A renewed interest in wind energy is coming from the Biden administration, making an offshore wind farm on the Central Coast a possibility once again.

This week, the Biden administration released a multi-layer plan to expand offshore wind energy production in the U.S., which includes investments in port infrastructures and $3 billion in loans for the offshore industry.

"The President recognizes that a thriving offshore wind industry will drive new jobs and economic opportunity up and down the Atlantic coast, in the Gulf of Mexico and Pacific waters," White House Press Secretary, Jen Psaki, said.

Mayor of Morro Bay John Headding says this change in narrative has allowed for the removal of some of the roadblocks in the way of an offshore wind turbine project on the Central Coast.

"We've been talking about this and trying to work through the issues for over five years, so I'm extremely excited not only for the state and the industry but for Morro Bay, economically, it will be something that will be fairly significant," Headding said.

The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management identified an area 20-25 miles off the coast of Morro Bay as one of two spots in California that would be ideal for this type of energy production site.

"[That's] because the winds out there are blowing all the time and there is a "shovel ready," as I call it, connection to the grid through the Morro Bay Power Plant," Headding explained.

Several stakeholders are still trying to pinpoint an exact location, as a previous site chosen on the Central Coast would have impeded Naval activity.

"Were in the process of finding a suitable region that marries the energy needs of our state with the national security uses of the region, including military testing and training operations. Im heartened the Biden administration is interested in expanding this burgeoning industry, which will create good-paying clean energy jobs while bringing us closer to a renewable energy future, and I will continue working to bring offshore wind opportunities to the Central Coast," Congressman Salud Carbajal said.

Headding says the output of energy from the turbines is expected to produce more energy than Diablo Canyon.

But what does this mean for those who make a living out on the water? Headding says a company that had previously bid on the project had an agreement with local fishing groups, but that could change now that bids for the site will go up again.

"It would behoove any company that would enter into the bidding process to discuss with the local fishing industry possible mitigation of impacts for developing the wind farm," Headding said.

A spokesperson for Representative Carbajal's office says:

The mayor says there are 11 companies who have submitted paperwork to bid on the area identified by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management for an offshore site on the Central Coast.

The auction process for the bids could begin later this year.

Headding says the excess energy produced by the turbines could potentially be stored at the proposed battery energy storage plant that looks to break ground at the site of the former Morro Bay Power Plant next year.

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Renewed interest in offshore wind energy could bring a site to the Central Coast - KSBY San Luis Obispo News

OSLO (Reuters) - Norway will press ahead with North Sea wind power this year, awarding its first development licences as it spurs the transition of its oil and gas industry and despite its already plentiful renewables supply.

FILE PHOTO: A view of the Johan Sverdrup oilfield in the North Sea, January 7, 2020. Carina Johansen/NTB Scanpix/via REUTERS

The government has earmarked two areas in the North Sea for up to 4.5 gigawatts of floating and bottom-fixed wind turbine capacity, just under half the current installed capacity in Britain, Europes offshore wind leader.

Norway does not actually need offshore wind farms for power - nearly all its electricity comes from renewables already - but instead sees the sector as a means of helping its vast oil and gas industry secure a new, low-carbon business model for the future.

Oslo will present details of the tender this spring as part of a white paper on the energy sector, and first wind farms could be in operation by the end of the decade.

Many details remain unclear but the process should follow oil and gas exploration procedures where typically seabed rent is not charged.

Norway, western Europes largest oil and gas producer, is examining how it can adapt its petroleum industry.

Norways Equinor and several other European oil firms including Total, BP and Shell have announced plans to massively scale up their renewable power portfolios, often focusing on offshore wind, as they seek to reduce reliance on oil to satisfy stakeholders and meet climate targets.

We believe that especially offshore resources offer all the prerequisites to succeed. We have the knowledge, the experience, we have a good track record from establishing and building advanced installation in tough conditions far out at sea, NOG oil lobby boss Anniken Hauglie told Reuters.

We now need to use the time to build up new industries, new value chains, that will over time become the new legs for Norway to stand on, she said.

(Graphic: Norwegian offshore wind areas - )

The two sites - Utsira Nord, northwest of the oil industry capital Stavanger and Soerlige Nordsjoe II, bordering the Danish sector of the North Sea - both include deep water sections more suited to floating turbines.

Floating turbines are a less mature technology but widely seen as offering the greatest opportunity for Norwegian firms.

Equinor is developing one such pilot project, called Hywind Tampen, which will supply power to its Gullfaks oil platform.

Norway is seeking to cut greenhouse gas emissions produced by its offshore platforms, which tend to be powered by on-site gas turbines. Linking them to the power grid onshore is one option, and offshore wind turbines are another.

A lot of players want to position themselves in Norway, as it is a huge flagship project, said Vegard Wiik Vollset, vice-president renewable energy at consultancy Rystad Energy.

It has clear synergies for some of these companies given its potential for electrification of oil and gas fields on the Norwegian Continental Shelf.

Like oil, Norway would export the offshore wind it produces. In 2020, hydro and onshore wind power accounted for more than 98% of Norways record high electricity production of 154.2 terawatt hours (TWh), generating net exports of 20.5 TWh, data from regulator NVE showed.

(Graphic: Norwegian power production 2020 - )

The way the market is looking now, we believe there will be a power surplus for a long time into the future, said Christian Rynning-Toennesen, CEO of top utility Statkraft.

Statkraft will participate in the offshore wind tender with Aker Offshore Wind, a company created by the Aker group, which previously focused mainly on oil and gas.

Non-EU Norway could also help to meet the European Unions goal of increasing offshore wind power capacity to 60 GW by 2030 from 12 GW currently.

If they want to achieve it, it needs to happen in the North Sea and if it happens in the North Sea, Norway should be a part of it, said Steffen Syvertsen, CEO of utility Agder Energi.

Agder Energi is also bidding in the upcoming offshore wind licensing round, teaming up with Vaargroenn (our green in Norwegian), a joint venture of private equity firm HitecVision, once solely focused on oil and gas, and Italian energy producer Eni.

Offshore wind in Norway remains unprofitable without subsidies, noted Sigbjoern Seland, chief analyst at StormGeo Nena Analysis, adding the technology needs to achieve continued sharp cost cuts, move the cost of grid connection away from developers and generally higher demand.

Based on current developments, this could happen in 5-8 years time, most likely in 10-15 years, Seland said.

Its not enough with one wind farm, you need a view of 3-4 wind farms of a certain size, said Daniel Willoch, a policy adviser at wind power lobby group NORWEA.

Others seemed confident of government support.

One thing we have seen across the world is that governments find their own way to support industrial development, said Aker Offshore Wind CEO Astrid Skarheim Onsum.

Norway had access to a vast toolbox of support mechanisms and a history of finding tailored solutions to support its industrial development, she added.

It reminds me a little of the time we discovered oil for the first time, Tina Bru, oil and energy minister, told a recent energy conference.

Editing by Gwladys Fouche and Jason Neely

Read the original here:

Norway readies first offshore wind tenders to spur oil industry transition - Reuters

The central coast will continue to heat up Wednesday as high pressure and offshore flow bring warmer temperatures to the region.

Throughout the morning commute, skies will be clear and winds will be mild to moderate. As of 4:15 a.m., wind speeds near the north coast were clocking in from 25-35 miles per hour. Winds will shift out of the northeast throughout the afternoon and taper off slightly and be close to 20 mph.

Temperatures will be above average for most, if not all, the area. Inland valley communities will range from the mid-70s to the mid-80s, while coastal valleys will range from the upper 70s to mid-80s. The beaches will be warm as well with daytime highs expected to reach the mid-70s to low 80s.

For those with allergies, pollen levels will continue to be at a high-level Wednesday which may result in irritation for those who spend time outside.

Onshore flow is expected to make a return Thursday and bring cooler temperatures back to the forecast through the end of the weekend.

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Offshore flow and high pressure will bring daytime highs up to the 80s across the central coast Wednesday - KSBY San Luis Obispo News

This photograph shows turbines at the Borkum Riffgrund 2 wind farm, which Orsted owns 50% of.

CharlieChesvick | iStock Unreleased | Getty Images

Danish energy company Orsted wants to construct a large-scale offshore wind farm in the North Sea and link it to so-called "renewable" hydrogen production on the European mainland, with the project garnering support from several major industrial firms.

Under the proposals, which were outlined on Wednesday, Orsted would develop a 2 gigawatt (GW) offshore wind facility and 1 GW of electrolyzer capacity, with the company claiming its plans would result in "one of the world's largest renewable hydrogen plants to be linked to industrial demand."

The SeaH2Land development which is supported by companies including ArcelorMittal, Yara and Dow would also include 45 kilometers of hydrogen pipelines between Belgium and the Netherlands.

The electrolyzer part of the project to be built in two 500 megawatt phases would use electricity from the wind farm to produce hydrogen.

Among other things, partners involved in the development need to undertake a full feasibility study of SeaH2Land, while Orsted has yet to take a final investment decision. If all goes smoothly and the project gets the green light, however, both portions of the electrolyzer could be up and running by 2030.

"As the world looks to decarbonise, it's paramount that we act now to secure the long-term competitiveness of European industry in a green economy," Martin Neubert, Orsted's chief commercial officer, said in a statement.

Described by the International Energy Agency as a "versatile energy carrier," hydrogen has a diverse range of applications and can be produced in a number of ways.

One method includes using electrolysis, with an electric current splitting water into oxygen and hydrogen. If the electricity used in the process comes from a renewable source such as wind or solar then some describe it as "green" or "renewable" hydrogen.

The last few years have seen a number of businesses take an interest in projects connected to renewable hydrogen, while major economies such as the European Union have laid out plans to install at least 40 GW of renewable hydrogen electrolyzers by 2030.

In March, a major green hydrogen facility in Germany started operations. The "WindH2" project, as it's known, involves German steel giant Salzgitter, E.ON subsidiary Avacon and Linde, a firm specializing in engineering and industrial gases.

Elsewhere, a subsidiary of multinational building materials firm HeidelbergCement has worked with researchers from Swansea University to install and operate a green hydrogen demonstration unit at a site in the U.K.

The interest in hydrogen is not restricted to Europe. In a speech last November, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said his country was proposing to launch what he described as "a comprehensive National Hydrogen Energy Mission."

Presenting the country's budget earlier this year, Nirmala Sitharaman, India's finance minister, referenced Modi's announcement, adding: "It is now proposed to launch a Hydrogen Energy Mission in 2021-22 for generating hydrogen from green power sources."

The planet's third biggest emitter of greenhouse gases, India's attempt to embrace hydrogen and other renewable technologies it's targeting 450 GW of renewable capacity by 2030 would, if fully realized, represent a significant shift for the country.

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Orsted to link a huge offshore wind farm to 'renewable' hydrogen production - CNBC

The United States offshore wind industry is tiny, with just seven wind turbines operating off Rhode Island and Virginia. The few attempts to build large-scale wind farms like Europes have run into long delays, but that may be about to change.

The Biden administration announced on March 29, 2021, that it would accelerate the federal review process for offshore wind projects and provide more funding. It also set a goal: Develop 30,000 megawatts of offshore wind capacity this decade enough to power 10 million homes with clean energy. To put that in perspective, the U.S. has just 42 megawatts today.

Several wind farm developers already hold leases in prime locations off the Eastern Seaboard, suggesting plenty of interest. So, will the governments new goals and promise of additional funding be enough to finally launch a thriving offshore wind industry?

As engineering professors leading the Energy Transition Initiative and Wind Energy Center at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, we have been closely watching the industrys challenges and progress. The process could move quickly once permitting and approvals are on track, but there are still obstacles.

Why offshore wind plans stalled under Trump

Vineyard Wind, which is likely to become the nations first commercial-scale offshore wind farm, had planned to begin construction in 2019 about 15 miles off Marthas Vineyard. A ruling by the federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management under the Trump administration stalled it, and also cast a shadow over other wind farm plans.

The agency ruled that the developers needed to address what is called cumulative impacts what the East Coast will look like when there are not one or two, but 20 or 40 large-scale wind farms. That part of the U.S. coast is ideal for wind power because of its wide, shallow shelf and proximity to cities that are looking for renewable electricity to reduce their climate impact.

Many researchers studying offshore wind, including some of our colleagues, urge planners to take this perspective. But, thinking carefully about the far future does not justify a delay in the first utility-scale wind farm.

That first large wind farm should be an opportunity to learn, including about how wind turbines will interact with marine ecosystems. Right now, there is almost no data on the impacts of offshore wind on marine wildlife birds, bats, whales, fish especially on wildlife that is native to New England. The knowledge gained will be invaluable in moving forward responsibly.

Is fast-tracking federal approvals enough?

Speeding up federal approvals for offshore wind farms is an important first step, but those arent the only hurdles for offshore wind farm developers.

A large number of state environmental and coastal agencies still must approve, and the communities where cables come ashore will also have a say. Many of the Northeast states have their own offshore wind energy goals, so theyre likely to support wind farms, but some wealthy communities and the fishing industry have pushed back on wind power in the past.

The federal approval process, even fast-tracked, is also time-consuming. The government conducts reviews and requires site assessment plans, including geological, environmental and hazard surveys. From planning to construction, the entire process can take five to six years or more.

Is the U.S. ready to build offshore turbines?

Some other big questions revolve around construction.

Under a 1920 law known as the Jones Act, only U.S.-registered vessels operated by U.S. citizens or permanent residents can move cargo between U.S. ports. In December 2020, Congress made clear that this law applies to wind turbine construction, too.

When companies build offshore wind turbines today, they use special vessels for the installation of the most common offshore turbine designs. The U.S. doesnt have any of these vessels yet, and the Jones Act makes it difficult to rely on vessels from Europe to do the job. There is promise, though: The first U.S.-made version of this vessel is being built in Texas right now. Thats one the country will need several to meet the new goal.

A thriving wind power industry will also need ports for storing and deploying the long turbine blades, plus a trained workforce for construction and turbine maintenance.

A few coastal states have a head start on this. Massachusetts started laying the groundwork early and already has a port terminal in New Bedford to support the construction and deployment of future offshore wind projects. New Jersey recently announced a plan for a new offshore wind port that will start construction in 2022.

States are also investing in training. New York state announced a $20 million offshore wind training institute in January 2021 with the goal of training 2,500 workers for the industry and maintenance. The Biden administration envisions 44,000 people employed in offshore wind by 2030 and many more in communities connected to offshore wind power activity.

Will offshore wind pay off?

In Europe, where many governments have reduced regulatory risk, the cost of offshore wind energy has come down rapidly, much faster than experts expected, to around $50 per megawatt-hour. If the Biden administrations new approach allow U.S. wind farms to achieve costs like this, then offshore wind, with its proximity to large urban centers on the East Coast, will be competitive.

Its also important to recognize other benefits. Every year of delay for a large-scale wind farm costs the U.S. hundreds of millions of dollars in climate benefits. The Biden administration calculates that its new wind power goal would avoid 78 million metric tons of carbon dioxide, roughly equivalent to taking 17 million cars off the road for a year.

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

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The U.S. Just Set Ambitious Offshore Wind Power Targets What Will It Take to Meet Them? - GovExec.com

The hydrogen hub would use power from an offshore wind field (Orsted)

By The Maritime Executive 03-31-2021 03:31:58

Orsted, the Danish energy company that has been aggressively pursuing offshore energy, announced new plans for one of the worlds largest renewable hydrogen plants. Know as SeaH2Land, the massive project envisions linking offshore wind power to create a hydrogen hub for the industrial cluster centered around the Dutch-Flemish North Sea Port.

The North Sea Port cluster is according to Orsted one of the largest production and demand centers of fossil hydrogen in Europe currently using 580,000 tons per year. Driven by decarbonization efforts, industrial demand in the cluster could grow to about one million tons by 2050, equivalent to roughly 10 GW of electrolysis. In addition to the broad industrial applications for hydrogen in the region, the North Sea Port, one of Europes largest shipping gateways, has the potential to become a large user of hydrogen as the marine fuel applications are developed.

The SeaH2Land project includes a renewable hydrogen production facility of 1 GW to be developed by Orsted by 2030. If realized, the electrolyzer, which would produce the renewable hydrogen, would have the potential to convert about 20 percent of the current hydrogen consumption in the region to renewable hydrogen.

Orsted proposes to connect the GW electrolyzer directly to a new 2 GW offshore wind farm in the North Sea. This will enable the large-scale supply of renewable electricity required for the production of renewable hydrogen and correlates with Dutch proposals to accelerate the roll-out of offshore wind projects to meet increasing electricity demand. The offshore wind farm could be built in one of the zones in the southern part of the Dutch exclusive economic zone that has already been designated for offshore wind development.

"The Dutch-Flemish North Sea Port covers one of the largest hydrogen clusters in Europe. As the world looks to decarbonize, it's paramount that we act now to secure the long-term competitiveness of European industry in a green economy, said Martin Neubert, Chief Commercial Officer and Deputy Group CEO, Orsted. The SeaH2Land project outlines a clear vision and roadmap for large-scale renewable hydrogen linked to new offshore wind capacity. With the right framework in place, the Netherlands and Belgium can leverage the nearly unlimited power of offshore wind to significantly advance renewable hydrogen as a true European industrial success story."

Map of the proposed regiional hydrogen network (Orsted)

To achieve the regional hydrogen hub, the SeaH2Land project also proposed to link the electrolyzer to a regional pipeline system connecting large-scale consumption and production in the cluster. Yara, in consortium with Orsted, and Zeeland Refinery have each announced plans for mid-size renewable hydrogen production at their sites, while Dow has been exporting hydrogen to Yara since 2018 through the world's first conversion of a gas pipeline into hydrogen. The pipeline network could also be extended further south to ArcelorMittal and further north, underneath the river Scheldt, to Zeeland Refinery. The cluster strategy also proposes to extend the 380 kV high-voltage network for the electrification needs of the industry south of the river Scheldt.

Through the development of this network of links between the industrial locations with the electrolysis and offshore wind, landing it would be possible to create a true energy hub spanning both sides of the river and one of Europes largest industrial zones. They believe that this would create a unique regional ecosystem of hydrogen exchange with significant carbon reduction in the manufacturing processes of ammonia, chemicals, and steel and a significant contribution to the European Green Deal.

The major industrial companies in the region ArcelorMittal, Yara, Dow Benelux, and Zeeland Refinery, support the development of the required regional infrastructure. The partnership will now move forward and engage in dialogue with the regulatory authorities on the framework and policies needed to support the development of renewable hydrogen linked to large-scale offshore wind, the regional infrastructure, and conduct a full feasibility study of the project.

Continue reading here:

Orsted Proposes Hydrogen Hub Combining Offshore Wind at North Sea Port - The Maritime Executive

Offshore flow is lingering across the region Thursday, which means the warmer daytime highs will continue for the central coast.

Expect temperatures along the coast to range from the mid-to-upper 70s, while coastal and inland valleys will likely have another 80-degree day. One change in the forecast Thursday morning will be the return of mid-to-high level cloud cover. The clouds will mostly mix out by the afternoon, but there is a possibility they could linger towards the coast and over the valleys too.

Afternoon winds will primarily shift out of the northwest Thursday afternoon and be mild with wind speeds up to 10 miles per hour.

Onshore flow is set to gradually increase through the weekend, which means daytime highs will start to trend down. Most valley locations will make a return to the 60s and 70s through the start of next week with even cooler temperatures expected along the coast.

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Offshore flow will bring continued warming ahead of a cooler weekend - KSBY San Luis Obispo News

The AtlantiCare health system broke ground Tuesday on a new $38 million Medical Arts Pavilion in Atlantic City. Land for the pavilion was donated by the Casino Reinvestment Authority, which also pledged $15 million to the project. According to AtlantiCare, the new facility will allow it to expand access to care for underserved populations when it opens late next year.

The Deborah Heart and Lung Center in Browns Mills is proceeding with a $100 million capital improvement project, after receiving federal funding. It will break ground in a few months on a new addition that is also scheduled for completion next year.

Several groups in the state are protesting a bill they say would shut out some New Jersey companies from government contracts on construction projects. The bill, which has advanced through the Legislature, would require that more public works projects use construction companies that abide by union rules. The African American Chamber of Commerce of New Jersey opposes the legislation. Founder and CEO John Harmon says the measure would hurt Black- and Hispanic-owned companies, most of which are nonunion. The bill is also opposed by the Associated Builders and Contractors of New Jersey.

With the Biden administration looking to expand offshore-wind projects off the New Jersey coast, the state is taking steps to make sure workers are prepared for clean-energy jobs. The Department of Labor and Workforce Development has a $1 million grant available to fund job-training programs as part of a partnership with Public Service Electric and Gas, with the aim of recruiting and training 2,000 workers, particularly from the states big cities. PSE&G is a funder of NJ Spotlight News.

WATCH: Business Report: Jobs added, economy grows, housing prices rise, SBA loans expand

MORE: Business Report: Utility costs, economic update, SALT deduction, age discrimination

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Business Report: Health care systems expanding, government contracts, offshore wind projects | Video - NJ Spotlight

DUBLIN--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The "Global Offshore Oil and Gas Seismic Equipment and Acquisitions Market 2021-2025" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

The publisher has been monitoring the offshore oil and gas seismic equipment and acquisitions market and it is poised to grow by $1.65 billion during 2021-2025 progressing at a CAGR of 8% during the forecast period.

The report on offshore oil and gas seismic equipment and acquisitions market provides a holistic analysis, market size and forecast, trends, growth drivers, and challenges, as well as vendor analysis covering around 25 vendors.

The report offers an up-to-date analysis regarding the current global market scenario, latest trends and drivers, and the overall market environment. The market is driven by the increasing investments in offshore upstream sector and growing demand for oil and natural gas.

The offshore oil and gas seismic equipment and acquisitions market analysis includes technology segment and geographical landscapes. This study identifies the rise in deepwater and ultra-deepwater E&P projects as one of the prime reasons driving the offshore oil and gas seismic equipment and acquisitions market growth during the next few years.

Companies Mentioned

The report on offshore oil and gas seismic equipment and acquisitions market covers the following areas:

The study was conducted using an objective combination of primary and secondary information including inputs from key participants in the industry. The report contains a comprehensive market and vendor landscape in addition to an analysis of the key vendors.

The publisher presents a detailed picture of the market by the way of study, synthesis, and summation of data from multiple sources by an analysis of key parameters such as profit, pricing, competition, and promotions. It presents various market facets by identifying the key industry influencers. The data presented is comprehensive, reliable, and a result of extensive research - both primary and secondary. The market research reports provide a complete competitive landscape and an in-depth vendor selection methodology and analysis using qualitative and quantitative research to forecast an accurate market growth.

Key Topics Covered:

1. Executive Summary

2. Market Landscape

3. Market Sizing

4. Five Forces Analysis

5. Market Segmentation by Technology

6. Customer landscape

7. Geographic Landscape

8. Vendor Landscape

9. Vendor Analysis

10. Appendix

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/u11k5o

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Outlook on the Offshore Oil and Gas Seismic Equipment and Acquisitions Global Market to 2025 - Growing Demand for Oil and Natural Gas is Driving the...

Maine Marine Patrol officials and local fishermen have made headway over the last week in clearing fishing gear from a 23-mile long path being surveyed for an offshore wind development project, state marine officials say.

The monthlong survey for the New England Aqua Ventus project began earlier this month, but the presence of fishing gear on the path was making it difficult for the vessel conducting a survey of the seafloor to do its work, according to a project spokesperson and Maine Department of Marine Resources officials.

Fishermen were asked to move their gear in advance of the survey, but given the contentious issue of wind development of the Gulf of Maine, some fishermen felt they shouldnt have to move their traps for a project that they feel threatens their livelihood.

Last week, the Maine Department of Marine Resources sent a notice to fishermen with gear still in the survey route asking that they voluntarily move their traps or else Marine Patrol officers would move the gear for them. The notice was sent after Marine Patrol identified about 240 lobster traps still within the survey route.

In the past week, Maine Marine Patrol officials have moved about 100 lobster traps from the path, according to Maine Department of Marine Resources spokesperson Jeff Nichols.

Fishermen themselves have also made a concerted effort to move gear out of the route but weather has made that challenging, he said.

The gear removal has resulted in a significant portion of the survey route being cleared, New England Aqua Ventus spokesperson Dave Wilby said.

While the survey was supposed to be wrapping up in early April, Wilby said an exact timeline for the rest of the survey is not yet known given the weather and gear-related delays the vessels have encountered.

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Fishing gear removed from path of offshore wind project survey - Bangor Daily News

Offshore oil and gas drilling is set for a rebound this year following a major 2020 pullback when exploration and production companies deferred many activities due to the pandemic and the collapse in oil prices. Lower lifting and breakeven costs at the most prolific offshore oil regions off Brazil and Guyana are setting the stage for a rebound in offshore drilling in South America, which will be one of the main growth drivers of global offshore activity this year, analysts say.

Drilling and well services spending in Latin America is forecast to grow strongly, thanks to continued offshore activity in Brazil as Brazils state oil giant Petrobras focuses on the deepwater pre-salt basin. The promising Guyana basin will also see new wells drilled and discoveries developed, according to the latest World Drilling & Well Services Market Forecast 2021-2025 Q1 by Westwood Global Energy.

Global Offshore Spending To Grow From 2020 Lows

Although operators around the world remain cautious about capex, this years expenditure on drilling & well services (DWS)both offshore and onshoreis set to grow to US$156 billion, slightly up from last year. The higher spending will be the result of higher oil prices and forecasts of recovery in demand, Westwood Global Energy said.

The United States, China, and Russia will lead onshore drilling activities, while Brazil and Guyana will be the key drivers of offshore spending, the analysts said.

Rystad Energy also sees South AmericaBrazil and Guyana in particularas the main contributor to offshore drilling growth. Offshore activity is set for annual increases of around 10 percent in each of 2021 and 2022, the energy research firm said last week.

In contrast to previous years, when the North American shale sector led production growth, we expect the onshore and offshore shelf in the Middle East and the deepwater market in South America to be the main drivers of growth going forward, said Daniel Holmedal, energy research analyst at Rystad Energy.

Related: U.S. Oil Rig Count Posts Double-Digit Gains As Oil Prices Rise Offshore investment is set for a rapid rebound this year, driven by deferred projects from 2020 and a resurgent Petrobras, Thom Payne, Head of Offshore at Westwood Global Energy, wrote in an analysis in February.

Low breakeven costs make Brazils pre-salt and Guyanas basin very attractive drilling opportunities, even if oil prices were at $40 per barrel.

Projects in Brazils pre-salt region have breakeven oil prices as low as $35 per barrel, Effuah Alleyne, Senior Analyst at GlobalData, said at the end of last year.

Guyanas ultra-deepwater projects in the frontier Guyana-Suriname Basin have breakeven oil prices as low as $23/bbl, with short-term production expected to grow 10-fold by 2024 from projects such as Liza Phase 2, Alleyne noted.

Guyana A Top Priority For Exxon

Exxons continued exploration and development on the Stabroek block offshore Guyana is set to drive offshore drilling in the country in the coming years.

Guyana is one of the top priorities in the U.S. supermajors strategy to focus on high-return and cash-generating projects that would allow it to grow its dividend through 2025.

90 percent of our upstream investments in resource additions, including in Guyana, Brazil and the U.S. Permian Basin, generate a 10 percent return at $35 per barrel or less, Exxons chairman and CEO Darren Woods said on the investor day last month.

Despite disappointing early 2021 drilling results, exploration activity in Guyana is on track to set an annual record of 16 wells, including on the Stabroek block, according to Rystad Energy.

Related: Recent SEC Decision Could Spark Investment In Big Oil

Exxon is also currently developing the Liza Phase 2 Project, designed to pump up to 220,000 bpd with a floating, production, storage, and offloading vessel (FPSO), with start-up expected in the middle of next year. Exxon has also recently made the final investment decision on the Payara oilfield offshore Guyana, expecting the project to yield up to 220,000 bpd of crude when commercial production begins in 2024.

Brazils Petrobras Focuses On The Prolific Pre-salt Basin

Petrobras is heavily divesting non-core assets onshore and offshore, as well as refinery operations, as it continues to cut its massive debt and bets big on boosting production and development in the very prolific and low-cost pre-salt basin.

Over the past five years, the share of the pre-salt region in the companys oil and gas production has jumped to 66 percent in 2020 from just 24 percent in 2015, Petrobras said earlier this year when it announced that its 2020 annual oil and gas production hit a record high. Production in the pre-salt basin totaled 1.86 million barrels of oil equivalent per day (boed) in 2020 out of Petrobras total 2.84 million boed output last year.

Despite the crash in oil prices, Petrobras continued its strong cash flow generation, with free cash flow at US$10.4 billion for the first nine months of 2020, Fitch Ratings said in February, affirming its ratings on Petrobras.

The strong cash flow generation, even with collapsing oil prices the primary result of cost and capex reductions. Petrobras reported a material decline in lifting costs in 2020 to around US$5.10 per barrel of oil equivalent (boe) from approximately US$9.6/boe in 2019, Fitch said. The significant decrease in lifting costs was the result of cost reductions and the growing share of Petrobras pre-salt production, which has a lower lifting cost than legacy production, the rating agency noted.

By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com

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The 2 Nations Driving The Recovery In Offshore Oil - OilPrice.com

Recent events in Palma, a town in the volatile Cabo Delgado province in the north of Mozambique, have taken bloodshed in the region to new levels. Dozens of people were killed when hundreds of Islamist militants stormed the town on Wednesday, 25 March. They targeted shops, banks and a military barracks.

The attack has been devastating for the people living in the area as well as the country. The escalating violence has already left at least a thousand dead and displaced hundreds of thousands more.

The conflict has put a temporary lid on plans that have been in the making for more than a decade since rich liquefied natural gas (LNG) deposits were discovered in the Rovuma Basin, just off the coast of Cabo Delgado. Western majors like Total, Exxon Mobil, Chevron and BP entered the Mozambique LNG industry as well as Japans Mitsui, Malaysias Petronas and Chinas CNPC.

The gas projects are estimated to be worth US$60 billion in total. Some observers recently predicted that Mozambique could become one of the top ten LNG producers in the world.

The development of the projects had led to the area becoming a hive of economic activity.

The plan was for Palma to become a LNG manufacturing hub where hundreds of skilled workers would be located. And, more broadly, the hope was that it would drive the rapid advancement of a country that ranks close to the bottom of the United Nations Human Development Index. More than 70% of the population have been classified as multidimensionally poor by the United Nations Development Programme.

The LNG projects in the northern Cabo Delgado area represented a silver lining of hope. Since 2012 the major multinational energy companies have spent billions of dollars on developing the offshore gas sites. Today, offshore exploration in the Cabo Delgado area includes Africas three largest LNG projects. These are the Mozambique LNG Project (involving Total and previously Anadarko) worth $20 billion; the Coral FLNG Project (involving Eni and Exxon Mobil) worth $4.7 billion; and the Rovuma LNG Project (involving Exxon Mobil, Eni and CNPC) worth $30 billion.

Production was scheduled to start in 2024 but intensifying attacks near the gas site on the Afungi peninsula are now posing serious challenges to the production time lines.

There have been no material benefits for the people of Cabo Delgado thus far. Moreover, many local people feel deeply aggrieved because many were evicted and had to relocate soon after the discovery of gas in Cabo Delgado to make way for LNG infrastructure development.

Cabo Delgado is Mozambiques most northern province. Neglected over many years, the people who live there have been politically marginalised. And the area is underdeveloped.

Since independence in 1975 investment, and rising incomes, were largely confined to the capital Maputo in the south as well as the southern parts of the country.

In addition, the central government in Maputo has only had a fragile and precarious control over the territory and borders of the country. A 16-year civil war that involved clashes between the central government and Renamo, a militant organisation and political movement during the liberation struggle and now opposition party, claimed more than a million lives.

More recently, since 2017, the militant Islamic movement, Ansar al-Sunna, locally known as Al-Shabaab, has been active in Cabo Delgado. It now poses the biggest security threat in the country, rendering some of the northern parts almost ungovernable.

The militants took advantage of the Mozambican governments failure to exercise control over the entire territory of the country.

Ansar al-Sunna reportedly pledged allegiance to the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) in April 2018. It was acknowledged as an affiliate of ISIS-Core in August 2019. In view of this, the US Department of State has designated Ansar al-Sunna Mozambique, which it refers to as ISIS-Mozambique, as a foreign terrorist organisation.

What makes this armed force so significant is that the movement has orchestrated a series of large scale and targeted attacks. In 2020 this led to the temporary capturing of the strategic port of Mocimboa da Praia in Cabo Delgado.

In addition, the turbulence caused by the militants attacks has displaced nearly 670,000 people within northern Mozambique. Obviously, foreign companies in the LNG industry with their considerable investments feel threatened, especially at the current stage where final investment decisions have to be taken.

In recent months the situation in Cabo Delgado has gone from bad to worse. In November 2020, dozens of people were reportedly beheaded by the militants. Now the bloodshed has spread to Palma.

Amid the development of an increasingly alarming human rights situation towards the end of last year, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, appealed for urgent measures to protect civilians. She described the situation as desperate and one of grave human rights abuses. Bachelet also stated that more than 350,000 people had been displaced since 2018.

There is little doubt that Islamist insurgents are increasing the scale of their activities in Cabo Delgado. A lack of governance and a proper security response by both the Mozambican government and southern African leaders make this a case of high political risk for the LNG industry.

The escalation of the insurgency can potentially jeopardise the successful unlocking of Mozambiques resource wealth. Until now, the main LNG installations and sites have not been targeted, but the attacks in Palma have brought the turbulence dangerously close to some of the installations.

The Mozambican armed forces are clearly stretched beyond the point where they can protect the local communities. A part of the solution lies in Southern African Development Community or at least South African military support to stabilise Cabo Delgado and restore law and order in the short term. Wider international support might even be necessary.

But this would require the Mozambican government to change its stance by allowing multinational foreign military forces on its soil.

At the same time, a long term solution should be pursued. This will require better governance of the northern areas and the local people in what has been called a forgotten province.

It is clear that Cabo Delgado is an area which the central government in Maputo is unable to control, govern effectively, or even influence. In short, weak state institutions including weak armed forces are key to the problems of Mozambique and specifically the turbulence in the northern parts.

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Offshore gas finds offered major promise for Mozambique: what went wrong - The Conversation CA

Multinational corporations shifted $1 trillion in profits from the countries where their economic activity takes place to a small number of tax havens in 2016, depriving governments worldwide of more than $200 billion in tax revenues, a new study shows.

Researchers with the U.K.-based International Centre for Tax and Development found that multinationals headquartered in the United States and Bermuda used profit-shifting more aggressively, while lower-income countries suffered the most losses because of such practices.

The study was mainly based on corporate information released for the first time last year by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, and only data from 2016 is available.

Its such a simple question: Where do [multinationals] pay taxes? And how much do they pay in low income countries? said Petr Jansk, an economist at Charles University in Prague, who co-authored the study with data scientist Javier Garcia-Bernardo.

The main issue at stake is not that multinational corporations are benefiting from this tax avoidance scheme but that somebody is being harmed, Jansk said. Somebody is losing out because of this.

In 2017, the Paradise Papers investigation by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists exposed the tax engineering of more than 100 multinational corporations, including Apple, Nike and Botox-maker Allergan. For instance, ICIJ documented how Apple found ways to keep tax rates ultra-low and accumulate a $252 billion mountain of cash offshore.

Jansk said that the new study shows that those are not isolated cases.

Ten tax havens received most of the companies profits, according to the ICTD research. Those include three European countries Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Switzerland as well as the Cayman Islands, Singapore, Bermuda and Puerto Rico.

While African countries appear to be the most vulnerable to profit-shifting, the study shows how multinationals tax avoidance schemes also deprive high-income countries, such as the U.S., Germany and France, of financial resources. The two European countries are estimated to lose at least one quarter of their profit base to profit shifting, it said.

Profit shifting is thus a phenomenon where the majority of countries lose, the researchers wrote in the report.

The ICTD team used data from the U.S. revenue service and country-level information that corporations in more than 50 OECD member countries have agreed to report.

The new rule requires companies with more than $850 million in revenues to report how much they pay in taxes in individual jurisdictions and where they book income. The initiative is part of a coordinated effort to tackle tax avoidance by corporations and assess its global economic impact.

However, Jansk said he was disappointed when he realized that only a few countries have actually collected and shared the information with the public. Some only provided aggregated data without providing details on multinationals tax payments and profit allocation at the country level.

In total, the OECD has released data on 4,000 multinationals headquartered in 26 jurisdictions and operating across more than 100 jurisdictions worldwide.

The researchers expect to have 2017 data in July.

In the meantime, they hope that policymakers will consider the new findings when discussing the introduction of a global minimum tax for multinationals. The initiative called the Paris climate accord of taxes by Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz has recently seen the support of U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen.

The OECD member countries are expected to reach agreement on the minimum tax reform by mid 2021.

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Multinationals shifted $1 trillion offshore, stripping countries of billions in tax revenues, study says - ICIJ - ICIJ.org

As offshore wind goes from strength to strength in Europe, some might believe that all Asia needs to do is copy what the industry did there and the region can emulate, or even surpass, that success. Unfortunately, its not as simple as that.

The technical challenges developers will face are a key reason why Asia cant simply replicate Europes offshore wind journey. Europe does not have typhoons, high seismicity, deep faulting, thick soft marine deposits, and hard volcanic and metamorphic sedimentary rock seabeds. Asia does.

Overcoming these challenges will require new methods of analysis and stronger structures. For example, monopiles are used for 90% of European developments but they may not always be suitable in Asia. Many of the most promising areas in Asia do not have the competent seabed stratum required for hammering or vibrating monopiles into place.

So, some situations may require alternative foundation systems including piled jackets, suction buckets or even self-installing gravity-based structures. Requiring no piles and no specialised installation vessels, gravity-based structures maximise the use of both local labour and materials. They could be a good option for many locations in Asia.

The limited availability of shallow water depths less than 50 metres means that commercial scale floating systems could develop rapidly, especially in the waters around Japan, Korea and Taiwan.

Asia could use its experience honed in areas such as automotive manufacturing of producing technology cheaply and efficiently on a commercial scale to surpass Europe in floating offshore wind.

Whatever the specific technical solution, local expertise will be key to catering for local factors. At Arup, were seeing clients across Asia looking for sophisticated engineering skills for their offshore wind projects.

Asia can have the best of both worlds.

In Europe, the open market meant local consultants, designers and contractors developed supply chains through organic growth to service the work locally. Asia can have the best of both worlds; involving experienced European consultants and contractors is enabling them to rapidly develop their own skills through technology transfer.

Taiwan is successfully following this approach, having encouraged many established European contractors to join its auctions independently. By compelling these contractors to engage with local manufacturers and suppliers, it hopes to establish a local supply chain to serve both the Taiwanese markets and the rest of Asia.

Japan and Korea have well established contracting bases capable of tackling large-scale infrastructure projects. However, because they lack experience in offshore wind, these local groups have also formed alliances with established European contractors to learn quickly and are now preparing for the initial auctions.

For Japans first large-scale commercial offshore wind farm close to the Akita and Noshiro Ports, Arups local and international teams worked successfully with local EPC contractors and the local regulators, ClassNK, to develop designs. Expertise on the ground has proved vital in steering the project through the first to be approved by the local statutory checking authority in Japan and in establishing an accepted design process for the future.

In procurement, Asia has learnt from, and improved on, the European approach. Taiwan, Japan and Korea have all moved more rapidly than Europe did from feed-in tariff schemes to an auction process or renewable energy certification system. This will encourage more competitive supply chains.

With the market progressing rapidly, weve invested in building our local capability because we believe that combining the best of European experience with local expertise is the right approach to unlock opportunities in an Asian market that is expected to reach 100GW of installed capacity by 2030.

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Why Asia's coming offshore wind boom can't just be a carbon copy of Europe's | Recharge - Recharge

The offshore wind industry is on the cusp of major growth. We are entering an era where oil majors arent just making vague ESG commitments, but actually putting their money on the table for offshore wind development.

However, while the results from the UKs Round 4 tender certainly demonstrate that the likes of BP are willing to bid billions for seabed leasing, there are concerns that the winners of this round may have overbid raising the cost of developing their projects.

The pressure on developers to keep projects viable often leads them to choose contractors and equipment suppliers based on price rather than quality or proven experience. In recent years, we have seen some developers opt for suppliers with a known track record of losses, simply because up-front costs are low.

Over the years, we have seen this race to the bottom result in countless insurance claims due to contractor error. Since 2016, global offshore wind claims across the industry have increased by 30% year on year, with contractor error and defective design and materials making up over 60% of claims by cause of loss. A majority of claims are incurred either during construction, or down the line from errors during the construction phase itself.

The cost of losses typically ends up with the insurer, rather than the developer or even the original manufacturer, where the loss may actually originate from resulting in a perverse incentive for developers to avoid managing obvious risks due to cost.

Recently, a developer of an offshore wind farm opted to contract a cable manufacturer known for multiple losses in the industry, agreeing to only test 25% of cables for quality and defects in order to keep costs as low as possible. This lack of quality control opens up the project to significant cable losses down the line.

In this case, the developer was likely banking on a soft insurance market, where insurers offer wide terms and policy conditions covering projects even despite glaring deficiencies in risk management, to pick up the bill when things went wrong.

As more oil & gas majors enter the offshore wind industry, insurers active in the oil & gas market are likely to follow, offering lower premiums and wider terms and conditions in order to buy market share.

However, these insurers are used to policies with the expectation of a similar risk profile to traditional energy infrastructure, with low frequency, high-cost losses. These insurers are also used to limited business interruption and delay in start-up exposure, as well as much higher deductibles than has been experienced in the renewable energy offshore market.

As such, insurers traditionally focused on oil & gas exposure entering the renewables offshore market without updating premiums, policies, and terms and conditions will likely be unsustainable and exit the market once losses start piling up. This could limit available insurance capacity and threaten the long-term viability of the offshore renewables market.

If insurers had underwritten every offshore construction project to date, without significant reinsurance insurance that the insurance market buys for itself to protect its own account they would have certainly lost money over the last ten years.

We have seen a similar dynamic play out in onshore wind. As losses started to pile up, a number of insurers have been unable to continue underwriting such costly projects and ended up completely exiting the market. Those that stayed have had to re-examine premium, deductibles and terms in order to effectively manage risk and thereby reduce the scale and frequency of losses. What has become increasingly clear is that there needs to be a greater degree of risk sharing, not only between the insurance market and the developer or owner but with all parties, all the way down the chain to subcontractors.

Onshore, this hardening of the market is starting to turn the corner in ensuring a fair allocation of risk throughout the supply chain. However, the offshore industry cannot afford not to go through a similar process, and the entry of new markets with an oil and gas perspective will certainly not help in industry in the longer term.

As projects can cost billions to develop, a single offshore wind farm can have multiple insurers covering the project on a syndicated basis. A major loss is more likely to have repercussions on the whole renewables insurance industry, rather than one or two unlucky insurers who backed a risky project and current practices can complicate claims, inflating the cost of a loss.

In order to keep insurance cheap, brokers will often place what are known as verticalised placements with the risks from a single project absorbed by multiple insurers, each offering different policy definitions, terms, sub-limits, deductibles and premiums. These verticalised placements tend to muddle the overall policy terms between each insurer together in an attempt to provide complete protection for a client.

However, this approach could ultimately open renewable energy companies up to complications and extra costs when it comes to settling a claim later down the line, as insurers and expensive legal advisors try to clarify grey areas between different policy wordings and definitions.

With the expansion of offshore wind into emerging markets, and the involvement of new players across the supply chain, now is the time to ensure the race to lower the cost of development does not result in disasters due to a lack of risk accountability. By quantifying and managing risk throughout the supply chain, the offshore wind industry can ensure that the market remains insurable and ultimately facilitate a faster, wider rollout of new wind farms at a critical point in the energy transition.

Fraser McLachlan is the chief executive of specialist renewable energy insurer GCube

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'Big Oil's push into offshore wind could threaten the long-term viability of the sector' | Recharge - Recharge

NEW LONDON, Conn. (WTNH) President Biden recently released a plan to help the offshore wind industry with faster federal approval, low interest loans, and funding for changes to U.S. ports.Its focused on New York and New Jersey but many are hoping it helps a Connecticut project as well.

Fishermen say they disturb marine life and others say they ruin their view but offshore wind farms are also seen as an effective way to harvest renewable energy.

President Joe Biden is now pushing to make it easier to get federal approval for offshore wind projects. He is also looking to providelow interest loans, as well as, funding for changes to U.S. ports.

Its exciting the Biden administration is pulling out all stops to try to get this to go, said Mayor Michael Passero, (D) New London.

New London is hoping to become a hub for the offshore wind industry with a focal point being the State Pier to which the state plans to make $157 million in infrastructure upgrades.

The citys partners Orsted and Eversource said in a joint statement.

Were proud to be building the first utility-scale offshore wind farms serving New York, Rhode Island and Connecticut, and we stand ready to support the bold path President Biden is charting for a nation fueled by affordable clean energy.

With the onset of the partnership between Orsted and Eversource, the revenues to the city of New London have increased tenfold from what they were, said Mayor Passero.

In the short term it creates a lot of jobs building these turbines, servicing the turbines, but in the long run its our contribution to climate change, Sen. Chris Murphy.

The presidents plan would generate 30 gigawatts of offshore wind power by 3030. Thats enough to power 10 million American homes and cut millions in metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions.

With the State Pier project however others like the DRVN salt company and longshoremen say they were driven out by the Connecticut Port Authority.

We would like to have seen it done differently but were moving forward now with the use of this pier, said Mayor Passero.

With an green industry the mayor hopes will mean sustainable opportunities for decades to come.

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New London reacts to President Bidens plan to help offshore wind industry - WTNH.com

TechnipFMC and wave energy technology specialist, Bombora, have formed a strategic partnership to develop a floating wave and wind power project.

The partnership will initially focus on TechnipFMC and Bomboras InSPIRE project.

With engineering work initiated in November 2020, the partnership is developing a hybrid system utilizing Bomboras mWave technology.

The hybrid system demonstrator will deliver 6 MW of combined floating wind and wave power, followed by Series 1 and Series 2 commercial platforms which are expected to deliver 12 and 18 MW, respectively.

Jonathan Landes, President Subsea at TechnipFMC, said: Our core competencies and integration capabilities make us an ideal system architect and partner in developing renewable energy solutions alongside Bomboras experience and unique, patented mWave technology. We are delighted to work on a project that advances our commitment to the environment while contributing toward a more sustainable future.

The relationship is said to bring together TechnipFMCs technologies and experience delivering complex integrated Engineering, Procurement, Construction, and Installation projects offshore with Bomboras patented multi-megawatt mWave technology that converts wave energy into electricity.

Bombora is collaborating with TechnipFMC to accelerate development of our floating integrated mWaveTM platform solutions for commercial wind farms. With TechnipFMCs extensive track record of delivering large-scale projects to the energy sector and Bomboras innovative mWaveTM technology, we are confident InSPIRE will play a key role in the offshore energy sector, Sam Leighton, Bomboras Managing Director, said.

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TechnipFMC and Bombora Launch Floating Wave and Wind Project - Offshore WIND

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--In response to the Biden Administration's announcement today on offshore wind, Joris Veldhoven, treasurer and commercial director at Atlantic Shores Offshore Wind, a developer that has bid into the latest round of offshore wind solicitation in New Jersey, released the following statement:

This bold agenda to develop offshore wind in the United States will create tens of thousands of jobs and build a more robust green energy economy in this country. The investments in strengthening port infrastructure and the domestic supply chain will open communities across the coastal U.S. up to tremendous economic opportunity on the international stage. As a developer, we appreciate the advancement of critical permitting milestones for projects in New Jersey and beyond. Together, these priorities will accelerate offshore wind growth and its many economic benefits for coastal communities.

"New Jersey is particularly well-poised to seize this opportunity and meet the growing demand for labor thanks to the strength of its unions. Its why we are proud to be partnering with six local unions to train and hire the workforce that will build New Jerseys green infrastructure as part of our bid submission. We look forward to working with elected officials at every level of government, in New Jersey and in Washington, to help realize this vision.

About Atlantic Shores Offshore Wind, LLC:

Atlantic Shores Offshore Wind, LLC is a 50/50 partnership between Shell New Energies US LLC and EDF Renewables North America. The joint venture formed in December 2018 to co-develop a 183,353 acre Lease Area located approximately 10-20 miles off the New Jersey coast between Atlantic City and Barnegat Light. Atlantic Shores is strategically positioned to meet the growing demands of renewable energy targets in New York, New Jersey and beyond, with strong and steady wind resources close to large population centers with associated electricity demand. Atlantic Shores, once fully developed, has the potential to generate over 3,000 MW (3 GW) in wind energy and power nearly 1.5 million homes. The capital and expertise needed to develop such a large area is significant. Together, Shell and EDF Renewables have the investment capability and industry experience to bring this project to scale safely, efficiently and cost effectively. For more info: http://www.atlanticshoreswind.com

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Atlantic Shores Offshore Wind Responds to Biden Administration Plan to Create Tens of Thousands of Green Jobs and Strengthen Renewable Infrastructure...

Austal USA rendering of steel facility at its Alabama shipyard. Austal USA Image

The Austal USA shipyard in Alabama that specializes in aluminum ship construction is officially on its way to also offering steel ships, breaking ground on a new facility on Friday meant to open up new business opportunities with the Navy and Coast Guard in the short term.

By April 2022, the yard will be transformed to have separate production lines and facilities for aluminum ships and steel ships the former continuing to build Spearhead-class expeditionary fast transport ships (EPFs), the company hopes, and the latter building the Offshore Patrol Cutter, the Light Amphibious Warship or eventually the Constellation-class frigate, Larry Ryder, the companys new vice president of business development and external affairs, told USNI News on Friday.

Weve been a great builder of aluminum ships; we want to become the Navys premier builder of these mid-sized steel ships going forward, Ryder said.

The companys module manufacturing facility will be split in half, with a wall dividing the steel side and aluminum side to keep components and tools in their proper areas. The yard will also build a paint and blast facility and a panel line but despite working with a new material, Ryder said the companys manufacturing processes, employee training and other qualities will carry through to the new business line.

We just want to continue to build ships for the Navy, and whatever the requirements are if they want aluminum ships, they want steel ships were going to be able to do both down here at the yard in Mobile. I think were making a pretty significant investment in the company and in expanding our capabilities going forward, and thats our intent. Weve continued to grow throughout our history, and this is just the latest step in that evolution of our capabilities, Ryder said.

USNS Burlington (T-EPF-10)roll-out on Feb. 28, 2018, at the Austal USA yard in Mobile, Ala. Austal photo

Austal USA received $50 million last year as part of the COVID-19 pandemic economic recovery measure, in an effort to stimulate the local economy with jobs at the yard and in the construction companies that will be building the new facilities. Austal USA matched that investment, for a total of $100 million going towards bringing another steel shipbuilding capability to the Gulf Coast. Ryder said some employees will be trained to work on steel ships, and some new personnel will be hired to bring new skillsets to the yard to support the new work.

Our focus in the near term is on the Navys light amphibious warship program, LAW, and the Coast Gards offshore patrol cutter, OPC. We think both of those programs are really in the sweet spot of the size of ship that our yard is optimized for, Ryder said of the kind of work they hope to tackle first.So were driving hard to have this project complete and to be competing for those two programs. And down the road, as youre well aware, we werent successful in our bid for the frigate, but our plan is to be the Navys follow yard when they compete that program for the frigate design. So well be ready to build the Fincantieri steel monohull frigate down here in the next few years when the Navy goes forward with that plan.

Ryder said those three ships represent not just the size ship Austal USA is optimized for, but the complexity in terms of the modules that would be built.

Whereas the DDG is a little too big for us, the frigate and the OPC and the LAW fall into the footprint of what we can handle down here and what were best at producing, he said.

The OPC is being competed now. The LAW program has six companies working with Naval Sea Systems Command on initial design concepts, with the Navy and Marine Corps hoping to compete the program next year and buy the first vessel in late FY 2022, USNI News has previously reported.

Light Amphibious Warship concept.

For Austal, it would be important for the yard to win one of those programs to avoid any disruptions to the workforce. The yard currently builds EPFs and Littoral Combat Ships for the Navy the Navy has ended LCS acquisition and moved on to the frigate in Fiscal Year 2020, but Austal still has four LCSs in various phases of construction and two final ships on contract before the production line ends.

On the EPF side, the yard was supposed to get funding for EPF-15 in the FY 2020 budget, but that ship was taken out of the budget. It was included in FY 2021, so thats helped stabilize us. Were looking forward the 30-year plan included six EPFs, two in FY 22, so were expecting to see that in the budget. So the award of those two EPFs would really help stabilize the workforce and production of the aluminum ships and serve as a bridge as we complete the steel capital investment and compete for those programs. So, were going to have a little bit of a valley here that were trying to stabilize, and then well start growing with the award of some steel ships.

The timeline of being done next April and the whole schedules built around that is focused on the fact that the Coast Guards offshore patrol program is in competition now. We are bidding on that, and I think this investment were making is intended to show the Coast Guard that were serious. Its over $100 million in investment being made to be a steel shipbuilder, premiere steel shipbuilder, so thats the Coast Guard. And same with the Navy, that light amphibius warship program is moving along itll come in behind timeline-wise, its a little after the OPC so well be ready.

On the aluminum ship side, the company is eyeing several opportunities to leverage the EPF program going forward including using it as the entry point to building medical-focused ships and autonomous ships.

The EPF program started out as a 10-ship program and has continued to grow as the fleet finds more and more uses for it moving people and logistics around locally, in line with its original intra-theater lift mission, as well as serving as an LCS tender in U.S. 4th Fleet and a command ship in U.S. 7th Fleet.

Beginning with EPF-14, Austal is moving to a Flight II EPF design with an enhanced medical capability that includes a medical ward with resuscitative care capability and a limited Intensive Care Unit (ICU) capability. This design change is not meant to dictate what role the ship would play or take away from other missions it wouldnt have to just work as an ambulance ship; it would still have the same ability to be an LCS tender, for example but it could be leveraged by fleet commanders if there were casualties after combat or a natural disaster.

An artists conception of Eastern Shipbuildings Offshore Patrol Cutter design.

Still, the focus on medical services and the Navys need for distributed medical capability around the globe has led Austal to pitch a new hospital ship design to the service. It would be a catamaran designed from the keel up to have all the capability of the aging USNS Mercy (T-AH-19) and USNS Comfort (T-AH-20), with somewhat less capacity but it would be easier to operate and maintain and could sail much faster, Ryder said. As the Navy looks at a more distributed footprint across the globe in the future, with smaller groups of sailors and Marines scattered among islands or in small ship formations, Austal is hoping to continue its talks with the Navy about what this hospital ship design could bring to the force.

Whats certain to be included in the future fleet is unmanned surface vessels. Ryder said the EPF was built with significant hull, mechanical and electrical (HM&E) autonomy to allow for a smaller crew and would therefore be a good starting point for a Large USV design. He said it could accommodate any of the missions the Navy has kicked around for LUSV, including unmanned logistics delivery or even offensive strike if the design was modified to include vertical launching system cells.

Congress added funding in FY 2021 to turn an EPF already in the production line into an LUSV prototype for fleet testing. Ryder said Austal is working with the Navy now to accomplish that and get the vessel to the fleet for experimentation with a craft that would be much larger than the Sea Hunter Medium USV that the fleet has the most familiarity with.

Though Ryder said EPF makes for a great testbed for LUSV experimentation, our focus is designing the ships from the keel up to be unmanned or optionally manned, however the Navy defines its requirements, and optimizing what we know best, which is the hull, the HM&E portion of that, the HM&E controls, and plugging that into the the autonomy mission software, navigation software provided by others.

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Austal USA Expanding to Make Steel Ships; Yard Looks to Bid on Coast Guard Offshore Patrol Cutter, Navy Light Amphib Programs - USNI News - USNI News

Last Updated on Sunday, 4 April 2021, 8:43 by Denis Chabrol

Labour Minister Joseph Hamilton addressing the launch of Occupational Safety and Health Month 2021 outside his ministry, Upper Brickdam, Georgetown.

Minister of Labour, Joseph Hamilton said the inspection of offshore oil production and exploration facilities could start by year end after Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) inspectors receive specialised training and new related laws are passed.

What will guide me is the lifespan of the training. I would say by the end of the year, we should be in a position to have officers go out and do offshore inspections, he said in an exclusive interview with News-Talk Radio Guyana 103.1 FM/ Demerara Waves Online News.

Mr. Hamilton said that currently officials are examining the costs to train senior inspectors about safety specifically in the hydrocarbon sector. We are looking at the dollars and cents matter because we have several proposals from different places, he said. The Labour Minister said the arrangements and decision on whether to access training from Mexican or Trinidadian companies would decided would be made within one month.

He said ExxonMobil, the American Chamber of Commerce- Guyana and other industry stakeholders were being engaged in revamping Guyanas OSH legislation and eventually the draft laws would be published and stakeholders would be engaged. He hoped that the consultative process would be concluded in time for the Bills to be tabled in the National Assembly before the third quarter (July- September).

We have to do in OSH special legislation for Oil and Gas industry. That is the instruction that I have from the highest authority that we must be the primary place that is developing the necessary legislation, he said, adding that the International Labour Organisation (ILO) was willing to provide support.

After those consultations and feedback, he said the drafts would be sent to the Attorney Generals Chambers and eventually to Cabinet for approval before they are tabled in the National Assembly for eventual passage and assent.

General Secretary of the Guyana Bauxite and General Workers Union (GBGWU), Lincoln Lewis, reacting to the announcements by the Labour Minister that there would be stepped up enforcement of the existing and new OSH laws, said it was too early to conclude that the pronouncements were mere rhetoric. I would want to give him a chance and see the results from what he has said, Mr. Lewis told News-Talk Radio Guyana 103.1 FM/ Demerara Waves Online News.

Mr. Lewis welcomed the Labour Ministrys plans to strengthen and enforce OSH laws, saying that the labour movement has been pushing for such action over the years. These are things that are necessary. We have been advocating for those things. We have been advocating that even in the new economy where you have oil and gas, that our legislative agenda must include those areas and will have to be supported by the necessary support services, he said.

The Labour Ministry has since taken steps to increase the number of OSH inspectors from nine to 30 to police the entire country. Plans are also being rolled out to decentralise the OSH operations by opening up offices in the regions.

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Offshore occupational health and safety inspections possibly by year-end - Demerara Waves Online News Guyana