In a reminder that, like operas, U.S. presidencies aren’t over until they are over, the White House today released a statement saying that, using his authority under Section 12(a) of the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act, President Biden is issuing two Presidential Memoranda to protect all U.S. Outer Continental Shelf areas off the East and West coasts, the eastern Gulf of Mexico, and additional portions of the Northern Bering Sea in Alaska from future oil and natural gas leasing.
The...
The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) has announced the availability of the Gulf of Mexico (GOM) Regional Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) Oil and Gas Lease Sales Draft Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (EIS).
In December 2023, the Department of the Interior published the 2024-2029 National Outer Continental Shelf Oil and Gas Leasing Program, which includes only three oil and gas lease sales in the GOM over the next five years.
The National Ocean Industries Association (NOIA) has named SEACOR Marine the winner of the third annual NOIA ESG Excellence Award.
The NOIA Environmental, Social, & Governance (ESG) Excellence Award highlights and recognizes those who, by their actions, design, or influence, are contributing to the advancement of the ideals embodied by the NOIA ESG Principles:
“SEACOR Marine exemplifies the NOIA ESG Principles in virtually every aspect of its operations,” said Erik Milito, president of NOIA....
https://www.marinelog.com/offshore/seacor-marine-wins-noia-esg-excellence-award/
Two established U.S. offshore wind players, Equinor and Dominion Energy, were the winners in today’s Central Atlantic offshore wind lease sale.
The sale, details of which were announced in June, was the fifth held during the Biden administration. It attracted $92.65 million in winning bids for two lease areas offshore the states of Delaware, Maryland and Virginia. The sale – the first in the region in a decade – resulted in two provisional winners and $92.65 million in winning bids.
Equinor Wind...
In a move applauded by the National Ocean Industry Association, U.S. Senators Joe Manchin (I-W.Va.) and John Barrasso (R-Wyo), respectively Chairman and Ranking Member of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, have released the Energy Permitting Reform Act of 2024.
The bipartisan legislation seeks to strengthen American energy security by accelerating the permitting process for critical energy and mineral projects of all types in the United States.
“The United States of America is...
https://www.marinelog.com/offshore/noia-welcomes-energy-permitting-reform-act/
U.S. Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland used the Oceantic Network’s 2024 International Partnering Forum, currently under way in New Orleans, to announce a new five-year offshore wind leasing program and to report that the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) and the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) have finalized updated regulations for renewable energy development on the U.S. Outer Continental Shelf (OCS).
Interior says that the final rule increases certainty and...
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit has issued an order dismissing an appeal against a GoM oil and gas lease preliminary injunction. As we reported earlier, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management this month yet again delayed U.S. Gulf of Mexico (GoM) lease sale 261 pending the outcome of that appeal.
Here’s the ruling:
National Ocean Industries Association President Erik Milito issued the following statement:
“The court’s ruling is a necessary and positive...
https://www.marinelog.com/offshore/court-rules-against-further-gom-oil-and-gas-lease-sale-delay/
File this one under “why are we not surprised.” The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management has yet again announced a delay to Gulf of Mexico oil and gas lease Lease Sale 261.
Here’s what the agency says:
“As a result of the order issued by the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit on October 26, 2023, in Louisiana v. Haaland (Case No. 23-30666), the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) is postponing Lease Sale 261, which was originally scheduled for September 27, 2023, and later...
https://www.marinelog.com/news/another-gulf-of-mexico-oil-and-gas-lease-sale-dela/
The State of Louisiana, the American Petroleum Institute, Chevron USA Inc. and Shell Offshore have been granted a preliminary injunction in response to their law suit challenging conditions in BOEM’s Final Notice of Sale for Gulf of Mexico Oil and Gas Lease Sale 261.
The Final Notice of Sale covered significantly reduced acreage than in the proposed notice of sale announced back in March (67 million acres as opposed to 73.4 million). It also placed severe restrictions on oil and gas vessel...
Slow-marching of offshore oil and gas leasing sales by the U.S. Department of the Interior could threaten offshore wind leasing, NOIA (the National Ocean Industries Association) says, noting that Federal law mandates the occurrence of a substantial offshore oil and gas lease sale in the year preceding any new offshore wind lease award.
Now, bipartisan pressure for action on offshore O&G leasing is building. In a move applauded by NOIA, six Democrats in the House of Representatives, from...