Monthly Archives: July 2017

Honourable Jonathan F. Mitchell - Mayor of the City of New Bedford, Massachusetts, USA

Taking office in January 2012, Jon Mitchell is New Bedfords thirty-eighth mayor. In November 2013, he was the first sitting New Bedford mayor since 1866 not to be opposed for reelection. He was re-elected again in November 2015 by a decisive margin.

Jon has sought to re-establish New Bedford as one of the leading cities in the Northeast. Since he took office, New Bedford has moved aggressively to reform its school system, to modernise the Port of New Bedford, to solidify the downtowns status as the cultural and economic centre of Southeastern Massachusetts, and to raise the quality of life of every neighbourhood. Under Jons leadership, New Bedford has emerged as a national leader in renewable energy, and has witnessed both its unemployment rate and its high school dropout rate plummet.

Jon attended Harvard College, where he funded his tuition with financial aid and by working in factories and warehouses back home during the summers. After graduating from Harvard with a degree in economics, Jon went to work in Washington, D.C., and remained there to attend law school at George Washington University. Upon graduation, Jon began work as a federal prosecutor in the United States Department of Justice, having been selected to the prestigious Attorney Generals Honor Program, one of only five attorneys out of over fifteen hundred applicants in the Departments Criminal Division

Jon served six years in the Army National Guard. He is married to Ann Partridge, a breast cancer doctor and researcher at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute, where she founded and directs the Institutes Program for Young Women with Breast Cancer. They are the proud parents of three daughters, Grace (14), Natalie (12) and Lauren (10).

In September 2016 the Massachusetts State Governor signed a Letter of Intent with DONG Energy, Deepwater Wind and OffshoreMW to lease the New Bedford Marine Commerce Terminal as a staging and deployment location for future wind projects. The agreement with the developers, who hold leases in the federally identified offshore wind energy development areas located 14 miles south of Marthas Vineyard, builds upon the Commonwealths commitment to a diverse energy portfolio and position as a national leader in offshore wind, and will strengthen the states clean energy economy.

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Offshore Wind Connections 2017 | National Conference ...

Photo BPs Deepwater Horizon drill rig exploding in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010. Credit Gerald Herbert/Associated Press

Seven years ago, a BP oil well blew out off Louisiana, causing the Deepwater Horizon drill rig to explode, killing 11 workers and releasing several million barrels of toxic crude oil into the Gulf of Mexico.

As co-chairmen of the bipartisan National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling, we investigated the causes of the disaster and examined the offshore drilling industry to identify ways to reduce the risks it poses to workers, the public and the environment. Although Congress has refused to enact any of the commissions safety recommendations, the Department of the Interior adopted many of them after extensive input from industry, government and the public.

President Trumps April 28 executive order on offshore energy threatens to abolish these safety improvements and, as he put it, start the process of opening offshore areas to energy exploration. He took a further step last week to expand oil and gas extraction in the environmentally sensitive outer continental shelf. The commission members are unanimous in their view that the actions proposed in the presidents executive order are unwise.

As Americans flock to the nations beaches this summer, it is important to understand what Mr. Trumps recent moves portend. Specifically, his executive order calls for the reconsideration of a critical safeguard that is the most important action the government has taken to reduce offshore drilling hazards. This safeguard, the well control rule, tightened controls on blowout preventers designed to stop explosions in undersea oil and gas wells. The rule was based in part on lessons the commission learned about the root cause of the BP disaster.

Had this common-sense rule been in place on April 20, 2010, that calamity might well have been averted. Weakening or rescinding this rule would increase the risks of offshore operations, put workers in harms way and imperil marine waters and coastlines.

Mr. Trumps order also directed the Interior Department to review current rules on offshore drilling. Opening more areas to exploration, as the Trump administration moved to do last week, could threaten the fragile Arctic Ocean off Alaska as well as environmentally sensitive reaches of the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico. A spill in any of those waters could threaten multibillion-dollar regional economies that depend on clean oceans and coastlines.

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Trump's Risky Offshore Oil Strategy - New York Times

The newly-introduced Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime has thrown the potters of Kumartuli, who craft the famed Durga idols, into a tizzy.

With two-and-a-half months to go for Durga Puja the potters are at a loss over the offshore delivery of fibre-based idols.

To countries like the US, some in Europe, we deliver fibre images. We tie up with transport agencies who ferry these idols via cargo ship. But after GST, there is an increase in service tax (18 per cent) and consequently the extra delivery charges will be forwarded to the customer offshore. This has created confusion in terms of logistics.

The idol delivery is usually in full swing at this time of the year, but this time round, it is slow till now, Babu Pal, spokesperson for the potters, told IANS.

He said around 60 fibre idols had been readied this year but only a few were delivered.

The rest are awaiting transport. Once the customers abroad are made aware of the hike, we hope, they will agree with the required payment, added Pal.

As for domestic demand of idols, Pal said there would be an impact on the orders placed by other states.

For the idols that will be transported to states like Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu, there will be an increase in the service tax and so the overall budget will increase. As for the demand in West Bengal, we think there will be no such effect, Pal added.

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GST hits Bengal's Kumartuli potters, offshore delivery of Durga idols affected - Hindustan Times

Simple tweaks to oilfield practice could provide the offshore industry with a more sustainable solution to environmental and commercial threats posed by harmful bacteria in subsea oil deposits, according to a University of Calgary researcher currently a visiting professor at Newcastle University in the U.K.

And study of heat-loving, or thermophilic, bacteria on the cold seafloor could help in offshore exploration, a theory soon to be tested of Canadas Atlantic coast.

The presence of thermophilic bacteria could be a tell-tale sign of the presence of oil reservoirs below. If so, mapping and tracking the distribution of such bacteria, which might have seeped out of the reservoirs, could be a valuable, environmentally less invasive tool for oil companies to use when seeking new reservesas well as helping to reduce the risk of unsuccessful drilling.

Our overall aim is to identify ways of making oil recovery more environmentally friendly. If we end up continuing to rely on fossil fuels for a few more years or decades then the imperative must be to meet our energy needs efficiently and with minimum impact on the environment, research lead Casey Hubert, an associate professor of biological sciences and Campus Alberta Innovates Program (CAIP) chair in geomicrobiology at the University of Calgary, said in a statement.

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Research funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) and led by Newcastle University is investigating various ways to tackle the problems linked to sulphate-reducing bacteria in offshore oil deposits.

Preventing souring

First evolving billions of years ago, sulphate-reducing bacteria thrive in oxygen-free, watery environments. With the ability to lie dormant for very long periods, sulphate-reducing bacteria breathe sulphates but exhale toxic, corrosive hydrogen sulphide (H2S) when they are activated.

The resulting reservoir souring increases the oils sulphur content and reduces its market value. Hydrogen sulphide is also highly toxic, posing a potentially deadly hazard to workers on offshore platforms, while its corrosiveness can damage pipelines and rigs, leading to oil leaks and spills.

Working with a range of private sector, public sector and academic partners from the U.K. and elsewhere, the Newcastle-led team is investigating a number of easy-to-implement, cost-cutting measures, such as adjusting the water temperature used during oil production, the university said in a statement.

As part of its work to understand how sulphate-reducing bacteria become activated in oil reservoirs, the team is investigating the widespread practice of pumping seawater into an oil reservoir to reduce temperatures and make extraction easier, but which poses problems from a reservoir souring perspective.

Seawater is rich in sulphates, which sulphate-reducing bacteria use for their metabolism, said Hubert. Our results suggest that warming the injected seawater, so that the temperatures in a hot reservoir drop down to say 70 degrees Celsius rather than 50 degrees Celsius, could prevent sulphate-reducing bacteria activity without significantly affecting the oil extraction process.

Industry has shown interest with additional funding secured from large supermajors in the oil and gas sector.

Bacterial markers

One method currently used to mitigate the impact of sulphate-reducing bacteria in oil reservoirs is to inject nitrates to stimulate the growth of another type of bacteria that out-compete sulphate-reducing bacteria for nutrients. The Newcastle-led team also see major potential here to improve current practice and make it greener.

Were working on ways to predict more accurately the nitrate dose that will be needed in any particular context, taking precise local conditions into account, said Hubert.

Adjusting the nitrate dose offers ways to better manage corrosion risks associated with reservoir souring and in some cases could cut costs if lower doses could be used. Our aim is to work with industry so that the nitrate souring control technique is understood thoroughly and sees widespread use.

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U of C researcher making offshore oil extraction greener, cheaper - JWN

7/4/2017

NEW DELHI -- ONGC Videsh has signed definitive binding agreements with Tullow Namibia Limited (Tullow), a wholly owned subsidiary of Tullow Oil plc, acquiring 30% participating interest in Namibia Petroleum Exploration License 0037 for Blocks 2112A, 2012B and 2113B and related agreements (license) out of Tullows existing participating interest of 65% in the license.

Pancontinental Namibia (Pty) Limited with 30% Participating interest and Paragon Oil and Gas (Pty) Limited with 5% participating interest are other partners in the license. Tullow is the operator of the license and shall continue to remain operator after acquisition by ONGC Videsh. The acquisition is subject to satisfaction of customary conditions precedents including approvals of Namibian regulatory authorities and joint venture partners.

The completion of the present transaction would mark ONGC Videsh entry in Namibian offshore and is consistent with its strategic objective of adding high impact exploration and production assets to its existing E&P portfolio.

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ONGC Videsh enters offshore Namibia with Tullow agreement - WorldOil (subscription)

Bluestream Offshore has signed a five year contract, plus two-year extension with ONEgas for subsea structural inspection service in the North Sea.

The contract covers 69 of ONEgass offshore platforms and subsea completions across the North Sea.

Aedrian Wickers, who is responsible for Business Development at Bluestream said: We are proud that ONEgas awarded Bluestream Offshore this subsea inspection contract for the ONEGas installations.

This is the biggest contract in the Bluestream history and we, together with our partner Vroon, look forward to cooperating closely with our client to make this project a success.

According to the company the work began immediately after the contract was signed in May this year.

This year, Bluestream will use the DP2 vessel VOS Sugar and the Compact Work Class Seaeye Cougar XT ROV to perform the inspections.

Each yearly campaign will last around 45 days and will be executed by a team of 20 people both ons hore and offshore.

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Bluestream Offshore wins subsea inspection contract - Energy Voice