Mexico

The energy industry has done all it can to prepare for possible hurricanes in the Gulf of Mexico this summer, but a “fragile people situation” remains, Chevron Corp. CEO Dave O’Reilly said Wednesday.

The energy industry has done all it can to prepare for possible hurricanes in the Gulf of Mexico this summer, but a “fragile people situation” remains, Chevron Corp. CEO Dave O’Reilly said Wednesday.

Other interest-owning producers with preferential rights have whittled away about $379 million worth of Gulf of Mexico assets that Apache Corp. agreed to buy from BP in a $1.3 billion deal in April, Apache said in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Monday (see Daily GPI, April 20). As a result, the company said it currently is assured of acquiring only about $805 million of the BP assets, or 62% of the transaction’s original value and 75% of the transaction’s original reserves.

The Houston Exploration Co., which plans to focus its efforts in the U.S. onshore, on Thursday reported it has completed the sale of substantially all of the Louisiana portion of its Gulf of Mexico (GOM) assets for $590 million ($530.8 million net). At year-end 2005, the assets, which were sold to a private company, had proved reserves estimated at 186.1 Bcfe.

The Gulf of Mexico’s (GOM) oil and gas platforms, pipelines and processing facilities will never be hurricane-proof, but the energy industry has tried to do as much as it can as it prepares for the inevitable storms this summer. After the record-breaking 27 storms last year, companies are trying to leave nothing to chance.

Kerr-McGee Corp. on Wednesday announced a “quality oil pay” discovery in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico at the 4,500-foot-deep Caesar prospect in the Green Canyon block 683, less than a week after announcing a natural gas discovery in its deepwater Claymore prospect (see Daily GPI, May 9). The Caesar No. 1 well was drilled to a total depth of 29,721 feet.

Sen. Bill Nelson (D-FL) and Interior secretary nominee Idaho Gov. Dirk Kempthorne failed to reach any agreement on leasing in the eastern Gulf of Mexico during a nearly one-hour meeting Wednesday, a Nelson spokesman said.

A federal court judge has dismissed a lawsuit filed by the California attorney general claiming Public Service Company of New Mexico (PNM), a utility subsidiary of PNM Resources, and other power sellers used manipulative practices to inflate California energy prices in 2001, PNM Resources reported last Thursday.

The initial field in Kerr-McGee Corp.’s 100%-owned Constitution field in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico last week ramped up to a production rate of 15,000 bbl/d of oil and 12 MMcf/d of gas. Located in Green Canyon blocks 679 and 680 in 5,000 feet of water, the field has estimated resources of about 110 MMboe.