Stories tagged with "production platforms"

Riders on the Storm: Stopping and Restarting Offshore Oil and Gas

Posted by JoulesBurn on September 8, 2008 - 8:15am
Topic: Supply/Production
Tags: gulf of mexico, hurricane dennis, hurricane gustav, hurricane ike, hurricane katrina, hurricanes, offshore, original, production platforms, thunder horse [list all tags]

It has been five days since Hurricane Gustav blew through town, and industry is still working to restore the flow of oil and gas from offshore production platforms in the Gulf of Mexico:

Meanwhile, about 47 percent of more than 700 stationary offshore platforms in the Gulf of Mexico remained evacuated Friday, according to the Minerals Management Service in New Orleans. The agency also said that 34 of 121 oil rigs remained unmanned.

Under the fold the latest from the industry on the LOOP, Port Fourchon, and other infrastructural concerns.

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We've gone Greek

Posted by Heading Out on October 22, 2005 - 5:35pm
Topic: Miscellaneous
Tags: drilling rigs, gulf of mexico, hurricanes, insurance, peak oil, production platforms [list all tags]

Tropical Storm Alpha has now been identified by the National Hurricane Center
..ALPHA BECOMES THE TWENTY-SECOND NAMED STORM OF THE SEASON AND
BREAKS THE ALL-TIME RECORD FOR THE MOST ACTIVE SEASON ON RECORD...
While neither Wilma nor Alpha currently threaten immediate oil production it is a concern that if this level of activity prevails, then we could be moving into a significantly more serious condition.  If more hurricanes can be anticipated and the National Geographic, in their Katrina Special Edition shows how much hurricane intensity has increased over the past decade, compared with the one preceding it, then putting valuable investments in harm's way is not the path to easy insurance.  We have already heard from folks in the industry that this problem is arising.  Simply put owners must prove, with an acceptable computer model, that the platform/rig can withstand a storm of a given intensity.

This may well change the pattern of drilling in the GOMEX, and possibly elsewhere where hurricanes or typhoons can be anticipated.  It will therefore  act to delay production as this exercise is completed, and when needed structures are strengthened. So, first the insurance industry has to identify where it expects storms and at what intensity in what areas, and then the production industry has to prove that their structures can withstand those storms.  

I knew there was a reason why we were graduating all those lawyers.  Now if only we were graduating enough engineers to give credibility to all those models (grin).

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Is this post rigged, or some information on oil platforms.

Posted by Heading Out on October 2, 2005 - 3:23pm
Topic: Supply/Production
Tags: drilling rigs, hurricane katrina, peak oil, production platforms, sakhalin, tech talk [list all tags]

I noticed, over the past week, that there is some increasingly technical talk about the various ways that we get oil out from underwater in the Gulf of Mexico. And while I suspect that most of those who comment on this site are vary familiar with all the terms, some of the more general readership may not be. Since this is going to be a fairly hot topic in the near term, as the impact (spelled out in earlier posts and comments) spreads from the oilfields to the refineries and then up the pipelines to the local distributors and gas stations let me therefore explain just a bit about some of the different words that are being used here - with reference, where I can find them - to pictures of the different types of structures that are being used. And if I miss some, please chip in either to ask or answer. This is replacing a chat I was going to have about Horizontal Drilling, but that will be along at some time in the future. Earlier technical posts are listed at the end of this one (with a comment on the levee question).
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