Daily Archives: July 25, 2017

HOUSTON (Reuters) - The Louisiana Offshore Oil Port (LOOP), the largest privately owned crude terminal in the United States, is pursuing contracts to export crude from its U.S. Gulf Coast facility, the company said on Monday.

Until now, LOOP has taken imported oil at the facility and the new services would be its first for exports. The services could be available by early 2018, LOOP said.

The facility would have capacity to load Very Large Crude Carriers (VLCCs), the largest oil tankers, which can ship some 2 million barrels of oil.

The new service would provide connectivity from LOOP's Clovelly Hub in Louisiana to its deepwater port 17 miles (27 km) offshore in Port Fourchon, Louisiana.

To make the facility export capable, LOOP would utilize its existing configuration with minor modifications, the company said.

The United States lifted its ban on exporting domestic oil in December 2015, sparking a surge of exports from terminals along the U.S. Gulf Coast.

Occidental Petroleum Corp's Ingleside Energy Center near Corpus Christi this year became the first facility along the U.S. Gulf Coast to receive a VLCC.

Reporting by Liz Hampton; Editing by James Dalgleish and Lisa Shumaker

Read more from the original source:

Louisiana Offshore Oil Port seeks to export crude by early 2018 - Reuters

The North Carolina governor's office -- once the leading force behind the push to open the Southeast coast to offshore oil and gas exploration and drilling -- has reversed course under new leadership and amid dramatic political shifts on the issue.

Gov. Roy Cooper (D) held a press conference this week on a barrier island along the Crystal Coast, a popular North Carolina tourist spot, to announce that his Department of Environmental Quality would submit formal comments to the Trump administration opposing permits allowing seismic testing for offshore oil and gas reserves. The deadline for comments was recently extended to July 21.

"It's clear that opening North Carolina's coast to oil and gas exploration and drilling would bring unacceptable risks to our economy, our environment, and our coastal communities -- and for little potential gain," Cooper said in his statement, pointing to concerns about a political climate focused on deregulation. "As governor, I'm here to speak out and take action against it. I can sum it up in four words: not off our coast."

Cooper was joined at the event at Fort Macon State Park's visitor center by coastal business owners and community leaders -- part of a groundswell of local opposition to offshore oil and gas development.

The Carolinas and Virginia had been targeted for offshore drilling in a proposal considered and rejected by the Obama administration, but the Trump administration wants to reopen the matter and is now considering permits for seismic testing in an area stretching from Delaware to Florida. The practice involves the intensive use of extremely loud airguns and can injure marine life and harm fisheries.

To date, 127 East Coast municipalities -- 32 in North Carolina alone -- have passed resolutions opposing Atlantic testing and/or drilling because of the environmental and economic risks to a region reliant on tourism and fishing. Also taking public stances against it are 14 U.S. senators led by Bill Nelson (D) of Florida and over 100 U.S. representatives from both major parties, including Republican lawmakers Walter Jones of North Carolina, Mark Sanford of South Carolina and Ron DeSantis, Bill Posey and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen of Florida.

Atlantic drilling is also widely opposed by coastal business interests. More than 41,000 businesses and over a half-million commercial fishing families recently sent a letter to Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke that called offshore oil and gas activities "fundamentally at odds with our coastal economies and our way of life."

Shifting Politics

Cooper's July 20 announcement marks a 180-degree policy turn on offshore drilling for the North Carolina executive branch. The position of a governor is one of the primary factors the Interior Department considers in deciding whether to allow energy development off a state's coast.

"Presidents have long recognized that states' interests matter in whether coasts should be opened to risky offshore drilling," said Sierra Weaver of the Southern Environmental Law Center, which opposes offshore drilling and seismic testing. "North Carolina has spoken. It's time for Washington to listen."

Cooper's predecessor, Republican Pat McCrory, was a key leader in the effort to open the Atlantic to oil and gas interests in his role as chair of the Outer Continental Shelf Governors Coalition. A secretive group with close industry ties, the coalition was founded in the aftermath of the 2010 BP disaster to lobby the federal government to revive and expand offshore drilling. In McCrory it got a former Duke Energy executive and spokesperson for Americans for Prosperity, the conservative advocacy group founded by the Koch oil and gas barons.

At the time McCrory became chair of the coalition in 2014, it included two other governors of Southeastern states -- Nikki Haley (R) of South Carolina and Terry McAuliffe (D) of Virginia. But McCrory lost last year to Cooper, the former attorney general and state lawmaker who was endorsed by the N.C. League of Conservation Voters for his record on environmental and public health issues.

Meanwhile, President Trump appointed Haley to serve as his ambassador to the United Nations. Her successor, Henry McMaster (R), opposed Atlantic drilling as lieutenant governor and came out against seismic testing last month while speaking to the regional Chamber of Commerce in Beaufort, South Carolina. The mayor and council of that historic city and tourist center passed a resolution against seismic testing and offshore drilling in 2015.

That leaves McAuliffe as the lone Southeastern coastal representative in the Governors Coalition, whose other current members are the Gulf states' Kay Ivey of Alabama, Phil Bryant of Mississippi and Greg Abbott of Texas, all Republicans, along with Alaska's Bill Walker, an independent. The group's chair, Republican Paul LePage of Maine, is its only other East Coast governor besides McAuliffe, who has said he "never had a problem" with seismic testing but would support drilling off Virginia's coast only if the federal government shared royalties with the state. McAuliffe's office did not respond to Facing South's request for comment.

In Virginia, the political pressure to block offshore development has not been as strong in as in the Carolinas. Of the 127 municipalities that have passed resolutions against it, only five are in Virginia. But even there, momentum continues to build: Last week, the Norfolk city council unanimously passed a resolution opposing both offshore drilling and seismic testing, citing its potential disruption of marine life and threats to fisheries and protective wetlands. A month earlier, the Virginia Beach city council also voted to oppose offshore drilling, almost two years after it originally voted to take a neutral stance on the issue.

"Our tourism numbers have gone north in the last eight years," Virginia Beach Mayor Will Sessoms said. "I would say that I don't want to risk that."

Continued here:

On Offshore Drilling, Virginia's Governor Now Stands Alone in the Southeast - Truth-Out

Offshore wind is all the rage right now, competing without subsidies and floating into deeper waters with new foundation designs.

For all its promise, however, offshore wind remains mostly a European affair, with WindEurope data showing more than 12.6 gigawatts of capacity installed across 81 projects in 10 countries at the end of 2016. The picture is beginning to change, however.

Nations from Australia to India are reported to be harboring offshore wind plans. Denmark's MAKE Consulting, a wind consulting group owned by GTM's parent company, expects more than 10 gigawatts of yearly offshore wind projects around the world by 2026.

Between 2017 and 2026, Asia will be nearly tied with Europe in new offshore wind capacity development, according to MAKE.

Feng Zhao, a Copenhagen-based senior director at FTI Consulting, agrees that Asia is the place to look for new activity that can rival Europe.

Here are his choices for the top five emerging markets in offshore wind.

As with onshore, China is quietly racing ahead in offshore wind deployment. The country had installed more than 1.6 gigawatts of offshore capacity at the end of 2016 and should end up with around 900 megawatts more by the end of the year.

Next year, it is due to pass 1 gigawatt of installations per year as part of a five-year plan to have 5 gigawatts grid-connected by 2020, plus another 10 gigawatts under construction.

Between 2017 and 2026, China is on target to install 13 gigawatts, bringing its total capacity to nearly 10 times todays level. In the medium term, said Zhao, Its the only market that can compete with the U.K. and Germany in terms of market size.

Its not an easy one for foreign vendors to crack, though, with the lions share of projects going to Chinese original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) such as Goldwind.

Taiwans offshore aspirations made headlines this year when the country declared a target of 3 gigawatts of capacity to be built by 2025.

The level is paltry compared to what is happening in neighboring China, but for leading OEMs, the big attraction is that Taiwan is an open market with no incumbent players to dominate when it comes to winning contracts. FTI Consulting estimates that growth in the market will ramp up slowly.

Today there are only two offshore turbines operating in the country, and two projects totaling 320 megawatts are due to be in place by 2020. FTI Consulting forecasts close to 2.6 gigawatts, less than the government target, to be completed by 2026.

Beyond that, it remains to be seen if the country will achieve an ambitious 2030 target of 4 gigawatts, which is a third higher than the original plan set out by Taiwans Ministry of Economic Affairs in 2013.

Much has been said about Japans offshore wind ambitions. But the reality on the ground (or rather, in the sea) is well below what might have been expected from a country that has been pursuing offshore wind since 2010.

Only 61 megawatts of capacity had been installed by the end of 2016, and for the next two years, we dont expect any utility-scale offshore wind projects to [come] on-line, said Zhao.

However, following am update to the country's Port and Harbor Law which opens previously restricted port areas to offshore wind, two projects have won auctions.

One is a 229-megawatt near-shore plant being built by utility company Kyuden Mirai at Hibikinada, and the other is a 93.6-megawatt project that has been picked up by a consortium including Hitachi Windpower after being dropped by Marubeni Corporation in January.

A further 1.3 gigawatts of projects are waiting to go through environmental impact assessments. But in Japan, gaining environmental permits takes four years, Zhao said.

We forecast 1.3 gigawatts to be built in the next 10 years, despite nearly 2.5 gigawatts currently under planning.

For all its industrial might and maritime muscle, South Korea has so far only mustered a couple of offshore wind prototypes and a single demonstration project, totaling 35 megawatts.

Only one plant, 96.8 megawatts on a tidal flat in Saemangeum, is expected to be built in the next two years.

However, the market is worthy of attention. Last month, South Korea announced a move away from coal and nuclear power. This should boost renewables, including offshore wind.

It is technically possible to bring 1 gigawatt on-line between 2017 and 2026, following the new president's political commitment on the country's transition to renewables, said Zhao.

The U.S. certainly has an emerging offshore wind market, but it's unclear how promising it is. Last year saw 30 megawatts installed -- Americas first offshore wind project.

But no offshore wind turbines are expected to be installed this year, and only two Department of Energy-sponsored projects, totaling 32.7 megawatts, and one 12-megawatt test project, are likely to be built before 2020.

Construction of utility-scale projects is not expected to begin until around 2021 or 2022. And although the U.S. could be adding up to 800 megawatts of capacity per year by 2025 or 2026, a lot of things could change that outlook in the meantime.

Read the original here:

The Top 5 Emerging Markets for Offshore Wind - Greentech Media

Not a pretty picture. Clean up workers place shovels of oil-laden sand in bags while a larger group of workers begin clean up operations at Refugio State Beach, site of an oil spill, north of Goleta, Calif., Wednesday, May 20, 2015. Due to spills like these, many Californians are concerned about the potential impact of increased offshore drilling. (AP Photo/Michael A. Mariant)

Legislators, watermen and women, surf industry moguls, and environmental advocates across the state of California are increasingly concerned that the Trump Administrations plan to dismantle protections against offshore drilling seriously threatens the states coast. The oil industry has reportedly spent $122 million since 2011 to influence policy in California. In an effort to unify and ramp up opposition efforts, the Blue Business Council, a project of the California Coastkeeper Alliance, recently hosted a call-in briefing, organized by Coastkeeper Alliance executive director Sara Aminzadeh, wherein members of the Surf Industry Manufacturers Association, Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermans Associations, and the Outdoor Industry Association could hear from Ocean Foundation Senior Fellow Richard Charter, U.S. Congressman Jared Huffman (D) and California State Senator Hannah-Beth Jackson (D) about legislative efforts to protect the coast.

Charter, who was integral in efforts to protect the California coast during the Carter administration, shared background knowledge on Trumps executive order, important strategies to combat it, and key reasons why the ocean requires our attention.

Invoking his inner Marlon Brando, Charter suggested that given oil companies sole focus on their bottom lines, presenting them with an offer they cant refuse might be the only way to satiate them. In other words, present them with a more lucrative choice than drilling off the California coast.

In his day, said Charter, the Irvine Company successfully thwarted natural gas and oil tycoons from Orange County by arguing that the development of the coast for housing would be more lucrative than drilling offshore. Of course, many environmental activists still see this as exploitative of the coast.

While small, the surf industry has the ability to make a bigger impact,said Charter. For example, the paddle out for Jack ONeill in Santa Cruz was an event that drew a significant amount of press. A similar display of watermen and women united, paddling for what they believe in would likely have a huge impact, said Charter.

Images in the public mind are stimulating and remind people how much they love the ocean, Charter said. Memories of those experiences are motivators for the general public that now is confronted with an assault on the environment from all directions.

Congressman Huffman encouraged grassroots action through the formation of alliances, staying vocal and engaged, and also expressed the importance of the legislative fight as many victories have too often required litigation.

Congress and the American people need to know that Californians will not stand for offshore drilling and other threats to our coast, said Huffman.

California State Senator Hannah-Beth Jackson explained that shes proposed several bills in the Legislature to keep would-be offshore drilling at bay. These bills are as follows:

SB188:Stops the State Lands Commission from issuing new leases for oil drilling across state waters.

The bill is key not only to signaling to the Trump Administration that California will not accept any new oil drilling, but will raise the cost of new development to make the oil industry think twice with following through with its efforts, Jackson said.

SB44:Dedicate state funds, which are collected from the oil and gas industry, to the cleaning and remediating of beaches and coastlines that have been affected by oil wells.

SB465:This bill ensures DOGGR (Department of Oil, Gas and Geothermal Resources) is effectively regulating the efforts of the oil and gas industry. It will require scientific experts to be involved in the committee that has been previously dominated by oil and gas interest groups. This committee advises DOGGR on its activities that include environmental justice and air and water quality.

The briefing serves as further proof that Californians are galvanized to stand up for the coast and do what they can to protect it.

Continue reading here:

CA Legislators, Activists, and Businesses Are Fighting to Protect the Coast from Offshore Drilling - TheInertia.com

The Standard Club Offshore Advisory Committee draws members from a number of well known offshore operators

The Standard Club is launching a Standard Club Offshore Advisory Committee (SCOAC).

The SCOAC aims to analyse offshore trends, assist the club in further understanding and disseminating industry best-practice and develop new strategies to provide a focused direction for the clubs offshore membership.

The committee consists of leading offshore players including Allseas Group, Bumi Armada, Floatel International, Nortrans Offshore, Saipem, SBM Offshore and Subsea 7 all members of The Standard Club.

The members of the committee are senior figures in the offshore industry with extensive experience and knowledge allowing them to provide invaluable insight to the committee which will be shared with the wider membership.

SCOAC will review the current issues and emerging challenges affecting key sectors in the offshore industry including production, drilling, accommodation, constructions/installation, support/supply and other specialist operations.

The focus is on ensuring that the clubs response is the most appropriate and supportive for its members given the current challenging market. SCOAC will also consider the implications of new regulations coming into force, offshore contracting trends and other topical subjects affecting the offshore industry.

The Standard Clubs board fully supports this initiative, recognising not only the importance of cultivating collaboration between offshore members but also in continuing to be innovative and create a formal platform in which industry issues can be discussed to further support its members.

James Bean, managing director, Standard Europe said: Through its broad range of covers and diverse membership supported by high limits of cover, the club is well positioned to launch an Offshore Advisory Committee bringing together leaders in this sector to work collaboratively on industry issues affecting our members.

Our committee members are established figures in the offshore world and being able to call upon their considerable expertise is invaluable. I would like to thank them for the enthusiasm with which they have greeted this initiative and to Claire Bromley from Subsea7 for kindly accepting the committees nomination to take on the role of chair.

Claire Bromley, head of insurance, Subsea 7 SA chairman, said: SCOAC reinforces The Standard Clubs commitment to understanding and appreciating the evolving needs of its members and in looking for ways in which to further support these. As chairman I am looking forward to working together with the rest of the committee to ensure SCOAC is a success.

The Standard Club Offshore Advisory Committee includes: Claire Bromley, head of insurance, Subsea 7 SA chairman; Jonathan Cassidy, group risk manager and insurance director, SBM Offshore; Suchitra Narayanan, general manager, risk & insurance, Bumi Armada Berhad; Johann Preller, insurance lead, Allseas Group; Bertrand Valentin, offshore E&C and drilling insurance manager, Saipem Group; Trond Kyrkjeboe, chief executive, Nortrans Offshore Pte Ltd.

Read the original post:

Advisory committee will review offshore issues and challenges - OSJ Magazine

The Netherlands is the biggest conduit to offshore tax havens in the world, with almost a quarter of fiscal constructions having a Dutch link, according to researchers at a specialist unit at the University of Amsterdam.

Only five big countries act as conduit-OFCs, the researchers from Corpnet said in a new report. Together these five conduits channel 47% of corporate offshore investment from tax havens, according to the data we analysed.

The two biggest conduits by far are the Netherlands (23%) and the United Kingdom (14%), followed by Switzerland (6%), Singapore (2%) and Ireland (1%).

The researchers set out to identify countries or jurisdictions that play a role in corporate ownership chains incommensuratewith the size of their domestic economies.

Our results show that offshore finance is not the exclusive business of exotic small islands far away. Countries such as the Netherlands and the United Kingdom play a crucial yet previously hidden role asconduitsof offshore finance on its way to tax havens, the rsearchers said.

Networks

They analysed the global network of ownership relationships, with information about over 98 million firms, differentiating between 24 sink-OFCs which attract and retain foreign capital such as the British Virgin Islands and the Cayman Islands and five conduit-OFCs like the Netherlands.

Although most of the tax havens were as to be expected, Taiwan was a surprise entrant on the list, the researchers said.

We find a clear geographical specialisation in the offshore financial network, the report said. The Netherlands is the conduit between European companies and Luxembourg. The United Kingdom is the conduit between European countries and former members of the British Empire, such as Hong Kong, Jersey, Guernsey or Bermuda.

The researchers hope their findings will enable regulators working to end tax evasion target the policy to the sectors and territories where the offshore activity concentrates. While efforts usually focus on small exotic islands, we showed that the main sinks of corporate ownership chains are highly developed countries which have signed numerous tax treaty agreements, the report said.

View original post here:

The Netherlands is world's biggest conduit to offshore tax havens: research - DutchNews.nl

July 25th, 2017 Jason Jiang Americas, Offshore 0 comments

Australian oil and gas company Otto Energy has announced that W&T Offshore, the operator of South Timbalier 224 (ST 224) lease in the Gulf Of Mexico, has contracted Enterprise Offshore Drillings Enterprise 264 jackup rig for drilling works in the prospect. The well is expected to commence drilling in Q4.

Otto announced in July that it had farmed in to the ST 224 lease with a 25% working interest.

We are excited to confirm Enterprise Offshores 264 jackup rig has been contracted by W&T Offshore to drill the compelling ST 224 gas/condensate prospect in Q4 2017. With SM 71, ST 224 and Bivouac Peak, Otto has a pipeline of compelling Gulf of Mexico Shelf exploration and development projects to pursue through 2017 and 2018 in line with our strategy, said Ottos managing director Matthew Allen.

Enterprise Offshore Drilling, which was formed in January this year, now operates a fleet of 10 rigs acquired from Hercules Offshore.

Jason Jiang

Jason worked for a number of logistics firms following his English degree, then switched this hands-on experience to writing and has since become one the most prolific writers on the diverse China logistics industry writing for a host of titles including Supply Chain Asia, Cargo Facts and Air Cargo Week. Jasons access to the biggest shippers with business in China has proved an invaluable source of exclusives.

Go here to read the rest:

Enterprise Offshore secures jackup contract from W&T Offshore ... - Splash 247