Equinor, SSE Win Contract for Largest Offshore Wind Project
Equinor and Britain's SSE have won a tender to build three wind farms off Britain, which the Norwegian firm said together will form the world's largest such development.Like other European oil firms, Equinor is developing its renewables business and is focused on offshore wind given its experience as an offshore oil platform operator."The successful bids for the world’s largest offshore wind development represent a game…
Offshore Wind Ready To Take Off in US
Up and down the East Coast, initiatives to develop a massive and largely untapped market can make sea change in American offshore wind, says the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA).IEEFA pointed out that the big lease sales ($405 million) last month in coastal waters off Massachusetts for three federally owned tracts that didn’t sell at an auction in 2015 signal a sea change in how U.S. offshore wind generation potential is now perceived.The winners of that auction…
Helicopter Crash Claims Four Lives off Angola
Four people died and two were missing after a helicopter crashed en route to a Chevron oil platform off the Angolan coast, the U.S. oil company said on Tuesday. The helicopter left Malongo port in Angola's Cabinda province on Monday at 1523 local time to make the short journey to the Tombua-Landana offshore oil platform but never arrived. "The helicopter did not reach its intended destination. It was carrying five passengers and one pilot…
Investigators Blame Norway Helicopter Crash on Gearbox Failure
The fatal crash of an Airbus helicopter in Norway in April was probably the result of metal fatigue in the aircraft's gearbox, the country's Accident Investigation Board (AIBN) said in a preliminary report on Tuesday, backing earlier findings. All 13 people on board were killed when the Super Puma's main rotor blades separated from the aircraft as it was ferrying passengers from a Norwegian offshore oil platform operated by Statoil.
Technip Signs $500 mln Libya Oil Platform Deal
French oil services company Technip signed on Tuesday a deal worth $500 million with a consortium that includes Libya's National Oil Company (NOC) and Italy's oil and gas major ENI to refurbish an offshore oil platform. Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault said the signing was crucial to show that foreign firms were starting to return to do business in a country hit by over five years of conflict. "This is for the Libyans and gives them a chance to increase production…
Fire Erupts on Petrobras Platform; Quickly Controlled
A fire broke out on Thursday on an offshore oil platform operated by Brazil's state-run oil company Petrobras in the Barracuda-Caratinga field in the Campos Basin northeast of Rio de Janeiro, the union representing platform workers said. The fire aboard the P-48 floating oil production, storage and offloading (FPSO) production vessel started at about 1 p.m. local time (1600 GMT) as the platform was being shut down and has since been put out, the union said on its website. Reporting by Jeb Blount
School Students Win Offshore Challenge Prize at UH
Today, a team of eight students from West Side High School in Houston emerged victorious from the first annual High School Offshore and Technology Stars Challenge, which was co-hosted by the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) and the Ocean Energy Safety Institute (OESI) at the University of Houston. Other participating schools include Energy Institute High School, Charles H. Milby High School and Young Women’s Preparatory Academy.
Workers Rescued from Oil Platform Fire in Caspian Sea
Forty two workers have been rescued from an offshore oil platform that caught fire in Azerbaijan's sector of the Caspian Sea, Azeri independent TV ANS said on Friday. Azeri state energy company SOCAR was not immediately available to comment. SOCAR said earlier that the fire started after a gas pipeline on the platform was damaged in heavy wind. It said the rescue attempt was being complicated by a heavy storm. One of the workers called a Reuters correspondent from the platform and said there were 84 people trapped.
Three Workers Missing in Offshore Platform Accident
Three workers are missing after an accident at an offshore oil platform in the Caspian Sea in Azerbaijan, Azeri state energy company SOCAR said on Friday. SOCAR said a small cabin, where workers were living, was washed into the sea from the platform during a heavy storm. "The accident did not affect the oil production process," the SOCAR spokesman, Nizameddin Guliyev, told reporters. He said that a search-and-rescue operation was underway.
Platform Operator to Pay Millions in Penalties
The offshore oil platform operator ATP Oil & Gas Corp. has agreed to pay more than $41 million in penalties to settle claims it made unauthorized discharges of oil and chemicals from a production platform in the Gulf of Mexico, the U.S. Justice Department said on Thursday. ATP is going through bankruptcy and is no longer operating. On Thursday the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas approved an agreement allowing an unsecured claim of $38 million for a judicial civil penalty judgment…
Deadly Fire on Pemex Oil Platform to Cost up to $780m
Losses associated with a deadly explosion on an offshore oil platform owned by Mexican state-run company Pemex will total as much as $780 million, a source close to the discussions said on Tuesday. The fire that engulfed the Abkatun A-Permanente platform on the southern rim of the Gulf of Mexico earlier this month killed four workers and provoked the evacuation of over 300 others as ships sought to douse the flames. Pemex…
US, ATP-IP Reach Settlement over Unauthorized Oil Discharges
Under a settlement agreement with the United States, ATP Infrastructure Partners, LP (ATP-IP) will pay a $1 million civil penalty and perform corrective measures to resolve claims by the U.S. under the Clean Water Act and the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (OCSLA) of unauthorized discharges of oil and chemicals from an oil platform into the Gulf of Mexico, announced the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Department of Justice…
Brazil's Petrobras resumes output from Campos Basin's P-20 rig
Petroleo Brasileiro SA resumed production on Monday from offshore oil platform P-20 in the Campos Basin, the state-run oil company known as Petrobras said in a securities filing. In December, a fire at the platform injured two workers and knocked it out of service. The rig's potential output is around 20,000 barrels of oil per day. Reporting by Anna Flavia Rochas; Brad Haynes
