Usa News

Operational risk management company ABSG Consulting Inc. and marine offshore and engineering consultancy Global Maritime announced their alliance to support the U.S. offshore wind sector. Global Maritime's U.S. subsidiary, American Global Maritime Inc., and ABS Consulting will offer a service that supports the offshore wind life-cycle from concept design through decommissioning."We are thrilled to be working in collaboration with Global Maritime and employing their extensive track…

Salvors have started removing fuel from the tanks of a lift boat that capsized in the Gulf of Mexico last month, the U.S. Coast Guard said.The 234-foot Seacor Power could have been carrying up to 35,000 gallons of fuel, lube oil, hydraulic and waste oil when it overturned in rough weather on April 13, about eight miles south of Port Fourchon, La., according to the Coast Guard. No spills have been reported.Salvage crews arrived at the wreck site over the weekend and began lightering operations on Monday using a method called hot tapping…

The U.S. Coast Guard is working with the Seacor Power's owner to salvage the lift boat that capsized earlier this month in the Gulf of Mexico.A unified command including representatives from the Coast Guard and Houston-based Seacor Marine engaged in-person for the salvage and wreck removal, including the removal of fuel and oil from the overturned vessel, the Coast Guard said on Tuesday.The 234-foot Seacor Power capsized in heavy seas and winds approximately 8 miles south of Port Fourchon, La., on April 13.

The Netherlands-based crane and heavy machinery manufacturer Huisman has introduced a motion compensated platform engineered for the transfer of wind turbine components from a feeder vessel offshore.The platform, which actively counterbalances the effects of vessel motions to provide a stable deck area, can be used aboard a feeder vessel for transporting components in U.S. waters since the use of internationally flagged wind turbine Installation vessels (WTIV) is restricted under the Jones Act.

Offshore wind (OSW) energy is a new focus for the U.S. under President Biden, who highlighted it in his January 27, 2021 Executive Order on climate. Since then, there have been several new supporting developments:Rulings by the Customs and Border Patrol (CBP);Announcement that workers in Alabama and West Virginia are supplying 10,000 tons of domestic steel for use at a Texas shipyard where Dominion Energy is building the nation’s first Jones Act compliant wind turbine installation vessel;U.S.

Rhode Island-based owner and operator of crew transfer vessels (CTV) Atlantic Wind Transfers (AWT) has engaged classification society DNV for the company’s integrated Management System Certification as it seeks to scale up in the U.S. offshore wind industry. The company is working with DNV in pursuing international Safety Management Systems (SMS) certification and ISO 9001, ISO 14001, and ISO 45001 certification.As the U.S. offshore wind industry expands, the country's first Jones…

The U.S. Coast Guard said on Monday it will call off its search at sunset for the remaining eight crew members missing from the lift boat Seacor Power, which capsized in the Gulf of Mexico last week.The Coast Guard said its vessel and air crews worked with local agencies and good Samaritans to scour more than 9,200 square nautical miles of sea over the course of 175 cumulative hours after the 234-foot Seacor Power overturned in rough seas and hurricane force winds approximately 8 miles south of Port Fourchon, La., last Tuesday.

Divers recovered two unresponsive crewmembers from the overturned lift boat Seacor Power on Friday, bringing the death count to four with nine still missing after the vessel capsized in extreme weather conditions in the Gulf of Mexico on Tuesday.U.S. Coast Guard and other local responders have been scouring the area by sea and air since the 234-foot Seacor Power overturned in rough seas and hurricane force winds approximately 8 miles south of Port Fourchon, La. Six crew members were rescued, four have been pronounced dead and nine are still missing.

A second unresponsive person has been recovered from the water near a lift boat that capsized in the Gulf of Mexico, the U.S. Coast Guard said on Friday.A Coast Guard helicopter crew spotted the person in the water at 7:10 p.m. on Thursday while searching the area about 8 miles south of Port Fourchon, La. The crew of the Coast Guard Cutter Benjamin Daily, also in the area searching, recovered the unresponsive person and transported him to Coast Guard Station Grand Isle where a…

The U.S. Interior Department on Friday sought to erase the Trump administration's pro-fossil fuels legacy from the nation's public lands by revoking a suite of policies that boosted drilling and mining and ordering that climate change be put at the forefront in future agency decisions.The moves come as the Democratic Biden administration moves rapidly to implement policies aimed at decarbonizing the U.S. economy by 2050.Republican former President Donald Trump, a vocal climate change skeptic…

The White House on Wednesday nominated attorney Tommy Beaudreau, who oversaw energy development programs at the Interior department during the Obama administration, as the agency’s second in command.Beaudreau will return as deputy to Secretary Deb Haaland after serving nearly seven years there under former President Barack Obama, becoming the first person to lead the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, which oversees offshore oil and gas activity.He later served as chief of staff…

After what has seemed like the longest year ever, the offshore energy sector is emerging from a position of strength, from the standpoint of both economics and sustainability. Between the lockdowns implemented to reduce COVID-19, which reduced energy demand, to the oil price war between state-backed producers, 2020 was an unprecedented storm that hit the American offshore energy market. Now, there are unmistakable signs of a recovery, and policy makers in Washington, D.C. should embrace the opportunity before us to for sustained economic…

In Antony and Cleopatra, Shakespeare coined the phrase “salad days” to mean a youthful time filled with unbridled enthusiasm and idealism. Indeed, youth, much like salad, is often raw, flavorful and most of all… green. Therefore, it is fitting to think of our present time as the salad days of offshore energy in the United States. Let’s dig in.Executive Order appetizersOn January 27, President Biden took early steps to implement his campaign promise to transition the United States away from fossil fuels and invest in renewable energy…

U.S. offshore wind developer Vineyard Wind has contracted Belgium-based DEME for the offshore transport and installation of the wind turbine generators for the first largescale offshore wind installation in the United States.DEME's U.S. arm DEME Offshore US LLC will  team up with American maritime services contractor FOSS Maritime Company LLC to help construct the Vineyard Wind 1 project off the coast of Massachusetts. FOSS will provide the Jones Act compliant feeder vessels,…

I have a good friend named John Guste. He and his wife grew up in the same neighborhood as my wife, they all went to college together, and now our kids are friends. As a doctor, I’m sure he has little concern with the messy, yet mundane, intricacies of offshore energy and maritime policy. You can imagine my surprise then when one night while I was reading the Congressional Record from 1977—I’m a blast at parties—to see John’s grandfather testifying before the U.S. House of Representative’s Ad Hoc Select Committee on Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) issues.Mr.

On Monday, March 29, the White House announced a government-wide effort to advance offshore wind, including 30 gigawatts (GW) of offshore wind by 2030, 110GW of U.S. offshore wind by 2050 and the development of a sustainable local offshore wind supply chain.“The announcement formalizes the current situation and provides more confidence to developers and the supply chain,” said World Energy Reports' Philip Lewis. “Much of what is referred to in the statements is actually already currently under development.”Lewis…

Fourteen U.S. states including Louisiana and Wyoming filed suits on Wednesday against President Joe Biden's administration to challenge his pause on new oil and gas leasing on federal lands and waters.The legal actions, which seek to restore regular federal drilling auctions, come a day before the administration is set to launch a review of the oil and gas leasing program.Biden, a Democrat, in January signed an executive order putting on hold new leasing pending that review. During his election campaign…

Join speakers from ABB, Lloyd’s Register, Equinor and World Energy Reports as we explore why 2021 is the year for offshore wind in the United States.WHEN: Thursday,  March 25, 2021, 11 a.m. EDT (US).REGISTER NOW!From eight turbines for 42MW of capacity at the end of 2020, 2021 will be the year when northeast and mid-Atlantic offshore wind projects start to receive construction and operations clearance to deliver a pipeline of projects set to meet state procurement targets of 31GW by 2035.

New Jersey-based Northstar Marine announced Wednesday it is gearing up to support emerging offshore wind development projects in the Northeast U.S., having recently acquired a pair of specialized support vessels and formed a partnership with with Laredo Offshore Services, based in Belle Chasse, La.The marine services provider announced Wednesday it has acquired a 145-foot class liftboat, the Northstar Voyager, currently undergoing a refit and USCG recertification in the Gulf of Mexico ahead of its first project in the Northeast in mid-April of this year.

The U.S. Interior Department announced Tuesday it will launch its review of the federal oil and gas leasing program on March 25, a key step that will determine whether the Biden administration will permanently halt new leases on federal land and water.The review will kick off with a public forum on oil and gas leasing on federal land and water, with participants representing industry, environmental conservation and justice groups, labor and others, and commence an online comment…

The Interior Department completed its final environmental review of what would the first commercial scale U.S. offshore wind farm, it announced on Monday, clearing a key hurdle needed to permit the project off Massachusetts.The U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM)’s final environmental impact statement for the Vineyard Wind project, an 800-megawatt wind energy project will be published in the federal register by Friday, kicking off a final 30-day comment period before…

U.S. offshore wind crew transfer company Atlantic Wind Transfers (AWT) said its second Jones Act crew transfer vessel (CTV) Atlantic Endeavor was launched at the end of December.Designed by U.K. firm Chartwell Marine and built by Blount Boats in Warren, R.I., the new aluminum catamaran spent three days undergoing sea trials and U.S. Coast Guard inspections prior to deliver to Dominion Energy to support its two-turbine Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind Farm (CVOW) pilot project 27…

The Biden administration said on Wednesday it would restart permitting for the first major U.S. offshore wind farm, reversing a Trump administration decision that canceled the process late last year.The U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) said in a statement it would resume environmental review of the Vineyard Wind project as part of the administration's broad plan to speed renewable energy development on federal lands and waters."BOEM is committed to conducting a robust and timely review of the proposed project…