Gulf Of Mexico News

Mexican state oil firm Pemex has reached a preliminary agreement with a consortium led by Talos Energy to evaluate whether the group's find in the Gulf of Mexico extends into a neighboring Pemex block, the companies said in a statement on Thursday.The deal, which covers territory in the shallow waters of the Gulf of Mexico, is the first of its kind for Pemex and will be in force for two years.The Talos consortium, which includes Britain's Premier Oil and Mexico's Sierra Oil & Gas, won development rights for two blocks during the first oil auction launched by President Enrique Pena Nieto.

Hurricane Michael, the third most powerful storm ever to strike the U.S. mainland, headed northeast on Thursday, weakened but still set to soak Georgia and the Carolinas after devastating the Florida Panhandle.By 6 AM on Thursday, heavy rain and wind had reached as far north as Charlotte, North Carolina and the Western North Carolina mountains. The center of the storm was located over Augusta, Georgia, moving north rapidly at more than 20 MPH in a north / northeast heading. Charlotte…

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.

Royal Dutch Shell Plc is in talks to sell its assets in a Gulf of Mexico oilfield to Focus Oil to pay for its takeover of BG Group Plc, Bloomberg reported on Thursday, citing people familiar with matter.The deal could value Shell's stake in the Caesar Tonga field at about $1.3 billion, the report said.Shell has a 22.5 percent working interest in Caesar Tonga, with the rest owned by companies including Anadarko Petroleum Corp, Equinor ASA and Chevron Corp, Bloomberg said, citing company filings.Shell and Focus Oil did not immediately respond to a request for comment.(Reporting by Sathvik N in B

Hurricane Michael is expected to strengthen today in the Gulf of Mexico, with the Florida panhandle directly in its dangerous path.Thousands of local residents in Wakulla, Gulf and Bay counties have been ordered to leave. Forecasters now say that Michael could be a Category 3 storm when it makes landfall on Wednesday. That prediction, if true, would make the storm the strongest to hit this area in at least a decade.As of 3 AM CDT on Tuesday, Michael was a Category 1 storm, with sustained winds of up to 90 miles per hour.

The Late Start and Twenty Year Saga.More than 40 years have passed since the trailblazing Shell Castellon started operation as the first floating production storage and offloading (FPSO) unit in 1977. Ever since, hundreds of these vessels have operated worldwide, and the oil industry has reaped their benefits. Despite continued international popularity and dominance, compelling advantages, and technological advancements, the adoption of FPSOs has faced particular challenges in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico, where there have been only two FPSOs to date.

Chevron Corp wants to build or buy a refinery along the U.S. Gulf Coast to process crude oil from its rapidly growing Permian Basin operations, a senior executive said on Tuesday.The company would like to have refining operations on the Houston Ship Channel, in the western part of the U.S. Gulf, to complement an existing eastern Gulf refinery in Mississippi that makes lubricants and other materials, Pierre Breber, Chevron's head of downstream and chemicals, said."Something on the ship channel side could make a lot of sense for our company…

For the past few years, depressed commodity prices, stricter regulatory requirements and competition from onshore development at home and from other countries offering attractive offshore lease and royalty terms have had severe impacts on new exploration in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico. Thankfully, the tide appears to finally be turning.In August, Gulf of Mexico Lease Sale 251 drew increased competition for offerings and $178 million in high bids, $53 million more than previous sale held in March.

Offshore driller Rowan Companies has been awarded a two-well contract for its Rowan Norway jack-up rig in the Mediterranean Sea by Turkish Petroleum.Rowan Companies announced that the Rowan Norway, an N-Class ultra-harsh environment jack-up rig, has been awarded a two-well contract in the Mediterranean Sea by Turkish Petroleum with an estimated duration 100-140 days.The contract is expected to commence in late 2018. The Rowan Norway is currently warm-stacked in the United Kingdom sector of the North Sea.

Avoiding Potential Pitfalls and HeadachesThe summer of Sub M may be over, but the heat remains for the tugboat and towing vessel industry operating under the July 20th regulations. Owner & Operators are faced with daily challenges to continually sustain and build their businesses. As with any new regulation, there is a period of learn-ing and, even more so, interpretation by industry and by those enforcing regulations. One of the more significant matters related to this situation revolves around vessels in response services and those required to hold Non-Tank Vessel Response Plans (NT-VRP).

Offshore oil services firm Subsea 7 has announced the award of a sizeable contract by Fieldwood Energy to Subsea Integration Alliance, a global partnership between Subsea 7 and OneSubsea, a Schlumberger company.The award is for the deepwater Katmai field development in the US Gulf of Mexico’s Green Canyon 40, said a press release from the company.This supplier-led integrated subsea development solution, combines OneSubsea’s subsea production systems (SPS) and Subsea 7’s subsea umbilicals…

NACC Alicudi is reported to be the world’s first cement carrier equipped with IMO Tier III compliant diesel engines driving the bulk handling system. Converted in 2017 with a Van Aalst dry bulk handling system, the vessel became a unique and state-of-the-art 120m self-discharging cement carrier, with a cement handling system is based on compressors and vacuum pumps, driven by Tier III Scania engines. Together they form the heart of the unique vacuum-pressure system for pneumatic conveyance of cement…

Hurricane Michael, now a Category 4 storm, will be the second hurricane in two months to significantly affect ports on the U.S. eastern seaboard. Eastern North Carolina in particular is only now recovering from Florence.The U.S. Coast Guard has set conditions X-Ray for ports in Georgia and South Carolina in preparation for Hurricane Michael. The storm is now expected to make landfall by Wednesday afternoon. While gale force winds are expected within the next 48 hours, these ports can remain open to commercial traffic.

Innovative waterway concept vessel could deliver transportation savings for shippers on the Mississippi River. Plans to transport freight via innovative waterway vessels that backers say will revolutionize the inland waterway system and provide significant transportation cost savings for shippers, especially those accessing the Midwest by utilizing the Mississippi River and its tributaries, are underway, according to Sal Litrico, CEO for American Patriot Container Transport, a…

Waves began to batter parts of the U.S. Gulf Coast on Tuesday as the region felt the first hit of Tropical Storm Gordon, which is expected to become a hurricane before it comes ashore with high winds and heavy rain, forecasters said.The storm also caused a jump in global oil prices after the evacuation of two oil platforms in the Gulf of Mexico.Gordon was due to come ashore late on Tuesday near the border between Louisiana and Mississippi, and drop as much as 12 inches (30 cm) of rain in areas still recovering from last year's hurricanes…

Offshore oil driller Transocean Ltd said on Tuesday it would buy peer Ocean Rig UDW Inc in a $2.7 billion cash-and-stock deal, its second major acquisition this year as the company bets on a recovery in the offshore sector.The acquisition signals new optimism for offshore drillers, which were hit hard by the steep plunge in oil prices from 2014. Offshore projects, which are more costly than onshore work and take years to develop, became less attractive after oil prices fell to below $30 a barrel in 2016.Global crude prices have since recovered to above $70…

U.S. oil prices edged up on Tuesday, rising back past $70 per barrel, after two Gulf of Mexico oil platforms were evacuated in preparation for a hurricane.U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were at $70.04 per barrel at 0034 GMT, up 24 cents, or 0.3 percent from their last settlement.Anadarko Petroleum Corp said on Monday it had evacuated and shut production at two oil platforms in the northern Gulf of Mexico ahead of the approach of Gordon, which is expected to come ashore as a hurricane.International Brent crude futures…

South Korean shipbuilder Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI) has been awarded a contract to build a floating production system(FPS) for LLOG Exploration of the U.S..HHI, the world's biggest shipbuilder by orders, said in a stock exchange announcement that the offshore facility order is worth $454 million from the Louisiana-based, privately-held LLOG Exploration.The floating production storage and offloading unit would be constructed from August next year after a year-long design for completion and delivery in the first half of 2021.LLOG Exploration Company…

Tropical Storm Gordon forced a cut of 9.36 percent of crude oil production in U.S.-regulated areas of the Gulf of Mexico, slightly more than Tuesday, the U.S.

Rising shipping rates have increased the costs of shipping oil from the United States to Asia and may further the restrict the flow of U.S. oil to the region later this year, multiple trade and shipping sources said on Thursday.Freight rates for tankers that carry crude oil have soared globally, buoyed by peak seasonal demand, weather disruptions and higher bunker fuel costs, the sources said.The cost of chartering a Very Large Crude Carrier (VLCC) capable of carrying 2 million barrels of crude from the U.S.

Several vessels, including two oil tankers and one carrying liquefied natural gas, were stalled and unable to enter the Sabine Pass shipping channel near the Texas-Louisiana border due to draft restrictions, the U.S. Coast Guard said on Thursday.Port Arthur's Vessel Traffic Service implemented 32-foot restrictions on draft, or vessel depth, on Wednesday, after a 24-inch steel dredge pipeline was struck and pulled out to sea by a ship moving through the Sabine Pass Channel to the U.S. Gulf of Mexico, the Coast Guard said in a notice.As much as 1,000 feet of pipeline is missing, prompting the limits on vessel draft in order that surveys could be carried out to locate the displaced line…

The National Hurricane Center has announced a Hurricane Warning is in effect for the Cuban province of Pinar del Rio. A Hurricane Watch is also in effect for the Alabama-Florida border to Suwannee River Florida.A Tropical Storm Watch is in effect for Suwannee River to Anna Maria Island Florida, including Tampa Bay and for the Alabama-Florida border to the Mississippi-Alabama borderAt 700 AM CDT (1200 UTC), the center of Tropical Storm Michael was located near latitude 20.9 North, longitude 85.1 West. Michael is moving toward the north near 7 mph (11 km/h).

Offshore driller Ensco Plc said on Monday it plans to buy smaller rival Rowan Cos Plc in an all-stock deal valued at $2.38 billion, as it looks to expand its fleet and benefit from a partnership with Saudi Aramco.This is Ensco's second deal since OPEC-led efforts boosted oil prices in the second half of 2016. Ensco bought rival Atwood Oceanics in a similar deal last year.Rowan shareholders will receive 2.215 Ensco shares for each share held.