.

27 Sep 2022

US Offshore Oil Output Drops as Hurricane Ian Approaches

(Photo: NOAA)

U.S. offshore oil producers on Tuesday were keeping a wary eye on Hurricane Ian's track as the powerful storm shut-in at least 480,000 barrels of oil production as it heads toward Florida.The hurricane entered the U.S. Gulf of Mexico on Tuesday and is forecast to become a dangerous, Category 4 storm over the warm waters of the Gulf, according to National Hurricane Center (NHC) forecaster Eric Blake.Ian weakened after crossing Cuba and was packing winds of 115 miles per hour (185 km per hour), the NHC said.

03 Jun 2021

Harvey Gulf Names EVP Business Development

Credit: Harvey Gulf

Harvey Gulf, an offshore vessel owner focused on the Gulf of Mexico region, said Wednesday it had appointed Jon Holvik, formerly with Siemens Energy, as Executive Vice President, Business Development.Holvik has been brought on board to enhance the marketing capabilities of Harvey Gulf International Marine, Harvey Gulf Subsea Solutions, Harvey Fuel, and its Offshore Windfarm Vessel Support division. He is of Norwegian descent and spent most of his career with Kongsberg Maritime. He started with Kongsberg in his homeland of Norway, eventually moving to the United States in 1998.

12 Feb 2021

More GoM Work for Magseis Fairfield

Magseis Fairfield's ZXPLR Node - Credit: Magseis Fairfield

Oslo-listed Magseis Fairfield on Friday said it had won a deep-water 4D Ocean Bottom Node (OBN) monitor survey contract in the US Gulf of Mexico with a repeat customer.The survey will be conducted with Magseis Fairfield’s ZXPLR technology, currently in use for ongoing projects in the same region. The start-up is expected to be mid-Q2 2021, and the project will run for approximately two months.“We are glad to see our customers recognizing the value we bring, and award us repeat business.

01 Oct 2020

Charter Signed for First-ever U.S.-flagged Jones Act Compliant SOV

Credit: Orsted

Offshore vessel operator Edison Chouest Offshore (ECO) will build and operate the first-ever U.S. flagged Jones Act compliant Service Operations Vessel (SOV), used for offshore wind farm operation and maintenance works.Edison Chouest Offshore, Ørsted, and Eversource announced Thursday the execution of a long-term charter agreement for the provision of the SOV."The SOV will be engineered, constructed and operated by ECO as an integral part of the operation and maintenance of the Revolution Wind…

03 Aug 2020

Ex-Subsea 7 Man to Head Harvey Gulf's New Subsea Services Business

Ed Galloway - Credit: Harvey Gulf International Marine

The U.S.-based offshore support vessel operator Harvey Gulf International Marine has appointed Ed Galloway to manage Harvey’s new subsea venture company, Harvey Subsea Services. Galloway was previously Director of Gulf of Mexico Region for Subsea7/i-Tech7 where he ran the company’s IMR business, including related charters and engineering solutions. Prior to this, Galloway, a U.S. Navy veteran, spent 23 years at Oceaneering, working in various leadership roles, focused on their subsea business.

28 Sep 2018

Dynamically Positioned for the Future

OSVDPA accredits Texas A&M Maritime Academy to provide dynamic positioning (DP) training to its cadets.In early September, the Offshore Service Vessel Dynamic Positioning Authority (OSVDPA) announced that the Texas A&M Maritime Academy at Texas A&M University at Galveston was now the first maritime academy in the nation accredited to provide OSVDPA courses to its cadets. For any U.S. maritime academy, most if not all of them traditionally focused on sending out graduates ready for blue water, deep water service, this represents a sea change in training. On the other hand, what better place to start than the U.S. academy closest in proximity to the heart of the domestic offshore energy industry…

05 Jun 2018

Bollinger Wins SCA Safety Award

Ben Bordelon, Bollinger President and CEO, accepting the SCA award from Davis Gaddy, SCA Government Relations Coordinator (left) and Matthew Paxton, SCA President (right). (Photo: Bollinger Shipyards)

Bollinger Shipyards was presented the 2017 “Award for Excellence in Safety” by the Shipbuilders Council of America (SCA) on May 17, 2018 during SCA’s Annual General Membership Meeting in Washington, D.C.SCA, the national association representing the U.S. shipyard industry, honors companies with annual safety awards for enhancement of operations and promotion of safety and accident prevention.Ben Bordelon, Bollinger President and CEO, noted Bollinger has earned the SCA Award for…

13 Mar 2018

BSEE Launches Risk-Based Inspection Program

The Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) this week announced the implementation of a new Risk-Based Inspection Program that employs a systematic framework to identify facilities and operations that exhibit a high-risk profile. The risk-based inspections supplement BSEE’s existing National Safety Inspection Program. The OCS Lands Act authorizes BSEE to conduct annual scheduled inspections and periodic unannounced inspections of all oil and gas operations. The new risk-based inspection protocol looks beyond compliance and assesses the integrity of critical safety systems on facilities and operations, those that have had multiple incidents of noncompliance or events and may need more attention.

20 Feb 2018

BSEE Responds to Oil Platform Fatality in the GOM

Image Courtesy  Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement

The Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement is conducting an investigation into the fatality of a platform worker in an area of the Gulf of Mexico known as West Cameron 215A, about 64 miles south of Lake Charles, Louisiana. The offshore oil and gas operator, Energy Resource Technology GOM, LLC, a subsidiary of Talos Production LLC, reported that the fatality occurred at approximately 10:30 am on Feb. 17, 2018. The deceased worker was involved in replacing firewater piping at the time of the incident. No other personnel were harmed. There was no pollution as a result of the incident.

06 Dec 2017

BSEE, USCG Investigating GoM Rig Fatality

(Image: BSEE)

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.

11 Oct 2017

Op/Ed: ASTRO Act Shoots For the Stars

Randall Luthi (Photo: NOIA)

National Ocean Industries Association (NOIA) president Randall Luthi weighs in after the House Natural Resources Committee held a hearing on offshore development and introduced the Accessing Strategy Resources Offshore (ASTRO) Act. Today’s hearing was a slam dunk by the House Natural Resources Committee. Not only did the Committee bring in experts and stakeholders with their own unique offshore perspectives to the hearing, the Committee took a bold step in introducing the forward thinking ASTRO Act.

30 Aug 2017

Harvey Soaks Louisiana as Houston Struggles With Flooding

Tropical Storm Harvey bore down on Louisiana on Wednesday, pouring down more water after setting rainfall records in Texas that caused catastrophic flooding and paralyzed the U.S. energy hub of Houston. The storm that first came ashore on Friday as the most powerful hurricane to hit Texas in more than 50 years has killed at least 17 people and forced tens of thousands to leave their deluged homes. Damage has been estimated at tens of billions of dollars, making it one of the costliest U.S. natural disasters. There is some relief in sight for Houston, the fourth most populous U.S. city, with forecasters saying five days of torrential rain may come to an end as the storm picks up speed and leaves the Gulf of Mexico region later in the day.

25 Aug 2017

ST Engineering Buys US Rig Repair Assets

Singapore Technologies Engineering Ltd (ST Engineering) said it has acquired the rig repair assets of World Marine of Mississippi LLC (WMM) adjacent to its existing yard, VT Halter Marine, Inc. in Pascagoula, Miss. in the U.S., through its subsidiary Vision Technologies Marine, Inc. (VT Marine). ST Engineering paid $25 million for these assets, comprising a purpose-built facility of 94 acres for heavy marine fabrication and offshore oil and gas rig upgrades, repairs and conversions in the Gulf of Mexico region are within close proximity to VT Halter Marine’s Pascagoula yard. Since the downturn of the offshore and marine industry, ST…

22 Dec 2016

BOEM Oil and Gas Lease Sale: 48m Acres

The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) Director Abigail Ross Hopper announced the bureau will offer more than 48 million acres offshore Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama for oil and gas exploration and development, in a lease sale that will include all available unleased areas in the Central Planning Area (CPA). “As one of the most productive basins in the world, the Gulf of Mexico remains an important component of our domestic energy strategy to create jobs, foster economic opportunities, and reduce America’s dependence on foreign oil,” Hopper said. BOEM will livestream Central Gulf of Mexico Lease Sale 247 on March 22, 2017. Livestreaming the sale enables BOEM to deliver pertinent bid information immediately to a much broader national and international audience.

28 Sep 2016

Sustainable (R)Evolution: A Multipurpose Maritime Education Fleet

Photo: Jen Berghuis

Efforts have been underway since 2014 to procure government funding for new training vessels for the State Maritime Academies (SMA). Pending bills in Congress at this time would provide $300 million for the construction of the first of four training vessels for the SMAs with a total of $1.2 billion for the proposed four vessel package. Domestic maritime stakeholders have other options, however. These alternatives are attractive for more than one reason. Separately, the U.S. offshore energy sector has experienced a significant decline in demand and production…

15 Mar 2016

BSEE Panel to Probe Offshore Fatality

The Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) continues its investigation into the March 10, 2016 death in the Gulf of Mexico of Roy Miller, a Nabors Drilling offshore worker. The fatal injury took place on the Nabors platform rig during maintenance activities for Whistler Energy LLC. "My heartfelt condolences go out to the family of Roy Miller," said BSEE Director Brian Salerno. "Our thoughts and prayers are with you during this difficult time. BSEE Gulf of Mexico Region Director Lars Herbst has formally established an Investigative Panel. The four-member panel is comprised of a BSEE special investigator, an investigator, a well operations inspector, and an engineer.

18 Nov 2015

Celata Heads BOEM's Gulf of Mexico Office

Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) Director Abigail Ross Hopper today announced Mike Celata as the Regional Director of the Gulf of Mexico Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) Region. Celata, who starts his position immediately, has been with BOEM and its predecessors since 1988. He has been acting Regional Director since March. The Gulf of Mexico Region is responsible for managing more than 4,600 active leases over 25 million acres of land on the OCS. “Mike has many years of service with the agency, working on aspects of the OCS energy program and on regional and national ocean policy initiatives,” said BOEM Director Abigail Ross Hopper. After receiving a B.A.

25 Oct 2015

Houston Braces for Floods as Texas Deluged by Rain

Heavy rains fueled by the meeting of two strong storm systems, one the remnants of Hurricane Patricia, pounded southeastern Texas on Saturday, triggering flash floods and derailing a freight train as the heavy weather tracked toward Houston. Navarro County, about 50 miles (80 km) south of Dallas, was one of the hardest-hit areas, inundating the tiny town of Powell with 20 inches (50 cm) of rain over 30 hours, according to meteorologist Brett Rathbun of Accuweather. A flash flood was so forceful it swept a Union Pacific freight train off the tracks, pushing locomotives and some rail cars on their sides. No injuries were reported. County…

20 Oct 2015

Bollinger Delivers 15th FRC to U.S. Coast Guard

Bollinger Shipyards has delivered the JOSEPH NAPIER, the 15th Fast Response Cutter (FRC) to the United States Coast Guard. The announcement was made by Bollinger’s President & C.E.O., Ben Bordelon. “We are very pleased to announce the delivery of the latest FRC built by Bollinger Shipyards, the JOSEPH NAPIER, to the 7th Coast Guard District in Puerto Rico. The 154 foot patrol craft JOSEPH NAPIER is the 15th vessel in the Coast Guard's Sentinel-class FRC program. To build the FRC, Bollinger used a proven, in-service parent craft design based on the Damen Stan Patrol Boat 4708. It has a flank speed of 28 knots, state of the art command, control, communications and computer technology, and a stern launch system for the vessel’s 26 foot cutter boat.