Ocean

A “strong and mature” El Nino — the warming of sea surface temperatures in the central and eastern equatorial Pacific Ocean — persisted during January, but it is likely to fade this spring, increasing the chances for an active Atlantic hurricane season this year, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Climate Prediction Center (CPC).

A “strong and mature” El Nino — the warming of sea surface temperatures in the central and eastern equatorial Pacific Ocean — persisted during January, but it is likely to fade this spring, increasing the chances for an active Atlantic hurricane season this year, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Climate Prediction Center (CPC).

Rep. Lois Capps (D-CA) has introduced legislation to reinstitute the ban on oil and natural gas leasing in the federal Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) off the coast of California.

Rep. Lois Capps (D-CA) has introduced legislation to reinstitute the ban on oil and natural gas leasing in the federal Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) off the coast of California.

The absence of La Nina and El Nino in the equatorial Pacific Ocean this year has made predicting seasonal weather patterns more challenging, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) said Thursday. Based on other climate patterns, forecasters now expect this year’s winter season to be warmer than normal across the central part of the nation with dryer conditions to continue in the Southeast.

Monday was a no good, very bad day across Wall Street, and as usual, the energy industry went along for the ride. For the energy merchants, however, it was more like getting hit by a truck.

The National Ocean Industries Association (NOIA) has called on the Interior Department to expand producer access to offshore acreage in the eastern Gulf of Mexico under its Outer Continental Shelf 2002-2007 leasing program in the wake of the terrorist strikes.

After about a year of nibbles, the Canadian industry isbeginning to bite on a new ocean transportation technology beingdevised to speed up exploitation of natural gas reserves at remotelocations, led by the country’s Atlantic reserves.

Sonat reported being notified Tuesday morning that beginningtoday, Ocean Energy will be performing maintenance that requiresshut-in of the Main Pass 153 receipt point until further notice.Sonat declared a force majeure and said it will not schedule anynominations at the point during the outage.