Total gas leak operation begins at Elgin North Sea platform

The energy company has started pumping mud into the well in an attempt to stop the leak

Reuters
guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 15 May 2012 12.04 BST

Total’s Elgin oil and gas platform. Photograph: Total/AP

The oil company Total started pumping heavy mud down its leaking well in the North Sea on Tuesday in an attempt to stop an escape of gas that has lasted nearly eight weeks and could deprive Britain of nearly 6% of its supply this summer.

“The well intervention operation got underway at 8:20am with the pumping of heavy mud into the well from the main support vessel,” the oil and gas major said in a statement.

The work, at the Elgin platform, 240 km off the coast of Scotland, is expected to last several days before engineers can determine whether the leak has been stopped, Total said.

The leak is costing the company around £1.8m a day in relief operations and lost net income.

The Department of Energy and Climate Change, which gave the go-ahead for the “well kill” work earlier this month, said it was monitoring the situation closely.

The company said last week the amount of gas leaking from the platform had shrunk to a quarter of the original quantity and that parallel work to drill a relief well continued.

In the meanwhile, a nearby gas field run by Royal Dutch Shell has had to be closed, initially as a precaution and now for maintenance. Other operations on smaller fields have also been affected.

The total loss in gas production from Elgin and nearby fields could cut British gas production by as much as 6% this summer, Britain’s energy network operator has warned.

Environmental impact from the leak appears to have been small, according to the Scottish government, with fish and water samples from just outside a two-mile exclusion zone around the platform have not shown any signs of hydrocarbon contamination.

Total has said it saw a possibility for production at Elgin to gradually restart later this year.

16 May, 2012

Why US Energy Policy cannot Rely on Natural Gas alone

Oil Price Daily News Update

Why US Energy Policy cannot Rely on Natural Gas alone

Posted: 15 May 2012 09:31 AM PDT

With natural gas prices at such low levels many people are attracted to focussing on natural gas to supply the majority of US energy, believing that the domestically produced product will protect them from global oil price fluctuations, and ensure energy security in the future. However focussing on one source of energy unbalances the US energy sector and puts the economy at risk in the long term.Energy policies must take a long term view and promote fuel diversity rather than choose a favourite energy technology to support. An energy strategy that…

Posted: 15 May 2012 08:43 AM PDT

Despite crude oil already trading on the world markets at a historically high level of $113 a barrel, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has been warned by its internal research team that in the next decade oil prices could climb to a permanent level double that which we are experiencing at the moment.The increase could have a dramatic effect on global trade of all kinds, as the report, entitled The Future of Oil: Geology v Technology, warns that the prices will be “uncharted territory for the world economy, which has never experienced…

Using Viruses to Create Electricity

Posted: 15 May 2012 08:40 AM PDT

Objects with piezoelectric properties can convert mechanical energy into electrical energy, meaning that electricity can be cleanly produced just by thought movement. Scientists have been trying to find a way to use this phenomenon to create large amounts of electricity for decades, but most materials that can be used to create piezoelectric devices are highly toxic, somewhat limiting their widespread use.Scientists at the US Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory have developed a method to create electricity via a piezoelectric…

Posted: 15 May 2012 08:39 AM PDT

Mexico produces a large volume of greenhouse gases, and suffers from severe air pollution in its large cities, some of which, such as Mexico City, have the worst air particle pollution in North America.In an effort to reduce the countries carbon emissions Mexico is looking to invest more to develop its renewable energy sector. At the beginning of 2012 President Calderón signed the Mexican Global Climate Change Program. The progam pledged $70 million over five years as part of an agreement to cooperate with the US on stimulating the…

Posted: 14 May 2012 08:49 PM PDT

Already the largest oil exporter in the world, state-owned Saudi Aramco plans to significantly expand refining capacity and for the first time ever to venture into oil trading, which could render it the world’s largest integrated energy company; but mounting security threats pose a serious challenge to these ambitious goals. Aramco Trading, which opened in January, plans to move 1.5 million barrels per day in physical oil and gas, paper, futures and derivatives trading. The move coincides with Aramco’s goal of doubling its refining…

Posted: 14 May 2012 08:43 PM PDT

To hear Carlos Pascual, the U.S. State Department’s special envoy on international energy tell it, “The United States values Canada as its most important energy partner. There has never been a doubt about that. It is true now and it will continue to be true in the future.” A year ago at the Gas & Oil Expo and Conference North America 2011 the U.S. Ambassador to Canada, David Jacobson, told his audience, “The United States and Canada have the closest energy relationship in the world. And the U.S. sees Canada as a…

Libya: A Real World Syriana

Posted: 14 May 2012 08:38 PM PDT

A curtain is slowly getting drawn back on the death of Shokri Ghanem, the former head of the Libyan oil industry found floating in the Danube River last month. Rumors have surfaced that Ghanem was perhaps speaking with former rebels curious about what he might’ve known about deals with foreign entities that made the Gadhafi family rich from the country’s oil reserves. While nothing is certain, talks of a global energy mafia and investigations into the various dealings of energy companies working in Libya certainly make, at the very least, a compelling…

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15 May, 2012

A Look at the Major Forces Shaping our Future

Posted: 13 May 2012 06:42 AM PDT

While waiting to see how the Iranian nuclear confrontation and the various Eurozone crises sort themselves out, there is time to step back and look at the interaction of the major forces that will shape our future. While the problems of oil depletion are already upon us, shrinking resources are only a part of global dynamics currently. There are at least six major forces moving civilization in the world today: 1) population growth: 2) economic growth; 3) political stability; 4) technological innovation; and more recently 5) resource depletion and…

Posted: 13 May 2012 06:40 AM PDT

Not flex fuel – dual fuel. Flex fuel is a system that can use similar fuels in the same system such as pure gasoline to 85% ethanol. Dual fuel will use two different fuels that will feed two systems. Sounds expensive, but natural gas at such low prices is driving a market. Natural gas prices range from $1.49 to $2.59 in Colorado, Wyoming and Utah. This is far less than gasoline. Honda builds a Civic Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) sedan and has been selling a few of these natural gas vehicles in select markets for years.…

Posted: 13 May 2012 06:37 AM PDT

If Saudi Arabia doesn’t develop an efficient, renewable energy infrastructure soon, it could burn 850 million barrels of oil each year until 2030; 30% of its total production. As the largest oil producer in the world it has no fear of running out, but it represents a huge portion of potential revenue that would be lost. Currently the Middle Eastern nation only boasts 3 megawatts of solar power, less than Egypt, Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria and the United Arab Emirates. In order to avoid this fate Saudi Arabia is seeking investors to back its…

Posted: 13 May 2012 06:36 AM PDT

Following the Fukushima nuclear disaster Japan has closed down all of its nuclear power plants and instead has to produce its energy by different means. This has caused it to increase its imports of fossil fuels; something it cannot afford to do for long. Currently Japan ships liquefied natural gas from Sakhalin in Russia, but LNG is expensive; a better, more affordable solution must be found. Seiji Maehara, the former Japanese Foreign Minister, recently visited the offices of the Russian gas giant, Gazprom, where he announced that Russia and Japan…

Posted: 13 May 2012 06:34 AM PDT

Research by the risk analysts Maplecroft has found that three global superpowers have vast regions that are at risk of drought as an unsustainable rate of water use is outstripping supply. The US, China, and India risk negative impacts on businesses and agriculture which could undermine economic growth. “Of the 168 countries covered by the newly released Water Stress Index, India, China and the US rank 34, 50 and 61 respectively in the list, while Middle-Eastern and North African nations make up the top 10.” Businessgreen.com The lack…

14 May, 2012

Growing the grunt: developing green biofuels for Australia

Growing the grunt: developing green biofuels for Australia
RenewEconomy
Biofuels are not new, but many of the technologies are, and interest in renewable, sustainable biofuels has recently been rising due to worry about peak oil and price pressures, vulnerability of energy supplies, dependence on imports, and greenhouse …
See all stories on this topic »

14 May, 2012

Government opens up petroleum acreages

AAPUpdated May 14, 2012, 5:20 pm

The federal government has opened up 27 new offshore petroleum acreages across nine basins in Commonwealth waters off five states.

Resources Minister Martin Ferguson said the 2012 acreage release included large frontier basins suited to exploration programs with numerous targets, along with smaller blocks of high prospective acreage in mature areas.

“The high level of early stakeholder participation led to multiple nominations for many of these areas, which are located in a range of water depths and vary in size and exploration history,” he said.

“The available acreage is supported by data and analysis by Geoscience Australia and all exploration and development activities will be subject to comprehensive assessment.”

The minister announced the release in Adelaide at the industry conference on Monday, saying the exploration release would help maintain energy security and economic growth in Australia’s petroleum sector.

“Today’s acreage release will allow offshore petroleum explorers to seek a larger role in an energy revolution, with a high probability of ongoing major petroleum discoveries in Australia, and more than 40 sedimentary basins yet to be fully explored.”

The acreages are in waters off Western Australia, the Northern Territory, Victoria, South Australia and Tasmania.

Greens senator Rachel Siewert said the exploration leases impinged on several important marine areas around Australia.

“They impinge on areas proposed for sanctuaries under the marine planning processes underway,” she told reporters in Canberra.

Senator Siewert said it was appalling that the federal government had two systems – one for the granting of licences and the other for establishing marine sanctuaries – simultaneously.

“The resource boom will override sensible environmental decision making,” she said.

“It’s crazy to have these separate processes.”

The Pew Environment group said one of the areas was in the Great Australian Bight – already protected by a marine park and home to more than 29 species of whales.

“The strong currents also means that any oil spills would directly hit Kangaroo Island, as well as the Eyre and York Peninsulas,” Pew said in a statement.

A second area, off the coast of Robe, would hit the rock lobster fishing industry in the region, the group said.

14 May, 2012

The difficult future facing black gold

The difficult future facing black gold
swissinfo.ch
Historian Daniele Ganser is head of the Swiss Institute for Peace and Energy Research (SIPER) in Basel and chairman of the Swiss section of the Association for the Study of Peak Oil and Gas (ASPO). Lawyer Niklaus Boss is managing director of the Swiss …
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13 May, 2012

Category: Energy Matters

Total gas leak operation begins at Elgin North Sea platform

Government opens up petroleum acreages