Energy

U.S. District Judge Richard Gergel ruled on 18 January 2019 that work to issue permits for offshore seismic exploration for oil and natural gas cannot continue until the partial Federal Government shutdown ends. The Trump administration had called employees at BOEM back to work to continue to process permit applications from five seismic testing companies proposing to survey off the East Coast.

Following the successful collaboration between Sustainable Marine Energy (SME), SCHOTTEL HYDRO and Black Rock Tidal Power to develop and demonstrate the PLAT-I floating tidal energy system, with deployments in Scotland and in Canada, SCHOTTEL has made a strategic decision to merge its tidal energy businesses into SME.

The new Interreg NWE project Ocean DEMO has been officially launched. It provides funding to developers of marine renewable technologies to test their products or services in real sea environments.

International law firm Baker Botts, has achieved a litigation victory on behalf of Marathon Oil UK LLC in the English Court of Appeal. The case was one of the largest to come before the English courts in recent years in the energy sector and is the latest in a series of high profile victories for Baker Botts’ UK litigation team.

Randall Luthi, President of the National Ocean Industries Association (NOIA), issued the following statement regarding the partial government shutdown:

Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy (SGRE), a world’s leader in the offshore industry, has launched the SG 10.0-193 DD, the company’s first 10+ MW offshore wind turbine.

New York Governor Andrew M. Cuomo set new renewable energy goals for his state—including quadrupling its offshore wind power production—in his 2019 State of the State address on 15 January 2019. The goals were also published as part of the state’s official 2019 agenda.

SubCableWorld (SCW) and the Business Network for Offshore Wind (The Network) have formed a partnership to promote offshore wind energy.

Artificial intelligence, energy diversification and the transformation of the workforce will be amongst the major talking points at SPE Offshore Europe 2019.

The Port of Corpus Christi is the largest crude export port in the United States and processes approximately 100 million tons each year. The Port’s impact on the United States economy exceeds $124 billion annually and planned work on this channel over the next five years is expected to bring significant boost to the United States, Texas and local economies.

On 8 January 2019, lawmakers from nine states (Connecticut, Georgia, Hawaii, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Oregon, and Rhode Island) introduced state-level bills aimed at blocking oil and gas drilling off their coasts.

The Norwegian Petroleum Directorate’s forecasts show that, after a minor decline in 2019, oil and gas production will increase from 2020 and up to 2023. Overall production will then approach the record year of 2004.