The Gulf of Mexico dilemma

David Paganie • Houston

There are slightly more mobile offshore drilling units currently in the Gulf of Mexico than there were a year or so ago, just before the fatal Macondo explosion and oil spill that caused an almost complete shutdown of GoM drilling.

At the time of this writing, the total Gulf rig fleet numbered 125 units of all types, according to figures supplied by ODS-Petrodata. This compares with 123 such units a year ago. This minor increase exists despite seven deepwater and five shallow water rigs having left the area during the federal government-ordered drilling moratorium of May-October 2010.

The trouble is,Contributing Editor Jay Schempf explains, only a few of the deepwater rigs in the Gulf are actually working. Most are on standby, awaiting federal government approval of drilling permits for the rigs’ employers.

Schempf reviews the status of permitting in the GoM, beginning onpage 32.

Mexico’s offshore potential

Mexico’s oil industry is approaching a critical juncture, according toPeter Kiernan and Roger Knight, Infield Systems Ltd. The long-cherished ideal of public ownership of the country’s hydrocarbon reserves is being challenged by declining oil production, rising domestic energy consumption, and greater dependence on energy imports. Furthermore, the oil and gas sector has endured under-investment in exploration and development, which is attributable partly to the use of Pemex’s oil and gas operations as a source of revenue generation for the Mexican state.

In an effort to turn the corner, the Mexican government is inching toward allowing a certain degree of foreign participation in upstream oil and gas activities, and Pemex plans to drastically boost investment in exploration and production throughout this decade.

Pemex is eyeing deepwater hydrocarbon resources on Mexico’s unexplored side of the GoM; although any Mexican deepwater development, once discovered, would remain several years away from production and likely will require both foreign participation and technological expertise.

Don’t miss Infield Systems’ complete production forecast and analysis of the Mexican sector of the GoM, beginning onpage 38.

OTC debuts new technology

Contractors, vendors, service, and supply companies introduced a range of new products and technologies at the 2011 Offshore Technology Conference held at the Reliant Park in Houston in early May.

The new technologies have been designed to help oil and gas companies operating in offshore regions boost oil and gas reserves, increase recovery rates, and locate new fields.

A number of these new technologies and services received OTC Spotlight Awards, in recognition of unique properties or designs, or potential benefits to the industry.

Offshore’s Managing Editor Bruce Beaubouefreviews the new technologies that were on display, beginning on page 42.

Topside requirements for direct electric heating systems

Direct electric heating systems (DEH) are a relatively novel technology, and there are currently over 150 km (about 93 mi) of pipelines installed or under design that are using this technology. The DEH system is predominantly beneficial for deepwater and isolated flowline offshore production systems, where it is often difficult to use established and conventional methods for flow assurance, wax, hydrate or plug removal, explainsRajan Batra, Chevron International Exploration & Production. Topsides electrical power is generally fed to the flowline via the DEH piggyback cable.

Batra, in his special report forOffshore, reviews the different topside considerations for the DEH system design. The full report begins on page 60.

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