US & Gulf of Mexico Oil & Gas Pipeline & Transportation News

Foster Wheeler Upstream (FWLT:NASDAQ GS) has won a contract from Discovery Gas Transmission for design engineering and technical services for a junction platform, facilities, and associated pipelines within Discovery’s South Timbalier 283 Gulf of Mexico system.

McDermott International, Inc. says it has signed a 10-year frame agreement with Helix Subsea Construction, Inc. for spool base services in the Gulf of Mexico.

Williams Partners and DCP Midstream Partners plan to expand the Discovery natural gas gathering pipeline in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico.

Enterprise Products Partners L.P. and Genesis Energy have executed crude oil transportation agreements with a consortium of six Gulf of Mexico producers.

TDW Offshore Services L.L.C. has successfully completed a pipeline pressure isolation operation in the Gulf of Mexico for a major operator.

The 2010 Macondo oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico led to a number of investigations, reactions, and conclusions about the future of the US oil and gas industry, particularly regarding safety standards. In light of this, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management Regulations and Enforcement (BOEMRE) created new regulations with the aim of enhancing safety standards.

Statoil is selling a 24.1% direct and indirect stake in the Gassled pipelines joint venture to SolveiG Gas Norway for NOK 17.35 billion ($3.2 billion).

A new hydrate remediation system from Wright’s Well Control Services (WWCS) recently cleared a hydrate-blocked pipeline in the Gulf of Mexico (GoM) in 7,200 ft (about 2,100 m) of water. According to Wright’s President David C. Wright, the WWCS skid provides previously unavailable functionality, as it does not depend on hydraulic energy from an ROV.

McDermott says that it has been awarded a contract by Pemex Exploración y Producción for procurement, construction and installation of three oil and gas pipelines in Mexico’s Bay of Campeche.

The SureFlex report, published in 2010 by Oil & Gas UK is being used to encourage the international oil and gas industry to make better use of flexible pipe in subsea and floating oil and gas developments.

The effects of the new Safety and Environmental Management System (SEMS) requirements for oil and gas companies operating in the OCS are just beginning to be felt. To get an inside view on just what these requirements include and how they will impact current and future operations in the Gulf of Mexico and other US waters, we talked with Kenneth G. Hurwitz of Haynes and Boone, LLP, Washington, D.C.

Historically, new technology has been the life blood of the oil and gas industry, the ingredient that leads to lower costs, greater productivity, and new reserves. That is the case even more today than ever, as witness the boom in shale oil and gas drilling in the US because of the technology developed there. Some notable new drilling and production technology has made the scene in recent weeks, and it bears further discussion.

Enterprise Products Partners L.P., LLOG Exploration Co. LLC and LLOG Deepwater Development Co. have executed interconnect and transportation agreements for natural gas production from four blocks in the Mississippi Canyon area of the Gulf of Mexico. 

Foster Wheeler says it has been awarded a detail design contract by Enbridge Offshore Facilities, LLC for the deepwater oil and gas pipelines that will be located in the Walker Ridge area of the Gulf of Mexico.

Amberjack Pipeline Co. LLC has awarded JP Kenny the detail design contract for an oil export pipeline at Jack/St. Malo in deepwater Gulf of Mexico.

Pemex Exploración y Producción has awarded installation of a 20-in subsea pipeline in Abkatun field to Cal Dive International.

Research results over the past decade, including drilling and coring, experimental studies, and numerical simulations, are clarifying the resource potential of gas hydrates. Key to recent advances is the recognition that gas hydrate is not something exotic, requiring fundamentally new technologies. Instead, gas hydrate is best thought of as the shallow extension of existing deepwater petroleum systems, fully amenable to exploration and potential production using the same tools and concepts as traditional hydrocarbon resources. The conduct of the impending field sampling and production tests will be the next major step in the evaluation of this potential resource.

The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation, and Enforcement (BOEMRE) has called for comments on Shell Offshore Inc.’s Environmental Assessment for the first Exploration Plan seeking permission to drill in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico since Macondo.

Enbridge Offshore Facilities LLC has awarded a contract to Technip for development of a gas gathering system in the Walker Ridge area of the Gulf of Mexico.

Amberjack Pipeline Co. LLC has awarded Saipem a $700-million contract to provide the Walker Ridge export pipeline within the development work surrounding the Jack and St. Malo fields in the Gulf of Mexico.

Amberjack Pipeline Co LLC has approval to install a 136-mi (219-km), 24-in (61 cm) crude oil pipeline from Jack and St. Malo in the Gulf of Mexico to a platform in Green Canyon block 19.

Amberjack Pipeline Co LLC has approval to install a 136-mi (219-km), 24-in (61 cm) crude oil pipeline from Jack and St. Malo in the Gulf of Mexico to a platform in Green Canyon block 19.

The Caspian Pipeline Consortium unanimously approved the $5.4-billion expansion of the line, according to Chevron Corp

Operators need to ensure that oil and gas reservoirs operate at the very peak of potential. The successful and economic flow of hydrocarbons has never been more important. At the same time, operators face increased threats to flow assurance from hydrates – crystals that form in high-pressure and low-temperature flows where water and natural gas are present.