Offshore Oil Production News

Shuttle tanker owner KNOT Offshore Partners will appoint Derek Lowe as new Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer with effect from the week of September 11, 2023.The new appointment comes following the decision of Gary Chapman to step down as the Partnership’s CEO/CFO announced on April 10, 2023. Lowe will join the KNOT Offshore Partners from Telford Offshore, a provider of accommodation, construction, and pipelaying in the global offshore energy services industry. He has served as the Group Company Secretary of Telford Offshore since its formation in 2018, having provided consultancy services to its predecessor since 2015. He worked from 2011 to 2015 for the debt capital markets group of Pareto Securities, and from 1994 to 2010 for the equity capital markets group of UBS. Mr.

A damaged oil pipeline component that disrupted output at several offshore U.S. Gulf of Mexico platforms was repaired late Friday, a Louisiana official said, with producers moving to reactivate some of the halted production.A failed flange connecting two onshore pipelines operated by Shell Plc in Louisiana leaked an estimated two barrels of oil. The oil, which spilled onto an area covered with gravel, has been removed, said Chett Chiasson, executive director of the Greater Lafourche Port Commission…

Guyana is in "no rush" to draft a new production sharing agreement (PSA) for offshore oil development, its Natural Resources minister told Reuters, reversing a year-long drive to devise new rules for future output.The government of South America's newest crude oil producer said in 2021 it was planning a new agreement to revamp terms and boost royalties for future oil and gas projects. The proposed document was expected to improve terms for Guyana of a 2016 contract with Exxon Mobil and its partners for the prolific Stabroek block.But the tiny nation…

The U.S. Coast Guard on Monday said it was probing nearly 350 reports of oil spills in and along the U.S. Gulf Coast in the wake of Hurricane Ida.Hurricane Ida's 150 mile per hour (240 kph) winds wreaked havoc on offshore oil production platforms and onshore oil and gas processing plants. About 88% of the region's offshore oil production remains shut and more than 100 platforms unoccupied after the storm made landfall Aug. 29.The Coast Guard has been conducting flyovers off the coast of Louisiana looking for spills.

The hull of the FPSO Prosperity, which will be Guyana's third offshore oil production unit once delivered, has arrived at the Keppel yard in Singapore, where it will be fitted with topside modules.SBM Offshore, which will deliver the FPSO  to end client ExxonMobil, said that despite the various challenges posed by the ongoing global pandemic, the unit remained on schedule to be completed in 2024."Drydock activities are scheduled to begin in the 4th quarter of this year, with the installation of major structures that will support the Mooring and Subsea Risers…

Energy companies were securing offshore production platforms and evacuating workers on Tuesday, some for the sixth time this year, as a major hurricane took aim at U.S. oil production in the Gulf of Mexico.Hurricane Delta, the 25th named storm of the 2020 Atlantic Hurricane season, was churning in the Caribbean with sustained winds of 140 miles per hour (225 kph), already a dangerous Category 4 storm that is expected to scrape across Mexico's Yucatan peninsula and re-enter the…

Even as business, schools and scenes from everyday life seem frozen as society adjusts to the coronavirus, the U.S. marches closer toward the November presidential election. In early August, Vice President Joe Biden announced Senator Kamala Harris as his running mate. As the Biden-Harris ticket works out their policy platforms, they should move beyond past comments attacking American offshore oil and gas production. In fact, a strong American offshore oil and gas industry is a platform every candidate should stand behind.Between New Orleans and Houston…

Brazilian state-run oil firm Petrobras plans to restart operations in the coming days at two ships used in offshore oil production that suffered coronavirus outbreaks, an executive told journalists during a call on Friday.Petrobras Exploration and Production Director Carlos Alberto de Oliveira said operations at the Cidade de Santos should restart over the weekend, and operations at the Capixaba should restart within 10 days. Both are large ships known as FPSOs.Brazil's offshore oil industry has been hit hard by the novel coronavirus.

Teekay Offshore Partners L.P., a provider of offshore oil production and storage vessels for the offshore oil and gas industry, has changed its name.The company announced Tuesday its name has changed to Altera Infrastructure L.P. effective March 24, 2020. The move comes following the recent acquisition of the company by Brookfield Business Partners L.P.The group of entities comprising of the company's affiliates and subsidiaries (formerly referred to as Teekay Offshore) is rebranding to Altera Infrastructure…

Teekay Offshore Partners, midstream services provider to the offshore oil production industry, said that the agreement with Alpha Petroleum signed in October 2018 for Teekay’s Petrojarl Varg vessel to operate on Alpha’s 100%-owned Cheviot field was terminated.Teekay revealed that deal was off, claiming Alpha had been unable to satisfy key conditions.The floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) contract to operate on the Cheviot oil field on the UK continental shelf was for a seven-year fixed term from first oil, which was targeted for the second quarter of 2021, after a life extension and upgrade phase for the Petrojarl Varg…

London-based international law firm Watson Farley & Williams (WFW) advised Teekay Offshore Partners  on two separate fleet refinancings with a combined value of US$550mln.First was a US$100m revolving credit facility (RCF) for the Piranema Spirit, Voyageur Spirit and Petrojarl Varg FPSO units. The previous credit facility matured at the same time with a balloon payment of US$35m.The new facility was funded by commercial banks and bears interest at LIBOR + 300 basis points with a three-year tenor and a profile of 5.5 years.Second was a US$450m RCF for sixteen shuttle tankers. The facility will be used to refinance the existing revolving credit facility dated 8 September 2017 and for general corporate purposes.

The midstream services provider to the offshore oil production industry Teekay Offshore Partners announced that in accordance with previously noted financing plans, it has secured a new $450 million revolving credit facility for sixteen shuttle tankers.The facility will be used to refinance the existing revolving credit facility dated September 8, 2017, currently fully drawn with outstanding amount of $445 million, and for general corporate purposes, it said ina press release.The facility is funded by commercial banks and bears interest at LIBOR + 250 basis points with a five-year tenor and a profile of 8.4 years, Teekay added.Teekay Offshore Partners is primarily focused on the ownership and operation of critical infrastructure assets in offshore oil regions of the North Sea…

Canada-based Brookfield Business Partners has made an offer to purchase the publicly traded units of Teekay Offshore Partners (TOP), midstream services provider to the offshore oil production industry,  that it doesn't already own.The offer was for $1.05/unit–shares are trading at that level now–no premium in the offer.Teekay confirmed that it has received an unsolicited non-binding proposal from Brookfield.The offshore company said the proposed deal is subject to a number of contingencies, including the approval of its Conflicts Committee or separate Special Committee tasked with evaluating the offer.Teekay said that it's Conflicts Committee or a separate Special Committee appointed for these purposes…

The international midstream services provider to the offshore oil production industry Teekay Offshore Partners announced  that it has secured a new $100 million revolving credit facility for the Piranema Spirit, Voyageur Spirit, and Petrojarl Varg FPSO units.The previous credit facility matured at the same time with a balloon payment of $35 million, said a press release from the company primarily focused on the ownership and operation of critical infrastructure assets in offshore oil regions of the North Sea, Brazil and the East Coast of Canada.The new facility is funded by commercial banks and bears interest at LIBOR + 300 basis points with a three-year tenor and a profile of 5.5 years…

Teekay Offshore Partner, a marine energy transportation, storage & production company, has signed for a shipping export credit agency (ECA)-backed US$414m debt facility to fund four LNG-fuelled newbuild shuttle tankers.Watson Farley & Williams (WFW) is advising its long-standing client Teekay on this ECA-backed newbuild loan, noted a release.The facility, which bears interest at Libor plus 225 basis points for up to 12 years from each delivery, is funded and guaranteed by both Canadian and Norwegian export credit agencies and commercial banks.The vessels covered are four Suezmax DP2 shuttle tankers due for delivery in 2019 and 2020, two of which will work under Teekay Offshore’s Master Agreement with Norway’s Equinor…

Russian shipping company Sovcomflot (SCF Group) said that the Arctic shuttle tanker Mikhail Ulyanov loaded the milestone 10-millionth tonne of commercial oil produced at Prirazlomnaya offshore platform in the Pechora Sea.The energy shipping companies, specialising in the transportation of crude oil, petroleum products, and liquefied gas, as well as the servicing of offshore oil and gas exploration and production said that this cargo of oil has become the 150th shipped from the platform since the transportation began in April 2014.Symbolically, it was also Mikhail Ulyanov who has delivered the very first cargo of oil produced at the platform…

Large-scale conversion project on offshore platform Molikpaq operated by Sakhalin Energy.While the refit of heavy lift capacity onboard an offshore rig might sound mundane, Liebherr’s project to replace and modernize cranes on the offshore platform Molikpaq operated by Sakhalin Energy, a unit subjected to some of the world’s harshest conditions, is anything but mundane.The modernization project on Sakhalin Energy’s offshore platform off the Russian island of Sakhalin includes two ram luffing offshore cranes, type RL 1500 that are going to be completely renewed.

UK-based KNOT Offshore Partners has announced that John Costain has decided to step down as CEO and CFO of the partnership."Although Costain is resigning in order to pursue other interests outside of the partnership, he will be available for the partnership until 31 May 2019," said a press release from the publicly-traded master limited partnership, which , operates and acquires shuttle tankers under long-term charters in the offshore oil production regions of the North Sea and Brazil."This ensures that the Board has sufficient time to find a suitable replacement to Costain when he steps down," it added.The release quoted Trygve Seglem, the Chairman of the Board as saying: "On the behalf of our board, I would like to thank John for his significant contribution and dedication to KNOP.

Total is determined to push ahead with its plans to drill for oil in the Amazon basin, it said on Friday as Greenpeace activists interrupted its annual general meeting in protest at the project.The French oil major wants to explore Brazil's Foz do Amazonas basin, but Brazil's environmental agency rejected its licence application on Tuesday for a fourth time.As the company's annual general meeting opened in Paris on Friday, four activists from Greenpeace descended by rope from the ceiling above the stage…

A U.S. regulator has proposed rolling back safety measures put in place after the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill, which would reduce the role of government in offshore oil production, the Wall Street Journal reported on Monday. The Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE), which regulates offshore oil and gas drilling, proposes relaxing requirements to stream real-time data on oil production operators to facilities onshore, where they are available for review by regulators, the Journal reported. The BSEE has also proposed cutting a provision requiring that third-party inspectors of critical equipment - such as the blowout preventer that failed in the Deepwater Horizon case - be certified by the BSEE, the Journal reported.

Residents fleeing most powerful storm on U.S. mainland since 2005. Businesses closed and lines of cars streamed out of coastal Texas as officials called for residents to evacuate ahead of Hurricane Harvey, expected to arrive about midnight as the most powerful storm to hit the U.S. mainland in more than a decade. The hurricane is forecast to slam first near Corpus Christi, Texas, drop flooding rains along the central Texas coast and potentially loop back over the Gulf of Mexico before hitting Houston, some models showed. "My urgent message to my fellow Texans is that if you live in a region where evacuation has been ordered, you need to heed that advice and get out of harm's way while you can," Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said in a televised address.

St. CMS operates a range of marine simulation equipment that covers a broad range of marine and offshore activities. Much of the equipment is highly specialized and unique including fully motion capable simulators. The center also provides technical management and support of simulation equipment that is used by other parts of the Marine Institute. CMS simulation activities can be divided into three main areas; Training, Industrial Response, and Applied Research. To support these…

Wood Group PSN Inc., a Nevada corporation headquartered in Houston, was ordered to pay $9.5 million in two separate cases involving its conduct in the Gulf of Mexico. Specifically, Wood Group PSN was ordered to pay $7 million for falsely reporting over several years that personnel had performed safety inspections on offshore facilities in the Gulf of Mexico in the Western District of Louisiana, and $1.8 million for negligently discharging oil into the Gulf of Mexico in violation of the Clean Water Act after an explosion on an offshore facility in the Eastern District of Louisiana, announced Acting Assistant Attorney General Jeff Wood of the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Louisiana Stephanie A. Finley, and U.S.