Oil Leak Contained at Three US Gulf Platforms, Shell Says
Top U.S. Gulf of Mexico oil producer Shell said on Thursday it halted production at three U.S. Gulf of Mexico deepwater platforms after a leak shut two pipelines connecting the platforms, adding it expected pipeline service to resume on Friday.A failure at an onshore pipeline junction in Louisiana leaked about two barrels of oil, said Chett Chiasson, executive director of Greater Lafourche Port Commission. A fix is expected to take about a day, he added.A Shell spokesperson said the leak…
DNO Eyes First Kurdistan Crude Shipment
Norwegian firm DNO expects its first shipment of oil from Kurdistan to be sold on the international market by the end of the year and said it was committed to its operations in the region despite the recent flare-up in violence. The firm could until recently only sell oil on the local Iraqi market, at lower prices than it would have got on the international oil market, due to a long constitutional fight between the region and Baghdad over independent oil sales. That changed earlier this month when the Kurdish Regional Government allowed oil firms to seek out international buyers. Oil revenue is a lifeline for the KRG, whose peshmerga fighters are fighting Islamic State militants.
Update on Deepwater Horizon Catastrophe
At a press conference on the afternoon of April 22, the Deepwater Horizon was confirmed sunk following an explosion on the MODU at approximately 10:00 p.m. April 20. RADM Landry, Commander of the 8th Coast Guard District said the 11 missing persons may have been in the vicinity of the explosion and as time goes on the probability of finding them decreases. However, she said, current conditions are favorable for water survival. A representative of Transocean said that nine of the missing are Transocean employees and two are employees of partner companies.
