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Alaminos Canyon News

18 Nov 2021

Chevron, Exxon Among Top Spenders at Biden Offshore Auction

Illustration - Credit: scandamerican/AdobeStock

U.S. oil majors Exxon Mobil Corp and Chevron Corp were among the top buyers at a federal auction of oil leases in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico on Wednesday that generated more than $190 million - the highest since 2019.The auction was a boon for federal coffers, but a potential setback for the climate policies of U.S. President Joe Biden, whose administration tried to suspend federal lease sales to fight global warming before a court forced them to proceed.The United States was also…

17 Nov 2021

Gulf of Mexico Lease Sale Pulls in $191.6 Million

© Troy V Smith / Adobe Stock

The Biden administration's auction of oil drilling rights in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico generated more than $190 million in high bids, bringing in more money for taxpayers than any government offshore lease sale since early 2019.The Department of Interior auction came days after the U.S. joined a global agreement that for the first time asked governments to accelerate emissions cuts by phasing down coal and fossil fuel subsidies.It was the first auction under President Joe Biden, whose administration paused drilling sales under a promise to end development on federal properties.

13 Sep 2021

McDermott's Amazon Vessel to Install Pipelines at Shell's Whale Project

Credit: McDermott

Offshore installation firm McDermott said Monday that its upgraded Amazon vessel was coming to the Gulf of Mexico to support a subsea contract for the Whale Development in Alaminos Canyon.Oil major Shell in July reached a final investment decision for its Whale deepwater field development. Discovered in 2017, Whale will feature a semi-submersible production host in more than 8,600 feet (2621 meters) of water with 15 oil-producing wells.McDermott will provide engineering, procurement…

01 Nov 2019

Sembcorp to Build Whale FPU

(Image: Sembcorp Marine)

Sembcorp Marine Rigs & Floaters Pte. Ltd. has won a contract from Shell Offshore Inc. to build and integrate the topside and hull of a Floating Production Unit (FPU) for the Whale field in the Gulf of Mexico.The agreement precedes a final investment decision (FID) for the full Whale project, expected to be made next year by Shell. It paves the way for the Whale FPU to move ahead and take advantage of synergies from the ongoing Shell Vito FPU, currently under construction at Sembcorp Marine’s Tuas Boulevard Yard, the builder said.

06 Jul 2014

EMGS - Vessel Update and Activity for 2Q 2014

Electromagnetic Geoservices ASA (EMGS) releases information on vessel activity and utilisation 4-5 working days after the close of each quarter. The Company defines "vessel utilisation" as the percentage of the vessel charter period spent on contracted or multi-client data acquisition. Vessel utilisation for the second quarter 2014 came in at 75% compared with 78% for the second quarter 2013. In the second quarter this year, the Company's vessels were allocated 38% to contract and 37% tomulti-client programmes, whereas the allocation was 32% and 46% respectively in the corresponding quarter last year. EMGS recorded 12.0 vessel months this quarter, compared with 11.5 in the second quarter of 2013.

28 Aug 2013

Gulf of Mexico Lease Sale Yields $102.4 Million in High Bids

As part of President Obama’s all-of-the-above energy strategy to continue to expand safe and responsible domestic energy production, the Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management today held Western Gulf of Mexico Lease Sale 233, which offered 20.7 million acres and attracted $102,351,712 in high bids for 53 tracts covering 301,006 acres on the U.S. Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) offshore Texas. A total of 12 offshore energy companies submitted 61 bids. The Western Gulf of Mexico Lease Sale builds on the first two auctions in the current Five Year Program – a 39-million-acre Central Gulf offering held in March, which netted almost $1.2 billion high bids and a 20-million-acre Western Gulf offering held last November that netted nearly $134 million.

20 Dec 2012

Five Minutes with Kevin Lord, Chet Morrison Contractors

In conjunction with the Underwater Intervention exhibition MTR set forth to find an excellent source to speak in the first person on the diving industry, and more specifically the balance today between deploying man and machine. Kevin Lord is the Subsea Operations Manager within the Marine Construction Division of Chet Morrison Contractors. He began his commercial diving career in the Gulf of Mexico after serving four years in the United States Navy. In his 20 years in the industry…

25 Mar 2011

BOEMRE Approves Sixth Deepwater Drilling Permit

The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement (BOEMRE) approved a sixth deepwater drilling permit on March 25 that complies with rigorous new safety standards implemented in the wake of the Deepwater Horizon explosion and resulting oil spill. This includes satisfying the requirement to demonstrate the capacity to contain a subsea blowout. The approved permit is a revised permit to drill a new well for Statoil Gulf of Mexico LLC’s Well #1 in Alaminos Canyon Block 810 in 7,134 ft. water depth, approximately 216 miles off the Texas coastline, south of Texas City. “This permit is the sixth we have approved since February 17, when industry demonstrated that it had the capacity to handle subsea blowouts and spills.

20 Nov 2001

Houghton Offshore Helps Set Another Record

Houghton Offshore has enabled the Transocean Sedco Forex to set a new world record for the deepest well drilled to date. The drillship Discoverer Spirit used a subsea blowout preventor (BOP), operating on a 2 percent mixture of Houghton Stack Magic 200 BOP fluid, as it drilled at 9,727 ft. below sea level in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico, surpassing the previous record of 9,687 ft. set earlier this year. "The previous world record had been set on that same drillship using Houghton's BOP fluid in June 2001," explains LeeRoy J. Patin, Global Offshore manager at Houghton Offshore, a division of Houghton International specializing in the manufacture and formulation of water-based fluids for oil and gas production and exploration equipment.

05 Apr 2004

Market Report: When Will the Turn Around Come?

It seems to be a soap opera without an end. "It is crazy…makes no sense at all," is a common observation. If you are in the oil and gas business, the number one question is, "When is the drilling going to pickup?" It is a question without an answer…at least through the first quarter of 2004. "Normally when prices are low and oil rises about $25 a barrel and gas goes above $2.50 per million cubic foot, everybody goes back to work," noted Roy Breaux, Jr., president of Breaux Bay Craft, Loreauville, La. a leading builder of crew/supply boats. "We drill ourselves out of recessions, but not this time, at least not yet" Breaux said. Breaux echoes the sentiment of almost everyone in the industry "The answer must lie in Houston because that's where the decisions on when to drill come…

25 May 2000

Offshore News

The Department of the Interior's Minerals Management Service (MMS) has disbursed $65 million to six coastal states: Alabama, Alaska, California, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas. This is the fourteenth installment in a series of annual payments based on 1985 settlement legislation regarding the allocation of royalties, rents and bonuses from certain federal offshore oil and gas leases. The 1978 Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) Lands Act Amendments provided for certain coastal states and the federal government to share revenues earned from OCS leases, generally, three to six miles beyond a state's coastal boundary. This area, known as the 8(g) zone, is named after the enabling paragraph of that legislation.

15 Oct 2007

Shell Begins Work In Alaminos Canyon

Shell recently began work in the Alaminos Canyon region of the Gulf of Mexico on the company’s Perdido Regional Development Spar, which is expected to be the deepest spar production facility in the world. The Clyde Boudreaux, a semisubmersible-drilling rig, will drill a 20-well batch set initially. The rig is equipped with two derricks, allowing for dual activity, which means work can be done in half the time it would take a single-activity rig. The Clyde Boudreaux should remain at Perdido through 2010, working even after the spar is installed. First production from Perdido is expected around 2010 with the facility capable of handling 130,000 barrels of oil a day. Three fields will be developed with the Perdido Spar, which is jointly owned by Shell, Chevron and BP.

26 Aug 1999

Deepwater Drilling Provides Good Long Term Prospects

According to the U.S. Department of the Interior's Minerals Management Service (MMS), deepwater drilling (1,000 ft. and deeper) shows the greatest potential of development, and certainly has garnered the attention (as well as the E&P dollars) of offshore oil production industry leaders. By yearend 2003, the MMS estimates as much as 63 percent of the oil production and 29 percent of the daily gas production will come from deepwater reserves. In August of 1998 there were 30 (temporary and permanent) deepwater rigs drilling simultaneously in the Gulf of Mexico's Outer Continental Shelf (OCS), at depths greater than this. The proliferation of deepwater development projects will likely continue to grow…

14 Jan 2000

Noble Drilling Completes Fifth Conversion

Noble Drilling Corporation announced its fifth successful EVA-4000TM semisubmersible conversion, Noble Max Smith, commenced its mobilization to its first location in Alaminos Canyon for Amerada Hess Corporation. The unit, capable of drilling in water depths up to 6,000 ft., will undergo final commissioning of its marine systems when it arrives on location. Upon completion of commissioning, the rig will commence drilling operations under its contract with Amerada Hess Corporation. The conversion of Noble Max Smith was completed in 14 months, which was approximately eight months faster than the first EVA-4000TM semisubmersible conversion, Noble Paul Romano. Additionally, the estimated total conversion cost is anticipated to be approximately four percent below the construction budget.