Offshore drilling contractor Seadrill has announced a contract award from an undisclosed customer for its ultra-deepwater drillship West Gemini in West Africa. The nine-well contract includes three options, each for two wells, and has a total contract value of approximately $84 million. Commencement is expected to start in early Q4 2019 and continue through Q4 … [Read more...]
Shell Plans South Africa Oil Expansion With Second Deal
By Paul Burkhardt (Bloomberg) -- Royal Dutch Shell Plc is planning to acquire an oil-block stake in a second deal in South Africa’s relatively unexplored waters, months after a major discovery by Total SA boosted the country’s hydrocarbon prospects. Shell has applied to take a stake in a license owned by OK Energy, located in deep waters off South Africa’s west coast, … [Read more...]
Trump Said to Ease Drilling Rules Sparked by 2010 Gulf Oil Spill
By Jennifer A. Dlouhy (Bloomberg) -- The Trump administration is poised to relax offshore drilling requirements imposed in response to the Deepwater Horizon disaster that killed 11 people in 2010 and unleashed the worst oil spill in U.S. history. The Interior Department will unveil its final plan Thursday to ease some of the mandates, following industry complaints … [Read more...]
Trump’s Atlantic Oil Effort Runs Aground In South Carolina
by Carlyann Edwards (Bloomberg) More than half the registered voters in Republican-controlled South Carolina supported Donald Trump in a poll last month, but there’s at least one area where state leaders are ditching the president to join rival Democrats: a fight against oil exploration off the Atlantic coast. While no new drilling has been approved in U.S. Atlantic waters, … [Read more...]
Trump Said to Advance Seismic Surveys for Oil in Atlantic
By Jennifer A. Dlouhy (Bloomberg) -- The Trump administration is taking a major step toward allowing a first-in-a-generation seismic search for oil and gas under Atlantic waters, despite protests that the geological tests involve loud air gun blasts that will harm whales, dolphins and other animals. The National Marine Fisheries Service is set to issue “incidental harassment … [Read more...]