The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) Jan. 3 issued seven safety recommendations, six of them classified as urgent, based on its investigation of the Sept. 9, 2010, natural gas pipeline explosion in San Bruno, Calif., which killed eight people and destroyed more than 30 homes.
Two important facts will shape offshore safety regulation after the Macondo tragedy of April 2010: US regulation will change, and offshore work conducted under different types of regulation appears, by some metrics, to be safer.
The new BroadSeis system acquires low and high frequencies simultaneously using Sercel Sentinel solid streamers with a variable depth profile (patent pending).
On Jan. 12, the benchmark February crude contract increased 0.8% to a 2-year high of $91.86/bbl on the New York Mercantile Exchange, while in London, North Sea Brent crude came within $2 of $100/bbl oil, which hadn't been seen since October 2008.
Unless continuing investigations of the Macondo well accident and spill uncover significant new information, Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Resources, and Enforcement Director Michael R. Bromwich does not expect to issue additional emergency rules, he said.
The National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling found several immediate causes contributed to the Macondo well blowout on Apr. 20, 2010, although its Jan. 11 report concluded that the root cause was a failure of management by the three main companies involved in drilling the well: BP PLC, the well's operator; Halliburton Co., which provided cementing services; and Transocean Ltd., the rig's owner and operator.
US crude oil and product pipelines continued to increase their share of total US petroleum transportation in 2008, the Association of Oil Pipe Lines said on Jan. 4 in its latest annual report.
Newfield Exploration Co. expressed encouragement at its initial assessment of its Eagle Ford shale in the Maverick basin of southwest Texas and said that with continued success it will sharply hike investment in this year's second half.
Rosneft and BP PLC have agreed to form a strategic global alliance that includes a stock swap, an Arctic offshore exploration joint venture and research effort, and a refining partnership.
The underexplored Miocene Monterey formation is easily the largest shale oil play in the US with more than 3 billion bbl proved so far, said Timothy Marquez, chairman and chief executive officer, Venoco Inc., Denver.
