Oceana News

The Biden administration on Friday unveiled a plan to phase down oil and gas auctions in federal waters with the release of a long-awaited leasing schedule that includes a maximum of three sales in the Gulf of Mexico through 2029.The Interior Department's plan includes by far the lowest number of sales since the agency began producing Congressionally-mandated five-year oil and gas leasing schedules in 1980. Previous programs have ranged between 11 and 41 sales, according to Interior's U.S.

The Biden administration on Monday proposed offshore drilling safety measures that it said would help prevent oil spills and protect workers and the environment.The proposal aims to restore safety provisions put in place by the Obama administration in 2016 following the fatal 2010 BP Deepwater Horizon spill, the worst in United States history.The Trump administration had revised the rules in 2019 to reduce what the oil and gas industry said was a financial burden.The Interior Department…

Year after year, America’s shipyards that make up the defense industrial base get their hopes up that the annual federal government funding process will produce stable and predictable budgets for the U.S. Navy and Coast Guard acquisition programs. Every year, the yards are disappointed as the U.S. Government bounces from spending crisis to spending crisis.At the same time, the yards look favorably upon the shipbuilding plans that significantly grow our Nation’s fleet beyond today’s 296 ships. However, to meet the increased demands that these plans would require, U.S.

The U.S. will hold a wind energy auction for two lease areas offshore the Carolinas on May 11, the U.S. Department of the Interior said Friday, as the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) has completed its environmental review.The lease areas cover 110,091 acres in the Carolina Long Bay area that, if developed, could result in at least 1.3 gigawatts of offshore wind energy, enough to power nearly 500,000 homes, the Department of the Interior said."The Biden-Harris administration is committed to supporting a robust clean energy economy…

The Biden administration on Wednesday will auction oil drilling rights to 80 million acres in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico days after joining a global agreement that for the first time targeted fossil fuels as the main driver of global warming.The sale by the Department of Interior will be the first under President Joe Biden, whose administration paused drilling sales under a promise to end development on federal properties. But Biden lost a court fight to oil-producing states that…

A large oil spill off the southern California coast left fish dead, birds mired in petroleum and wetlands contaminated, prompting local officials to call it an environmental catastrophe.The U.S. Coast Guard, heading a clean-up response involving federal, state, and city agencies, said on Sunday there was an around-the-clock investigation into how the spill occurred.An estimated 126,000 gallons, or 3,000 barrels, had spread into an oil slick covering about 13 square miles of the Pacific Ocean since it was first reported on Saturday morning…

P&O Cruises has cancelled cruises around Dubai and the Arabian Gulf after Iran seized a British-flagged tanker in the region.Citing increased tensions, the company said it has cancelled its planned programme in the region from October until at least March next year and all guests be issued a full refund.Last month, Iran's Revolutionary Guards seized a British tanker, Stena Impero, near the Strait of Hormuz for alleged marine violations.

To keep the planet flourishing, 30 percent of Earth needs protection by 2030. Today about eight percent of the ocean and 15 percent of land is protected."We’re on track to reach a global goal of protecting 10 percent of the ocean and 17 percent of the land by 2020, but world leaders need to dramatically boost ambition if we are to protect our natural resources and the people and wildlife that depend on them," said Oceana, an ocean conservation and advocacy organization.Oceana has joined the world’s leading philanthropists and ocean conservation organizations, such as Hansjorg Wyss, the Wyss Foundation and the Wyss Campaign for Nature in encouraging world leaders to commit to protect at least 30 percent of land and sea by 2030.As Mr.

Oceana, the largest international ocean advocacy organisation, has opened the organisation’s office in London to strengthen Oceana’s policy and research work to protect marine life and restore fish populations in the United Kingdom (UK).“Oceana is joining the marine conservation community in the UK at a turning point in public engagement and concern for the oceans. Now we need to move beyond conserving the oceans to actually restoring marine life and rebuilding fish populations,” said Lasse Gustavsson, executive director of Oceana in Europe."With Brexit around the corner, the next few years will be testing times for UK seas and fisheries.

The commitment by governments to require international shipping to decarbonise and at least halve its greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 is a welcome and potentially game changing development, the Clean Shipping Coalition (CSC) has said. But the lack of any clear plan of action to deliver the emissions reductions, including urgently needed short-term measures, is a major concern, according to the group of NGOs with observer status at the UN’s International Maritime Organisation (IMO). After two weeks of difficult talks, countries attending the IMO meeting in London agreed to require the shipping sector to reduce its emissions by “at least 50% by 2050 compared to 2008”. This falls short of the 70-100% cut by 2050 that is needed to align shipping with the goals of the Paris agreement.

P&O Cruises, part of Carnival Corporation & PLC, has chosen GE’s Marine Solutions once again to provide upgrades on board its 77,499-ton cruise vessel Oceana. Formerly known as Ocean Princess, the cruise ship was built in 1998 and had GE’s Syconum 2 electronic controller on board. GE will now be responsible for replacing existing controllers with the new generation of power electronics controllers on the four propulsion drives. Enabled by a decentralized architecture, the new digital propulsion controller benefits from a compact design…

Companhia Brasileira de Offshore (CBO) has chosen Cobham SATCOM VSAT and Satellite TV (TVRO) antennas in addition to radio communication equipment for installation on six new Offshore Support Vessels (OSV). CBO’s state-of-the-art new OSVs have been commissioned to fulfil development contracts offshore Brazil and will be entering service during 2017 and 2018. The Cobham SATCOM equipment has been installed and is already supporting operations on the first of the new OSVs, with installation aboard the second vessel scheduled this month.

Huisman said it is about to deliver the first crane built and tested at its production facility in Navegantes, Santa Catarina state, in the south of Brazil. This 50mt (Deck) Knuckle Boom Crane is the first of an order of two 50mt (deck) Knuckle Boom Cranes for DOF/Technip’s Skandi Olinda and Skandi Recife which are currently being built at Brazilian shipyard VARD Promar. These 50mt cranes (by a SMST design) are completely manufactured and tested at Huisman Brazil. In addition to these two cranes…

U.S. President Barack Obama on Tuesday banned new oil and gas drilling in federal waters in the Atlantic and Arctic Oceans, in a push to leave his stamp on the environment before Republican Donald Trump takes office next month. Obama used a 1950s-era law called the Outer Continental Shelf Act that allows presidents to limit areas from mineral leasing and drilling. Environmental groups said that meant Trump's incoming administration would have to go court if it sought to reverse the move.

The Obama administration on Friday blocked new exploration for oil and gas in Arctic waters, in a win for environmental groups that had fought development of the ecologically fragile region. The Department of the Interior released a 2017 to 2022 leasing plan that blocked drilling in the Chukchi and Beaufort Seas off northern Alaska. It also limited petroleum development in the Cook Inlet off south-central Alaska. Environmental activists have battled drilling in Alaska to protect whales, walruses and seals, and as part of a broader movement to keep remaining fossil fuels in the ground.

The Obama administration on Thursday unveiled new oil well control rules to prevent the kind of blowout that happened six years ago on a BP Plc rig in the Gulf of Mexico. The Interior Department's Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement announced the finalized regulations, which include more stringent design requirements and operational procedures for offshore U.S. oil and gas operations. The new standards come nearly six years after a deadly explosion and fire on the Deepwater Horizon oil rig off the cost of Louisiana, which led to the worst oil spill of all time.

The new Oceana shipyard in Itajai, Brazil has delivered its first newbuild, a platform supply vessel of the PX105 design from Ulstein Group. The vessel was delivered to shipowner Oceana Offshore on March 30, 2016, and on April 1, the vessel started on a six-year chart for Petrobras. A sister vessel is also under construction at the yard, and is scheduled for completion within the end of Q2 this year. In his speech on the occasion of the naming ceremony in March 2016, yard manager…

The principal difficulty for Arctic offshore drilling right now, according to oil industry think tank, is economic. The companies may be back for another try at Arctic offshore drilling, in U.S. waters or elsewhere, if economic conditions change, reports AP. Shell pulled out from drilling in the Arctic after completing just one unsuccessful exploration well. Then Obama administration cancels two scheduled Arctic Ocean lease sales for 2016 and 2017. To those who aren't oil industry insiders, it seems like the most sudden of turnabouts. The green guys and environmentalists felt  ecstatic on these developments. But oil industry insiders say that these decisions have nothing to do with love towards enviornment. The principal difficulty for Arctic offshore drilling right now is economic.

Beam Communications, leading global manufacturer of satellite communications equipment for Iridium and Inmarsat services has recently announced changes to the Oceana and Terra range of terminals. Going forward, all Oceana 400 and Oceana 800 terminals will be able to use any standard Inmarsat GSPS (for IsatPhone 2), IsatPhone Link or FleetPhone SIM cards, when previously they were only available for use with the FleetPhone service. Removing the profiling of the SIM will allow customers to utilise the Oceana terminals in different market sectors without restriction, and not just at sea. Reiny Gajewski, Vice President of Global Sales at Beam Communications said, ‘We want to assist the channel in making these products less confusing.

Ten environmental groups say a missing icebreaker should be a deal-breaker for Arctic offshore drilling by Royal Dutch Shell PLC off Alaska's northwest coast and urged the U.S. government not to grant final permits to Shell, reports Reuters and AP. The groups in a letter that under Shell's exploration plans, the U.S. Interior Department cannot allow it to begin exploring for oil in the Chukchi Sea off northern Alaska while the icebreaker, the Fennica, is unavailable. The icebreaker is a key part of Shell's exploration plan and spill response plan, said attorney Mike LeVine of Oceana. "The Fennica plays an important role in protecting the entirety of Shell's fleet from ice," he said.

Green groups urged the U.S. Department of Interior on Tuesday to revoke the agency's conditional approval of Royal Dutch Shell's 2015 Arctic oil exploration plan, saying it runs counter to established protections for walruses. A 2013 rule implemented by the Fish and Wildlife Service, a bureau of the Interior Department, prevents energy companies from exploring for oil simultaneously at wells in the Chukchi Sea off Alaska that are within 15 miles (24 km) of each other. The rule is meant to protect walrus populations that are sensitive to the noise and disruption of drilling in their habitat. But Shell's exploration plan for the Chukchi…

A U.S. Navy F/A-18F Super Hornet assigned to Strike Fighter Squadron (VFA) 211 crashed at 1:30 p.m. (GMT), today, shortly after launching from the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN 71) operating in the Arabian Gulf. The two personnel aboard the strike fighter ejected from the aircraft, survived the crash and were quickly recovered by search and rescue personnel from the ship. The recovered Naval Aviators are being evaluated by medical personnel aboard USS Theodore Roosevelt. Initial reports indicate both are conscious and alert, and without serious injury. The crash was not a result of hostile activity. Strike Fighter Squadron 211 is based at Naval Air Station Oceana, Virginia, and is assigned to Carrier Air Wing 1.

Royal Dutch Shell's return to oil drilling in the U.S. Arctic for the first time since 2012 took a big step forward on Monday when the Obama administration approved the company's exploration plan. The Department of Interior conditionally approved Shell's plan to explore for oil in the Chukchi Sea off Alaska. Shell has already spent about $6 billion on exploration in the Arctic. The Arctic is estimated to contain about 20 percent of the world's undiscovered oil and natural gas, but its recovery could be decades away.