Trump to Boost LNG Exports, Oil Drilling from Day 1
Donald Trump's transition team is putting together a wide-ranging energy package to roll out within days of his taking office that would approve export permits for new liquefied natural gas (LNG) projects and increase oil drilling off the U.S. coast and on federal lands, according to two sources familiar with the plans.The energy checklist largely reflects promises Trump made on the campaign trail, but the plan to roll out the list as early as day one ensures that oil and gas production will rank alongside immigration as a pillar of Trump's early agenda.Trump…
Netherlands to Enlist Private Firms to Protect North Sea Assets from Russian Sabotage
The Netherlands plans to temporarily enlist additional personnel and equipment from private companies to strengthen security in its part of the North Sea, the Defence Ministry said on Wednesday, confirming media reports.The decision follows reports last year from Dutch military intelligence agency MIVD that Dutch North Sea infrastructure, such as gas pipes and windmills, is the target of Russian sabotage activities.
Poland Calls Nord Stream Attack Insinuations 'Groundless'
Suggestions that Ukrainian authorities supported by Poland were behind planning and executing the sabotage attack on Nord Stream gas pipelines in 2022 are groundless, the Polish president's aide said on Sunday.Germany's former intelligence chief August Hanning told Die Welt this week he believed there were agreements between presidents of Poland and Ukraine to carry out the attack."These are completely groundless insinuations," Mieszko Pawlak, head of the international policy bureau at the office of President Andrzej Duda said when asked about the allegations by Polsat broadcaster…
Trans Mountain Pipeline to load 22 Tankers in Vancouver
Twenty-two oil tankers are scheduled to load this month in Vancouver with crude from the expanded Trans Mountain pipeline, which is running around 80% full with a "little bit" of spot capacity also being used, a Trans Mountain executive said on Wednesday.Speaking with Reuters six weeks after the C$34.2 billion ($24.94 billion) project started commercial operations, Trans Mountain Corp's chief financial and strategy officer Mark Maki said so far the system is operating as expected and final costs for the expansion are not expected to rise significantly.The Trans Mountain expansion…
DOF’s Pipelay Support Vessel Hooks Petrobras Job
Norwegian offshore vessel operator DOF Group has secured a ‘major contract’ from Petrobras for its pipelay support vessel (PLSV) Skandi Vitória.DOF secured a three-year firm contract, plus option, for its PLSV Skandi Vitória as part of an ongoing tender process.The contract starts in 2025, according to DOF.The vessel is Brazilian-built and flagged and owned by DOFCON Navegação, a joint venture between DOF Subsea (50%) and TechnipFMC (50%).kandi Vitória is an ROV construction support vessel…
Estonia Says China Has Not Responded to Subsea Cables Probe Request
Estonia's state prosecutor said China has not responded to a six-month-old request for help with an investigation into a Chinese ship which Estonia suspects cut two of its subsea telecoms cables.The two cables connecting Estonia to Finland and Sweden were damaged on Oct 7-8, and an Estonia-Finland gas pipeline was broken the same night, hurting energy security and raising alarm bells in the wider region.Both Estonia, which is investigating the cables damage, and Finland, which is looking into the Balticconnector gas pipeline…
Sapura Energy Lands $1.8B Petrobras Deal for Six Pipelaying Vessels and Subsea Services
Malaysia-based offshore services firm Sapura Energy has through its joint venture companies secured $1.8 billion worth of contracts with Brazil’s state-owned energy giant Petrobras for the provision of subsea services and six pipe-laying support vessels (PLSVs).Sapura Energy has through the joint ventures owned by Seabras Sapura Holding and Seabras Sapura Participações, in collaboration with Paratus Energy Services, secured contracts for its full fleet of six multi-purpose PLSVs as part of a competitive tender process run by Petrobras.Sapura Energy…
Allseas Makes Progress on Santos’ Barossa Gas Export Pipeline in Australia
Offshore installation contractor Allseas has made progress on the installation of the pipeline for Santos’ Barossa Gas Export Pipeline (GEP) project offshore Australia.Allseas’ Audacia pipelay vessel has installed her largest ever PLET in S-mode, concluding several years of in-house engineering, fabrication and testing, the Swiss-based contractor said.Due to the weight of the pipeline end termination structure, Allseas’ production crew had to install it separately to the connector head.Audacia vessels is being supported with four other vessels - Fortitude…
MDL Assists Saipem on Gastrade’s LNG Development Off Greece
Maritime Developments (MDL) has assisted Saipem in progressing an LNG project offshore Greece, which included work on the connection of Gastrade’s Alexandroupolis floating storage regasification unit (FSRU) to the country’s gas transmission system.The project consisted of a FSRU and a mooring and pipeline system, connecting the floating unit to the Greek National Natural Gas Transmission System (NNGTS).An MDL flex-lay spread was used for the installation of two flexible risers…
Saipem Gets Offshore Pipelines Installation Job for CCS Schemes in UK
Saipem has signed a letter of intent for the development of CO2 offshore transportation and storage facilities as part of the Northern Endurance Partnership (NEP) and Net Zero Teesside Power (NZTP) projects for the East Coast Cluster in the UK.Saipem signed a Letter of Intent, received by the Northern Endurance Partnership (NEP), a joint venture between the operator BP, Equinor, and TotalEnergies, and Net Zero Teesside Power (NZT Power), a joint venture between BP and Equinor.The…
Nord Stream Sues Insurers in London Over 2022 Pipeline Blasts
Nord Stream is seeking more than 400 million euros ($436 million) from its insurers over explosions in 2022 which ruptured pipelines designed to transport Russian gas to Germany, court filings show.Nord Stream AG names Lloyd's Insurance Company and Arch Insurance (EU) DAC as defendants in its lawsuit, which was filed at London's High Court last month.Switzerland-based Nord Stream confirmed in an email there is a contractual dispute in London commercial courts between itself and insurers of the pipeline system."However…
No Remaining Recoverable Oil Sheen Seen off California
The U.S.
Sweden Ends Nord Stream Sabotage Probe
Sweden on Wednesday dropped its investigation into the explosions in 2022 on Nord Stream pipelines carrying Russian gas to Germany, saying it lacked jurisdiction in the case but had handed evidence it had uncovered over to German investigators.The multi-billion-dollar Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines transporting gas under the Baltic Sea were ruptured by a series of blasts in the Swedish and Danish economic zones in September 2022, releasing vast amounts of methane into the air.Russia and the West…
NTSB Recommends Pipeline Operators Implement Safety Management Systems
The U.S. National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is recommending new notification alarms and procedures for potential incursions on pipelines and a change to an anchorage off the California coast following a crude oil release in 2021 caused by ship anchors damaging an underwater pipeline.NTSB investigators determined that the oil leak, which began on October 1, 2021, in San Pedro Bay, resulted from an anchor strike on the pipeline that occurred eight months earlier, when anchors…
US Coast Guard Responds to Another GoM Oil Spill
The U.S. Coast Guard said on Wednesday it was responding to an oil discharge near the Main Pass Oil Gathering (MPOG) Co's pipeline system in the Gulf of Mexico, while the main pipeline and several surrounding ones remained shut in."The reported sheen is being investigated and has not been confirmed to be associated with the November 16 observed initial discharge," the Coast Guard said.The Coast Guard had not yet identified any damage or indication of a leak after surveying the entire length of the pipeline along with 22.16 miles (36 km) of surrounding pipelines.
Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill Shuts in Around 3% of Daily Output
Around 61,165 barrels of daily oil output from at least six producers, making up about 3% of crude oil production in the Gulf of Mexico, has been shut in by Third Coast Infrastructure's underwater pipeline leak, the U.S. Coast Guard said on Wednesday.The oil producers whose facilities are impacted include W&T Energy, Occidental Petroleum, Walter Oil and Gas, Cantium, Arena Offshore and Talos Energy Ventures, the Coast Guard said, citing the U.S. Interior Department's Bureau of…
Finland-Estonia Gas Pipeline System to Get Bigger Capacity after Repair
The Balticconnector gas pipeline between Finland and Estonia, which was damaged last month, will get a bigger northbound transmission capacity next year following repairs, Finnish operator Gasgrid said in a statement on Wednesday.The increase will come from an enhancement of the Latvia-Lithuania interconnection, which allows for higher gas volumes to be transported around the Finnish-Baltic region, it added.The pipeline will in the future get a base capacity of 70.5 gigawatt hours of gas per day in the direction from Estonia to Finland…
1 Million+ Gallons: Pipeline Leaking Oil in the Gulf of Mexico
The U.S. Coast Guard on Monday said it was still looking for the source of a leak from an underwater pipeline off the Louisiana coast in the Gulf of Mexico that it estimated had released more than a million gallons of crude oil.The 67-mile long pipeline was closed by Main Pass Oil Gathering Co (MPOG) on Thursday morning, after crude oil was spotted around 19 miles offshore of the Mississippi River Delta, near Plaquemines Parish, southeast of New Orleans."Overflight teams observed visible oil Friday moving southwest away from the Louisiana shore…
Energy Transfer, TotalEnergies Pen Deal for Crude Oil Offtake from Blue Marlin Offshore Port
Energy Transfer LP has entered into a non-binding Heads of Agreement (HOA) with TotalEnergies related to term crude oil offtake from its proposed Blue Marlin Offshore Port for 4 million barrels per month. The HOA is subject to the negotiation and execution of definitive agreements and the satisfaction of other conditions, including Energy Transfer taking a final investment decision on the project, expected to be developed in the Gulf of Mexico, offshore Cameron Parish, Louisiana…
Court Battle Between Santos and Traditional Owners Continues
Santos has issued a statement after the decision of the Federal Court of Australia on November 15 ruling that pipelay activities can commence on an 86-kilometer section of pipeline for the Barossa Gas Export Pipeline (GEP) – but not south of kilometre point 86 (KP86).This southern section would pass to the west of the Tiwi Islands.The Court has set December 4, 2023 as the date of commencement of the hearing of application brought by Jikilaruwu traditional owner Simon Munkara and…
Finland Says China Promised Full Cooperation in Pipeline Probe
Finland on Wednesday said China had promised to fully cooperate in the investigation of the destruction last month of the Balticconnector gas pipeline, which happened on the same night that three subsea telecoms cables in the area were also damaged.Finnish police have said they are investigating whether a Hong Kong registered container vessel, the NewNew Polar Bear, damaged the pipeline by dragging its anchor over the sea bed, but have not concluded whether this was an accident…
Russia Says Telecoms Cable Damaged Last month Just Before Nearby Baltic Gas Pipeline
A Russian fibre optic cable under the Baltic Sea was damaged last month only 28 km (17 miles) from where a gas pipeline linking Finland and Estonia was damaged soon afterwards, Russian state company Rostelecom said on Tuesday.Finnish police believe damage to the Balticconnector gas pipeline was caused by a Chinese container ship dragging its anchor along the seabed but have not concluded whether this was an accident or a deliberate act.Security of sub-sea cables and pipelines in the Baltic has become a top concern against the background of the Ukraine war…
Second Gas Cargo Heads to Finland's LNG Terminal After Pipeline Rupture
A tanker carrying Norwegian liquefied natural gas (LNG) is set to arrive at Finland's Inkoo terminal overnight, vessel tracking data showed on Friday, making it the second cargo since the Oct. 8 outage of a Finnish-Estonian gas pipeline.The Arctic Princess, carrying natural gas from the Arctic Hammerfest LNG plant, signaled its arrival at Inkoo on Friday at 2300 GMT, LSEG shipping data showed, corresponding to Saturday morning at 0100 EET in local time.The tanker loaded in Norway on Sept. 17 but sat off the Danish coast since Sept.