TPT September 2012

Global Marketplace

Meanwhile, one platform’s reprieve is gratifying to scuba divers as well as environmentalists. “Some people say High Island is their favourite dive in the sanctuary, and it is an exhilarating experience,” said Mr Schmahl, of Flower Garden Banks. “The number of fish can be overwhelming. It’s like no other kind of diving.” Elsewhere in oil and gas . . . › New facilities at the huge Halfaya oil field in Iraq have started production in a development phase that will take output to 70,000 barrels per day (bpd). Subsequent phases are intended to raise production to a plateau rate of 535,000 bpd. As reported in Oil & Gas Journal (27 June), a group led by PetroChina has a 20-year service contract to develop the field, which was producing 3,100 bpd from four wells when the contract was signed in late 2009. The contract provides for cost recovery and remuneration of $1.40 per barrel (bbl) when production exceeds the initial 70,000 bpd. Former Iraqi Oil Minister Issam Al-Chalabi has estimated Halfaya reserves at 4.6 billion bbl; original oil in place, at 16 billion bbl. Paris-based Total E&P holds an 18.75 per cent interest in the consortium, in partnership with the national oil company of Malaysia, Petronas Carigali (also 18.75 per cent); the Iraqi national South Oil Co (25 per cent); and operator PetroChina (37.5 per cent).

So the friends of the platform have some breathing room. But the Interior Department’s Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement reports that 265 platforms were removed in 2011; and industry sources say that 150 or more of the 650 on the bureau’s list are scheduled for removal in 2012. › More broadly inclusive campaigns to save the new endangered species are under way. The Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council – which exercises federal control over fishery resources in a zone 9 to 200 miles off the Texas coast – is seeking recognition of offshore platforms as essential fish habitat. That designation could bring into play the Sustainable Fisheries Act, which prohibits removal of protected corals from federal waters. The governor of Texas and a state congressman have asked the Interior Department to reevaluate the removal rules, as has a coalition of seven recreational angling organisations, including the Coastal Conservation Association. The coalition is supporting legislation to require more thorough review of platform removal. › Ms Gaskill noted that Interior has legitimate concerns about the risk and expense of removing structures damaged or toppled by storms, as well as the potential for spills from old wells. Looking to the future, John Hoffman, the CEO of Black Elk Energy, an oil and gas company based in Houston, has founded a non-profit organisation, Save the Blue, to help insure and maintain platforms that are spared removal.

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October 23–27 2012 Exhibition Grounds, Hanover, Germany Hall 11 / Stand C 06

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September 2012