The US Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement issued revised offshore blowout preventer (BOP) and well control regulations on May 2. The changes remove unnecessary regulatory burdens while maintaining safety and environmental protections, US Department of the Interior officials said. Source: News
Orphan-well load cited in firm’s failure
A small Calgary natural gas producer is ceasing operation, saying a January decision by the Canadian Supreme Court on responsibility for orphan wells aggravated its financial problems. Source: News
DOE issues approvals for Tellurian, Sempra LNG export projects
The US Department of Energy issued approvals on May 2 for Tellurian Inc.’s proposed Driftwood facility in Calcasieu Parish, La., and Sempra Energy’s planned installation at Port Arthur, Tex., to export LNG to countries that do not have a free trade agreement with the US. Source: News
Tellurian launches open seasons for HGAP, DCPL gas lines
Tellurian has launched separate binding open seasons to secure shippers on two proposed pipelines that will connect areas of constrained shale production and debottleneck natural gas pipeline infrastructure, further enabling the rapidly growing industrial market in southwestern Louisiana. Source: News
Implement pipeline safety reforms sooner, House panel tells PHMSA
US House Energy and Commerce Committee leaders strongly criticized the US Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration for not implementing more congressional mandates in the 2011 and 2016 federal pipeline safety authorizations as a subcommittee held a hearing on May 1 to begin preparing a replacement. Source: News
PSAC again trims Canadian drilling outlook
The outlook for oil and gas drilling in Canada continues to darken. The Petroleum Services Association of Canada again has lowered its forecast for 2019 drilling—to 5,300 wells drilled from 6,600 in the original forecast published last November. Source: News
Chevron closes deal for Petrobras’s Pasadena refinery, assets
Chevron USA has completed its purchase from Petrobras America of all outstanding shares and equity interests of Pasadena Refining System Inc., which includes the refinery in Pasadena, Tex., and PRSI Trading LLC for $350 million, excluding working capital. Source: News
Qatar Petroleum lets rig contracts for North field expansion project
Qatar Petroleum has let contracts for eight offshore jack up drilling rigs expected to be mobilized and ready for its North Field expansion project starting in January 2020. Source: News
Equinor to decommission Statfjord A platform
Equinor announced May 2 plans to shut production at the Statfjord A platform in the North Sea, one of the oldest platforms on the Norwegian continental shelf. Statfjord A went on stream in 1979 and had been scheduled for shutdown in 1999, but it has since received numerous upgrades. Source: News
Report: Pipeline constraints to moderate Canadian oil sands production growth
The cost of building and operating oil sands projects has fallen in recent years and total oil production is expected to rise by another 1 million b/d by 2030, but external factors—such as price uncertainty caused by pipeline constraints—are contributing to a more moderate pace of production growth than in years past, according to IHS […]