Posts Tagged ‘Oil Exploration’

By RYAN TRACY

WASHINGTON—The U.S. approved a Royal Dutch Shell PLC plan to drill for oil in five locations deep under the Gulf of Mexico.

The Shell proposal is the second deep-water exploration plan approved in the Gulf since the U.S. government lifted a moratorium on deep-water drilling in October. The moratorium was imposed following the BP PLC oil spill in April 2010. At least six other deep-water plans are pending for the Gulf.

Companies apply for permits to drill after receiving approval for an exploration plan.

The Shell plan approved Wednesday, for the so-called Appomattox discovery, includes five wells in about 7,200 feet of water roughly 72 miles, or 116 kilometers, off the Louisiana coast. Shell runs the Appomattox venture and holds an 80% stake. Nexen Inc. holds the remaining 20%.

U.S. regulators assessed the plan and determined it met new safety standards instituted after the Gulf oil spill last year. The drilling “would not have a significant impact on the quality of the human environment,” according to a press release from the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation, and Enforcement.

Marvin Odum, president of Shell’s U.S. subsidiary, said the company was “pleased” with the news.

Environmental groups have signaled they would challenge the government in court if it determined the Shell plan would have no significant impact.

Michael Bromwich, head of the ocean energy bureau, defended the decision and the new safety standards. “The standards are higher than they used to be,and further support our goal of ensuring that deep-water exploration is done more safely and with greater protections for the environment than ever before” he said in the bureau’s press release.

“After decades of responsible offshore drilling operations in environments around the globe, this approval is further evidence of Shell’s expertise and confidence in offshore drilling and should be strongly considered as Shell moves forward with additional exploration in both the Gulf of Mexico and Alaska,” Mr. Odum said through a spokeswoman. The ocean energy bureau also said it would no longer issue news releases announcing its approval of offshore exploration plans, calling the approvals “standard.”

The agency hadn’t sent such announcements before the Gulf oil spill.

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Guest Author: Author Bio :This article has been written by Amy Lewis. She is associated with Oak View Law Group, a bankruptcy law firm. She writes on a wide range of financial topics like debt, credit card debt settlement, debt management, debt consolidation, bankruptcy etc.

May 11, 2011

By Amy Lewis

With the price of oil soaring high, more and more people are getting inclined to invest in oil and gas exploration. However, if you are a timid investor and not willing to take any risk, it is not your cup of tea. Enthusiastic and aggressive people who have enough knowledge of the field should try their hands in investing in oil or gas well or in oil operation. Read on to know a few factors you must look out and watch out for when you are considering to invest in this field.

Successful oil companies never give an advertisement for an investor; they usually have prolonged tie ups with a line of loyal investors with deep pockets.

However, the fly by night companies in the business usually seek investors. As a newbie on investing you can start with these companies and can get acquainted with the business circles and network of industry professionals. You never know, you might meet the most influential people of the industry at the gatherings in your church, social clubs or fraternal organizations and any other social hub.

The minimum investment you can settle with is around $30,000 which is a small share of the oil wells lifetime revenue. This is applied for a shallow well, which is almost 5000 feet in an area and the drilling is not so tough. Deeper exploratory wells are usually handled by big money investor territory and the minimum investment amount here is a hundred thousand or more.

Success in investing in a wildcat oil or gas well entirely depends if Lady Luck is in a good mood or not. As an investor your duty is to locate a company which will let you invest in a well that is being drilled near other productive wells or a company that has a sound seismic information. Buying latest, updated, specific 3D type seismic information is pretty expensive, therefore you must aim at finding a company which is well versed in this technology.

In case you find this business venture too risky, consider buying shares of a well established company which now operating or drilling in recently discovered areas. For example Chesapeake (CHK) has large holdings in the newly invented Barnett Shale and Marcellus Formations

If you are a smaller investor, investing in individual stocks must be a better choice for you. However if you like to stick oil and gas exploration investments consider taking help from an ETF (Exchange traded Fund) consisting of several oil and gas exploration companies. If you want expert suggestions, in this regard you can consult investment teams like Invesco or Powershares as well.

BPZ Resources Inc. and a unit of Royal Dutch Shell PLC agreed to end talks aimed at jointly exploring for oil and gas in Peru after oil prices slumped.

Hill, 47, joins Hess from Shell, where he has been Executive Vice President, Asia Pacific E&P, encompassing Malaysia, Brunei, Indonesia, the Philippines, China, Australia and New Zealand. He held numerous leadership positions during his 25-year career at Shell that included responsibilities for onshore production in parts of the United States and offshore production in Europe.

FAIRBANKS — The head of Shell Alaska said the oil giant might appeal a recent court ruling that has indefinitely delayed plans to drill exploratory wells in the Beaufort Sea during 2009.

International oil majors such asExxon Mobil Corp. and Royal Dutch Shell PLC are being squeezed out of the world’s main oil-producing areas by national oil companies.

Fatih Birol, chief economist at the IEA, said: “We hear almost every day about a project being postponed. This is a major problem.”

Democratic leaders had hoped to extend the drilling bans, but such a move would have risked drawing opposition from Republicans and the White House. President Bush has announced that he would allow the bans to expire at the end of September. Speaking to reporters on Friday, Marvin Odum, the head of Royal Dutch Shell PLC’s U.S. operations, acknowledged that “it is a possibility that [the ban] comes right back on.”

The Shell-operated Perdido Spar has arrived in the deepwaters of the Gulf of Mexico. Perdido will be the deepest oil development in the world, the deepest drilling and production platform in the world and have the deepest subsea well in the world.

Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama said Friday he would be willing to support limited additional offshore oil drilling if that’s what it takes to enact a comprehensive policy to foster fuel-efficient autos and develop alternate energy sources.